A Brilliant Idea

1895

A German paper tells an amusing story of Cumberland, the thought reader. On a journey from Vienna to St. Petersburg he entertained his fellow passengers by guessing their thoughts. One of the travelers, a Polish Jew, who took the whole thing for a hoax, offered to pay Cumberland the sum of 50 rubles if he could divine his thoughts. Visibly amused, Cumberland acceded to his request and said: "You are going to the fair at Nijni-Novgorod, where you intend to purchase goods to the extent of 20,000 rubles, after which you will declare yourself a bankrupt and compound with your creditors for 3 per cent."

On hearing these words the Jew gazed at the speaker with reverential awe. He then, without uttering a syllable, drew out of the leg of his boot a shabby purse and handed him the 50 rubles, whereupon the great magician triumphantly inquired, "Then I have guessed your thoughts, eh?" "No," replied the Jew, "but you have given me a brilliant idea."


Trivia

Several flutes, still perfect and capable of producing musical tones, have been taken from the Egyptian catacombs.

New London, Connecticut, was at first called Tawagog.

Old Ways of Keeping Time

1910

Devices That Were Adopted by the Egyptians, Romans and Early English People

As far back as history will take us we find that there was always some crude means of reckoning time. The clock is, of course, a comparatively modern invention, the first mechanical ones that would keep the time even approximately having been made in 1250 A.D.

The early Egyptians divided the day and night each into 12 hours, a custom adopted by the Jews or Greeks probably from the Babylonians.

The day is said to have been first divided into hours in 293 B.C., when a sun dial was erected in the temple of Quirinus at Rome. As early as 158 B.C. the time was called in the streets of Rome by regular public criers.

In the early history of England we are told that the people found a means of measuring time by the use of wax candles. It was reckoned that three inches of candle would last an even hour.

Among most of the nations of the north day began at sunrise, while among the Athenians and Jews it began at sunset. With the ancient Romans it began, as it does with us, at midnight.

Dreyfus at Rennes

1899

Justice may be done at Rennes, but Dreyfus will never be a national hero. The world will probably pity him, and Frenchmen may reluctantly admit that he has been treacherously dealt with and cruelly used; but he lacks the qualities which his own nation admires in a public man.

He has a strong but not a handsome face. His figure is bent. He has quiet dignity but lacks a commanding presence. His manner is cold and reserved. His emotions are generally under the control of a strong will. His face and bearing repel rather than excite sympathy.

The French are an excitable people who like melodrama in their public life. Dreyfus is not a man capable of striking an attitude and posing before them as the victim of conspiracy and oppression who has baffled and triumphed gloriously over his enemies. He neither appeals to their imaginations nor excites their emotions. The pathos of his lot does not touch their hearts and induce hero-worship. Even when convinced of his innocence they will look upon him as an unfortunate Jew, who has been baited and nearly hounded to death.

Americans may judge of him differently, but Frenchmen are strangely and perversely indifferent to either English or American opinion. They can never make a popular idol of a scapegoat for the crimes of military intriguers. Their heroes must be men of action, with a vainglorious faith in their own destiny, with a theatrical air and with fascinations of personality. Dreyfus as he is seen at. Rennes is merely, in their eyes, a poor dupe who has suffered until the iron has entered into his soul.

At the time of writing this article Dreyfus's trial is not completed. Should he be acquitted his resignation from the army will probably follow, and years of exile in England. Evil passions have been excited by the prolonged excitement of the Dreyfus affair. The Jews in France will not benefit by his acquittal. They will be more vehemently disliked because he has been misjudged and cruelly wronged.

In any event Dreyfus will not have suffered in vain. Militarism will never again be the blind, unreasoning force which it has been in France. Justice and mercy, those grand Hebraic virtues of the ancient Scriptures, will have a deeper meaning throughout the world in consequence of the wrongs suffered by this patient, unhappy Alsatian Jew.