Leave Taking When Visiting Someone

1902

A little nicety of leave-taking that is practiced by a certain well-bred woman, says the Dundee News, is to rise to end the visit while she is the speaker. In this way she is apparently leaving while she is much interested.

This is better than to start at the end of a pause, or to jump up the moment your hostess's voice drops. One way implies boredom; the other waiting for a chance to get away. This may seem a trifle of observance, but it is worth while if only to train one's self in the habit of easy leave-taking -- a rare accomplishment even among women with wide social experience. Once standing, leave promptly, and avoid spinning out a second visit in the hall.

Eight Rules For Popularity

1902

First — Remember that a good voice is as essential to self-possession as good ideas are essential to fluent language. The voice should be carefully trained and developed. A full, clear, flexible voice is one of the surest indications of good breeding.

Second — Remember that one may be witty without being popular, voluble without being agreeable, a great talker and yet a great bore.

Third — Be sincere. One who habitually sneers at everything not only renders herself disagreeable to others but will soon cease to find pleasure in life.

Fourth — Be frank. A frank, open countenance and a clear, cheery laugh are worth far more even socially than "pedantry in a stiff cravat."

Fifth — Be amiable. You may hide a vindictive nature under a polite exterior for a time, as a cat masks its sharp claws in velvet fur, but the least provocation brings out one as quickly as the other, and ill-natured people are always disliked.

Sixth — Be sensible. Society never lacks for fools, and what you consider very entertaining nonsense may soon be looked upon as very tiresome folly.

Seventh — Be cheerful. If you have no great trouble on your mind you have no right to render other people miserable by your long face and dolorous tones. If you do you will generally be avoided.

Eighth — Above all, be cordial and sympathetic. True cordiality and sympathy unite all the other qualities enumerated, and are certain to secure the popularity so dear to every one. — New York World.

Movement of Earth's Poles

1904

One of the strange phenomena of nature for which an explanation has long been sought is the fact that the earth's poles undergo a certain more or less irregular displacement, says Harper's Weekly.

Professor John Milne, of England, well known as an authority on earthquakes, has suggested that this displacement may be due to movements of the earth's crust, and consequently depend on the number and frequency, of earthquakes. The theory attracted the attention of M. A. de Lapparent, who has studied the subject with the aid of observations made of earthquakes, as well as of astronomical observations of the movement of the poles, and his results are strongly confirmatory of the English seismologist's theory.

Any movement of the earth's crust, such as the sinking of an ocean bed or the rising of a continent, apparently occasions earthquakes and earth tremors and it is only reasonable to believe that such movements must produce some change in the distribution of the mass of the earth, which would, of course, directly affect the position of the earth's axis, which is also affected by other and exterior causes.

Conversely, by studying the change in the position of the earth's axis by astronomical observations it would be possible to study the changes in the earth's crust. This new science, according to knowledge, "might almost be called the new astrology, since we might perceive, in the apparent motions of the stars' cataclysmic action, possibly of direct influence in man's destiny on the earth."

The Girl and Her Reading

1902

By W. D. Howells

What, then, is a good rule for a girl in her reading? Pleasure in it, as I have already said; pleasure, first, last and all the time. But as one star differs from another, so the pleasures differ. With the high natures they will be fine, and with the low natures they will be coarse. It is idle to commend a fine pleasure to the low natures, for to these it will be a disgust, as surely as a coarse pleasure to the high. But without pleasure in a thing read it will not nourish, or even fill, the mind; it will be worse provender than the husks which the swine did eat, and which the prodigal found so unpalatable.

Thence follows a conclusion that I am not going to blink. It may be asked, then, if we are to purvey a coarse literary pleasure to the low natures, seeing that they have no relish for a fine one. I should say yes, so long as it is not a vicious one. But here I should distinguish, and say farther that I think there is no special merit in reading as an occupation, or even as a pastime. I should very much doubt whether a low nature would get any good of its pleasure in reading; and without going back to the old question whether women should be taught the alphabet, I should feel sure that some girls could be better employed in cooking, sewing, knitting, rowing, fishing, playing basket ball or ping-pong than in reading the kind of books they like; just as some men could be better employed in the toils and sports that befit their sex.

I am aware that this is not quite continuing to answer the question as to what girls should read; and I will revert to that for a moment without relinquishing my position that the cult of reading is largely a superstition, more or less baleful. The common notion is that books are the right sort of reading for girls, who are allowed also the modified form of books which we know as magazines, but are not expected to read newspapers. This notion is so prevalent and so penetrant that I detected it in my own moral and mental substance, the other day, when I saw a pretty and prettily dressed girl in the elevated train, reading a daily newspaper quite as if she were a man. It gave me a little shock which I was promptly ashamed of for when I considered, I realized that she was possibly employed as usefully and nobly as if she were reading a book, certainly the sort of book she might have chosen. — Harper's Bazar.

Why Girls Often Say "No" the First Time

1902

By Edith Joscelyn

It has been remarked that when a woman says "No" it should not — by the man who loves her — be taken for a negative. There may be an element of truth in this statement; or there may be not. I, as a girl, who thinks that she knows what she is writing about, would say that it all depends upon the character of the woman who utters the little word. If she is a poor, weak sort of creature who is certain of nothing, and who likes to hear the same thing over and over again, much after the fashion of a young mother listening to her first baby's initial utterances, she will undoubtedly say "No" when she all the time really means the very opposite.

I have known a few instances, however, in which women who knew their own minds perfectly have been impelled to say an emphatic negative when receiving an offer of marriage from a man whom they loved passionately, while conscious all the time that they would eventually say a cooing affirmative. It was this way: The men proposing were, so to speak, on trial at the bar. They were suspected of offering marriage out of pity, or out of pique, or from a sense of justice.

A woman is frequently made the recipient of an offer on these grounds, and the trick of saying "No" when the question is first put is the one and only way of discovering whether the man sincerely means what he says.

The instinct of many of us women will clearly tell us when a man is making an offer that is not genuine, but sometimes we dare not trust to our instinct; we hope against hope, and we play our fish with evasive answers until we see that he really means what he says from the bottom of his heart.

It is not long since that I met a man who told me of a friend of his who had suddenly discovered that he would be better off in many respects were he to marry. He straightaway went the round of a number of girl friends and proposed to four of them in one day! They each rejected him, as he thought, by saying "No" on the putting of the great question. But two out of the four wrote to him on the day following, accepting! In the meantime he had made a fifth proposal and had been accepted.

When a girl has been courted for an unusually long period and has at last received the long-expected proposal she will feign astonishment and will give a qualified "No." This is only her banter, and she will follow it up by laughingly explaining that she punished him because — by his delay — he punished her! Shyness or a different position in life are common causes for such delays on the part of many men.

As a rule, it may be taken for granted that no woman says "No" without a reason for doing so.

One more instance: Two sisters recently fell in love with the same man, who was a close friend of their brother's. The man proposed to the younger sister, and she said "No" because she knew that her sister wanted him. Yet when, in course of time, the man made the offer of marriage to the elder sister she likewise said "No" for the identical reason — that she knew her sister wanted him. The girls' love for each other has up to the present kept the man a bachelor.

Does Europe Face the Fate of the Fabled Atlantis?

1916

By Dr. Paul Schlieman
Grandson of the Famous Archeologist and Discoverer of Ancient Troy

The war in Europe has filled the world with horror. There are no wars in the past that can be compared with it. It surpasses by far the greatest calamities that ever have befallen mankind. Yet with all that there is another side to the question. There is a cosmic organism besides the one of the individual. Nature cares nothing for the joys and sorrows of the individual. The reason of nature has no relation to that of the man. The war with all its brutalities must be looked upon as a manifestation of natural forces — a cyclone of nature.

It was just as unavoidable as an earthquake. There was a cosmic reason for it. Every great mind foresaw it. It was necessary to what we call evolution.

Nations and countries, like individuals, have their lives and tragedies. Atlantis was a great continent, inhabited by a powerful and civilized nation when the rest of the world was merged in barbarism. Atlantis colonized Egypt and Central America. When at the zenith of their power the Atlanteans became involved in a war such as has befallen Europe, the whole continent was submerged and sank in the sea. All great calamities of nature follow a certain kind of war. When a social organism is poisoned by a wrong doctrine of life, the sooner it dies the better. Like the civilization of the Atlanteans, this of the Europeans is decadent and doomed. The vitality of every living body depends upon its spiritual not its physical constitution.

As much as we may pity the individual who suffers in such cosmic calamities, still we should be glad of the tempest that cleans nature from human rubbish and decadence. The cosmic will has no mercy upon any individual, because in going against nature the individual ignored the cosmic will. The European war is a gigantic purging process of evolution. The present European war was unavoidable, because the social soul of Europe was sick. Nothing but destruction could end such a sickness. The European disease was best reflected in the art and literature that preceded the war. With every year the paintings grew more abnormal and ugly. The music of the Germans, French and English was all discords and unpleasing noise.

The "culture" of Europe came to a climax of artificialities. The government of Europe became materialistic and militaristic.

On the one hand the Christian church, on the other the naked industrialism undermined the old Culture. The logic that invented the printing press and steam engine could not be reconciled with legendary religion. The Christian church that had been of such influence during the feudal period of social life, lost its grip when industrial civilization was created. Money in the one hand — the Bible in the other — this was the picture of a typical Kulturtraeger of Europe. The fatal paradox was to profess belief in the doctrines of Christianity and to make money at the same time in the way most of that money was made. The contradiction of the two doctrines can be considered as the logical cause of the materialistic education, the logical cause of the lack of spiritual ideals.

Before a fool dies he goes crazy. Europe went crazy before the war. Rome went crazy before her fall. The rubbish of materialistic civilization grew so poisonous that it needed an immediate cleaning up.

The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah has befallen Europe. But this is not all.

I fear that a great cosmic calamity will follow the war, a calamity of the kind that made an end to Atlantis. My reasons for this fear are well founded.

I consider that serious results will follow the concentration of enormous destructive energies on the comparatively narrow battlefield. Never in human history have there been employed such energies. All the thousands of guns and millions of rifles that are used every day represent a large percentage of the gas-producing instruments of the world. This means an abnormal transformation of physical energy into a chemical one. It means millions of cubic yards of an abnormal and violent change of elements. What will be its ultimate effect upon the atmosphere and vegetation no one as yet can tell. It may change the meteorologic balance to such an extent that either arctic colds, tropic heats or excessive rains will affect life seriously. This may result either in failure of crops or in epidemics not known to science.

On the other hand, it is a scientific possibility that the abnormal use of explosives will affect the gravitational and rotational laws of the earth. A microscopic change of the earth's axis would result in gigantic disturbances of nature.

My theory of the vanishing of Atlantis leads me, as it led my grandfather, to the conclusion that the inhabitants of that continent made use of the volcanic destructive powers of earth for a long time. When they abused these powers the great calamity occurred. I fear that the abnormal accumulation of metals around the war districts will cause abnormal events of nature. These metals have been brought together from all parts of the world. It is estimated that the United States alone has shipped more than a million tons of war materials to the warring nations. Much of these are metals, particularly iron, copper and lead. To my estimate the surface of the earth around the war district is fifteen million tons heavier than usual. This excessive weight is produced by metals.

It is not only the weight, but the magnetism of earth that is influenced by the presence of these metals.

When I consider the abnormal use of explosives, the abnormal weight and accumulation of metals in the European war, together with the certain change of the magnetic powers, I can easily understand the insignificant reaction that is needed to bring about a second catastrophe similar to that of Atlantis. The same geologic energy that swallowed Atlantis can swallow also war-ridden Europe. To sink the surface of Europe a few hundred feet means nothing to the ordinary forces of nature.

Man in his pride of invention sneers at nature. The explosives that he employs for destroying his fellow-man are stolen from nature. Defying the laws of nature, man defies and destroys himself. I do not need to speak of the terrible threat from the hastily dug, shallow graves of the millions that are murdered in this war.

The physical and spiritual phenomena of this human struggle point to the conclusion that Europe is facing a continental and cosmic catastrophe.

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, NE, Jan. 23, 1916, p. 4, society/fashion section.

The Heart of Jumbo the Elephant

1904

It's the Biggest Heart in the World

ITHACA, N. Y., Jan. 30. — The biggest heart in the world, that of the elephant Jumbo, is preserved in the museum of the department of neurology, vertebrate zoology and physiology of Cornell University. If the heart were not so large it would stand in a glass jar on the shelves of the museum with hundreds of those of other animals and men.

But Jumbo's heart is so big that it lies in a barrel stowed away in the cellar of the museum, glass jars not being made large enough to hold the great mass of muscle. Some time it will be dissected by a class of students and then thrown away.

Jumbo had a heart ninety-eight times as large as the average human organ. It now weighs 36½ pounds, after having soaked several years in alcohol. A human heart, which weighs a little more than a pound, soaked in alcohol for the same length of time, weighs 10 ounces. The human heart is less than six inches long. Jumbo's is 28 inches, and 24 inches wide. The ordinary heart could be contained in the main artery of Jumbo's heart. The walls of the artery are five-eighths of an inch thick, while the walls of the ventricle are three inches thick.

When Jumbo met his heroic death at St. Thomas, Ont., trying to save the baby elephant and being himself killed by a locomotive, his carcass was sent to the Ward Natural Science establishment at Rochester. The skeleton was presented and put on exhibition and the hide mounted.

Dr. Burt G. Wilder of Cornell purchased the heart of the animal to add it to his colossal collection. The brains of Jumbo were also desired, but these had been shattered in the collision. When the heart reached Ithaca it was found impractical to preserve it by the process which retains its original shape, and so the organ was put in a barrel of alcohol. It had not been removed for years until Dr. Hugh D. Reed lifted it from the barrel to show to The Herald correspondent.

—The Sunday Herald, Syracuse, New York, Jan. 31, 1904, p. 23.

A Recipe for Diamonds

1906

If Anyone Wants to Make a Few, Here Is the Way to Go About It

Would you like to know how to manufacture diamonds — real diamonds? The process is somewhat difficult, requiring time, patience and some outlay of money, but then consider the possible results! The diamond, we know, says the New York Herald, is simply carbon in a transparent crystalline form. It comes of humble parentage and is brother to the lump of coal.

Unlike easily crystallizable bodies, carbon is insoluble in all ordinary solvents, but molten metals will combine with it. Let the diamond maker choose iron for a solvent for charcoal, melting it in an electric furnace, allowing it to take up as much carbon as it can — in other words, saturate itself with carbon. The crucible containing the white hot metal should then be plunged into a bath of molten lead. The result will be that globules of iron will rise to the surface of the lead and are quickly cooled on the outer surface. Inside the hard crust the iron remains for some time in a molten condition, and, as iron expands in solidifying, the contents of these little globules receive a pressure unattainable by any other means. When the lead becomes solidified some bullets of iron will be found bound up in the mass. Dissolve with some powerful acid first the lead and then the iron, and a residue of carbonaceous matter will be found to contain tiny crystals — real diamonds. Any chemist with a well equipped laboratory can make diamonds in this way, but the largest of them will not be more than a fiftieth an inch in diameter.

Doctors Who Die Early

1906

The Principal Cause Is Said to Be Excessive Nervous Expenditure in Practice

The diseases which claim the most victims among physicians relatively to all males are gout and diabetes, and there is a high relative mortality from diseases of the nervous system, circulatory system and kidneys, says American Medicine.

From the nature of his habits the physician is not subject to accidents, and, though he is brought into contact with infection to a greater extent than other men, his preventive means are successful and his mortality from infection is very low. Freedom from prolonged muscular strains and high blood tension apparently saves him from arteriosclerosis, but suicide claims many, and so do the drug habits acquired by the nervously exhausted. It has been said that three-fourths of French morphine users are physicians.

The cause of the physician's early death is evidently the excessive nervous expenditure, insufficient rest and defective nutrition, inseparable from his calling, with its broken and restricted sleep, irregular hours of work, rest and meals, the worry when lives depend upon his judgment and the lack of a day of complete relaxation in each week. The physician who sees his patients every day in the week month after month and cannot learn to forget them when he goes home, merely burns the candle at both ends. He violates the law obeyed by every other animal, that there shall be short periods of moderate exertion interrupted by longer periods of rest when repairs are made. It is not too much work as a rule, but scattered work which prevents rest.

Horse Saves a Child

1906

Pet Animal Seizes Little Girl's Dress with His Teeth and Drags Her from Canal

Jersey City, N. J. — According to a story told to the Jersey City police the other day by Mrs. John Patrino, of 315 Pamrapo avenue, her three-year-old daughter Anna was saved from drowning by a horse named Charley, which is owned by her husband. The house and stable are near the Morris canal, and Anna is in the habit of playing on the canal bank.

The horse, which was a pet of the child, was running up and down the field, when Mrs. Patrino saw the child topple over into the water. She ran screaming to the canal, but before she reached it, she says, Charley had seized the child's dress with his teeth and dragged her to safety. As the mother reached them Charley set the child gently at her feet.

When Patrino heard his wife's statement he said Charley should have a padded stall and an extra feed of oats every day of his life. The police Were inclined to doubt Mrs. Patrino's story, but it was corroborated by two of her neighbors.


Housewife for Every Soldier

The war department has decided to furnish every soldier in the army with a housewife. This announcement though made with full authority, need cause no flutter of joy in their hearts of the waiting army of spinsters, for the "housewife" is not to be the helpmeet and partner that the bond of matrimony gives to man, but only a part of the soldier's kit. It will not exceed four ounces in weight and will contain assorted buttons, thread, needles, safety pins, ordinary pins, and if practicable, a small pair of scissors.

Singular New Disease — "Soul Blindness"

1906

Man Afflicted with "Soul Blindness" Cannot Bead or Recognize Pictures

Berlin. — The latest thing in the line of diseases is soul blindness, the name having been devised by Prof. Schuster, of Berlin. It appears that the professor lately had a patient under his care suffering from a lack of mental association. The man was educated and spoke coherently, but could not read; the printed characters conveyed no meaning to his mind. His senses all appeared normal, and there was no indication of physical disease.

He could recognize and name all the objects around him; but printed words, or sketches of the simplest objects, he was utterly unable to name; in fact, to quote the words of the professor, "He could not tell a boat from a tree or a house."

The theory advanced by Prof. Schuster to account for this peculiar condition is, that the connection between the eyes and that particular portion of the brain concerned in the association of ideas has been severed in some manner, and until that connection is restored, the condition will continue.

From what he has seen of the patient, he considers it extremely doubtful whether this important junction will ever be effected.

Marvelous Find of Gold

1906

Rock So Rich in Ore That It is Guarded Day and Night by Sentries

Manhattan, Nev. — Gold bearing rock, so rich that it is guarded day and night by two sentries and is mined under the watchful eye of the owners, has been opened up at the 86-foot level in the main working shaft of the Jumping Jack claim.

Six inches of this marvelous find is so rich that no assay has been made, as it is more than half gold. From eight o'clock at night, when a row of shots revealed the richest of the many sensational discoveries of the new camp, until ten o'clock the next morning $10,000 worth of ore was sacked.

When the miners below hoisted samples of a six inch vein which was uncovered as it dipped into the shaft, the superintendent immediately ordered the men to the surface and suspended operations until the superintendent of the Jumping Jack could be notified. Upon his arrival two trusted men were put to work stoping out the ore and two others guarding the entrance to the workings.

The news fairly electrified the camp, despite the fact that sensational finds are becoming everyday occurrences. Several samples were exhibited by officers of the company, who were besieged by a crowd which gathered soon after the news of the strike became public property.

These samples for size and richness surpass anything that the ground at Manhattan has yielded up to date, and will rank among the largest specimens of gold ever mined in this country. One specimen weighing 23 ounces, six inches long, representing the width of the vein, is almost solid gold. The many seasoned miners and mining experts who examined this specimen today unite in saying that it is the handsomest and consequently the richest deposit from the mother lode they have ever seen. It is streaked with a fine grained marble-like quartz, which hugs close to the crevices of its irregular outlines. The entire specimen is a bright yellow mass, except where it is relieved by the impregnated quartz. One side is worn smooth, as if by the force of a slide in the contact, and the other side is molded just in the shape it was deposited by the molten mass.

Enoch Ardens in Russia

1906

Many Returning Soldiers Reported Dead Find Their Wives Remarried

St. Petersburg. — Among the Russian prisoners arriving from Japan there are many who have been reported dead by the general staff and whose relatives had been so informed. The unexpected reappearance of these men is causing all sorts of strange family complications, as many wives, under the impression that they were widows, have remarried.

In the province of Perm, where a returning soldier found his wife already the mother of a child by a new husband, he took the matter to the village priest for settlement. The first husband offered to acquiesce to the new conjugal arrangement if he received $25, but the second husband was unable to pay the money, and it was finally arranged that the wife should return to her first husband.

However, as the second marriage was considered legal, and as official documents were at hand to prove the apparent death of the living husband, it was decided that the child born While the first husband was away must legally be registered as belonging to the second husband, and that it must be cared for by him.


Luxury for Left-Handed

Right handed men are no longer the only ones who can, if they so desire, avail themselves of the convenience of a mustache cup. There are now made mustache cups for left handed men as well. These cups come in at least two sizes and in a variety of styles as to decorations. Not nearly so many left handed as right handed cups are called for, but the left handed man can now be supplied.

Mountain Lions and Wolves Annoy Stockmen

1906

Cattle and Sheep Destroyed in Oklahoma by Animals from Game Preserve

Washington. — The Wichita reserve in Oklahoma, which President Roosevelt set apart as a refuge for game, is overrun with wolves and mountain lions, and many complaints have been received from cattle and sheep raisers.

John Goff, the hunter who acted as the president's guide on his hunting trip of a year ago, even with his skill, has not been able to exterminate the lions, and cattlemen and sheep raisers are hoping that the president will make another trip to that section and that he will bring with him all his friends capable of handling a rifle.

Practically similar conditions exist in the Gila reservation in New Mexico. Stockmen complain that because of the establishment of these reserves where wolves and mountain lions take refuge and cannot be hunted, they have increased to such an extent as seriously to threaten their business. Before the establishment of game refuges, stockmen by offering bounties for the scalps of wolves and mountain lions managed to keep them down.

Stockmen say that unless the government takes some action looking toward the extermination of these beasts it will not be possible for them to continue grazing their herds in or near the reserves.

Pursued by Wolves

1906

Samuel Johnson, an Indianapolis man, eighty-three years old, who was one of the most enthusiastic old settlers at the recent reunion at White City, tells of an experience with wolves on Buck Creek that nearly ended disastrously for him.

"I was out on a hunting trip about twelve miles from Indianapolis on Buck Creek," said Mr. Johnson. There were thick woods all around that part of the country and few people near. I was living in a house made of logs in the midst of the woods and a fine place for wolves. I never thought much about the danger, though, and used to go many miles away on a hunting expedition without seeing a wolf or thinking about one.

"One day I went on a trip and stayed out a little later than usual. It was getting dark and as I got near home the air was cold, and if wolves ever are hungry they would have been hungry that night. I hurried along trying to get in the house before night," and I began to wonder if there were any wolves near.

"I happened to look back and saw a big patch of black moving toward me. I hurried faster and just got inside the door when the pack reached the house. I barred the door and kept clear out of sight, but on the outside I could hear the animals howling and scratching around. They must have stayed an hour or more, but I did not try to shoot them, and I think they lost the scent of me. Anyway, they turned suddenly and ran off down the road, and I never saw them after that time." — Indianapolis Star.

The Kaiser's Voice

1906

His Words Preserved on First Permanent Roll in Phonetic Archives

One of the novelties of the last few years is the establishment of phonetic archives, in which the voices of noteworthy persons are to be preserved.

The first record actually taken for such a permanent archive in America was that of a European. Through the American Ambassador Charlemagne Tower, I applied for a "record of the voice of the German emperor, for preservation in durable material in Harvard University, the National Museum at Washington, and the Library of Congress at Washington. The record is to be kept as a historical document for posterity. The Phonetic Archives at the institutions mentioned are to include records from such persons as will presumably have permanent historical interest for America. The importance of the undertaking can be estimated by considering the present value of voice records by Demosthenes, Shakespeare, or Emperor William the Great."

The Emperor consented, and the apparatus was set up in the palace. I asked for four records, one for each of the institutions mentioned and one for my own scientific investigation. The Emperor, however, made only two records, designating one for Harvard University and the other for other purposes. The two records were made by a phonograph (with specially selected recorders) on wax cylinders. Such cylinders are of no permanent value, because they are often injured by mold, and sooner or later they always crack, owing to changes in temperature.

From each original "master record" a metal matrix was made by coating it with graphite and then galvanoplating it. The wax master record was then removed (being destroyed in the process), leaving a mold from which "positives" — that is copies of the original — could be cast in a hard shellac composition and in celluloid. Some casts were also made in wax, and new metal matrices were made from these. In this manner the following material was obtained: (1) A metal matrix and positive of Record No. 1, deposited in the National Museum at Washington; (2) a similar set of Record No. 1, deposited in the Congressional Library at Washington; (3) a similar set of Record No. 2, deposited in Harvard University; (4) a complete set for both records (a metal matrix and a positive of each), which I presented to the Emperor; and (5) a reserve set of both. These are the only records of the German Emperor's voice which exist at the present time. — The Century.

Capacity of the Brain

1906

By Dr. Frederick Peterson

Authorities differ as to the capacity of the average brain to receive the impressions of a lifetime. It is pretty well believed that there is in the brain a centre of conservation distinct from the centre of perception. We of course know nothing as to the nature of the relation of brain cells to percepts and conservation, but we do know that there must be a relation. The latest researches (Hammerberg and Thomson) show that the number of cells in the brain is nine billion two hundred million. All stimuli, external (through the five senses) or internal (through processes), must leave some trace upon these cells, chemical, physical, or dynamic. These stimuli are composed of all sorts of percepts; words and sounds heard; things and words seen; objects felt, tasted, smelled; sensations perceived in our own bodies; thoughts pushing upward into consciousness. And a little reflection will show how innumerable such imprints must be in the course of a single waking day.

Even without reading the resident of a city must receive an incalculable number of impressions upon his brain every 24 hours. The reading centre of the brain occupies a comparative small area in the back of the left hemisphere, and consequently must possess a very small portion of the nine billion cells referred to above. We can only guess at the number, but a fair estimate would be about a twentieth, or say five hundred millions which in a lifetime of 60 years would allow us about 25,000 cells daily for the perception and conservation of words and sentences read. These figures may have no scientific value, but at any rate they emphasize a very important fact, and that is that our brain capacity is limited and that we should be sparing of the cells we daily squander. — Colliers' Weekly.

The Cheerful Man

1906

By O.S. Marden

The cheerful man is pre-eminently a useful man.

The cheerful man sees that everywhere the good outbalances the bad, and that every evil has its compensating balm.

A habit of cheerfulness enables one to transmute apparent misfortunes into real blessings.

He who has formed a habit of looking at the bright side of things, has a great advantage over the chronic dyspeptic who sees no good in anything.

The cheerful man's thought sculptures his face into beauty and touches his manner with grace.

It was Lincoln's cheerfulness and sense of humor that enabled him to stand under the terrible load of the civil war.

If we are cheerful and contented all nature smiles with us; the air is balmier, the sky clearer, the earth has a brighter green, the trees have a richer foliage, the flowers are more fragrant, the birds sing more sweetly and the sun, moon and the stars are more beautiful. All good thought and good action claim a natural alliance with good cheer. High-minded cheerfulness is found in great souls, self-poised and confident in their own heaven-aided powers.

Serene cheerfulness is the great preventive of humanity's ills.

Grief, anxiety and fear are the great enemies of human life and should be resisted as we resist the plague. Cheerfulness is their antidote.

Without cheerfulness there can be no healthy action, physical, mental or moral, for it is the normal atmosphere of our being. — Success.

Growth of the Telephone in Thirty Years

1906

By John Vaughn

"Hello, Central," was first heard in 1878. Today the exchanges are numbered by the thousand, the telephones by the million. Various industries, unknown thirty years ago, but now sources of employment to many thousands of workers, depend entirely on the telephone for support. Numerous factories making lead sheathing, dynamos, motors, generators, batteries, office equipment, cables, and many other appliances, would have to close down and thus throw their operatives into idleness and misery if the telephone bell should cease to ring. The Bell Companies employ over 87,000 persons and, it may be added, pay them well. Many of these employes have families to maintain; others support their parents, or aid younger brothers and sisters. It is safe to say that 200,000 people look to the telephone for their daily bread. These figures may be supplemented by the number of telephones in use, (5,698,000), by the number of miles of wire (6,043,000), in the Bell lines, and by the number of conversations (4,479,500,000), electrically conveyed in 1905. The network of wire connects more than 33,000 cities, towns, villages and hamlets.

Such tremendous growth as these statistics show would imply not only steadily increasing appreciation of the telephone, but would also suggest improved instruments, more skillful operators, and better service. There would be no flattery in such suggestion. Electrical science has undergone radical reformation since 1876. Telephony has raised the utilization of electricity to the height of a profession. Of course such advances have not been won without cost. Fortunes were spent in experiment and investigation before a dollar came back. Communication by the first telephone was limited to a few thousand feet. Now, conversation can be carried on by persons 1,600 miles apart. Tomorrow long-distance lines will span the continent; and the day after oceanic telephony will be a commonplace of mercantile routine. But science and money had to collaborate for years before they could work the trade of enabling Boston and Omaha to talk together. — From the "Thirtieth Anniversary of a Great Invention," in Scribner.

Was Entombed Fifteen Days

1906

Bakersfield, Cal., Dec. 24. — Lindsay B. Hicks, released from an entombment of 15 days in a caved-in tunnel, appeared well and happy after his gruesome experience, spending much time in receiving congratulations of friends and neighbors, to whom he related as best he could the feelings he underwent within the dark, close quarters of his tomb-like prison near the dead bodies of five less fortunate companions, while scores of men worked like beavers day and night for more than two weeks to save him from death by digging through many feet of earth and rock.

Hicks' bravery under the trying conditions won for him the admiration of hundreds of persons who watched the progress of his exhumation. So strong was Hicks at the finish that he helped to scrape away the last barrier of earth, and crawled, with slight assistance from death to life.

Hicks was not emaciated. He was so strong that the stimulants that had been prepared for him were not needed.

No sooner was the last segment of debris removed and the way left open, than Hicks began to scrape away the rocks and earth and crawl toward the opening. With arms in front of his head, he went into the miniature tunnel and began to work his way slowly through to the other side of a dump car, near which he has remained during the excavating. His arms were seized by Dr. Stinchfield and a miner. The two, exerting all their strength, pulled the miner into the main tunnel, where he was placed in a sitting position. The blindfold that Hicks had been ordered to put on was removed, as the tunnel was only dimly lighted by candle.

And there, 100 feet from the face of the mountain and within a few steps of the place where the miner had lain entombed for nearly 16 days, there occurred a pathetically joyful scene. Dr. Stinchfield, with tears in his eyes, and his hands laid affectionately on Hicks' shoulders, said: "Well, how are you, old boy?"

And there were tears in the eyes of Hicks as well, the only tears that he had shed in all the days and nights since he was entombed, as he replied: "I am feeling fine. I can never thank you, doctor, for what you have done."

While working on a tunnel that was building by the Edison Power company near Bakersfield on December 7, the vertical walls of a deep cut fell in on Hicks and five fellow workmen. It was at first thought that all had perished under the hundreds of tons of rock and earth.

Three days later a tapping on the rail of the little tramway running through the drift gave the first intimation that a man still alive was buried beneath the debris. A 70-foot pipe, two inches in diameter, was immediately forced through the debris. It reached the spot where Hicks was entombed. A heavy dirt car had become wedged in the debris in such a way as to keep the immense weight from crushing him.

When Hicks pulled the wooden plug from the iron pipe and called to the men above him his voice sounded like one from the grave. Through the pipe the men working on top learned from Hicks that for several hours after the cave-in he had talked with his companions, but that they had become silent and he believed they were dead.

By means of the pipe Hicks kept in communication with a big force of rescuers which was at once organized; milk was poured down the pipe. This was the only sustenance it was possible to give the man for nearly two weeks. During the first two days Hicks said he had existed on a plug of tobacco he had with him at the time of the cave-in.

He had just exhausted this when the pipe was forced into the crevice in which he was pinned. Every day gallons of milk were poured down the pipe to keep him alive.

In a narrow space under the car there was just room for Hicks to lie down. His prison did not allow of the slightest freedom of movement, and for days the man lay on his back, not daring to move lest he might disturb the car overhead and bring down upon himself an avalanche of dirt that would mean his death.

Through the pipe he directed the work of rescue, guiding the course of the tunnel the miners started toward his prison, so that it would not by some chance disturb the equilibrium of the car, which was all that lay between him and death.

—New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA, Dec. 27, 1906, p. 1.

The Fellowship of Dogs

1906

By R. H. Bell

I have seen a few wretches in my day; but I never saw one so utterly lost to decency that he could not be flattered by the friendly attentions of a strange dog.

There is some hope for the man who is capable of feeling ashamed in the presence of an honorable dog. That man has avenues open to him for advancement. His soul is still fit for expansion. When a strange dog greets him, he thinks better of himself — unconsciously he reasons: "Villain that I am. I am not so bad after all as I might be. You can't fool a dog; and a dog is no hypocrite; therefore, I have good in me which he recognizes." The fellow is a little surprised at himself and not a little flattered.

For my own part, I have learned a great deal from dogs. If I am natural, they set me the example in early childhood. If I am faithful to a friend through his disgrace and disaster, I cannot deny that a dog revealed this nobility of character to me for the first time in my life. If I have gratitude, I saw it first in a dog. If I have enterprise, he did not neglect my early lessons. If I have initiative, so had my first dog-friend; if I am affectionate, so was he. If I am patient in adversity and without arrogance in affluence, I could not have acquired his poise of mind better from men than from dogs. If I am watchful over weakness intrusted to my care; if I am forgetful of self in guarding my beloved, if I have the courage of my convictions, if I have any heroic instincts, I could have had no better teacher than a dog. — The Culturist.

Pearls of Thought — "Telling a Woman You Love Her"

1906

The most fun that people have is in planning it.

Music lessons for a girl make more noise, but cooking lessons keep the peace.

If you tell a woman you love her she believes you even when she knows you don't.

People can afford to wear plenty of mourning for a relative if they were remembered in the will.

People seem to think nowadays that a man's son is a wonder to be able to make his own living.

A nice thing about being poor is you don't make enemies for refusing to found public institutions.

When a man kisses a girl on a dark piazza, she would scream if she weren't afraid of scaring her mother.

A girl knows an awful lot to be able to make men think that her knowing nothing is better than if she did.

Once in a while a man doesn't have to lie about what kept him out so late, but it's because his wife isn't home to ask him.

If a man ever got up early enough to eat his breakfast without swallowing it all at once, he might think the cook earned her wages.

No woman is ever so sympathetic with a widow over her loss as to forget to examine carefully the kind of mourning she is wearing.

There's hardly anything makes a humorist madder than to read a joke somewhere and have you get it off on him before he can on you.

A man never seems to think he is doing his duty to his country unless he goes around before election yelling his views into everybody's ears.

When a girl is so anxious for a man to ask her to marry him that she can't wait for him to finish before saying yes, she will pretend she doesn't understand him. — From "Reflections of a Bachelor," in the New York Press.

Radio-activity and Life

1906

European Scientist Speculates on Some interesting Analogies

J. J. Laudin Chabot makes, in the Physikalische Zeitschrift, some striking speculations on certain analogies shown by the phenomena of radio-activity with ebullition on the one hand, and with the decomposition as accompanying, say, the life of albumen, on the other.

The atoms of radio-active substances are in a state of unstable equilibrium. Some of them every now and then pass abruptly into the next state. The passage amounts to an explosion, although it differs from ordinary explosions in not necessarily tending to the simultaneous explosion of all other atoms around. A somewhat similar phenomenon is presented by a boiling liquid.

Some striking analogies to the behavior of the emanations and the rare gases such as argon and helium are offered by nitrogen, which is a constituent of nearly every explosive substance. Among the compounds of nitrogen, cyanogen (carbon plus nitrogen) deserves special consideration on account of its importance in the decomposition of albumen. All the nitrogenous compounds resulting from the decomposition of albumen contain syanogen. This has a high internal energy, and it is therefore extremely unstable. Pflueger believes it to be a constituent of all living matter, and calls cyanic acid a "semi-living" molecule.

The presence of oxygen compounds increase the instability of the cyanogen compounds, so that, as in the case of the emanations, the least impulse suffices to make the living molecule explode and produce helium. The transformation of albumen takes place according to the same mathematical law as does the decay of radio-activity. Like the radio-active substances, albumen has a limited and predetermined life.

The phenomenon of life would thus become in principle identical with those of radio-activity, by an equally necessary result of known causes, but of a much wider scope in nature.

"Good" Spelling — Simplifying Spelling

1906

Scientific Phonetic Principles Groundwork of the Simplified Spelling Board's Crusade

By Benjamin E. Smith

It is true that the only really good spelling is phonetic spelling; it is unfortunately true that our orthography, though not wholly unphonetic, is from the true phonetic point of view little less than a nightmare; but it is also true that to reform it phonetically would necessitate a radical transformation of the great majority of the familiar forms of English words, because it would involve extensive alterations of the alphabet. To say, as some do, that this alphabetic reconstruction should be the end rather than the beginning — a goal to which a gradual approach may be made — is only to recommend the substitution of prolonged confusion and anarchy for a quick and sweeping revolution.

But that the great mass of English-speakers, who, as Prof. Lounsbury has said, have lost the phonetic sense, will consent to give up at once or gradually, through a transition period of vexatious confusion, their orthographic habits, their prejudices and their convenience, in order that their spelling, or that of their grandchildren, may assume a form which, from its strangeness seems to them utterly repulsive, is a supposition which cannot be entertained unless one relies upon the scientific accuracy of one's principles more than upon one's knowledge of human nature.

The full recognition of this fact by the Simplified Spelling Board is what chiefly distinguishes its program and makes it a practicable and hopeful one. All of its members, probably, heartily believe in the phonetic principle; they may expect or hope that some time it may be embodied in English orthography; but they are agreed that it must be subordinated to other practical principles in any reform for which it is reasonable to work. They have not abandoned the standard of the earlier revolt; but they have changed the point of attack and the plan of campaign. This should be distinctly grasped by all who are interested in their work and plans. — The Century.

The Growing Passion for Music

1906

By Rupert Hughes

Whatever the percentage of American musical illiteracy may have been a few years ago, it is beyond denial that there is a tremendous change at work. The whole nation is feeling a musical uplift like a sea that swells above a submarine earthquake.

The trouble hitherto has not been that Americans were of a fibre that was dead to musical thrill. Our hearts are not of flannel, and we are not a nation of soft pedals. We have simply been too busy hacking down trees and making bricks without straw, to go to music school. But now, the sewing machine, the telephone, the typewriter and the trolley car are sufficiently installed to give us leisure to take up music and see what there is in it.

We are beginning to learn that, while The Arkansas Traveler, Money Musk, and Nellie Was a Lady are all very well in their way, there are higher and more interesting things in music. There is an expression which musicians hear every day: "I am passionately fond of music but I don't understand it. I know what I like, but I can't tell why."

This speech has become a byword among trained musicians, but it indicates a widespread condition that is at once full of pathos and of hope. America as a nation is "passionately fond of music." It needs only an education in the means of expression. — Good Housekeeping.



Much Against Being Rich

1906

Bishop Gore was the preacher at the opening of the English Church Congress. "The late master of Balliol," he told the great congregation, "used often to say, in his detached way, that he was afraid there was much more in the New Testament against being rich and in favor of being poor than we liked to recognize."

Moonshine in New York

1906

"Don't talk to me about moonshine in Kentucky," said the internal revenue agent. "There's more moonshining going on all the time in little old New York than could be done in ten Kentuckys. In the crowded sections of the East and West Sides stills spring up right along and for a while conduct a flourishing business in the low grade whisky they manufacture. You see, it doesn't take much trouble to equip a still with corn and yeast and start in to make the mash which is finally turned out as a pretty poor sort of whisky. The great difficulty is in getting rid of the peculiar smoke and odor from stills without exciting suspicion. This is usually attempted by running the still in connection with a dye shop or some other chemical enterprise as a blind. We keep watch on all such establishments and have the town well covered by sharp eyed and sharp nosed agents besides. We are constantly arresting these small moonshiners and sending them to jail. But enough spring up in their places for you to say with safety that, as I say, there's more moonshining going on in New York City right along than there could be in ten Kentuckys."

Bereavement in Bombay — Bad English

1906

Lady Curzon made a point of collecting any amusing attempts made by Hindus to write English that came under her notice and had many curious specimens in her scrap book.

Once she got from Bombay a letter that two brothers sent out to their patrons on the death of their father, who had been the head of the firm. It ran:

"Gentlemen: We have the pleasure to inform you that our respected father departed this life on the 10th inst. His business will be conducted by his beloved sons, whose names are given below. The opium market is quiet and Mal. 1500 rupees per chest. O, death, where is thy sting? O, grave, where is thy victory? We remain, etc." — London Standard.

First Money Mark Twain Earned

1906

Marshall P. Wilder, in his book entitled The Sunny Side of the Street, says that he once asked Mark Twain if he could remember the first money he had ever earned.

"Yes," replied the famous humorist, "it was at school. There was a rule in our school that any boy marring his desk either with pencil or knife, would he chastised publicly before the whole school or pay a fine of $5.

"One day I had to tell my father that I had broken the rule, and had to pay a fine or take a public whipping, and he said:

" 'Sam, it would be too bad to have the name of Clemens disgraced before the whole school, so I'll pay the fine. But I don't want you to lose anything, so come upstairs.'

"I went upstairs with father and came down again feeling a tender spot with one hand and $5 in the other, and decided that as I had been punished once and got used to it, I wouldn't mind taking the other licking at school. So I did, and I kept the $5."

Words of Wisdom for Bachelors

1906

Candy catches more girls than poetry.

Half the time a girl gets engaged just for practice.

A man could be very fond of his sister if she were somebody else's.

There is money in most any occupation except the one you are in.

A man can keep a fair share of his popularity by not running for office.

It's very improper to do an improper thing you are going to get caught at.

A very rich widow can get very stout without any one daring to call her fat.

If a man did the things he tells his sons to do he would think he was a milk-sop.

What a woman likes about spooning in the moonlight is the way it doesn't hurt her complexion.

It takes a widow an awful long time to learn what she knew before her husband died.

You will always find that when a girl will admit her shoe pinches her it's over the instep.

A woman would be much crosser than she is if she weren't so busy trying to keep her husband from getting cross.

When a man tries to build a chicken house himself to save money it's a sign he is going to be broke for the next three years.

If a woman can't think of anything else to be miserable about she will go away from home so as to worry over the children.

Babies have very strong constitutions not to have spasms over every new language the women folk discover to talk to them.

A girl seems to have an awful easy time making a man think he wants to marry her, when she is the one that is doing the wanting.

There is hardly anything that tickles a woman so much as to have you remember her boy's name when you just happened to guess it. — From "Reflections of a Bachelor," in the New York Press.

Disinheriting Sons

1906

A Suggestion for the Chastening and Improvement of Rich Parents

The idea occurs to me that one of the laws most urgently needed would make it impossible for a son to inherit even a cent from his parents. Of course the female progeny of a man would have to be excepted from such an arrangement. Such legislation would oblige the indulgent father to give his son a common sense education, cultivate in him a sense of healthy independence. Secondly, the young man who, under the present dispensation, has more money than sense or conception of his ethical obligations to society would find his path less slippery and would have the rough corners of his self-conceit rounded out. Thirdly, parents would find life much easier and would get a chance to cross the Styx in a natural way, not accelerated by the heartache due to the behavior of their children; and fourthly, the proposition would act as a very convenient regulator for the distribution of the national wealth.

Let every man continue making all the money he can — the more the better. He may also spend it in whatever manner he pleases; but after his demise the money he has accumulated should revert to the State, except that part necessary in order to keep the wife of the deceased and the female members of his family in the degree of comfort enjoyed by them during the life of the individual concerned. In the case of the daughters of a man so deceased their share should also revert to the State at the time of their marriage; the benefits of their father's estate, however, should be assured them in case certain conditions should make matrimony an undesirable state. The widow should be subject to the same conditions — remarriage should cause her to forfeit all claims to her former husband's estate. In her case, however, the portion due should be subject to no other conditions. The last named arrangement would prevent a good many of the old man's darling marriages, and would cause a decided decrease in moral iniquity of a very obnoxious character.

This proposition naturally sounds radical enough to be called Spartan, yet such a law, while placing no curb on personal ambition, would rob thousands of misguided parents of the only pleasure they really have — that of slaving for an ungrateful posterity. A suggestion like this could, of course, only come from Sans Galette et Sans Famille, in the New York Sun.

The Chaperon for Young Ladies

1906
Of course the chaperon question, as it is generally understood, is a middle class one, says the London World; but Father Vaughan perfectly understood what he was saying when he alluded to the lack of surveillance of a properly dignified and perfectly agreeable kind from which so many girls really suffer nowadays.

This is due partly to the fact that mothers do not seem to be want to be bothered to look after their girls, and partly to the fact that hostesses seem to resent much "mothering." But even allowing for the fact that the preacher has not spared his colors in order to make his picture sufficiently striking, one knows perfectly well that far too much latitude is given to girls not only in country houses but in town as well.

It would not be at all a bad thing for English society if we could go back to the days when people keep almost absurdly watchful eyes on the proprieties. Their vigilance may sometimes have been eluded, it is true; it may sometimes have provoked ridicule, but at least it conveyed the idea that mothers set high standard for their girls, and were at some pains to see that they came somewhere near it.

It was good for men to feel this, moreover, for it surely made women seem better worth the winning if they had been jealously guarded under the experienced eye of a duenna who knew man and his ways.

Cuckoos and Cowbirds

1906

A Bad Lot — Other Birds Are Driven to Desperate Measures by Them

With all its vagabond ways the cowbird is scarcely as bad as the English cuckoo. It has all the sins of the cowbird, to which is added the worse one of turning the legitimate birdlings out of their nest.

It begins as soon as it is out of its shell, and never gives up till all have been thrown over the edge of the nest. The strange thing about it is that the parent birds care so faithfully for the selfish intruder, be it cuckoo or cowbird.

The presence of a young cowbird in a nest usually means that the smaller birds are either smothered or starved to death on account of its bulky body in the tiny nest and its voracious appetite.

Some little birds, notably the yellow warbler, are wise enough to recognize the strange egg, and to build a second story to their nest, thus shutting it away from warmth enough to hatch it. Sometimes, says a writer in Good Health, they even build a third story to cover up an egg that has been deposited in the second story. But enough birds are duped and imposed upon annually so that the cowbirds hold their own in numbers with other birds.

Comment: Hey, if that's what they do, that's nature. No reason to get sentimental about it. Birds basically do whatever they're supposed to do.

Germans Bury Dead Without Clothing

1918

Permit Only Paper to Be Wrapped About Bodies to Be Interred

The Germans are expected to strip their dead before they bury them. Bodies are to be placed into the coffins without a stitch of clothing. They may be wrapped in paper, however. This is the only concession made to the relatives of the dead, whose feelings are hurt by the order.

Clothing is very scarce in Germany. Every scrap counts. The government has no use for sentimentalists who would squander garments on the dead while the living are without clothes. The rules and regulations regarding burials are not observed strictly enough by the population of Munich, says the Neueste Nachrichten. According to a report published by the mayor's office there were 936 men buried in Prince Albert coats and 1,300 men buried in sack coats during the year, while 136 women were buried in silk and 2,132 in woolen dresses.

In Munich the custom of hiring women who attend to washing and dressing the dead is in vogue. These women, the official attendants of the dead, have been ordered by the mayor to refuse their services wherever they are asked to put into the coffin a corpse clothed in anything but paper. These professional women are held responsible for the execution of the edict.

In order to facilitate matters it has been proposed to inaugurate a new activity on the part of the state. All the clothing worn by and left by a person deceased is to be turned over to the authorities, who will furnish a paper costume for the body. Thus no more of these precious textile materials are to be buried with the dead.

A Magnificent Speech on Tennyson's "Enoch Arden"

Georgia, 1896

A Magnificent Speech

Miss Edna Miller, of Miss Hanna's School, in Debate

Her Speech Delivered at the Tennyson Evening Given by Miss Hanna's School Was Superb

On the evening of the 2d of this month the girls of Miss Hanna's school gave a Tennyson evening, which proved a great success. The greater part of the programme was a debate upon the subject, "Resolved, That Philip Ray was a nobler character than Enoch Arden."

About a half dozen were on either side and the debate was one of the best ever heard by girls. A committee composed of Dr. J. B. Hawthorne, Judge Milton A. Candler, Colonel W. S. Thomson and Mr. C. L. Brooks decided the debated question in favor of the negative side, but Dr. Hawthorne in stating the decision, said that this was only because the burden of proof rested upon the affirmative side. He said they had done equally as well as the other side, but no better, consequently the decision was for the negative side.

The speech of Miss Edna Miller, the bright young daughter of Captain John A. Miller, on this occasion so impressed the large audience that The Junior publishes it in full this week with the picture of the bright girl who delivered it with such becoming grace. Never before did a fifteen-year-old girl impress an audience so deeply. Her speech was frequently interrupted with applause.

"Resolved, That in Tennyson's poem, 'Enoch Arden,' of the two principal characters Philip Ray's was the nobler."

The English language has few, if any, tenderer, purer, sweeter or more pathetic stories than that which gives to us the characters of Enoch Arden, Philip Ray and Annie Lee.

The immortal Tennyson in this tale of love and pathos, of griefs and joys, gives to the world three of the most lofty, noble and unselfish characters known to our literature. Of these characters we shall contend that Philip Ray's was the noblest — the most exalted.

While the discussion proposed for this evening must of necessity magnify and elevate characters respectively championed, still it would seem a little unfortunate that two such characters as Enoch Arden and Philip Ray should be brought into that contrast which debates always require.

Before entering properly into the discussion of our subject we desire to insist that the story of Enoch Arden, as told by Tennyson, makes a complete record of the facts. That the pictures, so to say, as he paints them are all that can be legitimately considered.

I am aware that the temptation here to indulge in flights of fancy and imagination is great, but contend that no speculation as to motives or conditions or circumstances not specified in the poem should be given weight.

That nobleness of soul and character which stamps its possessor as a true hero most frequently exists in lives of suffering hid behind faces that smile.

The greatest battles of this life are those that are fought within the hearts of men. Great heroes suffer and are silent. The true test — and the hardest — of greatness of heart is in weathering disappointments and bearing with grace defeats.

Enoch Arden spoke his love, Philip Ray loved in silence. As the current of the mighty river his love, though silent, was deep and enduring, Enoch Arden was the successful suitor of the hand of the fair Annie Lee. Philip Ray was rejected.

Our story does not disclose in the life of Enoch Arden that any such severe test was ever applied to him as the youthful Philip Ray was forced to meet when he sued for the hand of Annie Lee and lost, and was forced to become a spectator to the bliss which his life coveted.

That strength of mind and nobility of heart which enables an individual to suffer and smile as Philip Ray did through this most trying ordeal is an unmistakable evidence of the highest order of heroism; the magnanimity with which he yields this prize, the absence of revenge and resentment and the unselfishness with which he labored ever afterwards to promote the highest interest of his successful rival is absolute proof of his pre-eminent nobility. The basis of all true heroism is unselfishness. That heart which can resign to another those things most loved is truly noble. To illustrate how far this nobleness of soul was found in the character of Phillip Ray let us briefly recount his cares and his battles and how he met them.

Without murmur or complaint he bowed to the choice which Annie Lee made between himself and Enoch Arden. From the standpoint of human nature his treatment to Enoch Arden and Annie Lee after this would have been indifferent and unfriendly, but with him, never for once is such a spirit manifested. During Enoch Arden's long absence on his unfortunate sea voyage he is ever mindful of the highest interest of his wife and children. When the hand of providence opened the way he came to Annie in her grief and despair and comforted her and helped her — educated her children and made himself a father to them, saying all the while he desired to carry out what Enoch wished.

In every way did he seek to contribute to the need of Annie and her children, and that, too, with that delicate loftiness of heart which makes him at once the very paragon of nobleness and goodness. When ten long years had elapsed since Enoch Arden's departure and all hope of his return had died, he ventured to make Annie his wife, saying all the while that he would be content to be loved a little less than Enoch. And when Annie puts him off from year to year, and month to month he tenderly tells her to take her own time — his every action proving that in seeking to become the husband of the supposed widow his highest desire is to gain the position wherein he can best contribute to her needs and promote her welfare. Unselfish, generous, noble Philip Ray — let no tongue seek to cast a blot upon the manliness and nobility of heart which knows no malice, no revenge.

What grave injustice is done to true magnanimity when anything but the highest of motives is assigned for the most exalted actions.

Enoch Arden had his trials, but none that showed the great and noble character which Philip Ray's life developed. Enoch Arden was shipwrecked at sea, but Philip Ray had shipwrecked hopes. Enoch Arden was far removed from the scene of his home and loved ones, Philip Ray from the time that Enoch Arden won the hand of Annie Lee was a constant spectator of his own blasted hopes. The superlative degree of nobility and heroism finds a proper illustration only in the ability of the individual to live in unselfishness and in the every outward indication of absolute peace of mind while coming in daily contact with the fact which robs life of its charm. Without murmur of complaint Philip Ray for long, long years was a witness to the joy and happiness of the more fortunate Enoch Arden. Measured by any standard which true philosophy accepts Philip Ray has no superior in any country or any age.

In these two characters we find much to admire and love, much to commend and little to condemn. Weighed, however, in that balance which estimates true nobility, generosity of soul and loftiness of purpose and of heart, and the character of Philip Ray has scarcely a parallel. While less strong and daring in physique than Enoch Arden, yet that strength of soul which makes true nobility was found in him to a higher degree than in Enoch Arden. Enoch Arden's life was more dashing, perchance more brilliant, and certainly more dramatic, but it clearly lacked that evenness of temper, that patient fortitude, that noble self-sacrifice which Philip Ray's possessed. The tragic ending of Enoch Arden's life certainly moves us to sympathetic tears and genuine grief, but this should not draw us from a proper consideration of the true greatness of the character of Philip Ray.

In the great battles royal of life — wherein are determined the highest nobility — no test can be more trying and more searching than that to which the poet subjects Philip Ray. The test was like a refiner's fire. How well he stood it and what greatness of character he displays, the story itself reveals. No one who pretends to a knowledge of what constitutes true strength of character will for a moment doubt or dispute that more of the elements of the true and noble soul are found to exist in the character of Philip Ray than in Enoch Arden. And pray, how are we to judge of nobility of soul if not by the standard of practical every-day greatness? What a low standard of greatness is set up if we allow the sad surroundings of Enoch Arden to outweigh the true nobleness of Philip Ray! Take nine out of ten of the civilized men and under like environments with Enoch Arden they would become the hero he did. But how many of the same men do we see failing in the every day battles of life which were so bravely fought and won by Philip Ray?

Enoch Arden excites our pity and compassion — the exalted character of Philip Ray commands our profoundest respect and admiration.

—The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, March 22, 1896, p. 2 children's section, The Constitution, Jr.

Note: No picture of Edna Miller was actually printed with the article.

A Little Hostess at Her Seventh Birthday Party

Georgia, 1896

A Little Hostess

Josephine Davis Entertains Friends on Her Seventh Birthday

On the afternoon of Saturday, the 14th instant, from 3 to 6 o'clock, Josephine Davis, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Allan P. Davis, entertained her little friends a "pink heart" party, in honor of her seventh birthday.

After playing many interesting games beneath the softened luster of light falling through delicate pink shades, refreshments were served to the guests from a table exquisite in every appointment. In the center a large mirror represented a lake, upon whose waveless surface a heart-shaped cake rested, and sustained seven lighted candles, while beautiful smilax fell in graceful folds to the water's edge. A fairy lamp shone on a large smilax heart, which depended from the chandelier. At one end of the table seven La France roses wafted their perfume to seven pink carnations at the other side.

One of the most enjoyable features was the cutting of the birthday cake, containing a beautiful diamond ring, the fortunate winner being George Everett. As each little guest departed, leaving many wishes and expressions of a most delightful time, he or she was presented with a souvenir basket of bon-bons, daintily tied with pink ribbons.

Miss Annie Louise Dennis delighted the company with a waltz, finely executed, while little Miss Wright, from Rome, reminded every one of a French marquise with her dainty little figure robed in filmy white, her hair like prisoned moonbeams in the light, and dark, shining eyes.

There were present: Athena Hill, Lillian Woodside, Claud Patterson, Nannelle Crawford, Alice Ormond, Laura Witham, Nellie Bell Catlett, Helen Ware, Annie Louise Dennis, Alberta Orr, Fannie Peck, Jennie Hutchins, May Robson, May Van Devender, Clara Hutchins, Minneta Hill, Josephine Davis, Jennie Butler, Mata Woodward, Addle Wright, Clarence Davis, Emerson Peck, Paul Orr, Harold Fuller, Fred Patterson, George Everett, Clayton Orr, Hoyt Peck, Wilson Sheldon, Stewart Witham, Starr Peck, Reid Ware, Johnny Woodside, Roger Gardien, Donald Fuller, Dan Woodward, Charley Randall, Alf Ford, Wayne McDonald, Dawson McDonald.

The little hostess was the recipient of many beautiful gifts.

—The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, March 22, 1896, p. 3, children's pages.

Tips for Green Automobilists

1905

Directions and Suggestions Which May or May Not Be Useful

One of the first things required of the genuine automobilist is that he mustn't know anything about it. And the second is like unto the first, which is that a man should disregard his neighbors as much as he loves himself, says Life.

These things being understood in the beginning, your standing among the fraternity is assured. Here are, in addition, a few minor matters that need attention:

When you start out, be sure that your mixture is correct. Put about five gallons of 76 gasoline into your tank, and add to this a couple of highballs for yourself. You will be surprised how much better the machine will run.

Upon the extreme care and minuteness with which you examine your auto before starting out will depend the almost absolute certainty of breaking down. Don't miss anything, therefore, from the steering apparatus to the spark plug.

One of the greatest things about automobiling is the way it trains the senses. By practice you will get so that you can pass through the most beautiful scenery without being aware of it, thus acquiring that superb concentration necessary. And you will soon be able to detect any unusual smell and locate it at once.

Be sure to buy the most complete set of tools known, and then, before starting out, take from them the one tool you will most certainly need and leave it carefully behind you. After awhile this will become second nature, so that you won't even have to think about it.

Remember that to keep your auto in the best condition you must lubricate it constantly. To do this successfully use, say, one-half as much cylinder oil on the machinery as you use on yourself. By and by you can tell by the way you feel whether everything is in good running shape or not.

Do not be discouraged if your carburetor gives out, your batteries lay down on you, your connecting rod refuses to connect, or you are confronted by a missing link in your chain. You are, of course, able to support yourself in luxury and discomfort, or you wouldn't have a motor car anyway; so remember that many a man who has more money than you has had the same things happen to him.

And finally, when you have anything happen to you, keep it secret from the presence of your enemies. But when you lie, lie openly — just as if you believed it yourself.

The Wogglebug Story — Witches and Hobgoblins

Wisconsin, 1905

Bachelor Brothers Move Away to Avoid Witches and Hobgoblins

Christian and William Born, who live in Lebanon on the Woodland R.F.D. road next to J. B. Schneider, have been busy for some time past in building a sort of a Noah's ark on wheels, and there has been considerable speculation by their neighbors as to whether the outfit would turn out to be an automobile or a flying machine. Nothing would have surprised their friends, however, as the boys have long been regarded as foolish.

Last week Thursday they loaded up their deep sea going cab with a number of trunks and boxes, and started on a pilgrimage, leaving everything on the place as though they intended returning that day. Their shepherd dog was left as custodian over the eighty acre farm and about thirty head of stock, besides a large number of chicks.

When they did not return that day nor the next the neighbors went over and cared for the stock and notified the chairman of the town, Herman Witte, of the case. He started a deputy sheriff after the boys, and he overtook the outfit at Troy Center Tuesday evening. They said they were en route to the sunny south in obedience to a command from the spirit of their dead father, who has also ordered the construction of their portable house. The deputy invited them to return by rail with him to Juneau to meet a number of his friends, members of the medical profession and they readily assented, as their team needed a rest anyway. So they are now in Juneau, where they were examined as to their sanity.

The boys' father died some years ago, and they have been living with their mother on the farm, neither of them being married, although they are both over forty-five years of age. They have been having a strenuous time with the witches and hobgoblins the past year. Somebody bewitched three of their best milkers at a time when milk was high, while another witch cast a spell over their chickens when the egg market was around thirty cents. All this they were up against for years and withstood manfully, but when the Wogglebug told them that their farm was heavily encumbered and would soon be foreclosed upon by a number of witches, they gave up in despair and at this time their father's spirit appeared and billed them for a trip to Missouri.

The neighbors say that Mrs. Born has been mentally unsound for years, and that the boys have always been very eccentric and extremely superstitious.

Their team and wagon passed through the village this afternoon being driven back to Lebanon, and its odd appearance attracted lots of attention. — Neosho Standard.

Character In the Eyebrows

1907

An arched eyebrow does not indicate the highest order of intelligence, but is expressive of great sensibility. Scant growth of the eyebrows denotes lack of vitality. On the contrary, heavy, thick eyebrows indicate a strong constitution and great physical endurance. They are not beautiful on a woman's face, however much they may signify either mental or bodily vigor, and when they are not only heavy, but droop and meet at the nose they are disagreeable and are said to accompany an insincere and prying nature. Long, drooping eyebrows, lying wide apart, indicate an amiable disposition. Where the eyebrows are lighter in color than the hair the indications are lack of vitality and great sensitiveness.

Faintly defined eyebrows placed high above the nose are signs of indolence and weakness. Very black eyebrows give the face an intense and searching expression. When natural, they accompany a passionate temperament.

Very light eyebrows rarely are seen on strongly intellectual faces, although the color of the eyebrows is not accepted simply as denoting lack of intelligence. The form gives the key to the faculties and their direction. Red eyebrows denote great fervor and ambition; brown, a medium between the red and black. — Exchange.

An Extinct Animal — Saber Toothed Tiger

1907

The Saber Toothed Tiger Was a Formidable Creature

The most remarkable of all the extinct feline animals are those known to naturalists as the saber toothed cats or tigers, a group comprising the greater part of all the fossil forms. They date back to the earliest times of which we know anything about the family in North America and reach down to the time of man himself.

A large and powerful species described from the Indian Territory by Cope lived contemporaneously with the hairy mammoth, as evidenced by the commingling of their skeletons. There can be little or no question but that the hairy mammoth was contemporaneous with man in North America as well as in Europe. Its geological range is from the close of the Eocene to the latter part of the Pleistocene.

The chief peculiarity of the animal is the extraordinary elongated canine teeth. The tail is of unusual length and the legs are short. The animal measures about seven feet in length aside from the tail. The lower jaws have a downward projection in front, due to a flange-like widening of the jawbones, which doubtless served as a protection to the teeth, preventing their injury or loss. In some of the larger forms from South America this flange was not present, while the canine teeth were even more elongated than is the case with this species, attaining a length of over six inches and protruding far below the jaws when closed.


A Chinese Solomon

Two Chinamen, brothers, well advanced in age, quarreled over a piece of land which they had jointly inherited from their father and went to law. The native magistrate heard the testimony on both sides and determined that both were wrong and both right, according to the different points of view. Therefore, instead of rendering a judgment in favor of either, he ordered that both be locked up in a cangue with their heads fastened face to face and kept there until they settled their quarrel. The cangue is a sort of cage in which prisoners are placed with their necks locked into a hole in a board. It resembles somewhat the stocks which were used for the punishment of malefactors in olden times. When the brothers were placed in the cangue, they were both very stubborn and indignant, but toward the end of the second day they began to weaken and on the third day reached a satisfactory settlement and were released.

What a Good Circus Rider Can Make

1907

They Earn Good Salaries, but Their Careers Are Short

A man horseback rider receives from $75 to $125 a week, and his career as a principal rider lasts about ten years. It is short not so much because these men get stiff and lose their agility as because they lose their nerve. Nearly all circus folk marry young, and with their added responsibilities comes a lively sense of danger which they ignored in younger days.

A man rider who cannot turn a somersault on a horse cannot command more than $50 a week. A woman rider who can perform this feat gets from $150 to $200 a week if she is a finished rider.

This isn't much when all the disadvantages of the calling are taken into consideration, but it should be remembered that all the expenses are paid, including the care, feeding and of course the transportation of their horses. All they have to provide is their own clothing. For the men riders clothes do not constitute much of a factor, and the women nearly always make their own, except those provided by the management.

Making Artificial Pearls

1907

What a Little Silver Fish Taught a French Beadmaker

"I'll tell you," said a jeweler, "how the wonderfully perfect artificial pearl came to be invented.

"A rich French beadmaker, Molse Jaquin — he lived in the seventeenth century — found a pond in his garden covered one morning with a lovely silvery luster. Amazed, he called his gardener, who said it was nothing — some albettes had got crushed; that was all.

"Albettes were little silver fish, bleaks the Leuciscus alournus. The gardener explained that if you crushed them they always gave the water a pearly sheen like that. Jaquin put on his thinking cap.

"For six years he worked with beads and bleaks, wasting millions of both, but finally he achieved success. He learned how to extract the pearly luster from the bleaks' scales and to cover a glass bead with it.

"What he did — and his method is still used — was to scrape the scales from the fish, wash and rub them and save the water. The water, decanted, gave off a lustrous fluid of the thickness of oil, a veritable pearl paint, a magic fluid that imparts a lovely pearly sheen to everything it is applied to.

"It takes 1,000 bleaks to yield an ounce of this pearl paint. — New Orleans Times-Democrat.

The Longest Year on Record — 46 B.C.

1907

The year B. C. 46, by order of Julius Caesar, the then reigning Roman emperor, contained 445 days. To clear away all the confusion which had previously existed in reconciling the lunar with the solar year, Caesar, with the help of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, undertook a thorough reform of the calendar. He effected it by making the year now called 46 B. C., "the year of confusion," consist of 445 days and the succeeding years of 365 days, with the exception of every fourth year, which was to consist of 366. This method is called the Julian calendar.

The number of days in the months from January to December before Caesar's time had been respectively 29, 28, 31, 29, 31, 29, 31, 29, 29, 31, 29, 29. These numbers Caesar changed to 31 and 30 alternately, with the exception of February, which was to have 29 in ordinary years and 30 in leap years. In honor of himself he changed to July the name of the month that followed June. The pontiffs in applying the Julian calendar went wrong by inserting leap year every three years instead of every four years, and this continued till the year now called 8 B. C., when the Emperor Augustus ordained there should be no leap year for twelve years, which made leap year occur in 4 A. D. At the same time Augustus gave his own name to the month following July, adding one day to it, which he took away from February.

Joys of a Collector

1907

Picking Up a Valuable Painting at an Auction Sale

Collecting will always have its romances. I know of one that occurred at the sale at Christie's of the effects of the late Sir Henry Irving. Some one I knew had been to see the collection before the sale. He came across a portrait with which he was familiar because he had seen it thirty years before.

On consulting his catalogue he discovered that the portrait was described as being that of a man unknown, and, further, the artist was also unknown. Now, he knew that the portrait was that of a famous actor by a famous English painter. He longed to buy it, but decided that it would go at too high a price. He went to the auction with very little hope. The Whistler and the Sargent were sold, and then it was the turn of this picture. Nobody recognized it. Finally he had to start the bidding himself, and this he did. Only one man bid against him, but he soon stopped, discouraged, and then the picture was knocked down to the man who had never expected to get it.

He hurried to the desk to pay the small amount and to carry off his prize. "Do you happen to know anything about that portrait?" the auctioneer asked him as a porter took it down to a cab. "I know it very well," said the new owner, conscious that it was now safely his property. "It is a portrait of Buckstone, the actor, by Daniel Maclise. There is an engraving of it in the Maclise portrait gallery." — Mrs. John Lane in Pearson's Magazine.

Nuggets — "Genius is Inspiration"

1907

Genius is inspiration. Talent is perspiration.

Do not measure your enjoyment by the amount of money spent in producing it.

Education turns the wild sweetbrier into the queenly rose.

A vigorous initiative and strong self faith make up the man of power.

Be sure that the honors you are striving for are not really dishonors.

What men get and do not earn is often a curse instead of a blessing.

You can purchase a man's labor, but you've got to cultivate his good will.

Ignorance itself is a disease, the deepest, most treacherous and damning malady of the soul.

Worry poisons the mind just as much as a deadly drug would poison the body and just as surely.

While you stand deliberating which book your son shall read first, another boy has read both. — Success Magazine.

Your True Commuter Enjoys the Routine

1907

He Must Be by Nature a Man Who Takes to Routine

Your true commuter must be by nature a man who takes to routine. There are some who have commuted for a quarter century or more and yet have not acquired the trick and never will. They are the ones who write letters to the newspapers, airing their grievances against the heartless railroad corporations. They are not born commuters. They have had commutation thrust upon them.

But many really enjoy the life of the commuter. They like the clocklike regularity. They like the pleasant social aspect of the early morning trip to town, the neighborly interest in one another's affairs, the ample time for reading the newspapers, which numerous city residents miss by not being obliged to get an early start. They look forward to the pleasant relaxation of the whist game on the way home, with head on one side to keep the smoke out of their eyes. Some of them even say that they enjoy being awakened early in the morning.

In time all who work in New York will come to it. Meanwhile, for the man with a family it appears to be in many ways a happy solution of a difficult problem. Undoubtedly it is a more wholesome existence physically, but mentally and spiritually it has the defects of its virtues when pursued all the year round. The commuter devotes the best part of the day to one narrow corner of the city. The rest of his time not consumed on the train is in still more narrowing atmosphere of the suburbs. He neither gets all the way into the life of the city nor clean out into the country. So his view of things has neither the perspective of robust rurality nor the sophistication of a man in the city and of it. His return to nature is only halfway. His urbanity is suburbanity. Much of our literature, art and especially criticisms show the taint of the commuter's point of view. — Jesse Lynch Williams in Century.

The Telephone — The Operator Wants to Connect You

1907

What It Means When the Operator Announces "Line Busy."

It is easier for an operator to establish a connection than reply, "Line busy." Recollection of this simple fact may perhaps smooth out the asperities of a state of mind evoked by a hasty conclusion that the operator simply is shirking.

Follow a call into the main exchange, for example. You ask for a certain number. The operator immediately informs you the line is busy. How does she know? Simply by a little admonitory click in the receiver when she tries to "plug in" on the line asked for. She cannot tell you who is talking on the line, how long it has been in use or how long it is likely to be "busy." All the information she possesses is a click, but it is sufficient to advise her that some one of the 150 other operators in the exchange had a prior call from or to that number. Had the line been clear the effort to complete the connection would have been no greater than that required to get the click; hence the task of informing a caller that the line is busy is just so much extra labor — in fact, it involves a double burden, as the subscriber will usually repeat the call until he is able to transact his business.

Obviously, therefore, the desire of the operator is to establish the connection when it is first called for. She has no motive in doing otherwise. — Telephone Talk.

Animal Traits

1907

Reminders In the Foal and the Calf of Their Wild Ancestors

It is an interesting study to note in domestic animals the traits of their wild ancestors. There are some characteristics, of course, which are readily recognizable as being similar to those of animals still in a wild state, and for this reason they give a fair idea of the life and surroundings of progenitors. The habits of the dog and cat are too familiar to comment on, but take the foal and compare his traits with those of the calf.

The foal when a few days old can gallop as fast as he ever can in after life. He never leaves the dam and takes nourishment in small quantities, avoiding a full meal, which would impede swift escape. In lying down no attempt is made at concealment, and when he stands his head is held high. These habits show that the animal's ancestors spent their lives in the open and not in the forests and that they were great travelers.

The calf, on the contrary, fills himself with milk and is a poor traveler. When danger approaches his first impulse is to conceal himself. He holds his head low in order to look under the branches of the forest. All his characteristics point to the fact that the ancestral home of cattle was in a moist, wooded country, while the primeval horse roamed the plains. — London Chronicle.