.TII2 OREGON. SUNDAY JOURNAL. PORTLAND, OREGON, JULY 7,.. 1907.
, t r:
.,. . , i r 4 j. .
A I 1
ban
Ford
Eyes
of
the
Boss
Tells
now
rVC,.'
Firm Was Robbed
I'.'V
By James Kol Is;
ITT liappseiMgnWoha IT. Oretty
and Martin Dawm were see..
tMMd Is Judxe MUlere COUrt to
&a lEdotormlnat term la the penl-a-v
tsnUftry, Oretty Ana I)wmi
were envleted at syetemaUoaUy robbing tbe -wholesale
grocery firm os. Musseldorf A Co.,
by wham they were employed,"
; ThtoU the fashion In which the dy papers
tolt the story. A rood portion of the readers
dooet didn't Have a suggestion M to ft llMr
plao to look (or the thieves.
- That vU iO right, howw, (or tho sug
gestions tfcat the everagebusUeeeman snaked
la a case Ilk this are about M coherent ae
a ehlld' notion of building skyscrapers. Thy
always try out thalr sane suspicions before
they call an outsider Inroad when they
begin to theorise they're distracting. Bo I
had a oleaa Bold and nothing else to work
Science Weifit
hs Sunbeams.
H
Solving the Mystery of Comets Toils.
Solur Corona and the Aurora Borealis.
By Ada May Krecker.
of thl talo probably read it at ths tuna,' on when I took tho casa
Probably, too, they forgot all about it within
the next nr. minutes for PonvicUoB on a
oharg of laroeny aro too common Is large
cities to make lmpresason on the memoir of
the newspaper reading city Inhabitant.
Qratty and Dawson had robbed their em
ployers. They had been eonvioted. Well,
turn on to the next Hem. The how and the
why of the Item doee not matt en The fact i
enough. The Idea that there might bo a story
In the little Item doee not ooeur. The news
the mere mention of the occurred ce le
enough. v
Tbie le the story, the etory of the thievery
of Qratty and Otwioo, and of their discovery
and exposure aa Ford knew It and told It to
me.
Firm Wu Oli Fashioned.
" Musseldorf Co. waa aa old fashioned
house, old fashioned In Ite appearanoe, and
old fashioned In Ite inner workings. If It
hadn't been, all thee thing couldn't have
happened, because a modern house with a
systetnaflo way of taking care of lie busi
ness. Its stock, end.aH those things never
would have let this affair get to the stage
that It did. A tight, well operated house
would have nipped It In the bud, and I never
would have had anything to do with the oaae.
But Musseldorf d Co. wasn't thto sort of a
house, hence the etory.
" The head of the house, Musseldorf, was
he typical successful transplanted German
who has lived and worked In this country
long enough to hare absorbed all the shrewd-
nets and all the enapplnea of American
business methods', and yet who le too much ft
Teuton at heart to have lost hie inclination
o get faK, and alt around In easy chairs, and
have lots of friends, and be genial and gen
erous toward bis associate, and employee
end to live generally In a highly human way,
both at home and at his business, Instead of
In the fashion that obtains with our suc
cessful men who call this country tbelr ha'
live lend.
" He'd started Ms business right after the
civil war he'd been in the commissary de
pigment of one of the German brigades,
himself started In small way, made ft lit
tle money, and ha1 been mighty content
with doing that and nothing more: But it
seems that the goods he void and the way
he sold them made an unexpected hit with
the grocers of this section, end the first thing
Musseldorf knew he had to move into a big
ger store, and hire somebody to help htm
do his office work and attend to the city
"tales and make ug the shipments.
Success Cam Without Effort.
" From then on his success continued with
out Interruption, and he kept adding more
!, to his eetablUhment, adding more peo
ple, selling more goods, and making more
money, until at the time when this little etory
romee off, the house of Musseldorf a Co. was
one of those that the oommerclal agenolee list
im first class In every way, and Musseldorf
nag one of the solid members of the com
munity. " His house had a unique reputation. It
was accredited ae being fair In til things.
Not only was It fair toward Its customers hut
It was fair towards, itself, and something
unusual In big houses fair to Its help. They
had some cooperative profit sharing system
I don't know what It waa, exactly, but 1 know
that it made employes star with the house
much longer than they had Intended to when
they came, and made them work a lot harder
than they otherwise would have done, and If
ever there was a satisfied bunch of working
people It was Mussr Idorf s. And that's what
mads it ruc-f a delight to me to work up thle
catethetr System of doing the right thing by
their employes.
" The case really began ywar or more be
fore I got Into It That's the way things went
at this place. Her they had ft case of thiev
ing going on In their place for a year, and
hadn't oalled In any help to discover the cause
of the trouble, although all their effort to
fled It by themselves h.ad proved unavailing.
They were easy going, and somebody had
found them to be pretty easy doing, but finally
the thing got to be too big even for them to
stand, and I got a letter from the firm asking
mo to call.
Disappeared, LeYinrf No Trace.
" The trouble waa In their stockrooms, they
had decided. They had been suffering from
a sort of regularly Irregulftterlc of loses
in th stock. They could be nothing but
k thefts, of course, because they had a check
on everything that came in and went, out,
and there eouldta't be anything lost m- the
house. But every once In awhile, when they
would draw on some artlolo for a big order
they would find that the uantity In stock
had diminished to a great extent; that It
had shrunk, so to speak, la a. way that
forced them to conclude that somebody had
been helping themselves. ' - -
"The stock clerk was the man who had
discovered the theft. Naturally he would.
He had charge of everything, and he was
the first to be aware of the deficiencies. He
railed an awful holler about it, and fired a
couple of men on suspicion. Then the firm
thought It was safe, but a couple of months
later another shortage showed up. Mors
holler by the stock clerk, the discharge of
another man, and a repetition of the thrttsa
month or so later. Then they put ft watch
man In the stockroom at night, and the stock"
clerk hlmseir, staid In the room every min
ute of the business hours, and the thing cer
tainly should, have stopped. .But it didn't.
A period 4 four months west along, then,
bang! anCther crash; mors goods miealng
and mors -trouble., After that the shortages
occurred every once In awhile.
' .
Ford T&Kes Vp the Cate.
" That Is the Umup of the ears as they gava
It to me. Old Musseldorf and the stock
clerk constituted tba committee of Informa
tion, and they took half ft day to tell me.
But beyond letting m know that theso
thefts had taken place at such Interval,
they told practically nothing, 1 They didn't
have a&y Idea of bow the steeling had bee
" I waited until Musseldorf had dismissed
the stock clerk, then I said: ' I want you to
put me to work on your shipping floor. I
don't cars what kind of work you glv me,
Just so long as It Is something that will keep
me on tb shipping floor, alt tbs time.'
Shadows All tho Implores.
" I Jumped right Into the heart of the mat
' ter then and began to work for fair. I didn't
aleep much those nights. I was out follow
ing ths shipping clerk, and the stock elsrk,
and everybody else, from the vice-president
down, who possifclyt might have eomrattted
the thefts. Eventually I discovered that ft
brother of th shipping clerk had married
the stock clerk's sister. This wasn't re
markable; but-the man who had made them
brothers-in-law owned ft grocery store In
a city fifty 'miles away.
" After discovering this ths first thins; that
I did was to jump on a train and goput to ths
brothr-ln-law town and inspect his Store.
I was shockedA-but not surprised to ses that
Mr. Brother-ra-Lftw was selling, a certain
kind of expensive chocolate at 0 eents below
ths regular and well-established price. By
this time I had eliminated the number of pos
sible thieves down to. four. The stock and
shipping clerks were among th four. '
"StlU, finding a bargain sale of chocolate
In this man's stors didn't prove anything.
But U did give me a usable suggestion. I
now could concentrate all my attintlon on
the two brothera-ln-law of the storekeeper.
" A fey days later I saw the shipping clerk
take charge of a large city order ptrsonaiiy.
He took ft trock. went Into the stockroom,
filled the order with the assistance of the
stock clerk, wheeled the truck out and per
sonally loaded the order on a waiting wagon
and Instructed the driver to deliver it at
onoe. Nobody touched the order save the.
stock clerk and the shipping clerk. .
How to Get Job as Postman;
Is an Endless Grind.
By Robert Carlton Brown.
Worn
0
Gets One Small Clew.
" Naturally this looked strange. ! slipped
Into street clothes, called a cab. and fol
lowed the teamster who had taken theordtr.
I followed him and located the etore where
the delivery was made, saw that he deliv
ered all the goods there, and. not knowing
anything better to do, sat down to shadow
that store. Fifteen minutes after the wairon
had gone another one came up not a Mus
eeldorf wgon but a common express wagon
and I crossed over and euttred the store
and bought ft nickel's worth of fly paper, to
see the developments. The erpresman had
an order for five cases of macaroni, over de
livery. " The grocer promptly unpacked his maca
roni order, and sure enough there were five
cases too many. Hr turned them over to
the expressmsn, keeping the order.
" I went out, got another cab, and followed
my eipreseman. He went toward town at
first; but two blocks away he turned and
went In the opposite direction from Mussel
dorf A Co.'s store. I followed. Finally
he went up an alley In a deserted part of
town, swung Into a yard where the'gate was
open, closed the gate after him, and unloaded
bie load Into ft little shed, as fast as he could
move. "
Driver Repacks the Goods.
" Climbing onto a garbage box I managed
to get my eye to a crack where I could ses
the lm:d of the tht&, and I aw Mr. Bx
preeeman packing these macaroni cases Into
a big dry goods box which evidently had
bern waiting for that purpose. When he had
it well packed and nailed up he took down a
marking gutflt, marked It with the name
and town of the sd-.ipping and Mock clerks'
brother-in-law. and, getting a pair of skids,
he loaded it on the wagon again and drove
off.
" I euprose the whole affair look leee than
(If tern minute, for ths man worked like
one possessed. Jut consider the possibili
ties : nn hour after the goods were taken
out of the atochroonv of Mueeeldorf & Co.
they were repacked, remarked, and on their
way to the freight depot to get out of town!.
Talk about a jsten that wat one for fair.
" I trailed the expressman to the depot,
then I went to the nearest policeman, showed
my creden'lala from the chief, and had the
fellow arrested.
" ' What for? ' said he.
" ' For Ret tins goods on an order from Mus
seldorf ft Co and falling to deliver them at
thtlr store,' I said. 4
' !K
BreaKs Down aad Confesses.
" ' How do you know? ' he asked. I told
him how I knew, told him how I had followed
him from the atore, how I had seen him re
pack the goods In the alley shed, and all.
" ' Now,' I said, 'you are in a bad fix, but
you can get out without much trouble. Sim
ply explain that you are the tool of the ehlp
plng clerk and the stock clerk and confess
the whole scheme, and you'll probably go
free.
"He we Just ihe kird of a weak fool
who will throw over a comrade for a prom
ise of Immunity; and he did It oonfeseed to
the last little detail. Told how the shipping
clerk and ths stock clerk were In partner
ship;," how they'd, get an order themselves
whenever they, wanked to steal something;
how they'd put say thirty dosen of some
thing on the wagon when ths order only
called for twwity-Jlve, labeling it twenty
five so ths driver wouldn't notice the dis
crepancy, and how they bald him forgetting
to the store right after ths delivery was
made, aid all the rest of It
It worked out Weil. AsJ say, I was glad
to work up the ease, because the shipping
clerk and the stock clerk were old employes
had been with Musseldorf fifteen years
apiece and they'd benefited from bis square
deal plan more than anybody In the place.
Tea, It was a pleasure to confront then with
my evidence and sea them Us andbluster
and finally break down; a pleasure to bear
old Musseldorf tell them what be thought
of them and a pleasure to see them go where
they belonged to the pen. Their Barnes
trers Orati aad DewepeV - ,
NCB In ft while you hear somebody
make the remark that the postman
bag an easy time of it It looks that
way en the surface, A postman, by
' law, la not allowed to work over eight
hours ft day; there Is no night work for him;
he can lay off almost whenever be wants to.
He has Outdoor work to do, and that le health
ful; he meets his friends and talks to them
en ths route. He gets plenty of exercise.
People make him presents at Christmas time.
Altogether, It looks essy.
But the fact is that the mall carriers lesd
harder lives even than teamsters or eoal
hearers,, for the latter get a ehanos to sit
down once In a while.
There are so many men that take the car
rier's examination yearly, and there are ao
many who already have successfully passed
end are waiting for work, that a man must
get a high average and stand any chance of
appointment to the position.
If he can get through the examination he
then walta until there Is a chance to get work
as a substitute. Tb. period during which he
works as substitute is usually long and not at
all profitable. There Is no salary for the
substitutes. They are paid merely for the
time they work, and they only get a chance
to work when some regular man falls to re
port. The regular carriers pay the specials
themselves when they receive their own
checks, so a substitute doesn't get hie money
until the end of the month. The substitute
must report for work at T a. m. and 1 p. in.
every day. If there Is no work he la at liberty
to go. If there Is work, he stays Another
thankless task In the learning of the different
routfs. Tho special spends a great deal of
time going around on the different routes and
learning the streets and numbere.
e
Rules as to Arfe and Weight.
Thers are other qualifications beside pass
ing the civil service examination that aro
necessary. A carrier must be between the
ages of IS and 45. He must be In good health,
a weight of not less than 125 pouhda, without
overcoat or hat, la required, and a height of
not lees than 0 fert 4 Inches In the hare feet.
The substitute carriers ere promoted to va
cancies In regular order, so that usually It
takes a year or two from the time a man .
passes his examination until be Is appointed
to a regular position and route.
When the position finally Is attained ths
beginner's pay Is usually $000 a year. The
carrier's salary runs from SHOO to $1,000, ac
cording to the length of service and the else
o(. ths office, the average salary being $800
per year.
PostofHce hours are from T In the morning
to 4 In the afternoon. Ths law requires the
carriers to be In ths office at both of these
hours, and there are penalties for failure
to do so. Saturdays they put In a full day
the rear round, and every other Sunday each
man la detailed to collect the mall from ths
boxes on certain routes.
A carrier Is docked full pay for sickness or
absence of any kind, and this money is given,
to the substitute that carries his route during
that time.
From this It wfll be seen that the poeitlon
Is hard to get, the pay Is poor, the hours
short, but disagreeable.
e e
Jlast Carry Heavy las'.
Ths heavy bag Is an Incessant strain on the
man's body and most of the men have what
le known aa "postman's shoulder," one shoul
der sags down several Inches below the other.
The only remedy for this Is to csrry the bag
on the other side.
The malt man is out In all sorts of weather
He comes home at night tired out. with a
backache, hie feet and clothea dripping wet,
or his feet chllledand his mustache frosen.
No matter what the weather Is. the postman
Is forced to plod through It eight hours" a
day.
In the summertime he geie a sunstroke, In
the faJl the wind cuta him and the dust makes
his eyes burn. In the winter he freeses his
ears, In the spring he is drenched with rain.
Perhape the greatest strain on his system
Is the constant walking. It Is exercise, but
grinding exercise, It Is the earns methodical
plodding over the bard cement or wooden
walks duy in and day out A postman climbs
more than a mite of stairs In an ordinary
route, and the climbing of atatra Is most
fatiguing. The constant walking tells upop
him. ,
e e
Doctor Advises Long WalSs.
One day a man called on a doctor; his
eystem was all run down, hla appetlt waa
poor, he did not sleep well. " What you need,
my man, ie exercise, exercise, that's all. it
will curs you," said the doctor.
A mall carrier probably Is subjact to more
annoyances during the day than any other
worker. If a postman's feet are muddy and
he leaves a track on the stairs he Is lectured
for It. It he falls to rush up and take a
letter from a woman across the street, for
whom he has no mall, he Is threatened with
being reported.
There are dogs that bark and others that
bite; the postman meets them all.
Occasionally he leaves a letter at the wrong
house by mistake; for this he gets a repri
mand by a high keyed voice. Perhaps he
has sorted his mall wrong and one letter Is
out of place; hs may have passed the house
where It belonged ten minutes before, but,
nevertheless, he has to trudge back with the
letter.
The fact 'that many people have no post
boxes Is of great annoyance to the carrier;
he must stand sometimes for two or three
minutes and wait until some one comes to ths
door.
The Christmas, New Tear e, and Valen
tine's day rushes are heavy and the postman
converts himself Into a sort of packmule for
the time being.
fienpecKed Man Poor ClerR; :
Buyers Libe to Annoy Him. "
By Irwin Ellis.
I
F you are ft young salesman anywnere
behind a counter end are nursing the
Idea of getting married, as you value
your future, don't marry a woman who
will benpeck youl
One of the saddest sights of the buelnew
world is the henpecked husbsnd acting as
eeleeman behind a counter.
Every man customer recognises him a rod
away-i Even: woman rustomsr divines him
through some subtle sixth sense. Even the
children are nttreeted to him by some qual
ity which they don't understand. Worse than
thle; the henpecked man discovers that he
comes In for a share of notice which Is not
Accorded his fellows, and as he reoognlses
No such henpecked husband as he ever can
withstand the onslaught of such a determined
women cuetomer, either.
e e
Love to "Try Him Out."
This henpecked husband-salesman at once
is between two flree when the woman cus
tomer storms him. Jt Is oertaln that tMs
woman patron of the house la going to do a
good deal more talking to him than la at all
necessary; and In the larger stores In the
larger towns and cities. It Is certain that Mr.
Henpeck Is going to be disturbed by the
thought that- Mrs. Henpeck may be some
where In the crowd, observing him Thon.ht.
fuob as this are visible to the eye of women.
tht hla :ienieoked stats Is ths condltloii4M where one woman may have auoceeded
which Is making him conspicuous hs loee .' erouslng the fear, half a dozen may seise
the little nerve that has been left him and
gravitates rapidly toward the elevator lever
or to the post of " Information desk " at ths
front entrance.
" Poor little henpecked thing."
He may be ft feet tall end weigh 100 pounds,
but this is the designation of his women
customers which he may overhear If he will
listen.
" Great big stand up kn fall down!"
This Is the contemptuous sizing up of the
salesman by hla fellow men.
e -
AU tho World BenpockyHim.
Women whose own husbands submit to
henpeeklhg Are the least charitable toward
him. Husbands themselves who calmly jet
tle down to petticoat rule in their own homes
are the least tolerant of him. In a thousand
unspoken actions a day this henpecked sales
man has brought boms to him the indefensl
blensss of his position in his home.
Every womanly woman and every manly
man. also, mark him for their own, Thers Is
no hiding from thenx until finally the hen
pecked husband find that- where hie wife
began with benpecklng at home, all the
world Is delighted to take- It up outside.
He forgets tat In his dress, bearing, end
mannerisms which go to mark him for the
henpecked state he le carrying that constant
Invitation for come one to M try him out"
No woman fhopper who has her own husband
under her thumb at bome ever Will let the
henpecked- salesman fjff with the mere neoes.
upon him In the effort to drive him to a pgjtlc.
With half a docen women around htm,
shopping, none of them will take him seri
ously. There are smiles ijid qulpt enough for
a husking bee In backwoods settlement
It doesn't please the management a little
bit. When the women are gone Henpeck
will be reminded of the fact and he will be
sore on the house In general.
Target of Many Complaints.
Imagine a wife who always has kept her
own husband toeing the mark going Into a
etore and up to Henpeck's counter, where
she leads herself Into making a purchase
which Is not up to standard. Henpeck hasn't
persuaded her Into It don't Imagine that!
She bought it hersejtrrshs will hare that
understood at all haetada.
But Jiere was Aaf poor llmHnpeck
standing there llk a knot tflPVlogt
In the business world In general the hen
pecked husband has a hard tftnew Hs winces
where he shoald show fight afnQcenilonatly,
like a rat In a eorner, ho thsw fftht Just
when and where - tteerVe ;a :irifck htni
ridiculous. ' :
If you would encoeed in aVv Kind Vf;ftnlv .
nese. don't marry a woroao -nira :u k,; cpecliQ!
jruu. a uv uiuuKiii mum uucequs in nenpecB
OW much does a ssnbeam weigh T
How hard doee a ray of light press
upon the object It fllumlnateeT
It may seem odd. It may sound ab
surd, but It Is this weight of a sun
beam, this mechanical pressure of light, that
explains the aurora borealla, ths comet's
tall, meteorites, thunderbolts, totMacal light,
and sundry other mysteries of earth and sky.
Ths marvelous Idea of a mechanical pres
sure of light Is on of the victories of twen
tieth century knowledge, the new science
which Prof. Robert Kennedy Duncan ha
been elucidating for the wide, wide world of
'people who wonder why and aak why, but
muat get a narrower world of experts to
answer.
Over thirty years ago some one proved the
mechanical pressure of lliht, proved It by
mathematics. That was Clerk-Maxwell In
one of his prophetic mathematical Inspire
tlons, when he showed that such a pressure
should exist But it was not before the
twentieth sentury that ths pressure waa
proved by experiment, peter Lebedew did
it. The pressure discovered was small, but
ths smsilness of ft thing often Is anleverse
measure of Ite Importance, as Prof. Duncan
says, and so this light pressure has been
found adequate to the task of explaining
some of earth's greatest mysteries.
Mr. Le bedew allowed ft beam of light to
fall en a suspended disk In a bulb containing
a vacuum. This vacuum was attained with
the greatest care by exhausting the bulb to
the highest degree possible and then frees
ing out the residue ef mercury vapor.
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Pressure of tiht Moves Disk.
In this vacuum tbs disk wee moved when
the beam of light raysd upon It This pres
sure of ths light beam was found to be nearly
equal to the pressure calculated for In ad
vance by Clerk -Maxwell floes then several
others have worked at ths experiment, until
now thers Is net the shadow of doubt that
Maxwell was right The light preaanirs at
the distanoe of tba earth from the sun is not
quite a milligram for every square meter of
the earth's surface, or, put roughly, 70,000
tons on thswhoLs earth.
Were ws to consider only tbe effect of the
Impact on large bodies our interest would
not proeeed far, but things taks on a differ
ent complexion when ws notice the remark
able effect of alas on ths relation between the
light pressure aad weight or gravitational
attraction. Ths light pressure Is applied
only on tbs surface and la proportional to
the surface, while weight or tbe pull of grav
itation, on tbs othsr hand, affects the whole
body.
Suppose we divided ft sphere, sueh ss ft
cannon ball, Into sight equal spheres. The
sum of the surfaces of these eight spheres
would be twice that of the original sphere,
while the weight of tbe gravltatlve pull
would remain the same. If we continued
the process of division until the spheres
were the slss of ths smallest shot the total
sum of thslr surfaces would be enormous
compared with the original sphere, while the
weight would again be equal to that sf the
cannon ball.
If we continued the division and so on we
eventually would eoms to a body so small
that the ratio of Its surface to Its weight
would bs enormous. It would be ejmost all
surface. Now the greater the surface the
greater the effect of light preseure, and hence
without going into Infinitesimals, the process
carries us to a particle so fine that the light
preaaure will exactly balance Its weight.
e
When Pressure Balances Weight
This is so with a partlcl of earth one one-hundred-thousandth
of an Inch In diameter.
Such a particle would be neither attracted!
nor repelled from the sun. For the sun's
pull upon It exsctly Is balanced by the re
pulsive force of the sun's light. If the par
ticle 19 smaller still it is repelled from the
un, and, In fact, If the particle Is exceeding
ly small the light push may exceed Its Weight
One of the greatest mysteries In astro
nomical science has been the comet's tall
nd why it points away from ths sun. Ttie
facts sre generally known. The tall of a
comet may be any length up to 100,000.0X
miles. It develops and grows larger as the
comet approaches ths sun, proceeding! back
from the direction of motion Mke the smoke
from a steamer. But unlike the steamer
smoke, as the comet rounds ths sun and files
away the tail now precedes the head. It Is
precisely as If thsre wa strong repulsive
wind blowing away from the sun and suf
ficing to keep ths comet's tail pointed from
It. This haa been tbe mystery of astronomy.
But now we understand. The burning par
ticles which compose ths comet must fall
under ths swsy ef the mechanical preseure
of light If they are so small that the light
pressure overbalances the forces of the
sun's gravltatlve pull they will be driven
back from the oomet with a speed depending;
on their else and will constitute the ordinary
comet's tail. It theee small particles vary
In slss ae naturally would be the case, the
rate at which tbe light drives them will vary
and the resulting tall will be curved.
e
Secret of tho Comet's Tail.
If the particles are larger than can be re
pelled by ths sunlight they will form a tail
pointing towards the sun, which is a rare
phenomenon but occasionally observed.
The sizes of the mist particles of the comets'
tails necessary to account for their observed
length and curvature have been calculated
They vary In diameter from one ten-thousandth
to sdx-thousndths of a millimeter.
Now. a particle one-half the weight which
the sunlight can balance, about half the
thousandth of a miHimeter, would travel un
der the preee-ure of light more than 86fi,0U0
miles an hour. In comets' tails we probably
have particles whose diameter is less than
one-eighteenth of thla. Such particles would
travel that distance In less than four minutes.
Se ft I not eurprtslng that the tall otthe
great oosoe of 1680 was found by Newton
to have been j0 less than 20,000,000 leagues
In length, and to have occupied only two
days la Its emlssled from tbe comef e body
a decisive proof this ef ite being darted forth
by soms active f oeee, the origin of whloh, to
Judge by . the direction Of the tail, must be
sought in the sun itself. : The whole thingls
explained by the meohanlcal pressure of
light, a force to the salvers hitherto n-(
suspected. .. '",'':1,'':v v.--'-'''.' l. '' "';
Then there are the eolftr promlaencse "
and " corona." In a solar ecllnes at the
precise moment when the moon biota out
the sun's disk there become risible around
the edge of the eun a number of magnificent .
ecarlet streamers or clouds,- some of theDS
00,000 milee high, and held suspended ever
the sun. These are the solar pronrinaaesav
In addition to these fiery Streams there ex
ists also a beautiful halo or "glory of
greenish or pearly luster, whloh contrasts
finely with the scarlet hue of the .YOm
nenoee. Thle bato has been called the
"corona." 'W';'.
Both the prominences and the oorenft eon- ;
sist of matter In a highly rarefied condition,
and the so far unanswered questlea of the :,
astromoners bae been, " How Is the matter
held up?" The complete answer seems to
be, "By tbe pressure of the sun's light"
Mystery of Sun's Sarfac. - '
The sun must project vapors Into specs.
These vapors condense into drops when they
meet the cold of outer spec. Theee drops,'
If larger then, the critical else, will fall skxwty
back towards the sun, constituting tbe prom
inences: If smaller than the critical value
they will be driven away from the sua, form
ing the curious streams of the corona.
Just after twilight on any clear evening
In winter or spring there may be seen on ttte
western horlson faint soft beeon of light.
This seems te proceed from each side of ths
sun to some distanoe beyond ths earth's
orbit It Is oalled the sodiara) light Its
cause has been another of the mysteries ef
astronomy, although it now finds an easy
interpretation. We know that enormous
quantities of carbon exist around the eon
and at an extraordinarily bigto temperedora
Ths corpuscles that must be emitted hy this
carbon are infinitely small, so that the offset
of the Mght presemre must be art rem a. The
sun must bombard all space with them.
They will stream past the earth In an orbit
Far out In space on the other side, of tbe sun
they wUl meet with other particle. And It
the particles formed In the meeting; are
greater than the critical diameter which the
preseure of tight can control they wlU drift
back with Inereaslng velocity past the-earth
and toward th sun. If we could stand en
the moon we should see the earth attended by
a faint double tall, she more conspicuous one
pointing away from the sun and a fainter
one pointing toward him.. It le this sheaf
of light on each side of th earth that Is
thought to be the cause of the sodlaeal light
Wkat Hales Aarora Berealls.
Ths aurora borealla has beee yet another
mystery. Ths new knowledge explain this,
too. Ths corpuscle from red hot car boa
have been shown to b de fleet td by a Bag
net, bant Into a complete circle If tb magnet
Is strong enough. Th earth le bombarded
by these corpuscles projected from the red
hot carbon of the sun. The earth I a mag
net, with its lines of force proceeding from
pole to pole. Now th corpusclee must ar
rive most thickly over the equatorial region
of the earth, where the earth le directly ex
posed to them. They must bs at once caught
by the Usee of force and travel along them,
ever coming closer and closer and farther
and farther down Into th atmosphere as
they approach the poiea At a certain dis
tance from ths poles they begin to give cut
shifting end dertimjr lights, which account
for th aurora borealla, as well aa th "dark
circles around ths magnetic pole from,
which fta from behind a curtain the leaping
pillar pf th aurora rlsev
AnoUher peculiarity possessed by eorpoe
de traveling at high velocity la their ability .
to knock to pieces or Ionise a gaa through
which they pass, and that thee tons act an
eels! of condensation of clondax If, there
fore, the earth Is bombarded by solar cr
p use lee they should innlxthsirinthapper
regions and this should result la the forming
of crouds. This Is ft beautiful explanation '
of th hitherto Inexplicable fact that cloud ;
formation In tbe upper air varle wtOi the
frequency of aurora.
Row Meteorites if Fernet. 5
The number ef corpuscle ratcroepted by
the earth is of eoure infinitesimal eomyarsd
with those that mlse the earth altogether,
and con Una on through tatereteliftr epeee.
Through thetr Inwnene Velecitji trade the
pressure of tight we easily eaa see hew they
would overcome their electrical repulsion,
clash together, condense, and form the
teorltes which flam through th upper air
and occasionally reach tb earth Itself as
" thunderbolt."
Ws are not even yet at the end of the pow
er of the conpueole. Many ef them strike
the nebulee and comet. Ths fact that neb
ula am) comets are both cold bodies, yt
thine with their own light always has been
perplexing. It need' be no longer, fore the
Impact of a rain of corpuscle the gaseous
mass of a nebula or a comet' tail of neces
sity would shin with the same light that we
see In an aurora or ft candle flame. It I In
teresting and significant that these corpus
clee found In eandH flame which apparent
ly constitute the essence of matter and )
trlcity should also eerve to explain reason,
bly and adequately son ef the meet per- ;
plexlng phenomena In the whole range ef
natural knowledge.
Palmist Was His Partner.
A'
By C D. Wright.
Ing a man th wife loses all respect for hlmiS
lie is a cnntei wnen e should be master, and spent all of bis epafr time In trying to
More, the brand of the chattel le on hint irame up some means by whloh heoouldslga
until he cannot escape Us markiaga few more policlee and thus gain the
Is ho halt way ground.1;,; When von marrY wtrh in et Me eamnanv.' H ein..
' t w u tue wwae to - stumDieo upon one ana is now, as ft result of
going te try him cut tn order that ah may : household; the U Sold, ;foa responsible It end more rent ones, ftblgaccident" man.
'&'h:-'Mi:r&- fto1 pelmut who was willing te
rOTJNG accident insurance agnt, be-, abandon bar location in the city and travel.
leg rather inexpeneneooY was not . taking tn m!l towns, ana to leu nesepenrs,
making th howling success hi e along With their past, present and future,
ergyFftbillty, aad personality won for M that they were going to meet with an. accident
him In later year. He was aeohemer within, the course ef the next two er three
Months and that they would better prepare.
The agent strikes town about a month af'r
hi partner, and though, of course, he ml l
bars ths full measure of i
ateovpt for him, , a .encew
a few who Immediately upon their beii
that they war going to " meet v- ;h
flent," boarded ft trftlnfor the cUy ta s
a lot of Ineuranc, he i ot r : u v, .
1(1
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