The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, June 16, 1909, Image 7
I Any White Woman Lool
on His Return From
Generally Proposes to f
and Repents S<
By LEWIS R
While there may be found here and
there among the native women of
'Africa one who has some claims to
beauty, as beauty is understood by a
European, the vast majority are ugly,
and even repulsive in appearance. It
is not wholly surprising, therefore,
though it is amusing, to hear a white
man who has seen no other kind of
woman but these for a year or two
tell how his first meeting with a
white woman affects him after his
return to civilization. A stewardess
on an Elder-Dempster steamer-*? J
about the usual run of her class for
looks and personality?assured me
that she has averaged two proposals
every homeward voyage during all
the three years of her service, nearly
every one of which, as coming from
a man f&r above her station, she had
religiously made a point of accepting.
Out of all these men?I forget how
many dozen in all?not one had ever
come back for her after he had
crossed the gangplank. Several of
them had made return trips to Africa
with her without so much as
vouchsafing her a nod, but one who
had made the London voyage frcm
Africa for a second time on her
steamer had repeated his proposal.
No. she never brought a breach of
promise suit, but a stewardess on anrv+ViQi.
tVio nomnstpr liners had done
I so, only to lose her case on a ruling
by the judge to the effect that a man j
who had not seen a white woman for j
two years was not responsible for i
what he said to the first one he met j
on his return.
Usually the stewardess is the only !
white woman jne encounters on a j
London bound West African steam-1
-er, but occasionally there are two or I
three others and conditions are pro- j
portionately aggravated. I always j
hear with increasingly keen enjoyment
the recital of a California friend
cf mine?a well known mining expert?of
his experience when thus exposed.
He was returning from an
eighteen months' trip in the back
country of the Guld Coast, and on
the steamer, invalided home, was an
English nurse, sole survivor of a
party of four who had attempted to
take charge of a coastal hospital.
All "Wooed One Woman.
"I thought I had seen a number of
"handsome women in one place and another
" snH R in telline the story.
I "but from the moment I came aboard
the Congo and saw her propped up
in her deck chair under the after
awning trying to hold her white hand
6teady enough to drink a cup of beef
tea the stewardess had brought, I
told myself that all the others bulked
as a clay walled pocket to a true fissure
vein in comparison with her.
Unluckily about two dozen other chaps
! seemed to feel the same way,and every
fifteen minutes of the waking
hours of the two weeks' voyage the
doctor had to charge down and break
up the solid wall of humanity which
surrounded her chair to let the trades
blow in enough oxygen to keep her
from fainting. There was a man to
swing every rib of her fan, with
enough left over to chase every fly
that lighted on her over the rail and
into the Atlantic. After breakfast,
luncheon and dinner we regularly
drove off the negro allah and shouldered
each other not any too politely
for a chance to pull her punkah. I
don't think that I ever really profViat*
Knf poT'orol nf the nthftr
IJJUOCU IU ucx , wruv oe *wtut v* vuv wuv>
chaps did, and one poor devil made a
pretty serious feint at jumping over
the rail the night that she turned
him down. No two of us actually came
: to blows over her, but the atmosphere
of the smoking room was as
frigid as that of an icebox, and the
only ones who were really popular
with their fellow passengers were a
chap who was confined to his stateJ
room with fever and was therefore
S out of the running, and the lad who
j! had proposed and been forced out.
"By the time the Congo had been
warped alongside Tillbury Docks I
was entirely satisfied in my own mind
that I wanted to marry what I firmly
believed was the most beautiful, tal3
ented and winsome woman I had
ever encountered; but determining
to do the thing decently and in order,
I took the address of the lodging to
which she was going, and begged permission
to call upon her with my sister.
In due time the call was made.
Miss P. was out, but at my urgent
BIRDS WHICH CAI
Valuable Service by H
Australia
Consul Kenry D. Baker, of Hobart,
makes the following report on the
utilization of pigeons in Australia
for carrying messages.
An experiment of using homing
pigeons for regular communication
and emergency service between Hotart
and Maatsuyker Island lighthouse,
about seventy-five miles southwest
of Hobart. is meeting with sig
nal success, and was the n*eans in
November of probably saving the life
tf an assistant at the lighthouse, who
was able, sixteen hours after sending
for a doctor by pigeon post, to obtain
nerded medical relief.
The pigeon-post service with this
lighthouse was established by the ma
rine board of Hobart on January 21,
1908. The first message, which was
dispatched from the lighthouse at
10 a. m., was received in Hobart at
1.30 p. m. Since that time three
* * *- r*?ifVi rr?nc_
oiras nave uwu nuciaicu ?n.u
sages every three weeks, it being also
understood that if accident or serious
illness occurred three additional
tirds were to be set free. Twelve
birds in all are used for the service.
"While messages have not always
reached their destination safely, generally
speaking the service has been
thoroughly satisfactory. At tht present
time the messages are written on
a piece of paper and tied under the
bird's wing; but the marine board has
in view some celluloid cases which
\
(s a Beauty to a Manj
Long African Trip.
the First One He Meets
Don Afterward.
. FREEMAN.
request sister left a note inviting her j
to spend a week with at Maiden- j
head, where my brother-in-law had j
taken a home for the summer. A 1
couple of days later she wrote us '
saving that she had engagements j
covering the next three or four weeks, !
but at the end of that time it was !
possible that she would be able to !
give ua a few days of her company.
My hated rivals were getting ahead
of me, I thought, and I was a good
deal cast down until, at the end ot
three or four days, another letter j
came to say that she had cancelled j
her engagements, and was at liberty j
to come down at once. I got sister to :
wire her to come the following after- ,
noon, and spent the interim rehears- J
ing a proposal. -|
I
The Test of Comparison.
"She came a couple of trains ear- j
lier than we had expected, and I was ;
out when she was driven up to the j
y,n,,aa whan pnerpr with anticiDa- i
UV/UOC. ? ? wvu, O - - ?
tion, I came back sister met me with '
a puzzled expression on her face. ;
'John,' she said, 'I'm afraid there has ;
been a mistake. Are you sure that
the \liss Agnes R. whom we invited j
down here is your friend from Af- j
rica? You said she was very beau- ,
tiful. Isn't it possible that the wrong j
person got our note?'
" 'Absurd!' I scoffed, brushing past '
her in my haste to gain the terrace, j
where an entrancing bundle of white '
was silhouetted against the sombre i
ivy beyond. 'I'd know her handwriting
among a million.'
"I bounded up the terrace yards in
advance of my sister, to pause aghast |
before the apparition of a gaunt, mid- j
die aged stranger who was smiling ,
weakly up at me from a seat by the
tea table. I knew her by her coral j
brooch?I had bought it for my sis- j
ter the day I left Africa?her Mau
flti lizard skin handbag?that was i
from Captain Broadstairs?and the j
mole cn her left cheek. Those were j
about the only familiar things I no- j
ticed. Yet she probably had not
chaneed at all in the week since she |
had left the steamer. I had been J,
seeing other girls, that was all.
"We made a brave effort to make |
her visit a pleasant one, but it was no i
go. The same thing had probably j
happened at the other places she had I (
tackled, and was, no doubt, the rea- ;
son for the sudden setting forward j
of our date. On the second day she
began speaking of pressing invitations
she had received, and on the
third day she went back tu Ljndon.
And it was not until the carriage had
rattled out of sight down the drive- 1
way with her that my sister turned j
and asked me how it was that I had
never mentioned that Miss R. was !
crosseyed. And for the life of me i
I can't recollect noticing it until that !'
ghastly moment when I found her j
waiting in the terrace."?New York [
Tribune.
1
As Requested.
At Washington the newspaper cor- ; j
respondents are telling the following
storv about Representative Brown- i
low, of Tennessee. Recently he calltd !,
somebody up at the White House. He i
had a fierce time. "Central," who !
tried to get the number for him, ap- ! '
peared to be inexperienced or asleep,
yr. Brownlow, ordinarily the most i
patient of mtn, finally lost his pa- j
tience.
"Look here!" he shouted; "quit !
this foolishness! Either get me the j
White House or at least give me som*; j
placs where I may at least talk to my ,
intellectual equal."
Silence for a moment, and then
over the wire came a good loud
"Hello!" in a man's voice.
Mr. Brownlow was very much rj- '
lieved.
"What place iz this?" he asked.
"The Government Hospital for the i
Insane, across the river," came the j
answer. i
Representative Brownlow is now j
endeavoring to ascertain that Cen- j
tral's name. He wants to have her 1
promoted. That's what he says t"> j
the newspape? men.?Judge.
- . ?
Railways of India.
According to the latest returns 777 j
miles of new lines of all gauges were
added to the Indian railway systems I
in the official year that has just
closed. The cpen mileage is now just j
under 31,000.?Westminster Gazette. I
I
HRY DISPATCHES
\ I
doming Pigeons on the j
Ln Coast. i
may be adjusted under the bird's <
wing and in which a good deal of information
might be written upon
"flimsies." A piece of paper is forwarded
(and filed with the Bureau
of Manufactures-) on which was written
the message "Medical aid urgent,"
which was the means of immediately
dispatching a doctor from Ho- ]
tart to the lighthouse. The birds are j
fed on gray peas of good quality.
given plenty of grit and fresh water, j
and kept thoroughly clean. They arc ;
also allowed at their station plenty
of opportunity for needful exercise.
Maatsuyker Island lighthouse is very
isolated. It is situated seventy-five
miles in a direct line from Hobart,
and by steamer ninety miles. That j
this lighthouse was able to secure a
doctor from Hobart sixteen hours
after one had b^en sr^nt for by pigeon
post suggests important possibilities
for more general use of pigeons for
such service. A newspaper extract
with relation to the possible use of
pigeons in Australia for military purposes,
also forwarded by the consul,
states that the minister of defense,
at Melbourne, has decided to take the !
first step by placing a sum on the estimates
for the purpose of providing
trophies for homing conpetitions, so
as to encourage owners ?o breed (he
very best description of carriers. He
states that there are 20,000 of the.se
birds in the commonwealth.
I V, . . .
\
THE ROAD TO FORTUNE.
The Gospel of Saving Money Preached
to Deat Young Ears.
From the Bookkeeper.
A >oms man who would have'a
competency at the end of ten years
must make sacrifices for the first two
or three years. Say that you, for instance,
aro earning $30 a week. At
the present time you may be spending
nearly all of this, as thousands
of others are doing. Now, during the
first year, you must save $1000
"Why," you exclaim, "if I should
save $1000 i year that would make
$10,000 at th*1 end of ten years, without
counting the interest! You're
off In your figuring!"
But wait. We are supposing now
that you are having your share ol
prosperity and that at different timet
within the next few years you wil"
have doctor's bills to pay and may
even be without employment at
times. These things must be taken
into consideration if you would save
$10,000 in ten years.
So the first year you save 51000.
This leaves you a little less than $11
a week upon which to live during
chat tim<* Perhaps you will have tn
move out of your present home and
rent one that is cheaper. For a time
It will also be necessary for you tc
contract fewer tailoring bills, and iD
ill probability you will get your wife
to aid you in economizing; but you
must save S1000 during that year
and you will find that you can do it.
In the second year your load will
oecome lighter, and then you will see
why it was necessary for you to save
?1000 during the first year. The
$1000 you can easily placc out at five
per cent, interest and at t.he end of
the second year it will have earned
you $50, So during this second year
you have to save only $950. In othiv
words, you have $1 a week more
to spend on the comforts of life during
the second year than the first. In
this way your load continues to get
lighter and lighter. You begin your
third year with $2000 out at interest,
and during this year need save only
$900, which leaves $2 a week more
to spend than during the first year;
and so it goes until the end of your
fifth year when you are saving only
$750 a year, or less than one-half of
your $1560 salary. Each year you
have more to spend. At the end of
your eighth year you are saving just
$12.50 a week, while you have $17.50
to spend.
At the end of your tenth year you
have $10,000, which is earning you
$500 a year and which may even
bring you $600 or $700 a year if you
invacf if wpii Tf vou were only thir
ty years of age when you began saving
you are still too young to retire
an $50 a month; but now you can
spend all that you earn, and at the
end of another ten years, if you do
not gather the "honey" which your
510,000 is making for you, you will
be worth a little over $17,000, which
at six per cent, will bring you an income
of $85 a month for the rest of
your life.
A modification of the above scheme
can be made to worl: to a profit of
any tfage.earner, no matter what his
weekly earnings may be, granting of
course that they are sufficient to live
upon comfortably. Fpr instance, if
the man wbo earns $15 a week could
save $7 a week for fourteen years he
would have acquired a little fortune
of $5096. This task of saving $7 a
;veck out of $15 a week for 728 weeks
seems stupendous at first, but when
you figure it out carefully you will
aeo that it is not so difficult after all.
In the first place, you would have
to save $7 a week only for the first
year, just as the man who was work
ing for $10,000 had to save $iuuu
for the. first rear only. At the end of
the first year you would have $364.
By the end of the second year this
would have earned $ 1 S.20 at five per
cent., so that this year you would
need to save only $3in.30 instead of
$364, or $6.65 a week. During the
third year you would have S73 8
working for you, which at five per
cent, would enrn $3G.40, leaving you
$r..30 to save each weolc aher that
year. Figuring in this way, in the
bpginr.ing of your sixth year you
would have to lay asid^ only $5.80
weekly; atthebeginr.ing of tho ninth,
$4.20, ar.d at tbe beginning of your
twelfth, on^y $3.15. Yet at the end
of your fourteenth year you would
have saved ov?r $5000, which, properly
employed, would mean a great
deal to you in the years to come.
Story of a Bell.
Few person? suspect that in1 the
cathedral church of Notre Dame is a
bell contemporaneous with Joan of
Arc?"the blessed bell" which sounded
the tocsin wheu the maid of Lorraine
appeared in August, 1429, and
Paris was besieged by tbe English.
This historic bell, referred to by Victor
Hugo in his "Notre Dame de
Paris," wos given to the cathedral in
1400 bv Jean de Montaign. It was
refounded in 1036, and then rebaptized
under the name of Emmanuel
Louise Therese, in honor of Louis
XIV. and Marie Theresfe of Austria.
So if this bell is not the same bell
which the heroine of Domremy heard,
nevertheless the same metal vibrates
to-day at the great religious ceremonies
of the metropolitan church.
In view of later events it. seems rather
more than a coincidence that when
all the other bells were destroyed by
the Revolutionists Joan'? bell should
have been spared.?London Globe.
Little Girl's Long Journey.
Annie Brown, a five-year-old Irish
girl, has just reached Calgary after
a journey of more than 5000 miles
inaue ausoiuieiy aiuue uum smu n#
finish. During tUe trip she was well
cared for by passengers on boats and
trains who became interested in her
artless story of how she was going
to Canada to meet her daddy, who
preceded her eighteen months.
Annie's father, James Brown, is
living 011 a homestead five miles south
of Calgary and could not spare the
time to cross the ocean to act as
escort for his little girl. Couscquently
he decidcd to have her make the
long journey aloue.?Calgary News.
Scotland has many houses without
windows.
I HE ANTEDATED ADA1V
I
! French Cave Man Lived Between 20,
000 and 400,000 Years Ago.
Thousands of years before Adas
| found himself in the Garden of Edei
; there lived a man who made his-hom
in the limestone caves of Centra
' France. He had no need of flg leaves
I since nature provided him with ;
! tasteful robe of hair. His life wa
j. undoubtedly hard, but he was fairl;
i equipped for the struggle, havini
i teeth like a gorilla and a sinewy am
j that could wield a club with deadl;
; effect against hi3 four-legged ene
! mies. He went hunting after thi
j lower animals, and enjoyed gettinj
' the strangle hold on a deer or sinkini
! his teeth in the neck of a young cavi
1 bear. He would often beat his pre;
i over the head with a rock. When
j ever he used stone or club, ho prob
1 ably congratulated himself on hi:
I superior methods and felt a mild con
tempt for the dulness of his cousins
the apes. When he glanced in i
stream of water he admired the in
tellectual aspect of his forehead and
maybe, understood the reason for th<
THE MAN OF CHAPELLE-AUX-SAU
TOR. RECONSTRUCTED YV
AND HI
His bones were found in a cave in wh
France. Three priests made the discove
larger brain cavity in his skull than has
unlike the monkey's, was in front. He c
upright than any ape.1 'He fought with
may oe four hundrea thousand years ago.stupidity
of his lower browed rela
tives.
Not long ago three priests dlscov
ered the skull of this progenitor o
Adam at Chapelle-aux-Saints. Scl
entlsts have made a study of <t, an(
declare that this earliest of knowi
humans had a right .to think well o
himself, although he would hardly fl
into a modern drawing room. "Taki
him for all and all, he was a man.
He made a fair use of his opportuni
ties, and did not attack animals tha
he could not- subdue. He gave hi
children a eood hunting education
and perhaps taught them .the rudi
ments of art?how to scratch picture
ori stoue.
Up to the present time seniorit;
among human relics belonged ti
.those found In Neanderthal, Ger
many, in 1856, and in Spy, Belgium
thirty years later. When the Nean
1 derthal skull was found Darwinian
was in its infancy, and men wer
I rather ashamed to acknowledge thei
j ancestors. To-day they are eager t
trace back the relationship as far a
possible. The Neanderthal skull ha
a capacity of some 1300 cubic centi
metres, and this is about the capacit;
of the Chapelle-aux-Saints specimen
j Modern man averages 1500, witl
I Cuvler's and Lord Byron's expand
ing to" 1800, while the Australia!
, aborigine drops down to 1400. Th
| best brain cavity that the manlik
| apes can show is 600 cubic cent!
metres.
The Chapelle-aux-Saints headpiec
was found in one of the numerou
limestone caves of the Correze dis
trict, amid flint stones and the bone
of deer and bison. The geologica
! levol was about the same as that i
1 which the Neanderthal and Spy bone
! were discovered. Together with th
i skull,, some vertebral and hip bone
1 were unearthed, which ied M. Mai
THE Dll
g t<
Josiah (to newly wedded neigh
and I see no reason, since you have
i cannot pull together as steady and h
horses."
Obediah?"No doubt we could i
us."?Judge.
Novel Spelling Card.
An educational device of real merit
designed especially to interest, and in
I *&/]
?p
I I
struct the younger children, is ahowr
la the illustration below, the inven
lion of a Maryland man. It com
prises a number of sections o? cards
? cellin Boule, director of paleontology j
in the Paris Museum, to determine i
the sex of the earliest known human !
being. Small hip bones showed that
the creataure was a. man, and the
sutures of the skull that he was ripe
a with years when he died. He was
a at)out five and one-fourth feet high.
9 The walls of the skull are very thick;
1 the skull box is flattened and slopes
l? to .the front and the eye arches are
a exceedingly large and prominent. A
s wide mouth, a big nose and a massive I
y paw were characteristics in life. This
? type of man stands between a Java
1 monkey and the lowest order of huY
man being existent to-day. The esti"
mate of the age of his bones range
8 (between 20,000 and 400,0-00 years.?
5 New York Tribune.
3
3 Automatic Bottle-Filler.
Y A bottle-filling machine has been
- recently invented by two Philadelphia
- men for which several interesting im3
provements are claimed by the inven
tors. In the first place, it is more
, thoroughly automatic than any of the
i devices now in use for this purpose,
- and, further, it seems capable of a
, greater range of adjustment. It will
j handle material of any character
tfTS, OUR EARLIEST KNOWN ANCESITH
SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY
S SKULL. .,
at is now the Department of Carreze, in
iry. This .woolly gentleman had a much
any of the man-like apes. His knee-pan, .
ould not walk perfectly erect, but was more
a club or a stone, and died or was killed
-L'lllustration.
- without regard to its density, weight
or consistency. The list includes min
eral waters, molasses and tomato catf
sup. With very little readjustment
- the machine can be made to handle
1 boxes of different sizes and shapes.
1 The bottles are fed under a number
f of nozzles, which are adjustable to
t the height of the vessels, and when
2 filled the supply of liquid is autoI
I v 1
T . ' i
: |pr|
y
ti
" macically cut off, the filled ones being
a moved along and a row of empty ones
e taking their places. This feature is
e controlled by the weight of the ma-'
terial, so that the bottles are always
filled to the same point. The number
e of nozzles is also under the control,
s so that many or few may be filled as
1_ desired.
s ''
A new type of electric locomotive,
ii of^which the New York Central Rails
road will have twenty, is capable of
e 4000 horse power at high speed, the
s j armatures being mounted on the driv*
ing axles.
bor)?"I wish you long, happy lives;
had experience, why you and Mariab
appy and successfully as a team of
f there was only one tongue between
pivoted at one end. Inscribed on
each section is some letter of the al.
phabet and an object, the letters and
portions of objects being so arranged
that when some of the sections have
been brought together to spell the
name of the object the latter will
appear complete upon the reverse
side of tho sections thus assembled.
The sections are interchangeable, so
that they can be manipulated in a
great many positions. This novel
spelling card should be found especially
desirable for use in kindergartens.
Gloves For Street Wear.
j Light gray gloves for street wear,
: but having black stitching, are being
; shown for spring wear. A pocket
! walking stick is one of the new fads.
It is made of a ribbed wood resein:
bling bamboo, but much heavier and
i darker in color, and is joined in sixj
inch lengths. There is a variation of
the folding cane for the trunk or
i suit case. It might tit into the pocket
- of a very big ulster. At all events it {
- is a nice thing to have for traveling.
j ?Fairchild's Magazine. '1
DRUGS THAT ENSLAVE.
\ Claim That Physicians Are Mainly
Responsible For the Formation
of Drug Habits.
It has been repeatedly and persistently
alleged by those who are fanatically
opposed to the sale of household
remedies that the' alarming increase
in the number of opium addicts and
cocaine fiends in this country is due
almost wholly to the widespread use
of so-called patent medicines. That
this charge is untrue, however, is
proved by recent investigations of the (
"dope" question, which show that it i
is not the patent medicine, but the
physician's prescription, that iB mainly
responsible for the growth of alcohol
and drug addictions.
Some years ago Dr. T. D. Crothers,
of flartford, Conn., a noted authority
on morphinism, in a paper on "Morphinism
Among Physicians," read before
the New York Medical Association,
made the statement that among
3244 physicians whose histories he j
had collected, 21 per cent, were found J
to be persistent users of either opium j
or alcohol, and that in addition to j
this number 10 per cent, were secret
users of habit-forming drugs. As the I
final result of h?i investigations, Dr. j
Crothers concludes that "at least 15
to.20 per cent, of the physicians in
active practice are victims of mor- >
phine and spirit taking." In an arti- j
cle in the Medical Summary Dr. C. E. I
Patterson says: "i am sorry to say i
that of any one class of men who are j
addicted to drugs and liquor the med- j
ical profession takes the lead. And I j
am sorry to say, further, that the phy- j
slcian of to-day is altogether too !
ready to pull out that little gun of j
his and shoot every patient that has J
a pain, thus engendering the formation
of a drug habit." Dr. O. L.
Peak, of Springfield, Mo., in the Missouri
Journal of State Medicine, remarks:
"There is no doubt th&t thousands,
of persons have been started in
the downward course of the drunkard
by the direct act, advice or sanction
(and I am ashamed to say, too.
often by the example) of their family
physician." The directors of sanitaria
for drug adtticts are united in
their belief that the doctor's prescription
is almost wholly responsible for
the formation of drug habits. One
director writes'as follows: "In looking
over my loose reports, covering
the last eight years, I find that the
most common cause of the morphine
habit is the medical prescription giv
en lor tne reuer 01 Doany pain, ur.
L. F. Kebler, chief of the Division of
Drugs in the Bureau of Chemistry of
the United States Department of
Agriculture, has this .to say: "It is
common knowledge that there a>e
some so-called doctors who make a
practice of writing prescriptions for
very small fees Cor these life-wrecking
drugs."
In view of the foregoing statements
of physicians who stand high in their
profession, it is evident that if the
growth of alcohol addlictions is to be
checked, the reform movement must
not be directed against the comparatively
innocent patent medicine, but
against the medical profession?the
real fcause of the evil. Of this and
other reforms in the practice of medicine
Dr. Waite sums up the situation
in the Medical Record by saying:
"The time has come when a reform
movement is bound to be inaugurated.
If it does not come from within
it will come from without. If we
A* wnf r?/*f/-kr?TV? nnraolvoG WP Will TlP
U.U UUl IGWiUl UU*WV?TVW .. w .....
reformed, nolens, volens. The laity
are not all fools. * * * That portion
of the laity which has not already
gone over to Christian Science,
osteopathy and psychotherapy is casting
a critical eye upon the medical
profession, and if I mistake not the
signs of the times will require a
speedy accounting." ? From the
Brooklyn Times.
AN ELEVATED GRASSHOPPER
How It Came to Be Placed on thtf
Royal Exchange in London.
The Royal Exchange in London is
still being decorated with paintings
by leading ^artists depicting the great'
events that have brought about the
supremacy of England through the
medium of this historic building.
Yet the many thousands who visit
the Royal Exchange daily have very
little idea, says .the Strand, that this
pile owes its origin to a curious
cause, to nothing else than the chirp- i
ing of a grasshopper.
The chirp of this insect attracted J
the attention of a little boy to a baby |
the son of a poor woman?so pool I
that she could not support the child,
and therefore had left him to perish
alone in a large field near her hovel.
The little boy took the child home
and it was brought up and eventually
blossomed into no less a person than j
Sir Thomas Gresham, v/ho built the
Royal Exchange.
The prosperous merchant, to hand j
down to posterity the incident which j
saved his life, took the grasshopper
for his crest, an^l that is the reason I
why that insect is placed, as everyone I
can see, over the Royal Exchange. i
Japanese Girl's College Honors.
With ihe degree of bachelor of di- !
vinity a Japanese, Miss Ochima !
Okubo, was graduated from the Pa- |
cific Theological Seminary with six j
other students when the commence- j
ment exercises of the seminary were I
held on Tuesday morning at the First
Congregational Church.
Miss Okubo is also registered in
sophomore work at the University of 1
California and lives in Oakland.?
San Francisco Chronicle.
A Failure.
"Has your son had any success as '
a lawyer?"
"Well, no. to te-.l the truth, be j
nasn l. ni; naa uccu jn ui>nv<iiia .. j
for nearly eleven years and he has !
never been elected to the Legislature
or been appointed receiver for anything
or even become president of any
railroad company. It begins to look
as though he may have to eke out a j
living just practicing law."?Chicago ,
Record-Herald.
Pianos Tuned to Order.
Tuner?"I called to tune tho
piano."
Lady?"But I didn't send for you."
Tuner?"No; but the man next
door did."?Cornell Widow.
/ v'*. ' ' ?j
;& "
Experiments have shown that th?
Chicago air, 300 feet above the street,
contains in a year 7038 pounds oi '
dirt an acre, or three times as much
as London air.
Majoi F. B. Baden-Powell, an English
authority on aeronautics, anticipates
that flying will be common in
four years' time, and he points out ?.
that new laws and regulations will
have to be adopted. Ho apprehends
gr-ive disturbances in customs circles
and foresees a complete rearrangement
of tariff schedules, with a
probable setting aside of all duties
on small and easily transported articles.
The sensitiveness of growing plants
to the influence of light is, says the
University Correspondent, "well illustrated
by the results of recent research
on heliotropism?the bending \
of stems toward light. Cress seedlings
showed a.distinct curvature after
an exposure of only two seconds 1
to a light of 200 candlepower. The
feebler the light the longer is the
lime required to produce a reaction, . .
but in an hour the seedling will curve
toward the feeblest glimmer of light.
. . >>
_ * ' il
Dr. Oerum, of the Finsen Institute
at Copenhagen, has -carried out a; V.$
Qumber of experiments on the effect
af light on the blood. He has found
that darkness reduces the total ' .. r*
amount of blood jy three to three and*
inree-tentns per cent.., wuue ucvieao(ng
at the same time the amount- of
blood contained in the heart. Red
light has an effect like that of darkness,
while blue light is likely to re^
suit in an excess of blood and an increase
in the amount contained in the
heart. Light baths are likely to increase
the amount of blood In the
"bourse of a few hours. Darkness will
increase, and intensive light will re- v<
duce the blood pressure. Animpla : ^
born in the dark or in red light have
a greater weight, but only half the
amount of blood of those born under <, o
normal conditions.
A discovery, which may prove of
considerable commercial importance, ,
-has been made in Australia. Million*
of tons of an extraordinary fibre of
marine origin, .the accumulation of v *
centuries, have been discovered in the
Spence Gulf, and It possesses remark- ;
able qualities. It will spin and weave
in union with wool, take dye equally v
well, is non-inflammable, and does
nnt oh rink. So far. the fibre has been - '
succeaSlully used in the manufacture
of cloth and blankets, carpets, mat- ' /;,.&
ting, hessian, bagging and woolpacks. v&g
The manufactured articles are said
to hare been favorably commented
upon by experts of the textile industries.
DIMINUTIVE FARMS.
Those in Portugal Have Been Cut UpInto
Very Small Portions.
The Portuguese are an extremely . .' &&
conservative people. Every man follows
rigidly the methods employed
by his father and forefathers. In
very many parts of the country the
old wooden plows are still used.
When a n^an dies instead of one of : ; i?
the heirs taking the whole property
and paying .the remaining hsirs for
their parts the whole property is divided
into as many parts as there are
heirs. More than this, each separate
part of the property is thus divided. . J
Thus if a property consisted of .ten
? nactiiro land olehtV Of vine* *,> '.J
ACl CD KJJL 9
yard and ten of grain land, and there kJ .*
were ten heirs, each heir would receive
one acre each of grain and pasture
land and eight acres of vineyard.
This process has been going on for a
very long time, so that now in the
most fertile part of Portugal the- ~
land is divided into incredibly small
portions. \;js
The immediate result of this, ao- *
cording to the United States Consular
Reports, is that the product of the / , v
land is barely sufficient at best to
maintain its owners. South of the
River Tagus, on the other hand, there / .
are enormous tracts of excellent land
lying unused, but it has been found
impossible to induce the farmers o\
the north to move into this r?giod
and take up large holdings.
turquoise n Parisian Fad.
The Parisienne is always as keen
to follow fashions in jewelry as in
frocks, and just now she has given
her undivided attention to the tur?
quoise.
There is a perfect craze for thte
pretty stone; so strong is it, indeed,
that it is bound soon to pass. The
turquoise which has thus saized my.
lady's whim is not the simple turquoise
with its softly greenly blue
sheen; it is the turquoise matrix, to
give it its proper term?the turquoise
dotted with colored spots. It is set
in rings, which are worn for choice on
th6 first finger. It is the favorite
stone for the little buckles that finish
the fine lace jabot. Where the pof.fcet
can afford it turquoise buttons are the
thing, while for bracelets the stone is
used in every way a jeweler can devise.?From
M.-A. P.
Chance For Beggars.
Begging must be profitable In
Paris, judging from a recent adver>
? *
tisement in a Paris paper: ~r or oam
?Present holder retiring to the country,
good situation for one legged
man; neighborhood of the Etoile;
hours of work, 2 p. m. to 7 p. m.;
rpcpjnts. from 8s. Gd. to 12s.; regular
passersby, children and strangers;
any infirmity would suit."?London
Globe.
Wanted It at Once.
The MacTartan (very much fud?
died)?"Twa tuckets for Inverness,
mister."
Clerk?"Right, sir. Change at Aberdeen,
please."
The Mac Tartan?"Xa. na! I'll
tak' it the noo; we've heard aboot
the fouk in Aberdeen."?The Sketch.
There are less than 500 miles o{
railway in Colombia, and nearly all
traveling must be done ou horse op
muleback.