The Cameo

1907

Gets Its Name From the Cutting, Not From the Stone

The true nature of a cameo is very much misunderstood by the public generally. Most people think it is the stone itself, when in reality the method of cutting is what produces the cameo. The real meaning of the word is unknown, Its derivation having never been discovered; but, correctly speaking, cameos are small sculptures executed in low relief on some substance precious either for its beauty, rarity or hardness.

There are emerald cameos, turquoise cameos, shell cameos, coral cameos. Indeed, any substance that lends itself to carving in such minute detail can be used for cameo cutting, and nearly all precious stones, except diamonds, have been so used for intaglios, but never for cameos. Emerald is the most common precious stone from which cameos have been made, and there are some very fine emerald portrait cameos in existence, notably those of Queen Elizabeth in the British museum. Shell cameos were first made in the fifteenth century.

Banded onyx is generally used for cameo work because of its hardness and coloring, and it is this fact that has caused the misapprehension, the stone being used so much in making cameos that it has now become better known as "cameo" than by its right name. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Price of a Life in London Slums

1907

Willing Murderers Plenty in the Slums of London

I am told that a ten pound note will buy a man's life in London — that any unsuspicious person can fall into the Thames on a dark night or break his neck going round a slippery dark corner or fall under a van if a little bit of crisp paper changes hands, says a London writer.

I know that a very distinguished playwright, wishing to work out the plot of a melodrama, went into a high class den of thieves, made friends with some of the leaders and unfolded to them as something he wished to put into execution the plan he had devised for his villain's action.

He told his listeners that there was a very important financier he wanted out of the way for forty-eight hours while he played the very dickens on the Stock Exchange with the stocks the financier controlled. He suggested to his listeners that an attractive lady and a yacht would be the simplest means of insuring this object.

His hearers concurred. They knew the very yacht for the purpose. A skipper and a crew could easily be produced, and concerning the lady there would be no difficulty whatever.

"Then, after the forty-eight hours, we will of course bring him back," said the dramatist brightly, thinking of his fourth act.

A cloud came over the faces of his audience: "Well, guv'ner, of course, if you wish it. But it would save such a lot of questions being asked if he just went quietly overboard," the spokesman suggested.

Crocodiles — Some Very Big Bites

1907

They Show the Power of the Jaws of the Crocodile

The power of the jaws of the crocodile is terrific, says Sir Samuel Baker in his book on wild beasts.

Once, he continues, he had the metal of a large hook the thickness of ordinary telegraph wire completely bent together, the barbed point being pressed tightly against the shank and rendered useless. This compression was caused by the snap of the jaws when seizing a live duck which he had used as a bait, the hook being fastened beneath one wing. On one occasion he found a fish weighing seventy pounds bitten clean through as if divided by a knife. This, again, was the work of the snap of the jaws of a crocodile.

A Frenchman, M. Paul Bert, once made experiments on the strength of a crocodile's jaws by means of a dynamometer. He found that a crocodile weighing 120 pounds exerted a force of 308 pounds in closing his jaws. The lion has an enormous jaw power. On one occasion an African traveler pushed the butt end of his gun into a lion's mouth, and the pressure of the jaws cracked it as though it had been struck by a steam hammer.

The White Lady — Warning Death Phantom

1907

Warning Death Phantom of the Reigning House of Prussia

On the night before the battle of Saalfield Prince Louis of Prussia and his adjutant, Count Nostitz, were chatting in the Schloss Schwarzburg-Rudolfstadt. The prince was anticipating victory when he suddenly turned pale and rushed from the room, pursuing through the hall a shadowy white robed figure. The sentinel saw it also.

Next day Nostitz and the prince saw the white lady on a hill wringing her hands in despair as the Germans fell back. A few minutes later Louis was killed and Nostitz wounded. Nostitz told the story to his son, and the son to Unser Fritz.

The white lady's first appearance was when she was seen in the palace at Baireuth in 1486. She appeared eight or ten times in the next century. When the French officers were quartered in Baireuth she frightened them, in particular General d'Espagne, who, the day after he had seen her, pointed to a portrait on the wall and cried: "It is she! That means my death!" He was killed soon afterward.

The superstitious Napoleon wouldn't sleep in the castle, but the white lady went to see him elsewhere. She was seen before the death of the beautiful Queen Louise, of Frederick William III., of Frederick William IV., of Unser Fritz himself and of many other members of the reigning house of Prussia.

Youthful Essayists on the Evils of Drink

1907

In the Hull elementary schools a prize was offered for the best essay on the evils of drink, and nearly 12,000 pupils competed. Extracts from their compositions were given by Dr. Eccles in a lecture before the Society For the Study of Inebriety. He quoted the following gems:

"Today many people are in jail for committing suicide while under the influence of drink."

"Alcohol has an effect upon a medical man's conclusions."

"Doctors say that fatal diseases are the worst."

"Doctors say that the increased death rate shortens lives."

"Some people think that the abuse of drink is right; some take it as a medicine." — London Tit-Bits.


What Is the English Throne?

The English throne — what is it? Is it the stone chair of Westminster abbey? That is only occupied once by each king or queen, and that only at the coronation ceremony. Is it the chair of state in the house of lords or the reception chair at Buckingham palace or the sumptuous gilt thing which the king uses at Windsor when he receives the foreign envoys? It is an interesting question, which some people would like to have answered. Most everybody, however, has come to the conclusion that in the majority of countries the throne is merely a symbol, and the expressions "he has succeeded to the throne" and "speeches from the throne" are only metaphors.

Traveling Second-Class in Europe

1907

What It Means to Ride Second Class on the Railroads

A delusion of the guidebooks is the advice to ride second class on the railroads of Europe. It is often pointed out that first class and second class are frequently but divisions of the same car, and this makes a great impression on the inexperienced traveler, particularly if his purse is limited.

Lauding at Plymouth, Southampton, Havre, Cherbourg, Liverpool, you are at once conveyed to London or Paris on "steamer trains," under the same excellent conditions that have prevailed on your trip, but thereafter you are at your own resources, and if you are wise you will not only travel first class, but you will see to it that your seat is always engaged well ahead.

If you travel second class between cities that correspond to New York and Philadelphia, say where intercourse is frequent and numerous, you will most likely have to stand up in all second class compartments. To get a second class seat between Vienna and Budapest, for example, is about like boarding a train for Coney Island at Brooklyn bridge on a summer Sunday afternoon, and if you do get a seat somebody else sandwiches and sausages on your lap.

Another point to be remembered is that in Europe you cannot engage a whole sleeping compartment for yourself, as you can here. You have to show a ticket for each berth. Therefore it behooves the person traveling alone at night to seek out before arranging the trip some suitable companion or for parties of three or five or any odd number to make similar provisions. — Travel Magazine.

The Hummingbird — Bird or Bee?

1907

Two quaint observations about humming birds are published in "Early Long Island," by Martha Flint, both quoted from letters of the seventeenth century, written from the new country of America. Says one:

"The Humbird is one of the wonders of the country, being no bigger than a Hornet, yet having all the Demensions of a Bird as bill, wings with quills, spider-like legges, small claws. For Colour she is as glorious as the Raine bow."

Adrian Van der Donck, one of the Hollanders of Nieuw Nederlandt in 1642 writes of a —

"Curious small bird concerning which there are disputations whether it is a bird or a bee. It seeks its nourishment from flowers like the bee and is everywhere seen regaling itself on the flowers. In flying they make a humming noise like the bee. It is only seen in Nieuw Nederlandt in the season of flowers. They are very tender and cannot be kept alive, but we press them between paper and send them as presents to our friends."

The Trout in His Lair

1907

He Is an Alert and Elusive Unpictured Beauty

Whoever has had the privilege of lying at full length on some mossy overhanging bank while watching a large trout in his lair perceives that a true figure has yet to be drawn of him.

Even photography can give no hint of the wavy circles from the spotted dorsal fin undulating loosely athwart the broad back, of the perpetual fanning of the pectoral fins, of the rapacious gills opening and closing, the half open round mouth, the luminous brown eye, the ceaseless slow vibration of the powerful tail, nor can pen adequately describe the startling suddenness of the dart at some idle fly touching the surface, the quick return to the old position and the resumption of the poise with head elevated at a slight angle, pectorals all tremulous and floating watery circles emanating from every slight motion of the body.

It is also worth while to watch a trout rush four feet up a perpendicular fall of water, pause, tremble violently all over and in a moment throw himself clear of the stream and fall into the basin above at an elevation of about three feet more. — Arthur P. Silver in Outing Magazine.

An Unopened Padlock — A Legend of Vienna

1907

Vienna's Strange Relic That Defied the World's Locksmiths

In 1810 a blacksmith went to Vienna and locked an iron band around a tree with a padlock. What he did with the key no one knows to this day. There is a mirthful legend to the effect that he carelessly threw it into the air and that it never came down again. At any rate, the key could not be found, and the Austrian government offered prize of 500 ducats to anyone who could make a key that would turn the bolt in the lock without breaking it.

Many have tried to win the prize, but nobody has won it. Eventually it became the practice among the contestants to drive a nail in the tree and the heads of some of the nails bear the initials of those who drove them. The practice of driving nails into the tree sealed its fate. The lower part of the tree in a few years assumed the appearance of a solid mass of iron. One spring the leaves failed to come out, and later a summer storm blew the top away.

The historic stump was cut off and placed on a pedestal on one of the prominent street corners in Vienna. At the same time the iron band was cut in two and put around the stump to hold it in its niche, leaving the padlock in its original position. And there the old stump stands to this day an object both of the curiosity of tourists and the veneration of the residents of Vienna. Incidentally, a street, Stock im Eisen — "Stick in Iron" — has been named after the stump. — Scrap Book.

Kashgaria — You Can't Get There From Here

1907

There are few places in the world so difficult to get at as Kashgaria. Though it lies in Chinese territory, the journey from Peking occupies no less than six months. From India caravans take two months, having to cross meanwhile the three highest mountain ranges in the world by way of several passes measuring 18,000 feet above sea level.

Then from the tail end of the Russian railway system in central Asia one may reach Kashgaria in three weeks by several routes, all involving the transit of difficult and storm swept passes.

Kashgaria is said to cover an area of 350,000 square miles — a statement that has little interest until considered in relation to the proportion which is cultivated by man. It is startling to realize that human endeavor has been capable of rendering fertile little more than a hundredth part and that ninety-nine hundredths of it is irredeemable desert. — Blackwood's Magazine.


Books Bound In Lead

A bookbinder was putting a binding of lead on a book. When asked about it, he explained: "This is a naval code book for use on a battleship All such volumes are bound in lead, so that in the event of the ship's destruction the books will sink with it for they contain secrets of immense value, and every precaution must be taken to keep those secrets dark."

Antiquity of Geometry

1907

The Science May Have Existed In India For Long Ages

Did we learn our rule of three and our Euclid from India? Researches have brought to light astronomical tables in India which must have been constructed by the principles of geometry. Some are of the opinion that they have been framed from observations made not less than 3,000 years before the Christian era, and if this opinion be well founded the science of geometry must have been cultivated in India to a considerable extent long before the period assigned to its origin in the west, so that many of the elementary propositions may have been brought from India to Greece.

The Indians have a treatise called the "Surya Sidhanta," which professes to be a revelation from heaven communicated to Meya, a man of great sanctity, about 4,000,000 years ago. This book contains a rational system of trigonometry which differs entirely from the first known in Greece and Arabia. In fact it is founded on a geometrical theorem which was not known to the geometricians of Europe before the time of Victa, about 200 years ago. And it employs methods of demonstration unknown to the Greeks, who used others. The former have been attributed to the Arabs, but it is possible they have received this improvement in trigonometry as well as the numerical characters from India. — Chicago Tribune.

An Odd Superstition — The Name of "Graham" a Terror

1907

British Fishermen Balk at the Name of Graham

One of the most curious of British fishermen's superstitions, the one which perhaps to this day has the strongest hold upon them, is that connected with the name of Graham.

No fisherman will go to sea if he has heard this name mentioned, nor will he do any manner of work upon that day. He will refuse to sail in a boat with any one bearing the name, and a house painter from Newcastle called Graham, who had been sent to do some work in one of the large houses, found his life made so unbearable by the villagers that he incontinently returned to the town, leaving his work uncompleted.

The women who bait the lines in the winter will unbait every hook and rebait the whole length — the labor of hours — if they hear it mentioned. A local tradesman bearing this unfortunate patronymic is never referred to save as "Puff;" another, an innkeeper, is known as "Lucky Bits." No rational explanation is to be found.

One of the most intelligent fishermen being questioned on the subject, he laughed the idea to scorn. Why, his daughter was married to a Graham. But, he added, a strange thing happened, two years ago when he was off at the herring fishing and had not been home for some weeks. Having received a letter at Shields to say that his son-in-law was ill, he hailed a passing boat which had come from the north, asking if they had heard how Jack Graham was. "And, wad ye beleev't, ne soonor had aa syed the words than theor wes a crash, and the mast went ower the side!" None of the crew spoke to him for the rest of the day. — New York Post.

Legal Tender — Guidelines for U.S. Money

1907

You Might Think Gold Certificates Are, but They Are Not

"Gold certificates, silver certificates and national bank notes are not legal tender, but both classes of certificates are receivable for all public dues, while national bank notes are receivable for all public dues except on imports and may be paid out by the government for all salaries and other debts and demands owing by the United States to individuals, corporations and associations within the United States," says the treasury department.

"Gold coin is legal tender at its nominal face value for all debts.

"Standard or silver dollars are legal tender at their nominal or face value for all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract.

"Subsidiary silver is legal tender for amounts not exceeding $10 in any one payment.

"Treasury notes of the act of July 14, 1890, are legal tender for all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract.

"United States notes (also called greenbacks) are legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt.

"The minor coins of nickel and copper are legal tender to the extent of 25 cents." — Bulls and Bears.

The Tree Doctor

1907

His Method of Treating a Trunk That is Decaying

When a tree doctor treats a decayed tree he begins by cutting an aperture in the tree large enough to allow him to get at the inside and remove all the decayed wood. This is essential to the success of the operation.

When this work has been done the cavity is ready to be filled. The composition used in case of large fillings contains five parts of sand to one part of portland cement, except for the outer part, where these ingredients are used half and half, this outer coating being several inches thick. To hold the cement in place while it is hardening a stout tin or zinc is employed, this being secured to the trunk of limb in a way to preserve the natural shape. The tin is put on in strips, being fastened with round steel nails having a broad head and a small shank. The strips are wide enough to lap over upon the sound wood, and the nails are placed from half an inch to an inch apart, according to the strain imposed.

The first strip of tin is put on at the lower part of the aperture and the cement put in until it reaches nearly to the top of the tin. Then a second strip is put on, lapping over the other two or three inches, and the two nailed together. Then more cement is used, and so on until the cavity is filled, the last strip of tin being bent down while the final application of cement is being puddled into place and the cavity entirely filled, and then it is straightened up and nailed in place. In case of extra large cavities large sheets of tin or sheet iron are nailed on the outside to prevent the tin from bulging out until the cement has hardened, when they can be removed. The smaller the cavity the larger are the strips of tin employed, as the strain is proportionately less. In twenty-four hours' time the cement will have hardened completely, and the tin may all be removed. This remedy is applied successfully to fruit trees as well as shade trees. — New York Tribune.