The
Page 3
AMERICAN
LOOAL
(F rom the Q uiver
of
S idney S mith )
It is only by the fresh feelings of the heart that
mankind can be very powerfully affected.
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The true progress of refinement, we conceive, is to
discard all the mountebank drapery of barbarian ages.
An excellent and well-arranged dinner is a most
pleasing occurrence, and a great triumph of civilized
life.
Practical wit discovers connection or regulation be
tween actions, in which duller understandings discover
none.
Profound wits, though they are generally courted
for the amusement they afford, are seldom respected
for the qualities they possess.
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It is always considered as a piece of impertinence
in England, if a man of less than two or three
thousand a year has opinions at all upon important
subjects.
There is an association in men’s minds between
dullness and wisdom, amusement and folly, which has
a powerful influence in decision upon character, and
is not overcome without considerable difficulty.
Man may direct his ways by plain reason, and sup
port his life by tasteless food; but God has given us
wit, and flavor, and brightness, and laughter, and
perfumes, to enliven the days of man’s pilgrimage,
and to “charm his pained steps over the burning
marie.”
I believe the fact to be, that wit is very seldom the
only eminent quality which resides in the mind of any
man; it is commonly accompanied by many other tal
ents of every description, and ought to be considered
as a strong evidence of a fertile and superior under
standing.
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A witty man is a d ramatic performer: In the process
of time, he can no more exist without applause than
he can exist without air; if his audience be small, or
if they are inattentive, or if a new’ wit defrauds him
of any portion of his admiration, it is all over with
him—he sickens and is extinguished.
Rev. W. L. Van Nuys, Secretary of the Presby
terian Board of Christian Education, and Mrs. Van
Nuys were visitors on the campus on Sunday. Dr.
Van Nuys at the Protestant church service, illustrat
ing his lecture on the Holy Land with beautiful
colored stereopticon views which he secured on his
recent visit to Palestine.
A new club of Girl Reserves was organized on Sun
day, consisting entirely of girls from Hawley Hall.
This club will meet on Sunday evening and follow
the regular Girl Reserve program. Last Sunday after
the election of officers and some club business, the
members wrote letters to tw’o former members. Anna
and Hilda Johnson, who are now living in Dillingham,
Alaska.
Almost at the last moment, faced by the task of se
curing $40,000 by midnight of Tuesday, last week, to
make complete Willamette University’s drive for a
$1,000,000 additional endowment, a little group of
ten men affixed their names to a note at a local bank,
secured the money, assumed personal responsibility
for the debt, and went home with the realization that
“Old Willamette” would begin the following day
with an endowment of $1,743,000. This should be a
source of pride for all of the people of Salem and vi
cinity and no doubt it will be. Willamette is one of
the oldest, if not the oldest, universities of the
Pacific Northw’est, and enjoys a reputation second
to none, considering the number of prominent men
she has turned out.
ORIGIN OF THE THIMBLE
The modern thimble dates from 1684, when the
goldsmith Nicholas Renchoten of Amsterdam sent one
as a birthday present to a lady, with the dedication:
“To Mevrou Renslaer, I present this little object,
which I have invented and executed as a protective
covering for her industrious fingers.”
The invention proved such a success that all who
saw it tried to obtain similar ones and the goldsmith
had enough to do to supply them. An Englishman
named John Lotting took one specimen home with him
and copied it by thousands. At first thimbles were
rather costly and only well-to-do people could afford
them, but afterward when made of pewter and other
common metals by machinery they became very cheap.
Their use was a great relief to all who had much sew
ing to do, and blessings were invoked on the inventor.
The Dutch “finger hat,” as it was called became in
England the “thumb-bell,” from its bell-like shape.
It was originally worn on the thumb to receive the
thrust of the needle when forced through cloth, and
not, as at present, to force it through. Some of the
thimbles that are worn in the far East are very costly.
Wealthy Chinese ladies have thimbles carved out of
mother-of-pearl, and sometimes the top is formed of
a single precious stone. Thimbles with an agate or
onyx mounted in gold are often seen, as well as thim
bles incrusted with rubies. The queen of Siam is pos
sessed of a thimble in the form of a lotus bud, with
her name exquisitely worked in tiny diamonds round
the margin.