The Leon reporter., November 29, 1900, Image 4

About The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930

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The Leon Report*
O. U. DULL, HbUihmi
UBOH IOWA.
irt-"
THUK8DA V. NOV. 20 1900,
Says an amateur poultry fancier:
"The only money la chickens la what
they swallow."
Gotham will spend in round num
bera *100,000,000 for its municipal
household expenses next year.
Two New York commissioners ap
pointed to inquire into the sanity of
a man Indicted for larceny have de
clared him not to be a lunatic, "but
high-grade Idiot" jjev)
President Hadley of Yale Is reported
to have said at the celebration of the
tuarter-centennial at Smith College:
"As long as women colleges train
women for good citizenship they will
hold a right to exist" The instructors
and students ought to welcome such a
test
To blame the missionaries 'as''' Che
sole cause of the troubles in China is
to overlook the fact that other classes
af foreigners have been coming in con
tact with the Chinese—fcjr example,
merchants, statesmen, politicians and
promoters—and that politiciaans and
promoters are famous hands at malt
lng trouble.
News comes from Danish West In
dies that a species of grasshopper,
hitherto unknown in the island, has
made Its appearance in St. Croix, and
the planters complain of the damage
done to the canes. It is feared it is
similar to that which made its appear
ance some time ago in Cuba and was
sapposed to have been brought over
in hay Imported from the United
States.
A new federation is in prospect It
Is rumored that following upon the
formation of the Australian common
wealth the long-talked-of" federation
of the British We3t Indies is to become
*n accomplished fact The imperial
government is credited with the inten
tion of welding the whole of the Lee
ward and Windward islands into one
confederation, with Barbadoes as the
seat of government
The aggregate investments of the
United States life lnsuranoe companies
exceed twelve hundred million dollars.
This would suffice to pay the national
debt, and the debts of several states
besides but it is iiore pleasing, some
how, to think, of the private burdens
which, distributed widely and In com
paratively small amounts, this great
fund will remove. Uncle Sam la
neither a widow nor an orphan.
The extraordinary vogue of certain
historical novels of the past flew years
Is not so unprecedented a thing as re
viewers would have us believe. Sixty
Tears ago, when one of Captain Mar*
xyat's novels was running serially, ves
sels in mid-ocean used to rnn\ip the
signal, "Has Japhet found his l||£her
yet?" and wait for the re]
itschland
tions
|p
Kish que
An American who visited the Paris
exposition thinks its failure to realize
expectations was due to two things.
It was not sufficiently localized and
Its magnificent distances made people
wecry. The other trouble was Ulsap
pointing with what had been announc
ed as some of the biggest features, like
the telescope that was to bring the
image of the moon within a few miles.
The visitor says the show resolved it
self Into a "Sunday afternoon parade."
The earl of Chatham used to bow so
low when he met a bishop that his
nose could be seen between his knees.
A suavity no less appalling to its sub
ject marks, nevertheless, the ascent of
our Indians in the social scale. A
teacher in an Arizona mission school
lately noticed a big boy holding a
discussion with a little girl at the
school door. He was explaining to her
that girls should always "go first."
She was accustomed to seeing the
woman carry the load behind the man,
end hung back, abashed at such gal
lantry. Of hundreds of young Indians
the political phrase may truthfully be
used, "Not dancing, but advancing."
This is an age of freedom in dress
and appearance. The story books of
our grandparents spoke of the eccen
tricity of a man who allowed a beard
to grow on his face. Of twenty-two
contributors to a new encyclopedia,
whose portraits have been recently
published,
all but five are strangers to
the razor. The familiar group of por
traits of our Presidents shows no well
bearded man until Abraham Lincoln's
time. The three military Presidents,
&rant Hayes and Qarfield, each wore
a rull beard. Both of the leading Pres
idents! candidates to-day are closely
shaven. Although the present fashion
chiefly of young men is that of a
smooth face, the fashion is not impera
tive. Every man may follow it or deft
It without being queer.
kri&
"Molten wood is a new Invention by
Mr. Be Gall, inspector of forests at
Lemur, France. By means of dry dis
tillation and high pressure the escape
of' developing gases is prevented,
...theieby reducing the wood to a molt
en condition. After cooling off the
mass assumes the character .of coal,
yet without showing*# traoe of the
organic structure of that material.
This new body is hard, but can be
shaped and polished at will is im
pervious to water and acids, and is
*. perfect electrical nonconductor.
The house in which Charles Carroll,
Maryland's signer of the declaration
of independence, lived and died, and
which was once the scene of many a
gay gathering in coionial days, has
become at last a Jewish sweatshop,
nothing more and nothing less.
King Victor Emmanuel has pur
chased the spot at Monza where h.'s
father was so cruelly murdered, and
the deed of sale has been completed
lie document explains the reason of
chase by the king—his desire to
ct a monument to hisjfether.
Muoh has been written about Will
iam A. Brady as a manager of pugi
lists, but little attention has been paid
to his ability as a theatrical manager,
says the Washington Post As a
manager of Champion Jim Jeffries
and other big fighters of note his
name has found its way into print
more times than those of many great
statesmen. Strange as it may seem,
Brady was roasted on one hand and
praised for his sagacity on the other,
like the humorist who wishes to be
taken seriously, like the poet who
longs to become a writer of prose,
now hopes to be known as a great
theatrical manager, and not as a pro
moter of pugilism and discoverer ol
championship material.
Brady got his start In life as a call
boy in a San Francisco theater. Since
that time he has passed through the
stages of actor, manager, promoter
and owner from a poor lad to a man
of wealth, showed the ability and en
ergy which have forced him, not only
to the front in things pugilistic, but
also theatrical. Fame came to this
man, not as he would have It come.
It came through the clever handling
of James J. Corbett, and later through
his bringing to the tore big Jim Jef
fries, who tiius far has lowered the
hopes and ambitions of Corbett, Fltz
slmmons and many other bruisers.
WLen Brady first plunged into the
fighting game John L. Sullivan was,
though on the wane, the only star In
the heavy-weight division. Brady
was an actor in "After Dark." He
liked the fighting game, but stage
business kapt him from ever seeing
a battle. He engaged Corbett in his
company, and the first fight he ever
witnessed was as a second behind
Corbett the day the Pompadour beat
the man from Boston. Brady was
then struggling to reach the top
round in the ladder of theatrical man
agement When the shocking news
was flashed over the country that the
mighty and supposedly unconquerable
Sullivan had been chopped to a stand
still by an ashen-hued bank clerk,
from California, Brady's name in pu
gilism became one to conjure with.
People who had never seen the young
ster, tor even today he is only 38
years of age, pictured him as a man
with a villainous face, pug-nosed and
low-browed. He is none of these. On
the contrary, he is a mass of endless
human energy, a whirlwind of rap'd
motions—every one counting—a man
who is master of every detail, large or
small, of everything he undertakes.
It was Brady who, seeing that his
big fighting machlnt had Fitz whipped
in the sixth round, held him off until
the eleventh canto, then dropping his
thumbs down, sent the big boilermak
er after Ruby Robert—and the refer
ee's counting began. The manage
ment of Jeffries was tie second entry
into the fighting game that Brady had
made. When he broke with Corbett
was because hg.had intentions of
Hung the fighting business. At that
time, oven though he had cleared over
$75,000 as Corbett's manager, 'his'
wagon was still hitched to the star
of theatrical management, and he
knew so long as he had to do with
fighters the public would know him
as a handler of bruisers, and not as
a theatrical manager. He tried to get
Corbett to do his own boosting, and
when the ex-champion refused to do
so, the break came. This, however,
did not wipe out his reputation as a
manager of successful prize fighters.
Another year and a half will see
Brady out of the fighting business for
good. He gave the writer his word
for this. One more big battle—and
after that—well, Jim Jeffries will
have to look for another manager if
he wishes to stay in the slat-break
ing game. Brady is tired. Hi3 heart
and soul are wrapped up on the stage.
He wants his youthful dream of some
day and at some place being heralded
as one of America's leading theatrical
managers.
A NEWSPAPER GOLF TROPHY.
In order to create interest in the
game of golf among the men who
NEWSPAPER MEN'S GOLF
TROPHY.
write about it, Vice-President Hobart
C. Chatfleld-Taylor of the United
States Golf association, and former
president of the Onwentsia club. Chi
cago, offers a solid silver cup annual
ly for competition, open to all active
newspaper men in Chicago. This year
there were thirty-eight starters in the
event—editors, business-office men, ar
tists and reporters—all starting out on
the same basis. Eight competitors
qualified to play at the match rounds
for the chief tropi$, the next best
sixteen scores being eligible for the
King and Consolation cups. The
Chatfleld-Taylor trophy was won by
Charles W. Gray of the Chicago In
ter Ocean after three stiff matches,
and he is certainly entitled to the
honor, as he met and defeated the
best men in the club before earning
it Mr. Gray has been golfing for two
years, and he played his initial game
on the links of the Westward Ho
club of Oak Park, 111.
Small Pnnff
That the repeal of the Horton law
In New York is going hard on the
lighten Is shown by the fact that
Peter Maher and Gus Ruhlin have
•greed to light for a purse of IS,000.
This amount to exceedingly small.
considering the big bunch of coin the
clubs in New York city have been in
the habit of handing out to men of the
Quhlln-Maher class. The last time:
this pair of hard-hitting heavy
weights met they put up one of the
hardest battles ever seen in this coun
try, and no matter where they meet
the next time there is bound to be
a great crowd at the ringside. Billy
Madden is Just at present working
hard to get his man to the top, and
the coming battle between Ruhlin and
Maher will be for blood. Gus will no
doubt put himself in the very best of
condition for the bout, and as Peter
Maher himself would consider 'it a
great feather in his cap to defeat
Ruhlin, it can readily be seen that
the Irishman will overlook nothing
in preparing' himself for this impor
tant battle. The club that secures
the match will get a prise.
FLOYD A. M'FARLAND-
A prominent figure in the cycling
world at the present time is Floyd A.
McFarland, of California, known as
the handicap king. McFarland is
good at middle-distance racing as well
as at the sprints and stands near the
top of the list in this year's winnings
on the track. He and his team mate,
FLOYD A. M'iJAHLAND.
Orlando Stevens, are a hard pair to
beat and it has not been an unusual
thing for them to finish one, two in
races where both were entered. Mc
Farland is probably the best handicap
rider in the country. Starting from
scratch he can mow down a field of
men who have been given yards' start
on him in a surprising manner. Mc
Farland is now Europe and is meet
ing the foreign 'cracks. His hardest
opponent has been Jacquelin, the
'great..French rider. Our engraving Is
from a copyrighted picture by R.
Fox.
Good Management*
The brand of ball played by ths
American league clubs Is not as good
from an expert standpoint as that fur
nished by the National league clubs,
but excellent executive management
has made it more attractive by free
ing it from rowdyism. The National
league, team for team and man for
man, is so far superior to the Ameri
can that it would be difficult to find
half a dozen players, outside of the
pitchers, in the latter organization
who would strengthen the poorest
club, and the best of that limited
number are National league discards.
The standard of play In the National
league was much higher in 1900 than
ever before in its history. There were
so many high-elass players in each o!
the eight clubs that their respective
positions in the race were determined
in a great measure by the relative
ability of their managers and the
habits of the players. Condition
counts almost as much as class in a
baseball campaign, and dissipation by
two or three memoirs of a team dur
ing the season is responsible for the
low position of several National league
clubs.
Rowdyism In Montana.
The Montana State League was con
ducted in a way to bring base ball
Into disrepute. Gambling on the
games was tolerated with the inevita
ble result that the honesty of the play
ers and gamblers was brought under
suspicion. The National Board should
investigate the charges against the
Integrity of players and umpires, and
if the conditions were as bad as they
are reported to have been, the parties
responsible for dragging down the
good name of base ball should be de
clared ineligible to control or play
with a club under the national agree
ment A Pacific coast exchange thus
summarizes the deplorable state of af
fairs in that state:
"Altogether the season in Montana
has been a dismal failure. The state
ment made by Pace is about the most
severe arraignment that has ever been
made against a base ball organization.
Politics and factional fights have tak
en the place of genuine interest in
the sport, and the conduct of the affair
has been thoroughly disgraceful."
Cannon Hal* Protect Bink Vault
In tearing down the Atlantic Mutual
Insurance company building in New
York city a secret method of protec
tion against bank burglars has been
revealed In the form of cannon balls,
loosely imbedded in the walls sur
rounding the money vault The idea
was to frustrate attempts to pick the
wall apart by opposing the rounded
surfaces and freely revolving bulk of
the cannon balls to the burglars'
tools.
As a rule, the average woman is
mop generous than precise In money
matters.
Si
{THE CLAY EATERS.
MISERABLE CREATURES OF
CAROLINA AND CEORGIR.
VThmie Wretched Habit Mi Them Apart
from Their Kind—Lank Haggard and
Cadaverous and Ltn la Squalid
Dana.
(Special Letter,
It may be a surprise for some to
l:now that within the limits of the
United States there exists a class of
people almost as uncouth and igno
rant as the average inhabitant of the
Philippine archlpe.ago,writes J.Mont
gomery McGovern. They are the clay
eaters.
In the mountain ridges of North
Carolina and the northwestern part of
Georgia cuese people live today in the
same state of civilization that their
ancestors did 150 years ago when—
the majority of them being English
fugitives from justice—they aougut
refuge in these mountains. To a stu
dent of ethnology these people, who
must in no way be confounded with
the ordinary rural population of the
southern states, offer a most interest
ing study.
As excessive cigarette smoking
leaves its indelible marks on it3 vic
tim, and the effect of alcoholism is
transmitted from father to child, so
the dominating habit of these strange
people, which has given them their
name, bis branded them to such an
extent that having once seen a clay
eater it Is impossible to ever mistake
one. Instead of the sturdy red-faced
farmer, buoyant with health and
strength and vigor, that one meets on
every side in the southern mountains,
one suddenly comes upon a man or
woman with a face sq worp and hag
gard, so cadaverous in its ashy white
ness, that it sends a shudder through
one's very soul. A clay eater has about
him distinctive marks which set him
apart from the rest of humanity as
unquestionably as the marks of lep
rosy condemns its victims to isolation
among the unclean. The countenancs
of a clay eater has a cast of its own,
which can be described by no otier
word than unearthly. Even ine little
children have peculiar, large eyes, set
deep in the head, and accentuated by
high "skinny" cheekbones. Their eyes
lack luster, and they glare with leaden
stupluity from the cadaverous hollows.
W
CLAY EATERS' CABIN.
The clay eaters usually live in lit
tle settlements of two or three—some
times half a dozen—families in en
forced isolation from, the rest of the
mbuntaftieers. for -these Blmple-foHt,
crude as they are in their own manner
of living, look down upon the clay
eater as the pariah of the universe.
Even the half-savage moonshiner re
gards with mingled contempt and pity
his clay-eating neighbor. Neverthe
less the despised clay eater Is not
without social instincts, and these
Btrange people have their own form of
lude entertainment There are fre
•iuent visits from one settlement of
clay eaters to another, usually acros3
Uozens of miles of the roughest moun
tain country without road or path
way, where it would seem impassible
for anyone without the instinct of di
rection of the savage or lower animal
to find a way.
Each of these settlements Is always
located near a peculiar geological for
mation. Instead of the usual red clay
which characterizes the soil of the
mountain and hill region of this sec
tion of the country, there are occa
sional apparently spasmodic "breaks"
.n the land formation, where a radi
cal change takes place for a short dis
tance in the character of the soil and
vegetation. The clay gives up its red
hue and take3 on. a loamy whiteness,
interspersed with sand-beds. It is
this white clay which is devoured by
the Ciay eaters. The white clay is of a
peculiar consistency, soft and rather
oily to the touch, and being found only
la certain localities is comparatively
iare. It is said to contain' aisenic,
thus accounting for the force of the
habit upon those who have acquired
the taste for it, as well as for its pe
culiar detrimental effect upon the sys
tem.
The clay eaters occasionally hold
festivals or give "dinings" among
themselves, the menu of which is
largely made up of clay, supplemented
in the summer by berries, or perhaps
a "pone" of the coarsest corn bread,
and always by a jug of "moonshine"
corn whisky.
These beings make no attempt at
regular work. They eke out an ex
istence in winter by Belling kindling
wood in the nearest town or village
during the summer the most energetic
pick and sell blackberries and "huc
kleberries," which grow in profusion
in this region.
The home of the clay eater usually
consists of a log cabin, or father pen,
made of unplaned pine saplings of ir
regular size, through the cracks and
interstices of which the sun pours in
summer and the mountain wind whis
tles in winter. The windows Consist
always of small openings In the wa'l.
where a portion of one or two logs
has been rudely sawed away. These
"-windows" are guiltless «not only of
glass panes, but even of wooden shut
ters when It rains, or the wind Is
more than usually fierce and cutting,
these holes in the wall are stuffed with
old rags and pieces of clothing.
I have never seen a clay eater's
house that was not a squalid din. The
plank floor, laid directly on the ground,
's usually broken in many places,
through which the gr*en mold oozes
up into the cabin. Of furniture there
is non^ except a crude apology (or a
bed—a home-made wooden frame— I
covered with a "corn-shuck" mattress,
also home-made. A pile of. Corncobs
in one comer, sometimes covered with
pine straw, usually serves as the sleep
ing place of the numerous family of
children.
MAY COME TRUE#
Soma Prediction* tor the Tear 1(D1
Mad* by Moure.
In his. London almanac for 1900
"Old Moore" predicted more than ono
great war, the assassination of a
monarch and a terrible famine in In
dia, and as all these predictions
proved true, many persons, not only
in Europe, but also in thi& country,
have been for some time curious to
know what kind of predictions he
would make in his almanac for 1901.
Their curiosity can now be satisfied,
for his almanac for the coming year
has just appeared. Here are the prin
cipal predictions in it: In January
there will be a formidable agitation in
France and a severe attack will be
made upon the republic. In February
and March most notable events will
take place in the extreme east, and In
dia will threaten to rise up against
British domination. Though there will
be trouble in various quarters faring
the entire year, April will be a com
paratively quiet month. In May Ire
land will follow the example of India
and will rebel against England. In
June the anarchists will again coma
to the front and will give the world
much to talk about During the samt
month the young king of Spain wtl
be in danger from his political ene»
mies, and he is cautioned to guar!
against, them, July will be a month
of catastrophes, the whole world beln|
threatened at this time with misfor
tunes of various kinds. Those wh
are planning to take a journey during
tils month will do well to remain a|
home. August will be comparativeij
quiet During September India wilj.
again suffer terribly from famine
During October the dervishes wilj
start an agitation, which may attali
formidable proportions. In Novemboi
the kingdom of Holland will attrac'
attention by its dangerous and nove)
diplomatic policy, and the statesmeq
in the various foreign offices will havq
to exercise all their skill if they would
avoid a conflict In December there
will be insurrections, revolts and
strikes in various quarters of the
globe. As a rule they may not be ol
great Importance, yet they will oecui
at this time, and they will be the
striking feature of the month. As
will be seen, ."Old Moore's" .predict
tions for 1901 are startling, to say the
least. His statement in regard to
Holland Is especially curious, and
many persons are puzzling their braina
to discover how this little kingdom
can ever manage to attract attention
by a "dangerous and novel diplomatic
policy" which will cause European
statesmen to lie awake at night—Chi
cago Times-Herald.
TRACING A LETTER.
Cfaela Bam*a Way of Making Up for Oat
Garelessneas.
Here is a good illustration of how
assiduous the United States postofflce
department is in following up mall
which it is requested, to look for and
assure itself of delivery. A lady in
Bosjgp sent a letter to her son In
Manila firm: 10, and as it occurred
to her, after she had mailed it that
the address was incomplete, in that it
did not contain the number of the reg
iment in which her son served, she
wrote a letter to the Boston postmas
ter the same day, giving him the full
address and asking him to trace tho
letter and supply the deficiency. This
afternoon or tomorrow evening 'she
will be informed that the letter, which
she said was important, has reached
Its destination, the authorities in Man
ila having isolated It from the bulk
of soldiers' mail and completed the
address. After the necessary inves
tigation In the Boston postoffice the
postmaster sent a communication to
the San Francisco office, through
which most of the military and naval
mail goes, and explained to the post
matter, W. W. Montague, that the
address on a certain letter which was
dispatched from Boston via the Bos
ton and Albany railroad postoffice
train No. 10, was Insufficient for Its
prompt delivery and he gave the full
address. At San Francisco the mat
ter went through the hands of the
postmaster and the superintendent of
mails, and on Jan. 18 it was referred
to the clerk in charge of the naval
and military mail. He made an in
vestigation inquiry in the office, and
found that the letter was probably re
ceived on Jan. 16 from train No. 3,
and dispatched by steamer to Manila
the same day. Consequently it could
not be intercepted on this side of the
water, but in the next dispatch tq
Manila the postmaster of San Fran
cisco sent all the papers relating to the
letter to the director general of post3
at Manila, P. I., so that the deficiency
in the address might be supplied there
if the letter were found undeliverable.
Now the Boston postmaster has re
ceived a communication from Manila
stating *hat the letter In question has
been round. The addressee's letter
of Inquiry with the inclosed stamp
for a reply, and all the papers which
have been made out in the various
postofflces relating to this letter, have
been sent to her.
A Klng'a Fear of Woman'a Delist
Chailes ^11. of Sweden, feared onlj
one power in the world, the power ol
beauty only a handsome woman cou
boast of making him quail—she put
him to flight He said: "So manj
heroes have succumbed to the attrac
tions of a beautiful face! Did not
Alexander burn a' town tjo please
ridiculous courtesan? I want my IIti
to be free from such weakness his
tory must not find such a stain upos
it" He was told one day that a younj
girl had come to sue" for Justice on be
half of a blind octogenarian fathei
maltreated by soldiers. The first In
clination of the king, a strict disciplln
arian, was to rush straight to th»
plaintiff, to hear the details of th
misdemeanor for himself, but sudden
ly stopping, he asked, "Is she 'good
looking?" And being assured that ski
was both very young and unusualb
lovely, he sent word that ahe mui
wear a veil, otherwise he would no
lifiten to her. ±.
At £t Bartholomew's hospital the
other day Arthur C. Langham, deputy
coroner, held an inquest relative to
the death of Lydia Marie Chamberlain,
aged 9 years, the daughter of a riding
instructor, lately living with her un
cle at 58 Chelmsford road.Waltha.ms
tow.
Alfred Lewis Chamberlain deposed
that the deceased, his niece, was play
ing at the window on Friday with his
own little girl when she suddenly com
plained of having been bitten by a fly.
Not much notice was taken at the
time, but in the morning the spot
on the nose where she had been bitten
became so much inflamed and swollen
that it was thought advisable to call
in a doctor. Afterward she became de
lirious, and eventually lapsed into un
consciousness. By this time her nose
and eye had swollen to an abnormal
size, and it was thought advisable to
have her removed to the hospital. De
spite every effort which was made by
the whole of the staff of the hosp.tal
'the child gradually sank and died. It
was a case of such rarity that it was
watched with intense Interest by all
the doctors.
"You are sure it was a fly that bit
her?" asked Mr. Langham, according
to the Pall Mall Gazette.
"What she said was: 'Oh, I have just
been bitten by a fly, and it is pa.n
ful.'"
Dr. Nixon, house surgeon, deposed
that when he admitted the child she
was unconscious. Having heard the
history of the case, he never left her
until she died. The face was so swol
len that he was unable to say at first
where the bite was. He had since
made a post mortem examination and
-found Inside the lower lid of the right
eye an ulcer. This ulcer had set up
inflammation, which had penetrated
into the skin and into the cellular tis
sues of the orbit. So great was the
inflammation that the pupil of the eye
was forced out from between the lids,
the pain belts, no doubt, most ter
Wble. On examining the lungs he
found lnfection.showing that the blood
stream had run from. the.head and. car
ried the poisonous microbes over the
body.
"Have you ever heard of such a
case before?" Mr. Langham asked.
"Yes. We have records of one or
two cases of the kind, but they are
extremely rare."
"The mite of the insect caused the
micro-organism3. then?"
"I can see no other cause, from the
history of the case." Continuing, wit
ness said that death was due to gen
eral blood poisoning set up by the mi
crobes.
The Jury returned a verdict of death
from blood poisoning set up by the
bite of an insect, the death being caus
ed by. misadventure.
CONVENIENT REFRIGERATOR.
C^R
Much ice is wasted in the ordin^..
refrigerator by the necessity of expos
ing the interior to the warm air every
time it Is opened, and, with the idea
of eliminating a portion of this waste,
at least An inventive genius of Nash-
ICE BOX WHICH PPREVENTS EN
TRANCE OF HOT AIR.
ville, Tenn., has designed the refrlg
jerator which we illustrate in the ac
companying cut The method of
Operation is very simple, as can be
seen by a glance at the picture. When
'it is desired to open the meat chamber
a handle on the side is pulled and the
triangular chamber turns outward on
Its pivot of pins, pulling the back par
tition out at the same time, and thus
closing the interior. Whatever air en
ters in this operation is forced to pas3
over the ice and is thus cooled consid
erably. The meat compartment is
provided with a door across its face,
which opens as shown. In»swinging
the chamber into place again the cool
ed air is forced through it to drive out
the warm air from around the meat
•fS
FlacctaS'a lee Mine.
Flagstaff, a comfortable logging
town on the Santa Fe Pacific Railway
in Arizona, has been provided by na
ture with the queerest icemaking
plant known. During the past sum
mer a large part of the town's ice sup
ply has been secured from caves in
the pine woods, nine miles to the
southward.
The caves are in lava formation, the
geological capping of the entire coun
try. Entering to the main cavern,
through a narrow slit in the malapai
rock, necessitates a vertical drop of
ten feet to the floor of a passage that
runs farther in, till blocked by ice
barriers. The temperature in the cave
even in the height of summer, ia about
the freezing point Many visitors
have been prostrated by the cold after
making too long a stay. The ice,
which Is as hard as ice .can be, fills
every nook and cranny beyond the
short, black hallway that leads Inward
from the entrance. When dug away
in whatever quantity, it seems to grow
again from behind, in the manner of
the creep of glaciers. The, depth or
size of the deposits is not known. It
is even believed that there is an un
derground ice lake, of immense dimen
sions. How the deposit was formed is
a pusale tjjat has not been solved by
geolpgis|^p)r..ice,.niiners. The region
is almost destitute of Surface or well
CiENCE Mi®
water and the mean temperatures ar»
far above the thermometry figure that
Would appear to-render such a deposit
possible.' But the Ice Is there and the
product of the unique mine has been
sold daily in Flagstaff.
A CANE AND TRIPOD.
Amateur photographers will appre
ciate the utility of the combined cane
and tripod shown inthe. illustration,
which provides a convenient support
for the instrument without the neces
sity of carrying a tripod along, the
cane being a much more handy article
to transport from place to place. Three
telescoping legs are pivoted to a small
head, the latter being provided with a
threaded Shank projecting from the
top. To this shank a handle can bo
screwed when the tripod Is fo!ded, giv
ing the device the appearance
COMBINED CANE AND TRIPOD,
regulated by means of three sliding
brackets, secured to the legs and pro.
vided with hooks, which engage eye
lets in each of the brackets. When
using a small camera the hooks pro
vide a triangular rest for its support,
as shown in the cut, but with a large
camera the cane handle is unscrewed
and the camera attached in its place
by means of the screw shank. It w'll
be observed that the legs form a third
of a circle in cross section, so that
when they are brought together a tubu
lar body is formed, and a screw ferrule
is provided to secure the lower ends
of the legs.
..
Doaty Ocean Road*.
A "dusty" ocean highway sounds al
most incredible. Yet those who ar
familiar with sailing ships know that
no matter how carefully the decks
may be washed down in the morning,
and how little work of any kind may.
be done during the day, neverthelcfss.
if the decks are not swept at nightfall
an enormous quantity of dust will
quickly collect Of course, on the
modern "liner", the burning of hun
dreds of tons of coal every twenty*
four hours, and the myriads of foot
falls daily would account for a consid
erable accumulation of dust, but on a
•^wlH^jannB^rmamiea'^h ..
hands or less, nonsuch dust-producing
agencies are at vft}rk And yet tha
records of sailing ships,
show that they
collect more sea dust^TfiSik^does a
stea.mer, which is probably accSttBtei**
for by the fact that while the dust*
laden smoke blows clear of the steam
er, the large area of canvas spread by
the sailor acts as a dust collector.
To quote an instance in support ot
this contention, one may mention that
no less than twenty-four and a half
barrels of fine dust were swept fronj
the decks of an American sailing ship
during a ninety-seven day voyage
from New York to San Francisco. The
captain of this vessel, a man of scien
tific tastes, made careful observations
on the mystery of sea dust, but be
yond the wear and tear of the sail?
and rigging, a quite negligible factor,
he could assign absolutely no percept
ible cause for the formation of dusk
on board his Ship. It has been insert
ed that the dust which falls on the
decks of vessels emanates from tha
interstellar spaces. This sounds both
scientific and plausible, but it Is at
variance with certain known facts.
Bits of leather, cork, wood, and vege
table, fibre are almost always present
in sea dust, the presence of which
would seem to indicate that the dust
comes from the land.
A Queer Trap for Fe"*.
Dr. Edward M. Hardcastle of East
on, Md., who was down to Bowers
beach, on the Delaware shore, found
out an ingenious way of catching eela
in a novel kind of an eel trap. Hei
saw a man standing upright and bow
legged in the tide. Occasionally ho
would stoop with both hands in the
water and upon rising would flirt
handfuls of eeis upon the sandy
beach. The doctor, of course, waa
bound to find out how these eela were
caught, and when the fisherman came
ashore he showed the doctor the trap.
It was a big king crab with a two-inch
auger hole bored through the to^
shell. He kept the king crab in posi
tion by standing on it with both h!s
bare feet turned inward. The eels
would swarm about it, and as many as
could would stick their moutha Into
the auger hole to suck out the flesh
of the crab, and when they got down
to business be would gather them.in
so quickly that they were not- even
alarmed and there were alwayii more
around looking for the auger hole. In
an hour the beach was strewn with
eels. O'v"-'
Not a Promising Pnplt,
Uncle (giving his nephew*4^few
hints on politeness)—Now, why, for.
instance, do I make it a point to'turn
my back as little as possible to tho
ladies?
Johnny (promptly)—So they won't
see rour bald spot—Meggendorfer
Blaetter.
A little 4-year-old miss wanted a
fan, but could not remember the name
of it, so she said: "Mamma, where'*
the thjpg you brush the warm away
with
fti't-
«i
vor
a
cane. The spread of the legs may be
^1