Daily globe. [volume], July 21, 1883, Page 3, Image 3

About Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
SLEEPING ON THE WALL SIDE.
A physician was lately called to pre
scribe for a young lady who lived in one
of the most charming villa? in Lander
viile.
Every morning she waked with a
headache, and it lasted nearly half the
day. It has been going on for months,
ever since they moved in their new
house. The old doctor tried all the
remedies, and they all failed. Riding
and archery were fully tested, study and
practice were cheerfully given up.
Nothing did any good.
"Will you let me see your bed
room ?" asked the doctor one day, and
he was shown up into the prettiest little
nest imaginable.
Nothing wrong about the ventilation.
The windows were high and broad, and
left open every night, the patient said.
The bed stood in one corner against the
wall.
" How do you sleep ?" asked the doc
tor.
"Oumy right side at the back of the
bed, with my face to the wall. Lou
likes the front best."
"The dickens she does!" said the
doctor. "So do L Will you do me the
favor to wheel the bed into the middle
of the room and sleep so for a week ?
Then let mo« know about the head
aches."
Doctors are so absurd ! The middle
of the room, indeed ! And there were
the windows on one side and the two
doors on the other two sides, and the
mantel with its Macrame lambrequin on
the fourth side. There was no place for
the bed but where it stood, in the cor
ner.
" Nc-ver mh>J ! Sacrifice yonr lambre
quin," urged the doctor, " just for one
week, you know."
The lambrequin was sacrificed, and
the bed moved where it had the air on
both sides, and the headaches disap
peared.
It may bo only an exceptionally deli
cate system that would be induced to
actual headache by breathing all night
the reflected air from a wall. But pos
sibly some of the morning dullness we
know of may be traceable to a like
cause. At any rate, plenty of breath
ing space around a bed can only be an
advantage to everybody. — Christian
Union.
LINCOLN AXD BUTLER.
Lincoln's well-known disposition to be
merciful, which prevented his signing
the death-warrants found by courts-mar
tial, was aptly illustrated by several
stories, and the fact stated that it was
for this reason Congress so modified the
law toward the close of the war that
death-warrants from the courts-martial
could be executed by the mere order of
a commanding General in the field.
An instance of this trait was found in
the pardon of one of Butler's command.
When the condemned man's father
called at the White House to beg his
son's life, the President had just re
ceived a telegram from Gen. Butler,
which read :
Kb. President: 1 implore you not to inter
fere win the judgments of our courts-martial.
You will utterly rum all discipline in my com
mand. B. F. Butleb.
When this dispatch was read to tho
old petitioner he fell at the President's
feet heart-broken. Lincoln looked down
at him a moment, and then, grasping a
pencil and paper, he said: "Ben Butler
or no Ben Butler, here goes," and he
wrote a note and handed it to the old
mar., whose face was now beaming with
hope. His countenance again became
sad, however, when he read the words:
G ex. Bctlee : John Blank is not to be put
to d-.-ath until further orders from me.
A. Lincoln.
"Ah, Mr. President," said the man;
" I thought you were writing a pardon.
You might order his execution to-mor
row."
•'My man," rejoined the President,
" you are not very well acquainted with
me, I see. If you were you would know
that if your son never died until put to
death by my orders, he would live to be
a great deal older than Methusaleh." —
Schuyler Col/ax's lecture.
HOW SKATE PEXCILS .!/.'/; MADE.
Broken slate from the quarries is put
into a mortar, run bysteam, and pound
ed into small particles. Thence it goes
into the !. a mill, which runs it
bolting machine, such as is us< d
in fl< tiring mills, where it is bolted, the
fine, almost impalpable Hour that re
sult being taken into a mixing-tab,
wh< re a small quantity of steatite flour,
manufactured in a similar manner, is
added, anil the whole is then made into
a stiff dough. This dough is thorough
ly kneaded bypassing it several times
between iron rollers. Thence it is car
ried to a table where it is made into
charges — that is, short cylinders, four
or five inches thick, and containing
from eight to ten pounds each. Four
of these are placed in a strong iron cham
ber or retort, with a changeable nozzle,
so as to regulate the size of the pencil,
and subjected to tremendous hydraulic.
pressure, tinder which the combination
is pushed through the nozzle, in a long
cord, like a slender snake sliding out of
a hole, and passes over a sloping table,
slit at right angles with the cords to
give passage, with a knife that cuts
them into lengths. They are then laid
on boards to dry. and after a few hours
are removed to sheets of corrugated
zinc, the corrugations serving to pre
vent the pencils from warping during
the process of baking, to which they
arc next subjected in a kiln, into which
superheated steam is introduced in
pipes, the temperature being regulated
acct s'ding to the requirements of the
articles exposed to its influence. From
the kiln the articles go to the finishing
and packing-room, where the ends are
♦In-not for a second under rapidly
revolving emery wheels, and Avithdrawn
neatly and smoothly pointed, ready for
use. They are then packed in paste
board boxes, each containing 100 pen
cils, and these boxes in turn are packed
for shipment in wooden boxes contain
in?,- 100 each, or 10,000 pencils in a ship
ping-box. Nearly all the work is done
by boys, and the cost therefore i.s light.
THE NEWER, ARITHMETIC.
A stage-coach robbor was enabled to
lay -p.p *±.. r )SO in ten months, but a Ni
agara falls hackman salted down $5,205
i.i nine. How much better i.s it to rob
ut Niagara falls than out West.
A trump gets a cold biscuit at one
house, a piece of meat at another, an
old vest at the third, and the owner
of the fourth house runs him three
blocks with a dog. How much more
does the tramp respect the fourth per
son than the other three combined ?
It takes twenty blows of a hammer
in the hands of a woman to drive a ten
penny nail three inches. She misses
the nail twice where she hits it once.
How many blows does she strike in all,
and how far can her voice be heard
when she strikes her thumb ?
A gentleman who has a library of
12,000 volumes opens ten volumes per
year. At this rate, how long will it
take him to reach the last book?
Only one newspaper man out of ev
ery sixty-four carries a sharp knife, but
only one lawyer out of every 120 car
ries a lead pencil. How much better
is it to be a newspaper man than a law
yer ?
In the vaults of the State treasury
are $500,000, and the Treasurer starts
for Mexico. How much does he leave
behind him?
In one month the owner of a three
ciinnte horse lied ninety-four times re
garding his speed. At this rate how
many times would he lie in a year, and
how would it help the speed of the
hor.se any?
A school teacher gives a pupil four
teen paragraphs in the science of gov
ernni >nt, thirteen examples in arithme
tic, three pages of history, one page of
grammar, one of orthography, and half
an lionr of writing as a daily lesson and
expects him to stand 75 per cent. At
this rate how long will it take her to
rush him into a lunatic asylum?
NEW MEXICAN WONDERS.
New Mexico is perhaps the greatest
field on this continent for the study of
the inquiring student. The Cliff houses
in the several parts of the Territory have
scarce been noticed. The remarkable
group of the Cliff inhabitants on tho
west range of the Gallinas occupied at a
time so remote in the past that the anti
quarian and historian are unable to vent
ure an opinion either to the epoch of its
occupation or of the character of its
occupants, is a monument of antiquity.
These cave-dwellers were of Liliputian
stature. A small man of the present
generation would have been a colossus
among these pygmies, and to enter their
dwellings, he*vn in the solid rock, are
compelled to crawl on all-fours, and,
once in the chambers which honeycomb
the cliffs, a stooping attitude must be
observed. The floors of these extraor
dinary apartments are covered with the
impalpable dust of ages, in the lower
part of which charred ears of cori;, en
grossed elk horns, implements made
from obsidian and flint, are abundant.
The bones of numerous animals are
found in amazing quantities. Fragments
of pottery covered with strange devices
are to be seen on all sides. Not far
away from these abandoned abodes a
spring breaks forth from the rocky
flanks of the mountain, of a bluish-green
color, which, upon determination by Mr.
Moore, Superintendent of the Colorado
Mining Company, proved to be a satu
rated solution of sulphate of copper by
simple evaporation — the water, which
flows in abundance — a marketable pro
duce is left, which, at no remote period,
will be a bonanza to the proprietor and
discoverer, Mr. Moore. — Socerrc Eafflc.
PET S -J WES.
He — "May I call you Revenge?"
She— "Why?"
He—" Because ' Revenge is Sweet."'
She—" Certainly you may ; provided,
though, you will let me call you Venge
ance."
He— "And why would you call me
Vengeance ?"
She — "Because ' Vengeance is mine.
It is now the style to paint your marw
ble mantels in imitation of wood.
A good way to remove dust from a
carpet is to fasten a damp cloth over the
broom; with this the dust may be liter
ally taken up. This will be found use
i ful in the sick-room, and also in any
room where there are many small arti
cles to catch dust. It brightens a carpet
to wipe it off in tbisspay, even after the
usual sweeping has been done.
Naples has about as many people as
Chicago, and Milan rather more than
Baltimore; Turin and Palermo would
rank with Cincinnati, and the Eternal
City has a population of 300,467.
When the firm of Calvert & Co.,
London brewers, temporarily suspend
ed in 1858, with an indebtedness of o\ei
$7,000,000, but yet larger assets, they
returned among these latter 359 public
houses bound to take no other beer than
theirs.
A Parisian genius has invented a
method of making a horse step high.
He fastens a pair of magnifying specta
cles to their bridles. The sticks and
pebbles appear enormously magnified,
and the horses throw their feet up tre
mendously to avoid these imaginary ob
stacles.
THE ST. PAUL DAILY GLOBE, SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 21, 1883.
THE EDITORIAL " WE.**
The Oil City Derrick gives the above
subject a hist as follows : Some people
are unreasonably inquisitive and curious,
especially about matters that do not
concern them in the least. For ex
ample, here is a correspondent who
makes the startling revelation that he is
a "constant reader of our valuable and
influential paper," and would like to be
informed why it is an editor or news
paper writer, when speaking of himself
in his writings, invariably uses the
plural pronoun "we" instead of the
singular "I."
There are several reasons. Self-pres
ervation is the first law of nature. It
begins at home, like old Mother Churity.
There is some human nature about an
editor, public opinion to the contrary
notwithstanding. An editor thinks too
much of his "I's" to wear them in
mourning, and therefore, when speaking
of some slab sided six-footer as a miser
able red-nosed, pusillanimous, wile
beating snoozer, he considers it the
better part of valor to dror> in an occas
ional "we." This creates in the mtud
of the six-footer the impression that the
editorial force consists of a stanuiag
army, armed with deadly " we"-apons.
Furthermore, in cases where the vic
tim comes around to the office to kill
the writer of any particular item, it is
so pleasant to have the guilty man's
identity buried in the obscurity of the
plural "we." The editor-in-chief, the
coniniercial editor, the city editor, the
local euitor, the reporters, the book
keepers, compositors, book-binders, job
bers, pressmen, devil and all the de
livery boys are thus placed on a com
mon footing by the little pronoun "we,"
and when the enraged person looks
about him and finds how many homes
he would make desolate, how many
wives he would make widows and how
many children orphans, by killing oil
all included in the little ' ' we" at one
fell swoop, he sickens of the sanguinary
undertaking, turns sadly away, goes to
some bar-room, takes a drink, condemns
the paper, prophesies that it is being
run into the ground, and declares that
he will henceforth use his political influ
ence to squelch the sheet.
There are other reasons. When no
ticing a marriage or birth " we" implies
that at least a box of cigars will be re
quired to go around.
An editor says "we" when advising
the President how to conduct his admin
istration, because the President might
not act on his suggestion if it was writ
ten plain "I."
When telling the minister im ••• to
preach the editor uses " we" t-> '
tne belief that he has just hail ••
ence with all the ex-ministers al».
establishment.
The editor who tells the teacher h....
to teach says "we," because ho has con
sulted with his wife about the matter,
and she, having been a teacher a few
years before, of course knows all about it.
" We" is sometimes used because of
the writer's modesty. Most writers are
troubled in this respect.
In short, we use "we" because no one
man could survive the trials, tribulations
and taffy found about a print shop.
RETAIXED EDITORS.
The retaining of a leader-writer on a
great London journal, such as tha Time*;
the Telegraph or the News, is a pecul
iar feature in English journalism. If a
writer shows marked evidence of merit
or if he. has the ability to write exhaus
tively and i:*. a graphic manner on some
special class of subject, he is retained,
as it is termed ; that is, he is paid a
stipulated amount each year. With the
papers referred to, this is commorly
£1,000 (85,000). In receiving a retainer
he binds himself not to write for any
other publication on the topics for the
treatment of which his employer has en
gaged him. In his leisure hours he can
write on other subjects as much as he
pleases, but the implied understanding
is that he must keep himself thoroughly
informed on every phase of the particu
lar question the Times or Ncivs wishes
him to write upon, and mus<i be in read
iness whenever called upon to furnish
an editorial leader. It may happen that
weeks and months will pass by and no
call will be made for his service and at
another time his pen will every day be
in demand. His retainer is not to pay
him for what he writes, but simply to
reward lnm for keeping himself thor
oughly informed, and to secure, when
needed, the command of his services.
For the actual writing he does for the
paper to which he is attached he receives
additional pay. The London Times
pays Tor its first or leading editorial
article $50, and $25 each for the follow
ing articles. In the Times office it is
sometimes the case, on an important
subject, that two and even three leader
writers are asked to cover the same
ground, and it has frequently happened
that the article, when it appears, is
formed out of the contributions of all
three, skillfully dovetailed together by
the revising editor, who has selected the
best and most striking portions of each
article submitted to him. When this is
done each writer is paid precisely as
though his leader had been printed in
its entirety. Hence the cost of some of
the Times' leading editorials is $150. In
the other large newspapers the writer Of
the leading article commonly receives
$25, and the writer of following ones $15
each. These rates, it may be added, are
in excess — independent of the retainer —
of what is paid for editorial work by our
American journals.
THE NEWSPAPER AS AX EDUCATOR.
The newspaper — the universal litera
ture of our people — is itself becoming a
library of knowledge and art. No man
could rend habitually even one of our
chief newspapers without an immense
opening of his horizon ol tnougnt, a
great quickening of his intellect, and a
substantial relation with the thought
and feeling of the whole world. The
difference between a man who can read
well enough to enjoy his newspaper and
one who cannot is hardly to be esti
mated. I suppose our newspaper edu
cation is the most influential of all in
this countiy. But it depends for its
existence and its improvement on the
preparation for its use and enjoyment
made in our common schools. It rises
in tone, spreads in intellectual breadth
and increases in moral purity as the
reading class becomes more numerous
and varied. It is a great mistake to
speak lightly of newspapers. The press,
I think, has a somewhat romantic and
exaggerated idea of its supremacy in
creating or leading public opinion, but
in its general educating influence, its
stimulus for thought, it has a certain
tendency to create a taste for better
reading than it can itself supply. Ido
not believe it is easy to overrate its na
tional importance.— Rev. Dr. H. W.
Bellows.
PALSY AMONG THE VETERANB.
We were surprised at the number of
veterans we saw in attendance at the
annual reunion who were more or less
afflicted with paralysis. Upon inquiry
among those present we were still more
astonished to learn that many of the
veterans of the adjacent counties were
confined at home with the same afflic
tion — too feeble to be in attendance.
We made diligent inquiry, and have be
come well satisfied that the mortality
and suffering from paralysis among
Tennessee veterans of the Mexican war
is at this time much greater than among
the men of the same age of any other
pursuit. This presents grave questions
which are in the interest of science and
of general humanity, and of special im
portance to the veterans of that war —
perhaps the veterans of all wars.
Among other questions we present
these : First, is the tendency to paraly
sis among the veterans of the Mexican
war in Tennessee greater than among
other citizens of the State of the same
age and of similar habits? Second,
does such tendency extend to the veter
ans of that war in any other or in all
other localities ? Third, what are the
causes which have produced that tend
ency? and do they still exist? Fourth,
what can the veteran do in the way of
diet, habit, or medicine, to avoid this
tendency or palliate its consequences ?
Many other questions will present
themselves to the scientific inquirer
which, we hope, will receive the atten
tion which the importance of the sub
ject claims. We raise these questions
in general, but of the veterans of the
Mexican war in particular. We think
they open a wide field of investigation,
which we hope some adventurous man
of sense will explore. — Nashville
{Term.) World.
A RARE BIT OF I, ACE.
A piece of lace belonging to Mrs.
Cooke, of Georgetown, is said by con
noisseurs to be actually wortli its
weight in diamonds. It is like a
spider's film, and is woven in a "lost"
pattern. The loss of patterns was a
severe check to lace-making in Franco
and Brussels, and came about in a curi
ous way. Before the French revolu
tion whole villages supported them
selves by lace-making, and patterns
were handed down from one generation
to another. They were valuable heir
looms, for the most-celebrated weavers
had as many orders as they could fill in
a lifetime, for it was tedious work. But
they were bound by an oath, taken on
the four gospels, to work only for cer
tain dealers. When the reign of terror
began all business of the sort was inter
rupted for a time, for the ''aristocrats"
filled the tumbrils and crowded the guil
lotine, and the revolutionists were too
busy driving them there to think of
"purple and fine linen." When the
storm subsided the dealers and workers
were far apart ; some dead, some lost,
some escaped to other lands, and such
of the women as remained were bound
by the oath to work for but one. And
this oath, in spite of Robespierre's doc
trines, was held by the poorest of
them to be landing, and there arc in
stances where they suffered actual want
rather than forfeit their word. Some,
however, taught their children and
grandchildren, and many patterns were
in this wav preserved; but some of the
daintiest and finest were never recov
ered, and — to make a long story short —
Mrs. Cooke's was Avoven in one of these
last named. — Washington Capital.
Ix that part of the United States
ceded by Mexico at the close of
the Mexican war, gold and silver
to the value of 82,000^-000,000 have
been received. The customs from
ports thus ceded have been $230,
--000,000 in excess of the cost of
collection. In twelve years California
has produced 340,000,000 bushels of
wheat, a large portion of which has
been shipped from the State.
"Foob man," exclaimed tne uooa
Samaratan, feeling for his loose change
and depositing a quarter in the tramp's
extended palm ; "how my heart bleeds
for you. You will go and get something
to eat now ? " " Not immediately," an
swered the grateful wanderer ; "I stole
a bottle of whisky this morning, and
I've been begging all day to try and get
money enough to buy a corkscrew." —
Brooklyn Eagle.
It takes seven years for an alligator to
grow to that point where his hide is
worth §3. It is more profitable to be a
calf.
LECTUXtER? WHO HAVE STAGE
FRIGHT.
I caught Robert J. Burdette in the
ante-room at Chickering Hall just be
fore going upon the stage with his fun
ny lecture, writes a New York corre
spondent.
"A— h!" he exclaimed, with a tre
mendous suspiration. " Well, but lam
glad you've come ! Now talk to me !
Talk to me ! " and he continued walking
up and down the floor, after shaking
hands.
"What's the matter? What ails you?
What do you mean?" I said. "Are
you rehearsing? Have I interrupted
you ? Do you want to be alone ? "
"No! no!" he exclaimed eagerly,
walking up to me. " Don't leave me.
Don't go away."
"What on earth is the matter?" I
asked.
"Scared!" he said with a querulous
laugh. Then I laughed. "You don't
believe me. It's true, though. I'm
afraid to go on the stage. "
; ' Pshaw, man ! " I said. ' ' Why, you
are joking ; you have lectured for years. "
" Yes — seventy-five times this winter
— but it don't make any difference. I
have to go through this absurd experi
ence every time. There's no getting
used to it."
" How does it make you feel ? "
"Feel? Light as a cork! If I was
outside I could fly right over this build
ing. Honestly and seriously, if I knew
I had to die to-night, I should pray that
the Lord would take me just before I
went on the stage. "
"Many have the same experience,
that's some satisfaction," I suggested,
"if misery loves company."
"Yes," he said, "I told Beecher
about my troubles, and he said, ' I can
tell you one thing for your consolation ;
you'll never get over it. I suffer every
time I go before an audience, and am
afraid of my own congregation.' But
his experience doesn't give me much
comfort."
" Does your fear vanish when you get
on the stage ? "
" No, it lasts some time, usually. I
poke around among the audience for a
familiar face, and when I find a friend I
lecture right at him and don't notice
anybody else. Gough tells me that he
does the same thing. He says he often
finds himself talking to some sympa
thetic and responsive little group in one
corner, telling his stories to them alone,
as if they were in a little room together."
WOUNDED HEARTS,
A writer in the London Lancet states
that the popular impression concerning
the quick fatality of wounds of the heart
is not supported by fact. "We know
of no case," he says, "of absolutely in
stantaneous death from a wound of the
heart, in any part, or however extensive.
Wounds in the apex kill in an hour and
upward, and a case is cited in which a
man lived twelve hours after the heart
had been severed in twain by a sword
cut. Out of twenty-nine collected cases
of heart injury, only two were fatal
within forty-eight hours, and in the
others death resulted in from four to
twenty-eight days. Recovery may take
place when the wound is extensive, for
a bullet has been found imbedded in the
substance of the heart after a lapse of
six years from the date of the injury,
the patient having died from a disease
of another organ."
the CLOUD OVER DANIEL WEB
STER'S fame.
On the 7th of March, 1850, Webster
delivered in the Senate of the United
States a speech (on the relations of
slavery to the Union) the effect of which
upon his own chances of fame has been,
up to the present moment, in the high
est degree unfavorable. That speech
turned against the orator nearly the
whole force of the particular literary
mode then rapidly gaining the ascendant
in this country. The time since then has
been an era of sentimentalism in liter
ature, as it has been an era of sentiment
alism in politics and religion. "Webster
has been judged according to the fashion
of such an era. There will succeed a
different era, having different canons of
judgment, and Webster will be judged
differently. The pendulum already com
mences its return toward the opposite
extreme of oscillation. This, however,
is anticipation, and we now deal with
retrospect. The tide of political opin
ion, held for a time from ebbing by the
almost sole contrary attraction of "Web
ster's own example and influence while
he yet lived, receded with precipitate
rapidity after his death, and left the
great bulk of his name, it well might
seem, a wreck on the strand. The re
action against Webster in popular re
gard resulting from this celebrated
speech found powerful and beautiful
expression in one of Mr. Whittier's
finest poems, a piece significantly en
titled "Ichabodl" Since then, in a
published poem on "Webster, Mr. Whit
tier has evinced some disposition to un
write his earlier branding lyric of dis
praise. —W. C. Wilkinson, in the
Century. * .
VARIATIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY.
The human body is longer on rising
in the morning than at any other time
during the day. The reason is that the
muscles are relaxed, and the pressure,
incident to a sleeping posture', helps to
spread them out There is a considera
ble decrease in height from long stand
ing. Our shop girls are thus stunted
and partially deformed from being on
their feet all day — a cruel and savage
outrage. The squat forms of many for
eigners come from being learned, while
too young, to stand on chairs, and thus
walk while the muscles are tender. The
[ mothers do this that they may work in
the fields or at home without hindrance.
Prof. Martel, a foreign savant, tells how
the French peasants escape conscription.
They refrain from going to bed for two
or three nights, walk much with bags of
sand on their shoulders, and diminish
their height so as to be under the regu
lation limit. The effect, of course, is
bad for their health, but better that
than be butchered.
THE PAY OF OLIVER CROMWELL.
When Oliver Cromwell was asked, in
1649, to accept the post of Commander
in-Chief and Lieutenant General of Ire
land, he replied that he would go if he
were "sufficiently provided." The fol
lowing facts from the calendar of state
papers will show the pecuniary value of
the demand, which was granted : "He
required in addition to the ordinary sal
ary of a Lieutenant General of Ireland
§15,000 for an outfit, §50 a day so long
as he remained in England, and $40,
--000 a year upon his landing in Ireland. "
Unfortunately the patent does not state
what salary he actually received as Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, but only
mentions that he should have the
usual fees, stipends and allowances, but.
judging from other details, it must have
been at least §25,000, and, if so, his
total income was $65,000 a year, which,
in consideration of the relative value of
money then, wonld have given him
command of an income worth $226,
--000.
BUTTOyS.
"Button, button, who has the but
ton?" asked a glove that had been
dropped on the toilet-table.
"I've got it," answered Jimmy's jack
et. "I've several buttons, in fact."
"No," put in the closet-door, " I have
it myself; the carpenter gave it to me."
"I h ad a dozen or so," said a boot,
looking rather down at the heel.
"And I have a hundred or more,"
yawned the easy chair, "but they don't
button anything; they don't belong to
the working class."
"Here's a bachelor's button," re
marked a vase of flowers on the bureau.
'"There's a button-wood tree in the
garden," said the button-hooker. "I
suppose you all grew there."
"I know better than that," pouted
the closet-door. "Mine grew in the
veins of the earth, where all the
precious metals are found. It's a poor
relation of theirs."
"And we," added a pair of ivory
sleeve-buttons, "we grew in the land of
the white elephant. We were carved
from * the tusks of the leader, who
threaded the jungles and swam the riv
ers at the head of his troops. "
"My buttons," said the glove, "were
nearly related to the gem which Cleo
patra dissolved for Antony. They were
mother-of-pearl, grown in the shell of
the pearl oyster, for which divers risk
their lives."
"That's something of a fish story,"
thought Jimmy's jacket. "My buttons
are only glass ; but glass is sometimes
made of sand, and who knows but their
atoms may have been swept down to
the sea-shore from 'farthest India?'"
"And I," whispered the bachelor's
button, "I sprang from a tiny seed, with
all my splendor of blue and purple
wings, like the Afrite from the jar which
the fisherman found on the beach. It
is a miracle how I was packed away
there!" — Mary N. Prescott, in ,S7.
Nicholas,
FARM LABOR.
The question is often asked, "Why
are farm wages so low?" and the al
most universal answer is, "Because
farmers cannot afford to pay more."
Xoav that is partly true and partly not
true. Taking the general average of
farm laborers, and the wages are high
enough, and farmers cannot afford to
pay more. In any other employment
or trade men first learn how to do the
work before they offer themselves to
employers, but in farming it is differ
ent, though why it should be so is a
mystery.
A young man starts out for himself,
and the first work he attempts is farm
ing. He demands and gets the usual
"wages for a farm hand, though he docs
not know enough about farming to har
row a field properly.
As to his plowing, it reminds one of
the story of the old Buckeye fanner, who
usually had a yoke of wild steers to
break in in the spring and did it by
hitching them to a plow. When quizzed
about his zigzag furrows, his usual
reply was, "Oh, "\val, it all needs plow
ing." Such farm labor is overpaid at
the usual wages — indeed, it is dear at
any price, and no wonder the farmer
says he cannot afford to pay higher
wages.
When the farm hand takes the time
to learn his trade and only offers liis
services when he is well skilled in all
branches of it, then the farmer can
afford to pay higher wages and the
•workman will earn his salary. In every
other branch of industry, skilled labor
commands the highest wages, and there
is no good reason why skilled labor
should not be employed on the farm.
Farmers are too apt to look at the
first cost of labor rather than to the
future profits, and thus unwittingly pay
too high a price for unskilled labor,
verifying the old saw, "penny wise and
pound foolish." — Dakota Farmer.
There are now only thirty-six estab
lishments in Cologne each selling the
true and only genuine eau. In 1829
there were sixty.
IT is said that Lord Hartington was
once reproached for yawning visibly in
the middle of one of his own speeches,
as Under-Se?Tfitary of War, and replied
that he could not help it, because it was
so dull.
THE AMERICAN LEXICOGRAPHER*
Dr. Webster was a true scion of the
old New England stock. Upon his moth
er's side he was a descendant of William
Bradford, the Plymouth Governor. The
clever boys of New England families
were then sent to college, and Noah
Webster naturally entered Yale College
in 1774. His studies were somewhat in
terrupted by the Revolution ; but he
succeeded in graduating. Afterward he
taught school and studied law, being ad
mitted to the bar in 1781. In 1782 he
kept a classical school atGoshen, N. V.,
and there "compiled two small ele
mentary books for teaching the English
language." In 1783 he published his
" First Part of a Grammatical Institute
of the English Language," followed in
the course of the next two years by the
second and third parts. The first part
was the basis of the spelling-books
which he afterward published. He had
an idea that Americans should have
school-books of their own, and he based
his compilations upon this. He ad
hered to this when he published his
reader, and many of the selections are
from American writers and orators. His
books were popular enough to make him
feel the need of a copyright law, and to
secure this by the legislation of the sev
eral States he studied assiduously, Con
gress under the Confederation having no
power to protect literary property. It
did not enact a copyright law until 1790.
The spelling-book, as everybody knows,
was enormously successful. In 1847
24,000,000 copies of the book had been
published, the sale averaging 1,000,000
per annum. Upon this Dr. Webster re
ceived a premium of copyright of 5 mills
a copy, and it was the profits arising
from this book which, during the twenty
years in which Dr. Webster was en
gaged upon the " American Dictionary,"
supported him and his family. — New
York Tribune.
IESANITY IN THE UNITED STATES.
After all the recent talk about the in
crease of insanity in this country, it is
encouraging to learn that we are not so
crazy as some other nations. At the
late meeting of the National Association
for the Protection of the Insane and the
Prevention of Insanity it was shown our
insane number about 63,000, or 1 to 777
of the population. The ratio in En
gland is 1 to 350, part due, perhaps, to
the more thorough separation of the in
sane from the general population. By
sections the ratio is in this country : In
New England, 1 to 588; Middle States,
Ito 600 ; Western States, 1 to 8£»;
mthern States, Ito 1,100. The ratio
which we may look forward in tbe
utnre is, in the opinion of Dr c. r.
Dana : In New England, Ito ..- . A. >r.,
Ito 600; South, Ito 800. In 18a. .. .-re
were seventy-four State and thim -/our
private asylums. The cost of main
taining them was $12,000,000 a year.
The needs of the insane are want of
room in asylums, separation of acute
and chronic patients and epileptics, im
provements in the laws of commitment,
more amusement and work for patients,
and a separation of State asylums from
political influence. — Scientific Ameri
can.
JfJJISCX AXD THE GOOSE'S FGGS.
I have spoken about Edison's patience
and perseverance. A funny story, the
truth of which several of his friend:* at
test, has been told me by one of his en
thusiastic admirers to throw into relief
these quaiitie3. Ganders, as rural folk
well know, flog with their wings chil
dren who show themselves disposed to
interfere with hatching eggs. When
Edison was a boy of 7 or 8 years, and
still wearing petticoats, boys' clothing
being thought by his people too dear, it
was observed by them at the farm in
Michigan, where he was brought up,
that his bare legs were often badly
beaten by the gander. He was told to
keep out of that bird' 3 way, and let the
geese alone. The next spring hostilities
were again declared between him and
the gander. One fine morning Edison
disappeared. It was ascertained that he
took with him a store of food. As he
was still missing at night, great uneasi
ness was felt. A search was begun next
day. The child was found in a wood,
sitting down and holding out his skirts
over a sort of straw nest that he had
made and filled with eggs which he had
taken from under an incubating goose.
He wanted to see whether he could not
hatch just as well as that bird. The idea
had set him in a fever twelve months
previously, and he had not abandoned
it. Un philosophical parents whipped
and scolded him.
An acquaintance, to whom a Michigan
f aimer had told this curious anecdote,
went to Edison and asked whether it
was not fabulous. "No, it is quite true,"
he replied. " I was terribly disappoint
ed [when they pulled me off my nest,
and had not the courage to try again.
But if I went now to hatch those goose's
eggs I should succeed. I have more
perseverance." — Indiana Daily News.
SAYINGS,
Douglas Jerr old said: "The ugliest
of trades have their moments of pleas
ure. Now, if I were a gravedigger, or
even a hangman, there are some people
I could work for with a great deal of
enjoyment."
Goethe said : "I have ever been con
sidered one of Fortune's chiefest favor
ites, yet truly there has been nothing
but toil and care, and in my 75th year
I may say that I have never had four
weeks of genuine pleasure. The stone
was ever to be rolled up anew. "
Sidney Smith said : " When I began
to thump the cushion of my pulpit, on
first coming to Forston, the accumulat
ed dust of 150 years made such a cloud
that for some minutes I lost sight of my
congregation."
%
s