The Columbian., January 12, 1883, Image 1

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VOL. III.
ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA COUNTY, OREGON, JANUARY 12, 1883.
NO. 23.
COLUMBIAN.
: - ; j . ZZI
A BACHELOR.
BY WM. MCI?TOSH.
Too jHHir for a nob.
Too prond for a snub;
Too line for tlu mod
Poor devil !
Too mystic for trail.1;
Too honest, 'tis saiJ.
For gain that is mali
By evil.
Too high his iJal;
Too hum bio the real;
To duty to feel
F-r grieving.
Too nt y hating:
To mirthless for mating
Life's pleasures le!atin.
Ami leaving.
Too little a jxx-t
To nnike tho worM know it;
Too weak to forego it,
Still trying.
Too Irank; too forgiving;
Too prune to believing;
Too lonesome for living.
Or living
Henry Berh The Animal' friend.
Henry Bergh's everyday life during
nearly twenty years, has been an expres
sion of sympathy with "our poor earth
born coin paiiionAaud fellow mortals," the
dumb creatures.
He was born in New York City in the
vear 1823. His father was a wealthy
man, the leading American shipbuilder
of his time. He was a native of the Em
pire State, and a long-time resident of
New York City, which deeply mourned
his loss when, at the age of eighty-three
he departed this life. Mr. Bergh's grand
father was a native of Germany. His
mother's maiden name was Elizabeth
I vers. She was the daughter of a Con
necticut family distinguished for its ex
cellent qualities. Blessed with a supe
rior parentage, possessing ample means,
Mr. Bergh received a superior educa
tion, but did not complete the course at
Columbia college. He married while
young a Miss Taylor, daughter of Eng
lish parents. In 1SG2 he was appointed
Secretary of Legation at St. Peters
burgh, and began there that active inter
ference in behalf of the right of animals
to kind treatment, which has give him
a reputation wide as civilization.
Of course, his services to abused ani
mals in the Russian capital were entirely
unofficial, but they were effective, thanks
to the distinguished character of his
equipage and the fine livery of his coach
man. Mr. Bergh resigned his position
on account of ill-health. On his way
home he indulged in the luxury of leis
urely travel and became acquainted with
the Earl of Harrowby, President of the
lloyal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, London. The soci
ety of which Mr. Bergh was the founder,
is modeled largely after the English one
presided over by this nobleman until his
death. He returned to New York in
1804, and spent a year in maturing his
plans for the establishment of means to
check and prevent cruelty to animals.
The American Society for the Preven
tion of Cruelty to Animals was instituted
in 18G5. In 1800 it was given by statute
the .powers of prosecution, and even
arrest, which it still possesses. Mr.
Bergh has been its president since its
inception, and its invaluable services to
beast, and man as well for men are
made better by being taught the practice
of humanity towards dumb creatures
are largely due his resolution,
the moral elevation of his
character, his tact, unflinching courage
and unconquerable perseverance. He
stands six feet high, and 'his appearance
and carriage denote a power of will
which readily commands respect. But
his appeal to the moral sense and his
disinterestedness are the principal ele
ments of his success. He receives no
salary for his work, freely gives his time
and energies to it, and the public know
this to be the case and respect and honor
the man who makes the sacrifice. The
statute of 18GG constitutes Mr. Bergh an
assistant district attorney in New York
City and assistant of the attorney gen
eral of the State, in the enforcement of
the laws against cruelty to animals. He
is a member of the bar, and effective in
the court room, as well as in interfer
ences in behalf of animals in the public
streets and elsewhere, and on the public
platform as a lecturer enforcing the wis
dom and duty of humane feeling and
action.
The New York society has 325 workers
in the State. Thirty-six States in the
Union have founded similar: organiza
tions, and Mr. Bergh's correspondence
contains many applications from foreign
lands for information as to his methods
and the laws under which he works.
During the first year of its exist
ence as an agency enforcing that law
of the State which included a prin
ciple new in American jurisprudence,
namely, that men's ownership of inferior
creatures is limited by the claims of an
enlightened humanity, the American So
ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals prosecuted 101 persons; in 1881,
855, and the total number of prosecu
tions up to the end of last year was 9121.
The total number of disabled animals
suspended from work in the cities of
New York and Brooklyn, from 1801 to
1881, was 21,201. No arrests were made
in these cases, but the drivers or owners
were warned and advised. A total of
nearly two thousand animals was de
stroyed by agents of the society in 1881.
Mr. Bergh's society owns three ambu
lance for the removal of disabled animals
from the street, and a derrick . to rescue
)
them from excavations into which they
might fall. The Royal Society, Lon., has
no appliances of this nature, and the
presumption is that the large number of
poor horses, etc., which become disabled
in the great city, lie there to die unre
garded. Dog-fighting men, rat-bailers
aud cock fighters, as a matter of course,
regard Mr. Bergh as an enemy, but
their opposition, brutal and bold is of
less importance than the indifference
to the objects of ; his society, con
tempt, or half-avowed opposition of
leople who consider themselves cul
tured, an.i of newspapers which boast of
their adaptation to family reading and
yet contain demoralizing accounts of
bloody dog fight. iThe disenssiou as to
the propriety of vivisection is still open,
but it may be well to recall the fact that
Majendie, the dissector of forty thousand
unfortunate living creatures, declared
vivisection to be i a failure. Pigeon
shooting, a form of sport affected by the
wealthy and influential, Mr. Bergh has
not been able to stop. Dog fighting as
provided and exhibited on Long Island
thanks to the vigilance of the officers,
may now be regarded as a thing of the
past. About three ytars ago the attempt
was made to institute the sport of bull
lighting in New York City. Men had
arrived from Spain for this purpose, an
arena had been built and performances
were announced, when Mr. Bergh with
some fifty policemen put an end to the
enterprise, with great loss to its pro
moters. There is no possibility of such
an experiment being tried again in New
York. The income of the society in
1881 was $25,480 25, and the balance in
its favor at the end of the year 81,804 72.
It has been assisted powerfully by
bequest, especially that of Louis Bonard.
of 150,000, contested by relatives but
confirmed the property of tho society, by
judicial decision. "Our Animal
friends," is the name of a pictorial
monthly magazine published under the
auspices of the society, and which has a
large number of appreciative readers.
The value of Mr. Bergh's work is in
calculable. From the standpoint of mere
economy, kindness to animals is cheaper
than cruelty and; far more productive,
as many men who have come under the
influence of Mr.; Bergh's persuasion,
though once they opposed it, now admit.
To increase the happiness of the animals
dependent upon us and to avoid cruelty
towards all creatures possessed of con
scious life, is a gratification of a high
order, and a means to moral improve
ment of great importance, as the experi
ence of all persons thus actuated con
firms. Brutality and cruelty are checked
and punished by the means enforced by
Mr. Bergh, and young people observe
and take warning.? In short, moral pro
gress and therefore happiness are
directly assisted .by the work done by
him and those everywhere ho employ
themselves in the jame humane manner.
Lo k to Your Chlckenss
If you wish to have your hens attend
strictly to business, give them a chance.
Warm and sunny quarters, warm break
fasts of the boarding-house style, that is
a mixture of potatoes, vegetables and
meat with an occasional mess nighly
peppered. Clean,; warm water, or warm
skimmed milk in a clean vessel. ltoom
for exercise, and 1 make them scratch a
part of the time by sowing their whole
grain feed into tho littering or ground
floor of their quarters. 5 We have found
it a good practice to keep the floors cov
ered three or four inches deep with chaff
or cut stiaw, and when feeding whole
grain scatter' among the litter and rake
in. In this way the fowls have to scratch
for a living. If jthe floor is dry sand,
whiah by the way iis one of the best, dig
the dry feed in with a steel rake. Re
member that fowls clean themselves by
using the dnst bath and sun towel. See
that they have both. If yon have se
cured several barr Is of road dust or dry
loam you ate ail right; if you have been
so shiftless that you have nothing pro
vided you can use dry ashes,
or go to seme sand bank and secure a
supply of dusting material. With the
dust bath, whatever it may be, mix a
good portion of j sulphur. Before you
get very far into the winter look for lice.
It won't pay to winter them an. I there is
no need of doing it. If your fowls or
fowl-houses are infested with lice or ver
min, clean them out, if it takes a week's
time; you cannot afford to keep lice.
They are one of the greatest of all draw
backs to egg production or thrifty poul
try, only a few have heus that lny in the,
winter. Tho few that get e;?gs find it an
easy matter, but they do it by giving the
proper feed, care aud attention needed.
The many who do not get eggs are those
who neglect the birds. There is too
much neglect in this branch of farming.
No other farm 'animal feels neglect so
quick as a laying hen. A large majority
of the poultry is neglected and left to
rough it through, Fowls will pay for
care an.l feed as well as cattle, horses,
sheep or pigs, and the labor in this de
partment is lighter than in any other.
There is no difficulty about any part of
the work aod anybody can do it. Treat
the hens decently; give them clean and
comfortable quarters, and feed them
well with a variety of food and they will
lay. !
Transplantation of Muscle. Dr.
Helferich, of Munich, after tho removal
of a large fibro sarcoma from the biceps
muscles of a woman, aged 'M, refilled the
gap left vacant with a freshly cut piece
of muscle taken (from a dop, fastening
the same with sixi lower and thirty upper
catgut ligatures. ( A cure followed the
antiseptic treatment. The patient can
now readily flex and extend the arm. An
electrical examination instituted by
Ziemisen did notjsbow any abnormality,
and it appears therefore that the trans
planted muscle has retaiued all its vital
functions.
Lyness'd Snake Warming..
A python, sixteen feet long, and five
cobras and black snakes wire brought to
the Central Park menagerie on Saturday
afternoon. They had just arrived from
Europe. No blankets had been provided
by tae exporter. The serpents had been
merely tossed into a large wooden box,
with some loose hay at the bottom and
air holes at top. During the voyage out
the hay got wet, and the box became
soaked. When the snakes were landed
they were found to be rigid, and so
strongly knit together in a common mass
that it seemed impossible to separate
them. The big case was put on a truck,
and the truckman- drove the snakes to
the park in the intense cold of Saturday.
When Superintendent Conklin got the
consignment he was naturally indignant
at receiving congealed serpents. How to
separate them seemed a puzzle. "They'll
have to be thawed out," said Superin
tendent Conklin.
Tohias Lyness is tho park menagerie
engineer. He has charge of the,great
furnaces that consume 300 tons of coal in
a season. Tobias Lyness has been many
years in the employ of tho park. He is
an American. Broad-shouldered, muscu
lar, curly haired, cool, Lyness has no
fear in him. He is no conjurer, charmer,
or tamer, merely a brave engineer.
"Lyness, I wish you would thaw out
these serpents for me," said Superin
tendent Conklin, who supposed they
were dead, "and when you have them
uncoiled, put them in bags where I can
find them and have them sent to the tax
idermist's on Monday."
"All right, sir,'' replied Lyness, and,
calling the menagerie hands, ho sail:
"Dump those serpents in the engine
room."
Tobias Lyness had a roaring fire in his
half-ton furnace. He raked down the
coal, put on the blast, and when the fire
was at white heat he threw open the fur
nace door. Then ho seized the coil of
frozen pythons, cobias, and black snakes
and dragged it close to the fire.
Lyness lighted his pipe and sat read
ing a paper in front of the furnace,
waiting for the serpents to thaw out.
After a while, happening to look down,
he saw six great serpent' heads, with
lustrous eyes and darting tongues.
Lyness put down his pipe and paper.
As he did so the coil of berpents quad
ruped in size, showing plainly enough
that they were reviving.
"Come here, Tom," shouted Lynes3 to
Donohuo, the night watchman. "Bring
that box along, and shut up your docs.
We're going to have a circus."
Tom Donohue ran up. He looked in
through the engine room window and
said: "Wait till I get the net, and we'll
haul them in."
"Net be darned," said Lyness.
The serpents kept wriggling aud un
coiling themselves gradually. Finally
the python began slipping from the mass.
Lyness stepped forward and caught the
python near the head with one hand, and
lower down about the body with the
other. Then he played with snake. He
choked him and manipulated him. "I'll
ihaw him out well," he said, laughing.
Finally he threw the snake into the box,
which was quickly closed.
Lyness then turned his attention to the
other snakes, and thoroughly thawed
and boxed them all. Then he and Tom
Donohue carried the box to the great
glass snake house, and dumped the new
comers among the reptiles already there.
Last night the snakes were doing well.
Three young rabbits and four pigeons
are being fattened for them, and they
will be fed in a few days. New York
Sun.
The Ilolieuzollerns. .
One wondered when the military
labors for following the maneuvers of
an army corps on horseback is uo holi
day work and the amusements of tho
week were orer, whether tho emperor
did not heave a sigh of relief and wish
that he might for once travel about a bit
without being subjected to repetitions of
scenes that he must have assisted at a
thousand times before. But those who
know say he does nothing of the kind.
He is as eager for amusement and as
easily amused as a boy, and after a long
day of varied festivities will ask whether
that is all in a most regretful way.
Truly, not only an iron constitution, but
a healthy and elastic spirit must be con
ceded to a man of 85 to whom his long
labors and his satisfied ambition have
left so fresh and childlike a nature. His
old doctor almost as old as himself, and
the only physician the Kaiser will trust
to regulate his daily life reported to a
friend of mine while here the difficulty
he had in making him remember that he
was no longer 40 years of ago. His appe
tite for forbidden delicacies is as boyish
as his appetite for parades and fetes.
Even when he is taking the "cure" at
Ems, and the strictest regimen should
be require 1 of him, he is not willing to
do without a iobster for his daily break
fast. One wonders not only that he, but
that his responsible physician has lived
so long.
If one were to pick out of all the fami
lies in the world one which wou'd by its
physical appearance do honor to the
greatest of contemporary thrones, one
could not find a better than this Hohen
zollern race. Their strength and manly
beauty are famous amid the royal houses
of Europe 30 generally far from healthy
or handsome. What the Emperor looks
like is well known a perfect picture of
a monarch and a soldier, the most splen
did specimen of kingly old age one could
conceive, nis son is almost as imposing
and even handsomer in feature, with a
beauty which no plainness of apparel
could detract fiom and which the ut
most gorgeousness of a gala uniform
seems but rightly to adorn. One often
hears the fact regretted, therefore, that
J this splendid Hohenzollern stock has
ieen injured by his marriage with Qaeen
Victoria's daughter. For that it has
been injured one sees very . plainly by
looking at the young Prince William,
who is the next heir to the throne, and
whose little son, born some months rago,
completes the unusual spectacle of
four living generations in direct male
descent. He is not a Hohenzollern
at all in his looks, unfortunately, but
a true child of his mother and grand
mother. Moreover, he is infirm as well
as unbeautiful in body. One of his arms
is either stunted or paralyzed, and from
his face one cannot predict a continu
ance of either the sound sense or war
like ability or firm character of his
elders. However, he is very young, and
may improve, and perhaps his little son
will be more of a Hohenzollern, and less
of an Englishman. His brother Henry,
now about 15, and a naval officer, is far
better to look at Hohenzollern through
and through and gives one the impres
sion that he is stronger and cleverer. Of
course, when the above mentioned baby
was about to make its entrance in the
world, there 7as much apprehension lest
it should prove a girl. Not only the nat
ural wish on such occasions prevailed,
but also the desire that the four genera
tions might complete themselves in the
masculine. These German princes,
stately though they are on state occa
sions, are buergcrlich enough in their
private lives one great reason why they
are believed by other people. So when
the decisive hour approached the Cr wn
Prince walked impatiently up and down
in front of his daughter-in-law's room
just as any plebeian papa'might have
done. The "little Prince," as Prince
William is popularly called, at last put
his head out of the window and called in
naive ecstasy, "Papa, papa, it is a boy
after all." "Of course," shouted his
father in reply, "what else could it have
been?" Great was the joy in the house of
Hohenzollern, and as soon as possible
the four generations were photographed
together the old Kaiser with the tiny
baby on his knee and the papa and
grandpa beaming upon them from either
side. The "Four Emperors" as the
picture is called, is sold by hundreds all
over Germany; and, looking at them,
one can bslieve the future of the family
is well assured, and can understand also
how it is that this royal family holds so
warm a place in the hearts of its sub
jects. New York World.
A Texas Wife.
The best natured woman in the United
States lives in Austin. She has been
married a number of years to a man
named Ferguson, but she and her hus
band have never had a quarrel yet, and
he- has frequently boasted that it is
utterly impossibla to make her angry.
Ferguson made several desperate at
tempts to see if he could not exasperate
her to look cross or scowl at him,
merely to gratify his curiosity, but the
more outragecms he acted the more
affable and loving she behaved. Last
week he was talking to a friend about
what a hard time he had trying to find
out if his wife had a temper. The friend
offered to bet 50 that if Ferguson were
to go home drunk, raise a row, and pull
the table-cloth full of dishes off the table,
she would show some signs of annoy
ance. Ferguson said he didn't want to
rob a friend of his money, for he knew
he would win ; but they at last made a
bet of 50, the friend to hide in the front
yard and watch the proceedings of the
convention through the window.
Ferguson came home late and appar
ently fighting drunk. She met him at
the gate, kissed him, and assisted his
tottering steps to the house. He sat
down hard in the middle of the floor, and
howled out:
'Confound your ugly picture, what
did you mean by pulling that chair from
under me?"
"O, I hope you didn't hurt yourself.
It was my awkwardness, but I'll try and
not do it again," and she helped him to
hi3 feet, although she had nothing in the
world to do with his falling.
He then sat down on the sofa, and
sliding off on the floor, abused her like a
pick pocket for lifting up the other end
of the sofa, all of which she took good
naturedly, and finally she led him to the
supper table. He threw a plate at her,
but she did as if she had noticed it, and
asked him if he would take tea or coffee.
Then the brute seized the table cloth
and sat down on the floor, pulling the
dishes and everything else over him in
one grand crash.
What did this noble woman do? ' Do
you suppose she grumbled and talked
about going home to her ma, or that she
sat down and cried like a fool, or that
she sulked and pouted? Not a bit of it.
With a pleasant smile she said:
"Why, George, that's a new idea,
ain't it? We have been married ten
years, and have never yet eaten our sup
per on the floor. Won't it be fun jus
like those picnics we used to go to be
fore we got married," and then this an
gelic woman deliberately sat down on
the floor alongside of the wretch, ar
ranged the dishes, and fixed him up a
nice supper.
This broke George all up. He owned
up he was only fooling her, and offered
to give her the fifty dollars to get
a new hat, but she took the money and
bought him a new suit of clothes and a
boxof cigars.
"John, what is that peculiar smell V
asked an Austin man's wife, when he
came home very late, She expected he
would say that it was the incense they
used in tne lodge-room, or that he would
tell some other lie, but she was mistaken.
"It's whisky, that's what it is," he re
plied, defiantly. "Miserable creature,"
retorted his wife, "you have at last got
down so low that you have not got de
cency enough left to try aud lie out of
it." Texas Siftings.
Astonished Mourners.
Tho f3au Francisco Chronicle of De
cember 8th. has the following:
Fongj Chow, a Chinaman of some
prominence among his countrymen be
cause of his wealth, has been ill for
some days past with pneumonia, and has
lain in his Bartlett-alley residence ap
parently undecided whether to live or to
die. On Tuesday Dr. James Stanton
was called in, and found Fong in the
second j stage of the disease, with pros
pects for a speedy demise. The Doctor
made a hard fight for his patient during
Wednesday, but prepared his relatives
for the worst, telling them that he might
die witlin iwenty-foar hours. Fong was
restloss during the night, aud about two
o'clock yesterday morning insisted on
getting up and getting himself a drink of
water. He then returned to his couch,
and three hours later he relapsed into a
state which his watchers at once pro
nounced to be death.
As Dr. Stanton was wending his way
toward Bartlett alley at an early hour he
was met by a Chinaman, who informed
him of, Fong's death, and stated that
there was no need for his further ser
vices, but the Doctor kept on, with a
view to taking a look at his patient.
Arriving: at Fong's house it was found to
be heavily draped with the Chinese
mourning color, while a ton or two of
eulogistic funeral notices were piled up
ready for use. Inside the dead pagan's
nnmerous female connections had their
hair down and full mourning on. The
dead Fong lay on the floor in great state,
his thin body gorgeously arrayed in a blue
silk shroud, ending in white silk socks.
He looked very well for a corpse and
might have passed as such had not the
Doctorf made a close examination which
showed that he was not only not
dead, but was not even in a trance. His
pulse was feeble, but still distin
guishable, and the heart and other
organs were in like operation. The doc
tor at once refused to sign the desired
death certificate and administered a stiff
dose of brandy and carbonate of
ammonia to the dead Fong which
promptly performed the miracle of
raisincr! him to life, much to the aston
ishment and terror of the mourners.
After recovering consciousness Fong
sat up for a moment, swore vociferously
at his surroundings, and then, struggling
to his feet, walked over to his regular
couch, jand went to bed. In a few min
utes he slept the sleep of the just, and
the attendants took away the burning
punks and other funeral paraphernalia
in short order. The doctor says that
Fong will hardly recover from the illness,
but that he may live for several days yet.
His supposed death was due to his ex
treme j weakness, which made sleep so
easy a matter that respiration, the pulse
and beating of the heart could scarcely
be discerned. Fong treated the affair as
a good joke, and his anxious friends will
not be cut out of his will for their un
seemly hurry to "plant" him.
Sermon lj Ta Image.
Take the best man in the world and
put a detective on his track and watch
him for ten years, seeing where he goes
and how long he stays, and when he
comes j and all he does, with a desire to
destroy him and you can make him ap
pear despicable. But if it is wrong to
despoil a man's good name, how much
worse to damage a woman's reputation.
That style of infamous work is going on
from century to century and always by
whispers. One whisper starts a sus
picion. The next whisper tells the sus
picion as an established fact. And
many a woman as honorable as your
mother or your wife has been whis
pered out of all kindly association and
whispered into the grave. Now, there
are people who say there is no hell. But
if there is no hell for such an accursed
despoiler of a woman's good name, then
it is high time that we take up a collec
tion and have one built. There is such
a place already established, and what a
time they will have when all the whis
perers get together to rehearse things
down there. What an interesting carni
val of mud. If it were not for their in
sufferable surroundings they would en
joy the new opportunity in that realm of
the outcast. All the bad are there, what
a rich and rare field for exploration by
whibpers. On earth they had often
to belie people in order to destroy
them,j but now they can say
all the bad things possible about their
neighbors and & till speak the truth.
Jubilee of whisperers ! Grand gala day
of backbiters! Semi-heaven for scandal
mongers! Only stopping their gabble
about) their diabolical neighbors long
enough to ask at the iron gate some new
comer: from the earth what is the last
gossip from Brooklyn.
Now, how are you to help quell this
great ! iniquity? First, by refusing to
listen! to or believe anything against
anybody till it is positively proved. By
all law of courts and all common decency,
let every one be supposed innocent till
ho or she is proved gxiilty. I do not
commend my way to you, but I will tell
you what. I almost say when I hear or
read anything defamatory of anybody
"I guess that it is a lie." The only per
son that is worse than the whisperer is
the person who without protest accepts
and believes the whispers. The trouble
is you hold the sack while
they fill it; the receiver of stolen goods
is just as bad as the thief. An ancient
author 6aid that those who uttered slan
der and those who believedjit ought to be
hanged, one by the tongue, and the
other by the ear. When you hear any
thing j about your neighbors do not
go about asking questions concerning
the charge made and so spread it. Don't
demean yourself by becoming inspector
of warts and supervisor of carbuncles
and commissioner of gutters and the
holder of stakes at a dog fight. Allow
no defamation at you'breakfast or dinner
err tea table. Teach your children not
to speak ill of others. Show them the
differences between a bee and a wasp,
the one gathering honey and the other
thrusting a sting. I have heard of a
household where they carefullly keep"
what is called a "slander book," and
everything that is said in the house in
the way of detraction is as
carefully recorded as any ledger
is kept. For the first few weeks
there were many entries, now very sel
dom is anything written in that book.
If any of you are in the habit of whisper
ing, let me advise yon to desist. ' Mount
Taurus is a great place for eagles, and
cranes flying along there cackle so loudly
that the eagles know they re.?aiing
and pounce upon them to their destruc
tion. But it is said that the old cranes
have found this out and that they take a
stone in their mouth before they start so
that it is impossible for them to cackle,
and thus they fly in safety. Be wise as
those old cranes and avoid the folly of
the young cranes. Don't cackle. Take
courage if you are maltreated of whisp
erers, because such creatures soon run
themselves out. They come to be un
derstood as well in a community as
though some one had chalked on their
overcoats or shawls, ''Here comes a
whisperer, make room for the leper."
Reccitj in Schools.
The question with doing away with
the midday recess and shortening the
daily session in the public schools is be
ing discussed in the east. The experi
ment has been tried in Albany, and has
met the approval both of the parents and
teachers. The Brooklyn Eagle favors
such a change in the public schools of
that city, for the reason that it will "re
lieve teachers of the responsibility of
watching over a number of children who
are crowded together in a small yard,
and would encourage the children to
work harder in order to get out earlier.
As a rule, there are no schoolyards large
enough to accommodate the children
turned into them for fifteen or twentv
minutes a day, and it is true that chil
dren find it anything but agreeable to be
given a recess, particularly in . inclement
weather. The intermission of school
work causes a loss of double the recess
time, and it effectually breaks up the
thread of study, so that teachers
find it difficult to do as good work
after recess as before. It is, therefore,
urged that the recess be abolished and
the schools closed at one o'clock." The
Eagl3 bays that parents indorse the plan
"because it relieves them of the neces
ssty of preparing lunches, and, again,
very many favor it because it prevents
social intercourse to any great extent be
tween the children, which, in public
schools, is just as well. It would enable
children to get through their work unin
terruptedly and to get home at the fam
ily lunch hour. The teachers would be
relieved of the disagreeable task of
watching over herds of children thrown
together in small yards where play is im
possible and where great care is required
to keep children from quarreling. The
sum total of work would be the same and
the children would be better off at home
than playing in the play-yards of the
majority of public schools." Altogether
the plan seems to be a good one, and
might be adopted in the west with satis
factory results.
Afternoon Men.
There is a proverb which says: "What
can be done at any time is never done,"
and applies especially t3 a class who
have become slaves to the habit of pro
crastination, and the habitual postponing
of everything that is not compelled by
necessity to be done immediately. Now,
delays are not dangerous to the present
prospects, but they are destructive to
ultimate success. The slightest pre
text is sufficient for him to disappoint
you. If an employe, the sooner he is
discharged tho greater the advantage to
the employer. There are those who may
properly be called 'aftrnoon men."
They are always busy getting ready to go
to work. In the morning they walk
around and carefully inspect their duties,
and say: "Plenty to do to-day. I must
go to work this afternoon! About three
o'clock they survey what they haven't
done, and exclaim:
"One thing and another has prevented
me from making any headway to-day;
I'll quit and begin bright and early in
the morning!" One day with them is
simply the reflection of another. There
is nothing accomplished in a whole life
and their western sun overtakes them
and finds no preparations for the wants
and infirmities of age. There is nothing
to look back upon but squandered time.
One hour's exorcise in the morning
loosens the muscles of the limbs, sets
the blood dancing in the veins and fits a
man physically and mentally for the
day's- activity; while one hour's sloth
after breakfast causjos a torpor from
which it is almost impossible to rally.
The Sounds of Venice. I should go
even further than I went just now, and
say that tho voiee of the gondolier is, in
fact, the sound of Venice. There is
scarcely any other, and that, indeed, is
part of the interest of the place. There
is no noise there except distinctly human
noise; no rumbling, no vague uproar.no
rattle of wheels and hoofs. It is all
articulate, personal sound. One may
say, indeed, that Venice is,emphatically,
the city of conversation; people talk all
over the place, because there is nothing
to interfere wieh there being heard.
Among the populace it is a kind of
family party. The still water carries the
voice, and good Venetians exchange con
fidence at a distance of half a mile. It ,
saves a world of trouble, and they don't
like trouble. Their delightful garrulous"
language helps them to make Venetian
life a long conversazione.
U
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