Jenny Lind's Great Triumph

1906

Won Jealous Rival by Sweetness of Simple Song

A beautiful little incident is told concerning Jenny Lind and Grisi, when they were rivals for popular favor in London. Both were invited to sing the same night at a court concert before the queen. Jenny Lind, being the younger, sang first, and was so disturbed by the fierce, scornful look of Grisi that she was at the point of failure, when suddenly an inspiration came to her. The accompanist was striking his final chords. She asked him to rise and took the vacant seat. Her fingers wandered over the keys in a loving prelude, and then she sang a little prayer which she had loved as a child. She hadn't sung it for years. As she sang she was no longer in the presence of royalty, but singing to loving friends in her fatherland.

Softly at first the plaintive notes floated on the air, swelling louder and richer every moment. The singer seemed to throw her whole soul into that weird, thrilling, plaintive "prayer." Gradually the song died away and ended in a sob. There was silence — the silence of admiring wonder. The audience sat spell-bound. Jenny Lind lifted her sweet eyes to look into the scornful face that had so disconcerted her. There was no fierce expression now; instead, a tear-drop glistened on the long, black lashes, and after a moment, with the impulsiveness of a child of the tropics, Grisi crossed to Jenny Lind's side, placed her arms about her, and kissed her, utterly regardless of the audience. — Exchange.

Comment: Maybe they ought to try that on American Idol. But you could say, 'Isn't it just like Grisi, stealing Jenny's moment and drawing attention to herself after such a tender moment?!' (The sentiment of this article is kind of sickening.)

Boats to Prevent Suicide

1906

For the saving of would-be suicides, the municipality of Rome has decided to employ police motor boats on the Tiber.


Decided Horse Committed Suicide

In a lawsuit at Aberdeen, Washington, over a horse whose death the owner attributed to a man who had hired it, the court decided the animal had committed suicide.


Suicide Statistics

Sundays from 9 to 12 at night is the favorite time for women to commit suicide. Taking all days into consideration, more men kill themselves than women in the proportion of seven to two.


"Anatomy of Melancholy"

Robert Burton published the "Anatomy of Melancholy" at 45. It was written to relieve the strain of mind bordering on insanity.

Expressions of a Prima Donna

1906

America is delightful!
Yes, football is too rough.
New York is wonderful, magnificent!
American women are the most beautiful and charming on earth.
Nothing is better for the complexion than Smearine.
The tones of the Pianoleon are exquisite.
I always take Doperine for headaches.
Eau de Swash is the finest hair tonic.
The Gasmoblle is the best made.
Denticide is excellent for the teeth.
I can't breakfast without Boneless Oats.
N. G. corsets are the only proper ones.
Never travel without Sneezerine for coughs and colds.
I fervently recommend Scrubolio.
By all means try Nervosis.
Yes, this is positively my last season on the stage.
I expect to get the decree next week. — Smart Set.

Ignore Them — Mosquitoes

1910

The best way to get rid of the mosquito, says the Brooklyn Eagle, is to get the habit of not minding him, like the natives. No native or resident of a few months in a mosquito section minds mosquitoes any more than he does flies. But this method is slow in its appeal to the man who finds the pests attack him with more zeal than they do the natives.


He Knew About Ice Cream

The first time three-year-old Ray noticed a rainbow he shouted: "Oh! That looks just like ice cream in the sky!"


Money Well Spent

"I suppose to educate your daughter in music costs a great deal of money?"
"Yes; but she's brought it all back for me."
"Indeed!"
"Yes; I'd been trying to buy out my next door neighbor at half price for years, and could never bring him to terms until she came home!"

Little Visits with "Uncle By"

The Globe, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Aug. 16, 1906, p. 3.

Many a dollar necktie covers a 30-cent shirt.

The baseball season is for summer only, but the moth ball is for all the year round.

"I lie in the fragrant meadows," sings a pastoral poetess. She could come into the city and make money by it. Others do.

"The House of a Thousand Candles" is to be dramatized. That many candles in the theater ought to put the footlights out of business.

The girl who is proposed to and says, "This is so sudden," should remember that the young man will always give her time to turn down the gas before answering.

It is said that smoking at great heights gives no pleasure. Presumably that is why smoking in the haymow usually turns Little Willie's stomach inside out.

Adam invented the hammer, the slangist utilized it in his infinitive "to knock," but the man who hit his finger instead of the nail, was the first man on record with a swear word.

A railway authority says one of the probabilities is the establishing of through railroad service between North and South America. Wonder what it will cost in tips to make the trip.

It is predicted that Chicago will some day be destroyed by an earthquake. In which case, if it destroyed the cable lines and the stockyards smell, the game might be worth the candle.

A Nebraska man undressed in his berth on board a sleeping car and threw his trousers out of the window instead of into the hammock as he supposed. He went to the hotel in a sheet and a sickish smile.

"Have you ever driven along a country road by moonlight?" asks Craig Law in Four-Track News. You bet, and she was the prettiest, daintiest, sweetest bunch of taffeta and frizzes that ever made a fellow's heart go pit-i-pat.

When a street car fare is paid in Copenhagen, Denmark, the conductor thanks the passenger and gives him a receipt. When a street car fare is paid in Chicago, the conductor growls because you give him a two-dollar bill and you fight for a transfer.

"The heart of a woman who has lived to be 70 has beaten 260,000,000 times," says an exchange. Does this allow for the loss of beats when the baby fell into the soapsuds or the mother swallowed a safety pin, and the heart stood still? Shouldn't there be a considerable rebate for the times "my heart just stopped beating"?

Maria Beavers Paris

Leon, Iowa area, 1906

Maria Beavers was born May 24, 1845, in Highland county, Ohio, died at her home in Leon, Iowa, May 9, 1906, aged 81 years, 11 months 15 days.

The deceased moved with her parents, Joseph and Christina Beavers, to Decatur county, in 1855, where she was united in marriage to William H. Paris, July 12, 1866. They were the parents of nine children, four of whom died in infancy. On April 23, 1897, this happy union was severed by the death of the husband.

The five living children, Mrs. Cora Campbell, of near Leon, Mrs. Etta Rosengrant and Mrs. Nanna Warrington, of near Garden Grove, Mrs. Frank Manning, of near Kellerton and Ralph, of Leon, were present during her sickness. She was suddenly taken with pneumonia May 4th, and lived but five days. All was done for her that kind friends and willing hands could do, but the disease claimed her so far as earthly appearance is concerned, but death is not the victor, for the same Christ who loved her and who conquered death will care for her and take her home to rest. Mrs. Paris united with the Christian church under the pastorate of Elder Hubble about two years ago, remaining a faithful member until death. She was also an esteemed member of the Women's Relief Corps, of Leon.

She was a kind mother and neighbor, and numbered her friends by her acquaintances. Elder D. F. Sellards conducted a short service at the home in Leon and the main service at High Point. The W. R. C. of Leon and Garden Grove assisted at the grave. Services Friday at the home at 11:30 a.m., at High Point 3 p.m.

Thirty Girls Eat Ice Cream

Illinois, 1906

Drill Corps the Guests of General Pennypacker

As guests of General Galusha Pennypacker of Philadelphia, Pa., who is visiting with "Dad" Stearns at the Decatur hotel, the members of the Girls' Drill Corps ate ice cream and cake until they could eat no more Monday night.

Last Saturday General Pennypacker was invited by Commandant James M. Cowan to use the girls drill. He was so delighted with them and with their fine maneuvering that he asked how he could recompense them for his pleasure. He said he thought it was a notable thing to put "thirty young women together for thirty minutes, and have only one do the talking." He suggested ice cream, and the young girls gathered at the Decatur hotel Monday night at his invitation.

There was music during the evening, and "Dad" read some poems and sang, accompanied by his son, Charles Stearns, on the guitar. The general wrote his name and address on the paper napkin of each guest.

—The Daily Review, Decatur, IL, May 15, 1906, p. 7.

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.