New-York tribune. [volume], June 03, 1906, Page 3, Image 47

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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On a recent Sunday on© of the ministers In a
town nor many miles from New York preached
j, pennon on the duty and the beauty of for
fjver-efs- Ap the worthy people of the congre
gation reamed homeward, by twos and threes,
they •»• I the words of their pastor.
*TCe;l." remarked one of the elders of the
caurch, as he mounted the steps of his home.
Tin willing to forgive everybody but the gas
coinj'a-ny. I can't do that."
Probably ie felt as the man did who had Just
eateu an unusually good dinner. This man
cre'.ched his lees out comfortably under the
table. dr<nv a sigh of huge content and said to
♦'Now. I wish I had an enemy, so that J could
forgive him."
•There's the pas company," the wife suggested.
"The *ras company Isn't my enemy merely,"
gild I) ■ man. "It's the enemy of the human
race. Who am 1. to forgive the gas company?"'
If the jras company is not the enemy of the
jjurosn rue , at least there Is no other institu
or. thut Is so generally objurgated, within the
JBjsjßJ ever which it sheds Its illumination and
Its tins, t^ee three or four householders talking
together, and it Is ten to one that before the
group breaks up one of them will say:
••cpcaklr.e of abuses, my gas bill is getting
Bigger *• very month, and here is the season when
the evenings are getting shorter. It's extortion.
thai what it is. and I told the collector so."
Molei'.cUons do no good, though. You may
fcuri xhf.in at the collector till your tongue la
weary, tut he merely, with a perfectly blank
jed wooden face, leaves the bill and goes away.
Cf rour?e. if you object to your gas bill you can
refuse to pay it, but then your gas will be shut
i" arid ;:;<-£ where are you? A wanderer in an
tepenri: aliie forest who has lost his matchbox
te not bo Ltljless. for he can kindle a lire with
two Ptcr.es and a handful of dry leaves, as is
the sv< ..-*- New York flat dweller with his
gas shut off.
THERE'S A REMEDY.
But is thero no remedy, no way of lessening
the steady outgo cf money each month from
ones pocket to the coffers of the gas company?
A6»ured:y there is. Putting aside legislation.
which :? a slow and uncertain way and
(Efractaoua. as the adventures of the 80-cent
jas measure are demonstrating, there Is another
method, or rather there are methods, and they
ire within the roach of . very housewife who
cocks her family's dinner and lights her home
vri'.h gas. They are simple methods, and per
fectly honest, being only devices for securing
the desired results with a 6maller amount of
fas.
It wou'.d be interesting, if the statistics could
be compiled, to know Just how much gas is
rested, burnt up needlessly. In the city of New
York *very year. Most of this is squandered In
Ut'Je ways. For example, a woman starts in to
prepare dinner for her husband and children.
Bt<» Is going to have roast lamb, boiled potatoes,
•ass and sew kind of stewed fruit. She lights
the oven burners and puts the roast of lamb in
the upper pan of the oven. When it Is time to
fceii the vegetables she pares the potatoes and
•r is them over one of the top burners, and the
peas over a 6econ<S. while the fruit Is stewing
»ver & third one; anA ill the burners, probably,
going full blast. As the oven burners consume
».t»out thirty feet of gas an hour, and each top
burner from twelve to fifteen, the gas bill is
being augmented pretty rapidly while that din
ner cooks.
Sow, at any piace where gas appliances are
•old on* can get Be;>u-abie saucepans, as they
M« <x Bast a little more than the or-
Unary 6&u I they pay for themselves
3: a few cays In the gas they save. Some of
them are in seta of three, heart shaped, bo that
i^P 5*5 * * 1n polio* have fortrfd'Vn the street *a 1« of
"a*rtt-E_- U>r«" •=!«." cays ii European dispatch, and
"?., !> '- t n x'.ven — that two little. l-'Vf. who had b*en
•*«V trnr.el6tlon« of this kind of literature had be«-n
i «*' ln * nT * r <s«a» Linden araiwl with revolvers and
i-isoc:^ t» hold up an d rob th« p&seerst>r. This artlcl*
r-vts v. *^.d l<>* C • the •■•-•■ of '.!. •-;-•? novels, which
u« to tm*&:'y read by the Amerta&n boy to-day.
Vrfca.t do the average people in New York
read? Are, they becoming more exacting in their
testes? 3>oes the amusing or the instructive
t^ook {Lid greater favor? Has the multiplica
°° - '' libraries produced any marked effect in
popularizing literature? How fares the me
chanic, whenca come the tears of the factory
Slrl, ar.d what does the messenger boy furtively
devour?
A tv.ll and conclusive answer to these ques
tions could not be given without months of labor
tnd a corps of extremely brazen census takers.
It would be a task merely to mark off the aver
se^ people, adjudging the case of the ■■ .i-to-do
Out illiterate shopkeeper, the indigent but cult
2rtd ri»-rk, th*' foreigner educated in home
Saasica yet Innocent of ours. Generalities are
faacerous. Too many exceptions turn up.
Even facu, and figures .-.id when the precise
Srcttmstanoes use unknown.
However, an investigation by a Tribune re
porter yielded interesting results. It seems that
tociojogir-!! aTl^ socialistic books are being
iarg*!y real by the I ins lllg laail In New York
*ho. for tii" r*st. selects what will help him In
&5s (pedal trade. Novels of the "ten beat" list
ipjw-a! to the women f*olk of Americanized toil
ers, bat the East Side sternly rejects them and
*"■"» for Shakespeare. Hawthorne, Irving and
&fc beloved Russian Blasters. The factory girl
•till asks for what an English writer quotes as
2mt choky book; there BUM ••■ abounding love
Utf romance; yet she is so far advanced in
Pltrtotism or dis<xrn m«-nt that the homemade
KpUbcaire hero Is preferred to the noble lord of
fcrrrier cays. The multiplied libraries have
.Sfcus* : <i a i«gxt increase in reading for diversion,
ttttem] study and school work. Messenger boy
ktrit':r' is believed to have improved In morals
*f;d arr quality; it is as strictly up to date as
*EyiL.!.g in the market. New York publisher!
Put out weekly some, seven hundred thousand
( *T»:s r,j eve-cent thrillers, which, it is al
*S*<i. business men and Judges of the Supreme
3»Wt rtad occasionally.
"ifc-ry, which book do you like better, the one
foa uer.- reading or lir.fi one I let you have?"
**kfc<l an uptown woman.
"^'•!l, ma'ara," eaid ilary, the Janltresq, who
46/5 fcni h*r Fhare of trouble, "your book tell*
f"OUt a. man who dresses fine, talks noble and
5tE -s his oife $.V> Spending money. My book
how a man get* full, K»aL»s his wife by the
(I her downstairs. I yuesa
r*&* Dm true to life, but I like the other story
ma'am."
T ki* 6-uiteTient illuminate* generally. A pref
■*■<* for the :<1«-al and pleasant is shown by
c ™nSworklng class as well a? those In mod
!rat * ■Arcumetanoes. The j£nitref* knows that
Mafcaafla do not Jitrnd out KM often* ihe factory
*"' h;_s sever come within re/i.oie touch of ro
_ nr *-. ani the me*si.-jip«-r boy'w experience muet
* ac & '■- Um.t Jack Harkaway 16 a fraud; yet
•f n.nminnmminM, ini«.ii!..,,.ii,.i.ii u .,-....^. -ffllllf ■ immr — n ■— - n inn I WIWIIMWIHH IIHMIIIUIIWIIW.I.aai i I "
HINTS ON HOW NEW YORKERS CAN BEAT THE GAS TRUST
the three fit over one burner, making a perfect
round. The bigger ones are. half-rounds, two
going over one flame. With an outfit of the
triple saucepans the housewife could boll her
potatoes, peas and fruit with an expenditure of
twelve to fifteen feet of gas In the hour. Instead
of from thirty-six to forty-five foet. One flame
gives plenty of heat for the three. Just to put
one's hand by the side of a kettle steaming over
a gas flame is to perceive that a largo part of
the heat spreads beyond the bottom of the kettle
and goes to waste in the outer air The open
work construction of the pas stove top Is not
calculated to conserve the heat; the manufact
urers know this, and they make what Is called
a "flame spreader." an adjustable solid top; but
these are expensive, and any housewife can
achieve the came result with much cheaper
devices.
HERE'S ANOTHER.
There is another way of cooking the same
dinnrr. even more economical; it could all be
done In the oven, which must be lighted In any
case for the meat.
"I used my gas stove a year," or.« Harlem
housekeeper w;ls he, ir d to say. "before I dis
covered the po— lMHtte« of the oven; since, then
I've cut down the bills one-third. A .-.. king
teacher put me on to the feet that I shouldn't
try to roast meat in the upper part of th^oveo.
'You don't roast meat up there,' ph« said, 'you
dry it out. Set the pan with your piece of beef
or mutton or whatever It Is on the floor of the
oven, down in tho lower chamber. Just under
the flame. You think it would bum? Not at
all. Just baste it frequently, and the outside will
sear over quickly, and the inside come out juicy,
with tho true roast flavor.'
"I objected that I had burned some chops to a
crisp only that morning, trying: to broil them.
She asked If I had the oven door shuT. I said
I had. She told me to try leaving the door open
an inch or so after the meat start ed cooking.
"It wont waste the heat.' she said, 'but it cre
ates a slight draft toward the bark of the stove,
which keeps the flame from catching the meat. 1
"1 tried a roast of beef after her plan, and
it worked all right. But I hated to see the heat
in the upper oven not utilized; as It chanced. I
wasn't baking biscuits or anything I won
dered if vegetables would boil in there. I put
anllflower in a saucepan (one with no
handle to melt off), broupht the water to a boil
first on the top of the stove, and thon set the
Saucepan in the oven. The cauliflower boiled
all ripht. v.ith the advantage that we didn't get
the odor of It in the : . tho odor parsed
off through the ventilating holes in the oven.
Now when I roast meat I always boil the vege
tables In the upper oven, and It makes quite a
din*, rence in my ga3 bill."
"I don't believe it." prowls a cynic house
holder. "You can't convince me that any gas
navinp wrinkle will cut down your pas Mil. I
don't believe they take the trouble to read your
meter when they come around. They just make
a guess at it, taking care to put the figure plenty
big."
READ YOUR OWN METER.
But there is a very simple way of guarding
against any cheating of this kind— learn to read
your meter yourself. The pas people will fur
nish on request a card iK-aring a printed fac
simile of the dials, with movable hands, and
underneath the. dials full directions for reading
the meter. You can practise turnip- those
hands around till you can estimate the gas re
corded at a glance. On the reverse of the card
is a space in which to note down the records
of your meter. They use these cards in some
of the public school cooking classes, teaching the
children to read the meter. In a little while
you will not only know whether the company
FIVE-CENT NOVELS READ BY TOO MANY AMERICAN BOYS
the>.-f« readers continue to dream over delightful
lmp> visibilities. A tired mind in a weary body
may he a partial explanation. If the educated
but worn out scions of Wall Stn-r-t recreate
themselves with vapid musical comedy and
novels of historical humhug. small wonder that
the common people take to wares a little worse.
Aft.r nine hours' work In a stuffy shop, the
mind is no more able to assimilate a serious
booh than the body Is able to digest a large, sab
stantial meal.
READERS IN FACTORIES.
In some trades, like clgarmaking, where there
Is no noise of feet or machinery, it is a practice
to have a hired reader who entertains the work
ers. Each man contributes to the expense.
Novels, extracts from sociological books, edi
torials from a radical newspaper, the news of
the world, magazine stories arid Jokes from the
comic weeklies variously interest and amuse.
The Spanish cigarmaker is particularly fond of
the well written stories of his own country, the
epic Lusiad and the romances of the Cld. This
plan of giving food to the mind of those who
work at monotonous bodily tasks Is capa"ble of
wide extension. One can Imagine every toiler
of the future (except railroad men. steeplejacks
and the like) having an individual phonograph
to deliver fiction, poetry and .drama in his ear.
A typical clientele of Americanized Irish, Ger
man and fewer French working people is served
by the Jackson Square branch of the public li
brary. Old Greenwich Village stretches about
here, and the. Inhabitants are as native as can
be found in the city.
"The men are reading considerable sociologi
cal literature, the books of expose and some
pure socialism." said the librarian, "I do not
know whether it is an Independent movement
or part of the general Interest in these subjects.
They're in the air. A big strike usually creates
a fresh demand for sociological books The em
ployed workingman takes to useful trade works
on electricity, mechanics, engineering and so
forth. He reads a little travel and history. His
rare novel* must be of The strong kind, don- by
Frank Norrfs, Jack London anil David Graham
PhllllpF. He reads Henry George, Hunter's
'Poverty* and Bpargo's 'Cry of the Children.'
"Th** Jungle' is popular with every one of both
eext-e. .
"There was a .slight winter demand for Hux
ley and Darwin, but now tlie same readers call
for books on flowers, birds, country life and
chicken farming. I do not suppose that 1 per
cent of these readers expect to get to the coun
try. They know it is spring by the almanac,
the sparrows and the greenery of park spaces,
arid they like to Imagine the real by the aid of
rustic books. In fancy they ail emigrate » to
\V-i]<ien and Concord and the Adlrondacks."
Th«» working girl in this neighborhood still
warns a strong love tale by Miss Carey. Mrs.
Wilson. Mrs. Alexander and other heartrending
authors. There '« a slight Improvement In tasto
ur.6 a desire for American heroes. A maiden
K'ho would have turned uc h»-r nose at a pork
magnate ten years £it;o now accepts his ad
dre&sea providing ha is feasted and debonair.
gEW-YORfc DAILY TRIBUNE, SUNDAY. JUNE 3. 1906.
Stop Wasting Gas in Many Careless a^nd Unnoticed
Ways, and the Monthly Bills Will be Greatly Re
duced Without any Loss of Efficiency.
indexer is reading your meter, but you can, by
taking account from day to day of the amount
of cooking and lighting you do and comparing
that with the amount of gas you burn, form a
pretty clear idea of the quality of gas you are
petting and the variations In it; whether or not
there is too much air mixed with it some days.
and so on.
Few women think they waste gas. but as a
matter of fact it is the easiest thing In the
world to do It. Take the process of ironing, for
example. How common It is to see a housewife
put each flatiron (two, three, four of them), over
a sesiarate. burner to heat. A flat metal heating
plate, which can be purchased at a department
Btore for L' 3 cents, will enable one to heat three
irons over one blaze. A covered iron heater is
better, but is more expensive; besides, the flat
plate can be used also for baking cakes, at need..
In households where there are careless ser
vants gas stands a good chance of being badly
s ;r. mdered. "I watched my maid getting ready
to iron," said a woman who lives in an apart
ment. "She got the flatirons piping hot. and
then it occurred to her that she hadn't sprinkled
the clothes. While she performed this opera
A PEABANT FROUO IN POLAND.
As the young peasant women come from church after mass on Easter Monday the ypuntj
men do not oonsider it unchivalrous to throw pails of water over them. "Nothing,
says our artist, "could be more amusing than this scene, although the poor girls may
have reason to regret that their dresses were so pretty." — illustrated London N*ws.
Remarkable Kind of Literature WhicK Fascinates
Their Minds — M\icH Better Sort Demanded
by Our Foreign Born Population.
She condescends to a railroad king who Isn't
bald and dyspeptic. Mothers and spinsters read
some of the best sellers, cookbooks and house
keeping works. Almost nobody here cares for
poetry and the drama.
The younger generation seems to have gone
back on "Robinson Crusoe," while remaining
loyal to Jules Verne, Dickens. Scott's "Ivanhoe"
and "Kenllworth." The boys are described as
absolutely crazy over the works of Horatio Al
ger, who tells of bootblacks becoming rich in
one night. They devour Alger two or three
times in succession and then reluctantly turn
to something less exciting. It is doubted by
authority whether a public library confers any
benefit by providing boys, who ought to be
playing outdoors, with such pabulum. Ten to
eleven year old children spend evening after
evening in the library reading room poring over
Alger. Their parents, it is presumed, neither
know nor care what they are doing.
SHAKESPEARE ON TOP.
""We have no call for current fiction." said the
librarian at the Rlvlngton street branch.
"Shakespeare Is the most popular author. Few
girls down here read for mere recreation, ami
the sentimental story is not favored. All the
English classics, including the works of Dickens,
Thackeray, George Eliot, Washington Irving and
Hawthorne, are popular. We never have enough
copies of Twice Told Tales,' -.Mill on the Floss'
and 'The Sketch Book." Among th« books in
foreign languages the Yiddish lead, and are fol
lowed by German. Rumanian. Russian and
French. There is a large demand for Tolstoy,
Dostoievsky Turgenieff and Gorky In the original
We think this compares favorably with the best
sellers of uptown branches.
"Works on pure socialism by Karl Marx,
Kantasky and Sombart, Kropotkln's 'Theoretical
Anarchy' and London's 'War of the Classes' are
read by many, along with sociological books
like Bpargo's 'Cry of the Children,' Hunter's
'Poverty,' Brooks** 'Social Unrest.* 'The Long
Day.' by Miss Richardson, and Sinclair's social
istic novel -The Jungle,' The debates at the Uni
versity Settlement clubs create a demand for
all kinds of btwkl on immigration, civil govern
ment and what not Twelve-year-old girls come
in und ask for information on weighty topics,
so they can us- it in a school debate. The call
for serious and Instructive books might he partly
explained by the fact that school children and
young collegians of this neighborhood are un
able to afford books of their own. It Is pre
sumed that uptown readers of the beat sellers
have gone through the English classics In their
early days, while our readers are just catching
up to Shakespeare and Irving, i>ut I do not
quite agree In the presumption. The Russian
people particularly are noted tor their solid taste
tion she took the irons off to cool a bit, as they
were too hot. but she forgot to turn the gas
down meantime. Then as they got too coo} she
put them over the blaae again, but before she
began to iron the iceman came, and then the
grocer's boy, and when she had finished with
these callers the irons were once more so
hot that they had to be put through the cool-
Ing process a second time before they could be
used."
SOME QUEER TRICKS.
People do queer things with gas stoves some
times. A Settlement workeu on the East Side
called the other day on a woman who had just
acquired one for the first time in her life.
The woman appeared troubled, and finally
she confessed that the gas stove was a disap
pointment. "Sure I've had mate bakin' in the
oven foive hours." she said, "an' it's as red an'
raw as whin it was cut from tho baste it grow
on."
"Let me look." said the Settlement worker.
She Investigated. The woman had merely light
ed the pilot burner, which Is meant Just to act as
a match for the oven burners, and the said pilot
in literature. Although we have about thirty
thousand volumes read here and at home In a
month, it is remarkable how well kept and clean
the books are. No covers at all are used."
The Kast Broadway branch of the publio
library is believed to supply better literature to
working people than any other branch in the
city. The sweatshop tailors read the European
masters, and pushcart men delve Into the mys
teries of psychology. Radical politics, agnostic
and controversial works, ethics and metaphysics,
written in half a dozen languages, appeal to
these people. It is told of a young student who
was getting material for an essay on moral
philosophy that, unsatisfied with an English
opinion, he said:
"Please let me have some authorities in Gar
man, French and Russian."
TOLSTOY VS. DAVIS.
Some time ago a publisher, addressing an East
Bide boys' club, offered to present them with
a set of Richard Harding Davis. The boys went
into anxious whispered conference, and finally
the spokesman, with flowery, polite circumlocu
tion, brought out the following:
"If you don't mind, we would rather have two
little paper bound books of Tolstoy."
Humor, invention and mathematics are sub
jects neglected by the. Ea*t Side readers of good
literature,
The five-cent novel industry is controlled mainly
by two New York houses, who issue weekly
about seven hundred thousand copies of sixteen
different tales. Each is about thirty thousand
words long. These are circulated all over this
country. in Canada and somewhat abroad. For
merly these stories had a love Interest for the
benefit of factory girls, but now they are written
solely for boys. A 10-cent series of love and
romance containing about ninety thousand
words apiece Is provided for young women. The
authors are bearded and miscellaneous men. but
they use copyrighted feminine pseudonyms that
have been popular for a generation.
All the up-to-date features of automobiles,
airships and submarines used In high class no
tion are found in the five-cent "thrillers." They
are said to be bettor written than formerly, have
less padding, and are of the purest moral tone.
None of the characters are allowed to swear,
and only the villlan smokes and drinks. The
hero is the model of all the virtues, being brave,
modest, generous and energetic. He la quick
with a gun, apt at disguise?, and can do any
thing, from peddling a newspaper to governing
a stats. The adventures of one hero are con
tinued from week to week by the same author
for a period of several years.
A favorlto character. Frank Merriwell. was In
troduced to readers nine years ago, when hla
father had just died and he had to leave Tale.
was flickering lonesomely. consuming perhaps
two feet of gas an hour.
That was not so dangerous as the mistake of
the bride who received a gas chafing dish as a
wedding present. One day the giver eot a dis
tracted dote. "I can't imagine." the note ran,
"what ails that pretty chafing dish. I can't
light it, and when I turn on the gas and try
such a queer, stifling odor comes from it." The
friend hurried over and discovered that the
bride had carefully fitted the tubing which con
ducted the gas from the burner in the wall
above over one of the curved legs of the chafing
dish. "Why, isn't that the place where the gas
goes in?" she exclaimed. Why she was not
blown up the friend never understood
When one considers what ticklish stuff gas is
to "monkey" with, it seems rather remarkable
that there are not more accidents with it. H«>w
often, for Instance, does one recollect to open
the oven doors wide before lighting the oven
burners? And yet there is always the possibil
ity of the even being filled with escaping gaa.
Experts say that flue pipes are a fruitful sourre
of explosions; they are 'specially perilous on
high ground, as along upper Riverside Driv*
The wind. Mowing town the pipes, puts out the
oven gas. After a while Uw cook opens the door
to see v. hy 'he eras isn't burning, at the same
time striking a matcfl to ignite it, and then is»
surprised to find herself against the opposite
wall and the kitchen in flames. But "Give me a
flue pipe" is a frequent demand, owing to a
belief that it makes the stove work better. As
a matter of fact, it does not; when the stove
works badly it is because the stove itself is out
of order, not that a flue pipe is needed.
A STOVE HAS LUNGS.
It Is very important to keep the lungs of the
gas stove clean. These lie along the upper front
edge of the stove, the little projecting knobs,
one for each burner, with shutters in them that
open and close, looking like a miniature copy of
a damper In the pipe of a coal range, and de
signed to let in the proper amount of air to
mix with the gas. If the burner acts badly, if
the flame is yellow and unsteady, or blasts out
with a loud report when one tries to light It.
that shows that the shutter is not rightly ad
justed, letting In too much or too little air. or
else that there is dirt In the gasway. The gas
way being very small, no larger than the heart
of a pin, a mere speck of dirt there may make
trouble. Or perhaps the gasway is not perfect
ly round, as It should be, and requires reaming
out a little. The stove's lungs should be cleaned
svery day with a cloth, and in case of difficulty
readjusted by an expert.
Sometimes, however, the burner blasts out be
cause one makes the mistake of putting the
match at the front of the burner, instead of at
the back, as should be done In lighting it Some
times It burns badly because it is turned too
high, which latter, by the way, is a common
way of wasting gas. All that is necessary Is to
turn the gas just high enough to produce the
clear, blue flame, the Intense concentrated heat
on the bottom of the cooking vessel, not a flar
ing, yellow flame shooting wastefully out around
the sides.
A me;er that Is growing rather popular in
New York is the quarter meter, or slot meter.
There are about 116.000 of these in the city, it is
said. There are some In apartment houses; one
of the largest model tenement associations has
Installed them throughout Its buildings; ther*
are some in shops, In stores and in private houses.
Then is a difference of opinion as to whether
this is a more honest meter than the other kind.
Many consumers think it is. One Yonkers man
who had. a slot meter put in his house not long
ago flat la MM that he does not spend half as much
on pas a.d under the old system of paying once
a month.
He went West, fought enemies horseback
and foot, got into the show business, wrote
plays and managed a theatre; went back
to college to complete his athletic education,
became a traveller, married, had adventures on
his honeymoon, and is now conducting a school
of physical instruction in this city.
A baseball story about Frank Merriwell be
gins so rationally that one wonders how any
A. D. T. youth can be interested in it. Suddenly
an enemy rises up while Frank is walking on the
edge of a precipice and hits him on the head
with a stone. The hero topples over, and for
two pages the assailant suffers terrible remerae.
Returning to the precipice, it is found that
Frank is sliding feet first into the abyss. His
feet hit a ledge, but the ledge breaks. He grasps
a bush, when the bush slowly gives way. Again
the reader is called off to consider something
else and get his mind rested. This time, return-
Ing to the precipice, the bush actually yields,
and the hero's body plunges through the air and
is lost to view in the roaring dark waters be
neath. Half an hour later a comic countryman,
who has been playing wonderful ball in place of
th»» missing Frank, throws off his disguise and
rereals himself as the invincible hero.
SOME SAMPLE TTD-BITS.
"Nick Tarter the Detective*" "Buffalo Bill."
"Young Rough Riders." "Old Diamond Dick."
the pioneer of modern thrillers; "The Liberty
Boys of '70." "Old King and Young King
Brady." a Now York detective series, and one
of 'Boys Who Succeed in Business" are lead
ers In the list. Original plots and plenty of inci
dent are demanded Things must seem fairly
natural. A recent phonograph detective story
was founded upon a Custom House auction sale
of a phonograph record, which, being placed on
a machine, gave forth the shrieks of a mur
derer's victim. Another writer ua< .1 the klneto-
BCOpS and a telescope in a gambling house that
was illuminated by the new vacuum light. Rob
beries on Long Island gave rise to a series of
the "Sound Pirate."
The following is an example of the terse style
now need in place of the old fashioned exclama
tory padding:
-By Jingo:" he finally exclaimed. "Am I awake
or am I only dreaming?"
"1 guess you are awake, all right." was the re
ply. "Do you still insist on relieving me of my
cash and valuables?"
"No! That is nonsense. You have got the upper
hand now. You are a wonder, young fellow. Just
tell me v?ho you are and my mind will be easier."
"Well, if it will do you any good I'll tell you who
I am. I go by the name of Young Wild West be
cause I have no other to go by."
"Young Wild West, the Prince of th«» Saddle and
Champion Deudnhot of the West:" muttered thd
man just loud T.ough for the by to hear it.
'•Yea, that's MM NOW, who are you?"
"I am Dandy Lou. the Outlaw King. I have
never yet m^t the man I am afraid of. and I have
operated successfully In seven, states and terri
tories."
"Outlaw king, eh?" said the boy. with a laugh.
"I hay« met several outlaw kings in my day. and
they all seem to be alike to me* If they can A.teh
a fellow napping they are all right, but If a fellow
happens to turn the tables on them they aro .is
meek as a newborn lamb. Dandy Lou. the Outlaw
Kin*, eh? Ha. ha. ha!"
I
They fight a duel with bowle knives, and this
Is the outcome:
"Vurl*»»i" roared th* Outlaw Kinj "Put th*
The gas people, on th» contrary, say that It I*
no more honest than the other meter, but that
It makes ore more economical of gas. because It
is constantly reminding one how much has been
used. There is something in the latter theory.
Here is a typical conversation in the Yonkers
home above mentioned:
Youngest Hopeful (shrilly) — Papa! Th© gaa
Is going down'"
(Interval tilled with a wild search for a quar
ter, while the house grows dark rapidly, like
a twilight scene in a theatre. Papa at last finis
a lone one it: his trousers pocket, plunger down
the cellar stairs and inserts it in the meter.)
Mamma Tonkers (as Papa and the gas co -. •
up) — Seems to me that last quarter was used
up quickly. I put It in at 6 o'clock last night, an!
no cooking was done after that. "Who's been
wasting gas? (Gazes around on family severe
ly.) Ethel, did you leave it burning in the parlor
when you raise upstairs last night?
Ethel (guiltily>— l— guess I did.
Youngest Hopeful — Tom fell asleep and Ml
It burning In his room. I saw it burning this
morning.
Mamma Yonkers — We must really be more
careful. (Goes around the house turning down
superfluous lights, and goes out and lectures the
cook on the necessity of being saving with the
gas stove.) .
# :
Now. it is obvious that a reminder like this.
coming every day or so, is more effective than
the bill that comes only once a month.
The bulk of the quarter meters, though, are
in the tenements where the poor live, and they
yield, It is said, on an average a quarter a
week for each family. Here. too. ttey perform
their mission of preaching economy. If the wtta
puts a quaver in the m*»ter on Saturday and
knows from experience that that generally sup
plies gas for a week, and on this particular
week the gas gives out on Thursday, she par
ceives that something Is wrong or that she has
been wasteful. A quarter's worth of gas a week
is not much, but In these cases the family doea
not cook with it. Now that "hot plates," the
little two-burner gas stoves, are move generally
used by the families of workmen, being* such a
convenience for the man when he wants to gat
a hasty early breakfast before ha goes to work.
more gas will be burned on the East Side. But
it is hard for an individual to get a slot meter
put in. The gas people say they prefer them,
because the system of paying for the gas In ad
vance by the quarter's worth saves them the ex
pense of lndexers, the men who go around and
read the meters, and relieves them of a lot of
bill making; but. all the same, they will seldom
put in slot meters unless a number are wanted
In one building or street.
If a quarter slot meter seems rather amaH
potatoes, how would a penny one seem? Those
are what they have in London. It Is said that
when the company collectors go axpund to
gather up the pennies they have to be met here
and there by cabs, because th© bags of copper
are too heavy for them to carry. Occasionally,
toward collecting time, there Is a regular famine
of pennies In the city. "Reminded me," said an
American who visited there, "of the famine of
10 cent pieces in this country once when th© toy
dime savings banks were so popular with the
kids."
The London company charges 10 cents a
thousand feet extra for gas to those who have
the penny meters, to pay for the expense of in
stalling the meters and so on. But as the reg
ular rates for gas are lower there than in New
Tork the Londoners on the whole have little to
complain of on that score.
REGULAR OSTRICHES.
"This, ladles and gentlemen." said the guide,
"is a real theatrical chophouse. You will notice
the signs on the wall. 'Watch your hat.' and
'Keep an eye on your umbrella.* "
"Great gooseberries. l " exclaimed the old farmer
In the party. "I often heard tell that these he-
actor folks were half starved, but I didn't think
they would eat hats and umbrellas."— Chic \-~>
News. . **'
steel point in my heart and have done with It.
boy: You are a master of the art!"
"This will ie better. I think."
rrrS he word wer * scarcely out of the mouth of
v, lid when, by a dexterous twist, he sent thentte
flying from the outlaw's hand'
The Made landed with a ring on th* rroand a
dozen feet away.
"Whoa:" exclaimed Dandy Lou, his face toralnr
deathly pale.
Then, as his horse obeyod the command, he placed
his hands behind his back and thrust oat his chest.
"Kill me. Young Wild West! I am ready to die"*
1 refuse!" was the reply. "Dismount and pick
up your weapons and go on your way. But re
member that Young Wild "West owns your llTo.
and look out what you do In the future
Our hero folded his arms and lookad calzaly at
his defeated foe. ■
There was a silence of perhaps fifteen aeoends,
and then the outlaw got off his hers* and picked
up his weapons.
The next minute he rod* away without a. wot*.
FIFTY GIFTED ATITHGRS.
A cover lithographed in gaudy colors and largo
type makes the thriller outwardly attractive.
"Smashing the Auto Record; or. Bart "Wilson at
the Speed Lever." shows the hero passing the
grandstand In a vermilion racer, and the blue
coated villain la falling backward In a cloud of
dust. "The Bradys and the Kansas Cbno-ona;
or. Hot Work on a Green Goods Case,** depicts
a terrific combat on a red housetop between a
blue detective and a yellow trousered villain
brandishing a packing hook. A red shlrted
"Rube" in long boots Is prostrate with a bullet
in his heart, while a second detective holds a
revolver to a brown coated, scowling green goods
man. According to the inscription. Old Kins
Brady, covering the green goods man with his
revolver, cried. "This is yours if you move. Mar
tin Bigney!"
The publishers receive every week hundreds
of letters from appreciative readers, whose ages
in general run from nine to fourteen years.
Many grown-ups confess their enjoyment. One
woman wrote that "me and my husband liked
this book best of all." A negro elevator man
scornfully repudiated the writer's suggestion
that he read "thrillers." but admitted that his
wife did. It Is said that young mechanics who
have acquired the habit as boys find it difficult
to break off. The reason why college graduates,
jurists and men of affairs occasionally indulge
may be similar to that which impeLs them, after
smoking many 25-cent cigars, to reiuperata
Jaded appetite on the rankest stogies.
The writing of 5-cent literature Is an art In
Its way. and. there are only about fifty authors
In the country. They form a close corporation,
many have been at the buslnes for twenty years.
Some axe ex-newspaper men. others former globe
trotters aid graduates of the old "Ledger*
school of story writing. It Is told that one man
produces "thrillers" with his left hand and
dramatic criticism for a weekly journal with
his right; another pens "5-centers" under a
pseudonyms and uses his own name for the title
page of dollar and a half romances. Each
author is under contract and Is expected to pro
duce a thirty- thousand word story, every week.
The champion writer, who I* allseed to get a
salary of $10,000 a year, rides about the coun
try on railroad trains, and In two days' time.
or at the rate of about thirty-rive words a min
ute and two thousand words an hour, dictates an
entire thirty thousand word story to his stenog
rapher. He spemla the rest of the week revising
the typewritten sheets and doing other literary
work. Tho averaga salary of ...» autiioxß la
3