The Toast of the Evening

1895

It is not always a pleasant thing to be called upon suddenly to address a public meeting of any sort, as is amusingly illustrated by the following speech, of one who was certainly not born an orator, at the opening of a free hospital:

"Gentlemen — ahem — I — I — I rise to say — that is, I wish to propose a toast, which I think you'll all say — ahem — I think, at least, that this toast is, as you'll say, the toast of the occasion.

"Gentlemen, I belong to a good many of those things, and I say, gentlemen, that this hospital requires no patronage — at least, what I mean is, you don't want any recommendation. You've only got to be ill — got to be ill.

"Now, gentlemen, I find by the report" (turning over the leaves in a fidgety way) "that from the year seventeen — no, eighteen — no, ah, yes, I'm right — eighteen hundred and fifty — no, it's a 3 — thirty-six — eighteen hundred and thirty-six, no less than 193,000,000 — no, ah!" (to a committeeman at his side) "Eh? Oh, yes, thank you — yes — 193,000 — 2,000,000 — no" (after a close scrutiny of the report) — "two hundred and thirty-one — one hundred and ninety-three thousand, two hundred and thirty-one! Gentlemen, I beg to propose — success to this admirable institution!"

To what the large and variously stated figures referred no one in his audience over felt positive, but all agreed, as he had said they would, that this was the toast of the evening. — Youth's Companion.

Newspapers of the United States

1895

In addition to the 1,835 daily newspapers published in the United States on the 1st of January, 1894, there were 31 papers published every other day, 235 published twice a week, 14,017 published every week, 85 every two weeks, 349 twice a month, 8,125 every month, 307 every two months. Altogether there were 20,006 papers in existence on that day in the United States against about 150 in 1800.

Of the daily newspapers, the first of which was printed in this country in the year 1782, not more than four are in existence today of those which saw the beginning of the present century, and of these the oldest is The North American of Philadelphia. The total issue of the publications of the present day in this country is probably not far from 4,000,000,000 copies a year, and of this amount New York city probably furnishes nearly one-fifth. — Chautauquan.

One Bullet In 100 Hits Man In War

1916

IT TAKES 3,500 TO KILL ONE COMBATANT.

Massed Formations Excepted, of Course — Shell Fire Not So Deadly as Shrapnel.

It has been estimated that only one bullet in every hundred that is fired hits a man and of those men hit only one in thirty-five succumbs. In other words, it takes 3,500 bullets to kill a single soldier.

In view of the awful slaughter that has taken place during the present war these figures sound rather startling, yet they are well within the mark.

Of course such calculations as these refer to averages only. An enemy advancing in close formation, as the Germans have been doing recently before Verdun, may be mowed down wholesale by rifle and machine gun fire, and in such cases the average of fatal casualties, compared with the number of rounds expended, will be considerably higher.

Shell fire is, as a general rule, even less destructive than rifle or machine gun fire, says a writer in the Boston Post. A modern high explosive shell makes no end of a row when it bursts, kills possibly a couple of men if it explodes inside of a trench, frightens a lot more, and — that is about all. The ruined walls of Rheims cathedral will testify for many years to come that the shell that shattered one statue seldom hurt its next door neighbor.

Shrapnel Fire Is Deadly.

Shrapnel is more dangerous, provided the fuse is timed just right and the gunner who fires it knows his business. A shrapnel shell contains a number of small round bullets, each about the size of a marble. What execution a shell of this sort can do, given a favorable opportunity, was shown at the "battle of the landing" in Gallipoli, April, 1915.

An attack was about to be launched against the British left and a fold in the ground hid the attacking Turks from the British forces. They were, however, observed by the Queen Elizabeth far out at sea and a projectile from one of her big guns was dropped right plump in the midst of them.

It was a shrapnel shell weighing 1,500 pounds and holding 1,000 bullets. The attack was smashed and 250 Turks were killed. This works out at one man per fifty-two bullets, and it probably represents the maximum efficiency of shrapnel fire during the present or any other war. For, you see, the conditions from the gunner's point of view were exceptional and ideal.

When There Were Few Fatalities.

On the other hand, there are many remarkable instances of shell fire — even concentrated and prolonged shell fire — accomplishing little or nothing in the direction of destroying life. During one of the tremendous preparatory bombardments, for example, that ushered in the early stages of the battle of Verdun, the Germans fired between 20,000 and 30,000 shells of all calibers against the French lines in the short space of five hours. Yet the fatal casualties amounted to fewer than 100 out of about 18,000 engaged.

One reason for this is, of course, that modern armies, when acting on the defensive, dig themselves in so deeply and so cunningly that they are practically immune from other than very high angle fire.

Yet the power of the modern shell is tremendous. If the charge of one of the larger caliber ones — say a German "Jack Johnson" — were burned away quickly it would send some millions of cubic feet of gas into the air. But instead it is detonated in a thousandth part of a second, and these millions of cubic feet of gas, with their steel casings, crush everything in their immediate vicinity to the finest powder. Yet men even a comparatively few yards away, especially if they are lying down or under some sort of cover, however slight, usually escape with their lives at all events, and more frequently than otherwise they are not even injured.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 9.

Baseball Veteran Stands Grind Best

1920

HAVE EDGE ON THE YOUNGSTER IN LONG SERIES.

Reports From Major Leagues Show Old-timers Playing Steadily in Every Game.

Reports on continuous service by major league players in the past season bring out the interesting fact that the veterans best stood the daily grind. In the National League four players took part in every game with their clubs. They were Jake Daubert, whose legs were supposed to be so bad a couple of years ago that he would have to quit; George Cutshaw, Pittsburgh's seasoned second sacker; Fred Luderus, who is anything but a youth, and Rogers Hornsby, who has outgrown his kid days. It is a coincidence that all four are infielders.

The American League has just twice as many players who were in every game their clubs engaged in. The league champion White Sox, the Cleveland Indians and the Yankees had two apiece, and the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox one each.

Eddie Collins and Buck Weaver are the Sox who took part in the club's 140 games; Larry Gardner and Bill Wambsganss are the Indians, and Frank Baker and Duffy Lewis are the Yankees. Heilman and Scott are the other two.

It is noteworthy that seven of the eight players are infielders, making eleven out of the twelve in the two leagues.

Several of them have been in the big leagues from ten to fifteen years. Eddie Collins broke in in 1906. He was a shortstop and third baseman then. In 1909 he became Connie Mack's regular second baseman.

Since then he has run up a great record for steady play. Seven out of the nine seasons in which 154 games have been played he has been in 150 or more contests.

In 1915 he was in 155 games, and in 1917 156. In 1909-10-11-12 Collins had the greatest number of put-outs among second basemen, and in 1909 and 1910 the greatest number of assists. In 1909-10-11 he accepted the greatest number of chances.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

The Travels of an Eyelid

1901

The many thousands of miles which a man unconsciously travels in his lifetime, taking into consideration the paces his footsteps measure as he walks about each day, are enough to make him sit down to rest for the remainder of his life.

But now a German scientist has come forward with some still more startling facts concerning the journeys which our eyelid undertakes every time it winks, and it is not possible for us to see, he says, unless we wink. Unconsciously we wink once a second, so that for the time we are awake during the day we voluntarily wink from 48,000 to 50,000 times and in a year have moved our eyelids down and up again no less than 18,250,000 times. The distance that the eyelid travels in its great speed is measured from a single involuntary wink.

This, the scientist says, is a quarter of an inch both ways, the eyelid moving equally up and down, so that, taking the movement of both eyelids into consideration, they cover some 50,000 inches in a day. The eyelids of a man who has lived for 50 years will have unconsciously traveled a third of the way around the earth, or about 7,200 miles, a calculation sufficient in itself to cause the victim of insomnia to fall into a dreamless sleep as he reads it. — London Mail.

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.

Saying He Never Felt Better, Died

1905

The death of W. H. Rockhill, ex-clerk of the courts of this county, here verifies in a way the thesis of Goethe that no man can survive a happy moment.

He had been feeling ill and went to the office of his physician to tell the doctor that he was improving in health and that he never felt better for many days.

The words had no more than escaped his lips than he keeled over and died of heart disease. — Lebanon correspondence, Cincinnati Enquirer.


Effects of Prosperity

In the six years of the country's greatest prosperity, from 1897 to 1903, average prices of breadstuffs advanced 65 per cent, meats 23.1 per cent, dairy and garden products 50.1 per cent, and clothing 24.1. All these were products of the farmer and stockman who profited more than any other class of the community by these advances. The miner benefited 42.1 per cent by that advance in the average price of metals. The only decrease in the average prices of commodities in that period was in railway freight rates which decreased from .798 per ton-mile in 1897 to .763 in 1903, a loss of 4.4 per cent. The report of the Interstate Commerce Commission shows that the average increase in the pay of railroad employees in the period was trifle above 8.5 per cent.

Luck In the Clover

1903

Any one who carries about a four leaved clover will be lucky and will have the power of discovering ghosts or evil spirits. With it under the pillow the lover may insure dreams of the beloved one. A fragment in the shoe of a traveler insures a safe journey. Of the five leaved clover it is declared that if it be worn on the left side of a maiden's dress or fastened behind the hall door the Christian name of the first man who enters will be the same as that of the future husband.

The power of the four leaved shamrock for good is familiar to all, from Lover's once popular and pretty song, the speaker in which pictures what she would do should she find the magic plant:

"I would play the enchanter's part and scatter bliss around,
And not a tear or aching heart should in the world be found."


Centenarian Chances

Taking a million as a basis of calculation, statistics show that at the end of seventy years there will still survive 212,000 out of 1,000,000 persons. At the expiration of eighty years there will be 107,000 survivors of the original million. When it comes to ninety years of existence only 8,841 out of the 1,000,000, or one in 115, will be living. Of the original 1,000,000 only fifty-four will live to see ninety-nine years, or about one person out of 18,500. The century mark will be reached by only twenty-three out of the 1,000,000.

Photographing on the Wane — Or Maybe Not

1910

Photographing on the Wane

It Is Reported That Amateurs Are Showing Decreased Interest in Societies and at Exhibitions

Complaints are rife of decreased interest in photographic societies and in photographic exhibitions. There are certainly fewer of the latter than there were six or eight years ago, and societies, if not actually less numerous, are on the whole weaker both in numbers and in enthusiasm.

In the United States their numbers have decreased 50 or 60 per cent, at least. It is easy to deduce from this a decay of interest in photography and a lessening of the number of amateur photographers, and, indeed, this easy operation has been performed.

Simple deductions on complex questions should always be regarded with suspicion, and in this case suspicion develops into incredulity when it is found that side by side with the degeneration of the photographic society an increased and ever-increasing business is being done in plates, films and papers.

My Lady Nicotine — Curious Meditations on Smoking

1903

My Lady Nicotine

Curious Meditations Upon the Smoking Habit

There must be a great army of men who smoke an ounce of tobacco a day. Such worthy smokers are, of course, men of a philosophic and reflecting disposition, although they do not always care to favor the world with the results of the high meditations due to the influence of the soothing weed.

It will be new, even to many of these, to know that it would take no less than 9S years to dispose of a ton of tobacco at this rate of consumption, says Tit-Bits, and it will be still more surprising to consider the magnitude of this amount under various aspects.

The smoker of an ounce a day is almost invariably a faithful disciple of the pipe. He may submit to a cigar or a cigaret to please the ladies, but the pipe remains his true love. Hence we will first suppose that our ton of tobacco is to be sacrificed to My Lady Nicotine in the homely pipe. If the ordinary ounce packets in which the tobacco is probably bought were piled in a single column they would tower to a height of 2,700 feet. Arranged in a solid block they would form a cube of packed "shag" measuring 13 feet in every direction, or more than twice the height of a man.

We might conceive a pipe specially built to consume this mass. Such a pipe, if built on the plan of the familiar briar would be 100 feet long, and the bowl would be 20 feet in diameter. This bowl could accommodate 700 men. Should the smoker of such a huge pipeful prefer the "church warden" he would obtain a graceful clay 500 feet long.

On a low average two matches are used to each pipe of tobacco. After his 750,000 pipes the smoker would have used as many matches as would stretch from London to Coventry, or Bath or Gloucester, if placed end to end. The timber would be barely contained in a grove of 20 stalwart trees each 40 feet high. The heat energy represented, and which is largely water, would serve to run a locomotive a considerable distance.

We must not forgot that there are many who prefer the mild cigaret. Let us consider our ton of tobacco in this form. There will be a considerable difference in the actual number of cigarets consumed if the smoker makes his own in preference to buying them ready made. In the former case he will burn no fewer than 1,000,000 in fragrant smoke; a quantity which is placed in order would make a thin white line from London to Brighton, and in the latter case they would stretch for 37 miles. Placed side by side, they would pave a small pathway five miles long.

Could we make these cigarets into one huge whole, we should obtain a cigaret 10 feet in diameter and nearly 100 feet long. A man built in proportion to enjoy this little smoke would be a mere 2,220 feet high. The consumer of this tobacco may, like Svengali, be a lover of the big cigar of the Havana. If so, he must be prepared to spend at least £3,000, of which 500 pounds will be wasted in fag-ends.