y
Heppner Weekly Gazette:
Published Ever? Thursday.
HEPPNER .OREGON.
A circular saw trust Is the latest.
That's an ugly article to monkey with.
Many seem to think that if the nation
by Itself digs out the Nicaragua Canal
it will be a big scoop.
Out in a Western city there is a
preacher named Bowerflnd. lie ought
to be a good partner In a stiff game of
euchre.
sense of proportion, and also, as the
bishop says, to dull that "mental aler
ness" the attainment of which is one of
the highest acquirements of a true edu-
cation. No one Is more helpless tha
an average expert or specialist when
circumstances Interfere with his fol
lowing his chosen pursuit. His train
log has given him a special, not a gen
eral, aptitude, which, while at times of
the highest value, is also at other times
of practically no value. There is too
much reliance upon specialism and not
enough upon individualism as a factor
in success In the great school of life
a fact which not a few clear-headed
thinkers of the day are beginning to
appreciate.
THE MAKING OFJ .
The broom corner Is expected to clean
out the small manufacturers, and per
haps the assertion that it will do so Is
not too sweeping.
Getting acquitted of lese majeste on
the ground of Intoxication is not likely
to prove a striking temperance argu
ment in the land of the Kaiser.
Every robber who holds a man up is
J II-. .
uescnoeu aiierwara as being a "very
tull man." And the man held up usu
ally finds himself very short
A Yale divinity student is said to
have stolen 5,000 books. Frobably they
are of h theological character, and it
was Just his way of getting religion.
A Western Judgo has decided that
poker is not a game of chance. Prob
ably that Judge never gives a man a
chunce when engaged in a little game,
A Brazilian merchant has recently
called upon an American Jobbing house
for a peculiar article of export. He
wanted to buy a supply of diplomas or
degrees from American schools
medicine, law, dentistry and civil en
glnoering. It appears that the practice
of these professions in Brazil requires
a diploma or a degree, and as the for
eign article is very acceptable, some
Brazilians prefer to buy the "sheep
skin" rather than spend the time and
study In acquiring the knowledgo
which It represents. Doctor Johnson
In commenting once upon an Institu
tion that was selling its honors, re
marked that it was "getting rich by
degrees." This is the opportunity that
the Brazilian Importer offers, but It is
probable that the authorities there will
be alert enough promptly to suppress
such a fraud.
A female burglar was found under a
bed In New York. In the coming equal
ity of the sexes must man acquire the
female habit of looking under the bed?
It appears that the trl-colorcd ribbon
with which the seals are attached to
the great treaty of peace signed at Par
is was torn off a bonbon box. How
sweet I
Keeiy's motor has been an egregious
failure as a motor, but proceedings at
the latest meeting of the Keely com
pany prove that it Is still unrivaled as
a spellbinder.
It doesn't say Germany is not In
tensely Interested in prohibiting Ameri
can sausage that no newspaper there
lias so far referred to it as an Instance
of the government's links-eyed watch
fulness.
Miss Helen Gould's role In life Is that
of a beneficent fairy princess. Probably
It has Its compensations, but one shud
ders to think of the anxious Inquirers
with their multitudinous eyes fixed
upon the wand.
In all his bitter complaints against
this country Senor Itlos has not uttered
a word which could be construed as a
reproach to Miss Jesslo Schley for tho
failure to carry out her sldo of tho
peace agreement. This Is genuine gal
lantry.
isot satisfied with trying to knock
Santa Cluus off his pedestal, some verv
-luttvtuHl imrsons want to banish Mother
Goose s stories, claiming they are fulso-
hoods. After liuvlng accompllNhod this
highly commendable Job it would not
be a bad Idea If they tackle tho mall
clous rumor that the moou Is mudo of
green cheese.
"New occasions teach new duties."
and It may well be that tho new duties
of peace will prove harder to learn and
more dllllcult to fulfil than those of
war. In time of war it is comparative
ly easy to rally all men to the supiMrt
of the futherland, and the one thing
to ao is to win tho victory. But in
peace counsels arc divided, and there Is
a call, not for tho heroic virtues of tho
warrior, but for tho tact and wisdom,
and alwve all, the Justice and truth, of
tho statesman. Our country 1ms not
leeu lacking In either, and It will not
do for It to be lacking In either now.
Nothing can stop this country but our
own folly. Wiuiin ten monins me
Baldwin Locomotive Works has re
ceived two orders from China, the sec
ond being for sixteen engines. When
we think how vast are the possibilities
of railroad building in China and how
difficult It has been to make a start
there these evidences of present actlv
lty are most gratifying. The first road
constructed In the empire ran from
Shanghai to Woosung, a distance of
only twelve miles. It was built without
tho sanction of the government, and
was purchased by the authorities and
taken up after it had been in operation
about a year. This was as late as
1870-77, or only about twenty years
ago. The experiment was not encour
aging to the glorious fellowship of pro
moters. But out of a small railway,
whose first section was a short coul car
rier, a line of considerable length has
been developed, which now runs from
Tlen-Tsin, a short distance south of
Peking, down to and along the coast of
the Gulf of Pechlli. It was In 1880 that
the Emperor ordered the construction
of a lino from tho capital to Hankow,
on the Y'nng-Tzo River, and confided
the task In part to LI Hung Chaug,
Since then tho country has been alive
with would-be concessionaires, but
their major work has been In the way
of wire-pulling rather than In that of
rall-Iaylng, and LI Hung Chang's Im
perial road has been one of the best ex
amples Imaginable of compliance with
the mnxlm "Make haste Blowly." But
It Is the beginnings that are most try
ing In combating oriental methods and
oriental prejudice, and those sixteen
Baldwin locomotives may bo regarded
as effective pioneers of civilization. It
will not bo long before railways are
considered to bo Indispensable in Chi
na, as they are elsewhere, and the great
empire should become the paradise of
builders and of manufacturers of rail
and rolling stock. The United States
must get the chief benefits from this
progression, ns we can now successful
ly comiete against the world. In every
avenue of human activity Undo Sam
leads the procession. "Nothing can stoy
us." .
Mr. Stead reports In tho London
T..n.. ...
I'uuj iiuuiiiiiu mm wucrever no goes
In Europe he finds tho governing
classes understanding, and to some ex
tent using, the English language. At
the court of St. Petersburg It Is tho
household tongue; tho Czar, the Czar
ina and their children habitually use
it in conversation with each other.
There Is an old saying that the tongues
of earth are many, but of heaven only
one. Then the growth of one language
toward universal use and the English
language is making It may well bo
reckoned a growth towurd tho divine
Ideal.
' t V. ...U . -
i iiik i-ii-ium imvy nas really so
cured a practicable submarine torpodo-
iKui tne crurt will give Prance n dis
tinct advantage over other naval pow
ers, uut it will require tuoro than
harlior experiments to demonstrate the
value of the destroyer. Inventors havo
Ix'ii working on submarine bouts for
fifty years, and while some of them
notably Holland have apparently
solved the problem theoretically, the
fact remains that no navy yet possesses
a vessel or the submarine type which
has proved lis adaptability to tho con
ditions of actual warfare. It Is oue
thing to make trial trips In landlocked
uarimrs, unner favorable conditions. It
Is quite another to faco the perils of
the ojwn sea and a vlglluut foe. If the
French have a boat capable of facing
those conditions they havo the whip
uuuu even or ureal lirltaln. It will,
uowevor, take actual war to demon
strate the fact.
OKI
Did you ever realize that planting ad
vertising was like plautlug fruit trees?
You couldn't expect a whole wagon
load of apples the first year. Neither
would you tear tho tree up by the roots,
at the end of the season, If that wagon
load of fruit were not forthcoming. Yet
you run a big Christmas ad., and ex
pect a carload of sales, and Just be
cause you didn't do as much as your
neighbor over in tho other orchard, who
has been tending his tree for years, you
yank your advertisement out of the
paper, and say, "Advertising doesn't
pay." We wouldn't expect you to get
married to advertising the first time
you made Its acquaintance, any more
than wo would expect you to marry tho
mat gin who winked at you on the
1 1 ree t. N e w spa perd o m.
TED STATES IN THE FAR EAST.
Inventive Genius Has
Improvements In th
It is a far cry from
fifty years ago, sitting
bench pegging away at tl
for his neighbor, which
on the morrow, to the mode
ana machines ror shoe ma
Notwithstanding the fact tha
has made tremendous advancJ
Invention has done mighty things I
most every branch of industrial 1
somehow or other, most people still
keep in their minds the vision of the
shoemaker of old, bending over his
task and patiently boring and stitching,
now and then stopping to wax over
his thread. But far different is it now.
Machines, with the most astonishing ac
complishments, pound and hammer and
stitch in place of the human bands
which lent themselves to this work In
the former time. And yet It seems to
one watching the processes, as If hu
man hands were somewhere concealed
in these cases of iron, so deft and won
derful are the parts. Fancy a machine
which can cut and sew 3,500 button
holes a day and then revolve In your
mind the long and weary toiling of the
tired fingers which might have the
same amount of work to do. In some
cases a pair of shoes goes through 139
distinct processes in the course of its
manufacture. A pair of shoes has
been turned out In twenty-eight min
utes, but that Is exceptional, and the
manufacturers like better to take time
for" the goods to rest a bit after some
of the processes. A trip by a Free
Press was made through one of De
troit's big factories the other day, and
some interesting things were noted.
the factory has a capacity of 4,000
pairs a day, although tills limit has
never been reached, and 3,000 a day,
or six pairs a minute, Is keeping the
hands pretty busy.
The hides and skins come In with
ragged edges, some with holes here and
there, others with unbroken surfaces.
It is necessary In some way to get at
the quantity of leather In these pieces,
a puzzling Job. But brains have solved
the pioblem, and there stands a ma
chine for doing the entire work. The
skin Is put Into the machine ns into a
planer and the numlor of square feet
and Indies In its surface Is indicated
on a dial. The amount of labor saved
on account of the Irregular edges of the
leather can be Imagined.
Making the Patterns.
It seems as If tho theoretical side of
the manufacture of a pair of shoes
should begin with the making of the
patterns, at which one to five men are
kept constantly working. These are
cut out of stiff pasteboard, and are
smoothly edged with tin. Each part
of the shoe must have Its pattern.
Some of these seem to have very little
resemblance to anything an ordinary
observer might see in a pair of shoes.
For Instance, tho pattern for the upper
looks like a large horse-shoo magnet In
shape. Wlt'a these patterns in hand,
the real manufacturer of the shoe Is
FAGO-PAGO HARBOR, SAMOA, WHERE THE GOVERNMENT
BUILD A COALING STATION.
WILL
the sole between the heel and the ball
of the foot.
Wonderful Machines.
In the next department most of the
lighter sewing Is done, as well as the
pasting together of the linings and the
uppers. Scores of girls are busy at the
sewing machines, fastening the differ
ent parts of the upper together. Here,
too, are the button-hole machines
which do their work with lightning
rapidity. Another sort of machine,
with a din and hubbub, cuts the holes
for the eyelets and the hooks of laced
shoes, and stamps them In securely
with marvelous quickness, and the
sound of a Gatllng gun. Still another
sort sews on the buttons, fastening the
buttons on ns many as 1,000 pairs a
day. Beside these is the newest in
vention, a machine for riveting the
buttons on. Seventy-five pairs an hour
can be finished on this machine.
Thus, far, the uppers and the heels
and soles have been making their way
separately through the processes, but
they are soon to come together. And
now the "last" is to come Into play.
This is put inside the upper, with the
In-sole; the edges of the upper are turn
ed over the edges and tacked down on
the sole. Then the out-sole Is tacked
on by machinery with a few nails, the
noise resembling the report of mus
ketry In the distance. Each of the nails
In this machine as well as In all the
others Is made from wire as It Is need
ed, the nails being mnde and driven at
the same instant. But there are still
more wonderful machines to be seen.
Here, for Instance, Is one which sews
the in-sole onto the upper. This Is the
welt machine and does 400 pairs a day,
whereas a man's work was formerly
twelve pairs. Not less wonderful Is the
stitching machine which punctures the
heavy out-soles and sews them at the
same time to the upper and In-sole.
tying a knot in the most human fash-
Ion at every stitch. The awl which
makes the punctures, and the needle
which does the sewing are curved, and
together form almost a serai-circle, the
hole being made with one stroke and
the thread inserted with the next The
heel Is still to be fastened to the sole,
and this Is done by a ponderous look-
SENOR MATIAS ROMERO.
A Gifted Mexican and Diplomat Who
Kecently Passed Away.
Don Matlas Romero, who died In
Washington not long since, was one of
the best known foreign diplomats In
this country, not only on account of his
long occupancy of the Mexican lega
tion, but also through his numerous
contributions to American periodical
literature, which rendered his name fa
miliar to the reading public. He was
very popular In Washington, and earn
ed the regard of many prominent
Americans, notably of Grant and Lin
coln. He was a man of large heart and
generous Impulses, as was demon
strated at the time of the failure In
1884 of the banking firm of Grant &
Ward, of which Gen. Grant was a part
ner, when Senor Romero went on from
Washington and offered his entire for-
MATIAS KOMBRO.
"VSv. f
mm
hZrr i 7 1 iv ii, . .
Tho Pall Mall Gazette remarks: "It
takes a bold man to get up and say that
It Is possible to havo too much techni
cal education, but Dr. Crelghtou goes
nigh s.tjing It." The remarks to which
the Gazette refers were made by the
bishop of London in his recent address
to the college of that city, in which ho
remarked upon his bewilderment at
finding how many subjects of knowl
edge there are In the world. Special
ism In knowledge has come to take tho
place of an all round education of for
mer days, when, as the bishop says, he
studied "things In general." That there
re certain benefits In this speclallaa.
tlon of knowledge Dr. Crelghton read
ily admits, but he reminded his hearers
that tho training in these special sub
jects was, after all, only a part of and
subordinate to the training of life. Too
juuch specialization U ant to obtenra a
A Useful Dog.
Intelligent dogs are many, but not
every dog, even though Intelligent, can
be taught to gather dowers for its mas
ter as a certain Gordon setter, named
Norah, Is said to do. Her master. Mon
sieur Barbnt, writes of her lu the
Chasseur Pratique.
In June, 18i5, in a walk beside the
ponds of Alton, Savoy, a friend and
I tried to reach some water-lilies with
our canes, but without success. Seeing
still finer blossoms out In the water, I
called Norah, and threw stones toward
them lu order to Induce her to go for
them.
She seemed to understand at once.
plunged In, and coming and going
brought tlowers enough to fill tho bas
ket. The guards present could hardly
lu'lleve their eyes. The dog lowered
her head beneath tho water so as to cut
the steins at a certain distance from
tho tlowers.
This samo dog was useful to her mas
ter In another way. One winter morn
ing she eutered his study with a stick
of wood held between her Jaws. She
dooslted the wood In the fireplace.
went down, tho steps and brought an
other, and continued her ocvupatlou un
til the supply of wood seemed to her
sutllcleut, when she returned to her
place by the fire to enjoy the results of
her labor. She certainly seems to be
a dog of a practical turn of mlud.
A boy learns Just so much In skating,
and then stops. Boys do nothing on
the lee now 'hat boys did not do thirty
years g
BUSY SCENES IN A MODERN SHOE MANUFACTORY.
about to begin. From skins of the
proper kind and patterns of the proper
shape the cutters start the work. Lay
ing the patterns down on the skins they
quickly cut the skins the shape of the
outlines of the patterns, their knives
being razor-edged. The cutters, as well
os all the other workers throughout the
factory, are guided In their lalwrs by a
system of cards Issued from the otlice.
When an order comes Into the house
one of these cards Is made out for each
..kind of shoe wanted, showing the num
ber, kind, the size, the last, the finish,
and so on, giving every detail about tho
shoo which Is to Iks turned out. This
cord follows that lot of shoes wherever
It goes In its wanderings through the
factory. So that the cutter knows Just
what patterns they are to use. When
all the necessary parts of the upper
portion of the shoe havo been cut, in
cluding the linings and the fancy tips
and tidbits, the lot Is sent on to the bot
toming department. Here are cut the
heels, In-soles and out-sole aud various
other strango operations are gone
through with. The heels and soles are
cut by hand with dies. Before each
worker Is an Ihimense section of a tree
trunk, on the top of which the hide Is
laid. The sharp edged die Is placed on
the hide and the worker with a fell
swoop of his hammer throws out what
Is to Ihi ere long the sole or the heel of
a shoe. The process Is exactly like that
which mother used In making cookies,
with the addition of the extra strength
necessary. la on ordinary heel there
are six pieces Instead of the one which
Is apparent to the person who examines
a flulshod pair of shot's. These pieces
are put together lu a machine, nail
holes are liored and enough nails are
put In to hold the heel together, all with
a slugle motion of the machine. An
other machines cut the rough piece
which has been hewn out of the sole
Into the exact shape and also needed
for the shoe desired. This Is done by
a pattern of the sole In question gov
erning the cutter of the machine. An
other machine cuts what Is known as
a "ehannel" lu the top of the In-sole
aud around the edge and It Is this chan
nel to which the upper Is to be sewed.
Unhe-r machines cut out the pieces of I
Ing machine which drives all the nails
In at one time.
Other Processes.
There are still dozens of processes to
be gone through the trimming down of
the heels, which Is done by a machine
driving a curved cutter, trimming the
edges of the sole, sand-papering the
heels and soles, burnishing and coloring
the edges, and so on. No detailed de
scription of tho processes could be at
tempted. Suffice It to say that the
workings of iron and steel In a shoe
factory would astonish the wisest man
who has not seen thorn every day. Im
provements are constantly being made
and machines which last week were
considered marvels are next week
thrown out for old iron, as useless In
comparison with the new Invention. A
Detroit man has Just Invented a Joint
ed last which Is said to excel anything
else for the ease with which It can be
Inserted and taken out of a shoe. When
once lusldo tho shoe, It can be straight
ened out and thus made much larger
than before. Throughout the many
processes, men's and women's shoes
are kept separute and different work
ers make their,, so that In one respect
shoemakers are not unlike the Quakers,
Of course there Is an Inspector who
looks over the finished product thor
oughly and throws out any that may
lie Imperfect Then there Is a complete
Ikix factory where paste-board shoe
boxes are turned out In large quantities.
Great Japanese Bridge.
Japanese ambition contemplates the
erection across the straits of Shlmon
oseklof a bridge to councet the Klngsul
railway with that of the Samyo rail
way, from Shlmonosekl to Hiogo, thus
enabling passengers to proceed unin
terrupted from the southern extremity
of Klnsul to the extreme north of the
mainland. As the straits are a mile
wide, with a current often runnlug
eight miles an hour, aud. as the bridge
must allow the passage of the largest
steamships beueath It the colossal
structure will. If successfully com
pleted, enable the Japanese to boast of
an engineering feat so far uneqmiled la
the world Pulldulohla LeJr.
tune to the general In order to enable
him to tide over his personal pecuniary
difficulties an offer that was grateful
ly declined, and was said to have
moved the general to tears.
Senor Romero was 02 years old. He
was born in the City of Oaxaca, Mexi
co, and was given such education as
the competent colleges of the City of
Mexico had to offer the youth of the
nation at that time. He was graduated
as a lawyer and began his political and
diplomatic career In 1855, when he was
entered In the foreign office.
In 1859 he came first to Washington
as secretary of legation, and for a time
was charge d'affaires. He returned to
Mexico In 1SG3 to fight for his country
against the French Invaders. After the
President had given him a colonel's
commission he was selected by Gen.
Porflrlo Diaz as his chief of staff. Pres
ident Juarez, after the war, made hlra
minister to the United States, and he
remained In that capacity for five
years.
From 1808 to 1872 Senor Romero was
secretary of the Mxlcan treasury. Ills
health falling In the latter year he gave
up his public life to retire into the
country and devote himself to agrl
culture. He returned to the capital In
1877 and served again as secretary of
the treasury and later as postmaster
general. In 1882 he returned to the
friendships he hnd made In America,
envoy extraordinary from his govern
ment. This post he held without a
break, and even without absence, save
for a short time, until bis death.
Senor Romero was a prolific writer
and published upward of fifty volumes.
A short time before his death Senor
Romero was promoted to be ambassa
dor and would soon have presented his
credentials as such.
CHINESE BEGGAR CHIEFS.
One of the Peculiar Features of So
cial Life In China.
One of the most peculiar and Inter
esting figures in Chinese social life is
the beggar chief; and no less peculiar
and interesting, both as to methods
and personal appearance, are the mem
bers of the motley organization of men
dicants over which he reigns abso
lutely.
He is required to pay a sum equiva
lent to about $100 to every newly-ap
pointed tung hwan prefect, as a hum
ble testimonial of his allegiance to the
high authority from whom his badge of
office emanates, and when this require
ment has been duly fulfilled he Is al
lowed to exercise the prerogatives of
his position without fear of Interfer
ence on the part of the government offl
cials In the district assigned to him
Ills authority over the beggars is ab
solutely unlimited, and they obey his
orders without hesitation or sign of
protest.
The office Is hereditary, so long as
the tribute Is paid; but the Immediate
progeny of the Incumbent are debarred
from the enjoyment of any literary
degree. Why this condition Is exact
ed Is not quite clear, but It Is certain
that no descendant of a beggar chief
has ever held a literary degree. How
ever, the other privileges enjoyed by
him are so attractive and the Income
is so substantial that he probably does
not worry much over this one priva
tion.
How does he secure his Income?
from the merchants and tradespeople
who know that unless they procure
from the beeear chief on or . before
New Year's day a "nolo twa," or "pass
port of safety," their shops or "hongs"
will be infested almost constantly by a
horde of boisterous, Impudent, Impor
tunate vagabonds, who will drive away
customers and damage the stocks of
goods without hindrance from the rag
ular authorities of the district.
Once a month, on a day suited to the
convenience of the chief, he assembles
all the beggars of hl district at the
"Khichia Jan," or rendezvous, and dis
tributes alms among them, each re
celvlng a sum commensurate with his
personal merits and obedience to or
ders. Philadelphia Press.
The harbor is on the southwest side.
The island itself Is only a large bank
of sand, with a lagoon In the center.
This is some three miles in circumfer
ence. There are ten buildings upon it,
Including a lighthouse. There is also
a railroad a mile and a quarter long,
which is used for carrying guano to the
warehouse.
Among the many things of Interest
which may be mentioned are, first, the
birds, of which there are millions.
Among the sea birds found there are
thegoonle (white and black), the booby.
the man-of-war hawk, the tropic bird,
.the petrel, five or six species of tha
' mutton bird, the coyllo and other varieties.
Among the strange things that may
be told of on this little spot are tho
land birds, found In no place on earth
except on Lnysan Island. They nre tho
wingless or walking birds, such as tho
Laysnn canary, miller bird, love bird,
and the Laysnn duck. Pacific Com.
inerclal Advertiser.
3 -
C,. o t i jirrr-
A soft answer turneth away divorce.
A woman's logic is far above a man's
morals.
With most women belief Is better
than proof.
The longest way home Is the shortest
way to trouble.
A husband doesn't know a good thing
when he hasn't got It
Husbands are necessary only once a
month when the bills come In.
It makes a woman shudder to think
how happy she could have made you.
The devil shows you the worst side
first The rest makes it seem better.
If women's good intentions were Jew
els they wouldn't wear anything else.
Love Is divided Into quarters one-
quarter vanity, three-quarters Jealousy.
Eve wanted to put on clothes merely
to be able to have a hat to go with
them.
When a woman Is convicted she ac
quits herself by saying she has been
misjudged.
Goodness wouldn't seem half so un
interesting to women If it didn't wear
such plain clothes.
When a woman likes a man her Idea
of having him happy Is not having him
Delong to some other woman.
Every married woman would like to
see you happy with some other woman,
and they'd scratch out her eyes If you
were.
Any woman who thinks about It will
admit that Adam deserved to fall be
cause fcc did not lucrease Eve's allow
ance for pin money.
roets often affect carelessness In their
garments for the same reason that I
I tramps travel la freight cars. .
'
Why Ho Was Happy.
Whistling In a public conveyance Is
an offense against good manners, but
the Chicago Journal reports an instance
which really seems to have been excus
able, as It was excused.
The rest of the passengers were read
lng the morning news, but one man
gazed with unseeing eyes out of the
window and whistled softly, the tune
being broken now and then by a smile
that crossed his bearded Hps.
The young girl directly opposite
thought him handsome, and ascribed
bis preoccupied air to romantic rea
sons. And the older woman who sat
with her glanced sharply across from
time to time, to see what the young
man meant by rudely whistling in a
public conveyance. But the looks of
youth and age were alike lost on him,
and after a while he turucd his face
toward the light, and sang with such
hearty untunefulness that his. specta
cled neighbor felt bound to remon
strute.
"i.oung man," she said, "have you
hired this car for your own use?"
He started at her blankly a minute,
and then flushed to tho roots of his
hair.
"Was was I singing?" he asked.
"You were making a horrible noise,"
she replied.
then he laughed a wholesome, hon
est guffaw, and leaned forward confidentially.
"The Joke's on me," he said. "To tell
the truth, my baby has Just cut a tooth,
and and I was thinking how cunning
the little chap looked when he grinned."
The war light faded In the woman's
eyes, and a smile touched the corners
of her mouth as she beamed on the
young father and said with deep inter
est:
"Upper or under?"
The Water Clock.
The water clock, otherwise the clep
sydra, seems, unless the Egyptologists
find something fresh In that land of
incessant discoveries from the most far
mists of time, to have been the first
scientific effort at noting the hours. A
good many people talk glibly about the
clepsydra who neither know Its precise
construction nor the nation who have
the credit of constructing It. That be
longs to the Assyrian, and as far back
as at least over 2,000 years ago the
clepsydra was used In Nineveh under
the sway of the second Sardanapalus.
It was a brass vessel of cylindrical
shape, holding several gallons of water,
which could only emerge through one
tiny hole In the side. Thus the trickling
of the fluid marked a certain amount
of time, and the water was emptied
about half a dozen times per diem. In
Nineveh there was one at the palace
These were all filled by signal from a
watchman on a' tower at the moment of
sunrise, and each had an attendant.
whose business It was to refill the clep
sydra as soon as it was emptied, the
fact being announced by criers, much
as In the last century the watchmen
drowsily shouted the hours at night
throughout the streets of London. Some
five centuries later aa anonymous
genius made a great Improvement by
Inserting toothed wheels, which, re
volving, turned two hands on a dial In
clock fashion, thus showing the prog
ress of the time, which from one filling
to emptying averaged two hours and a
half. In this shape the clepsydra.
which was then chiefly procurable In
Egypt, became Introduced to various
other nations, Including Rome, where
It flourished with various splendid em
bellishments until the end of the em
pire. London Standard.
In Queen Elizabeth's reign the ex
penses of the British navy were about
$30,000 a year, a contrast to the present
huge sum of $125,000,000 spent annual
ly on the fleet
German university students have In
creased In number from about 10,000
twenty-five years ago to 32,241 last
year. The Increase Is out of proportion
to the population.
A model farm on the American plan
and run with American machinery,
stock and methods Is about to be es
tablished by a Chinese mandarin who
lives near Shanghai.
The most costly piece of railway line
In the world Is that between the Mon-
slon House and Aldgate stations, In
London, which required the expendi
ture of close upon $10,000,000 a mile.
After a litigation lasting fourteen
years the will disposing of a San Fran
cisco estate once worth $75,000 has
Just been sustained and litigation sus
pended, because the estate has been ex
hausted In paying legal fees.
An Ohio woman has patented a
match box for pocket use, which Is
opened at the bottom to load, the
matches being pushed out one at a
time by a button on the side of the
safe, the head coming last and passing
over a roughened surface to Ignite it.
Mr. Godin, French minister of public
works, In a circular addressed to rail
way boards, urges the construction of
a larger number of corridor carriages,
especially third-class, so that by 1900
all fast trains going long distances may
be exclusively composed of such carriages.
The violin used by Mme. Camilla Ur-
so, who Is giving concerts throughout
the country, was made In Italy In 1727
by Joseph Guarnerlus Del Jesu. Mme.
Urso purchased the Instrument In Lon
don several years ago and has on sev
eral occasions been offered $0,000 for
It. She would not part with It for any
price.
According to a note In the Courrier
de Paris, the Athenians and Greeks
collectively Intend to exclude all bach
elors from their parliament. The Idea
seems to be that the bachelor has no
stake In the commonwealth; If he is
represented, thnt Is as much as he can
ask; a representative he ought never
to be, for whom does he represent ex
cept himself?
One of the most novel and radical de
partures from ordinary methods of in
troducing new Improvements In rail
way management Is the formal an
nouncement by an electric headlight
company that It Is ready to "guarantee
railroad companies from any loss from
head-on collisions occurring at night
where the locomotives are
equipped with our headlights."
The Ingenuity K the counterfeiters
now appears to be chiefly devoted to
the turning out of bogus copper and
nickel coins, rather than those of larger
denomination. According to the report
of the United States treasurer for the
last fiscal year, no less than 09,205
pieces of this character were detected
last year, and they circulated chiefly In
Boston, New York and Philadelphia. .
Faneull Hall Is being made fireproof,
but the process seems to the reverent
people of Boston more like destruction.
Havoc has apparently been worked In
the Interior. Stairways have been torn
down, floors ripped up and balconlus
demolished, it seems, ruthlessly. But
It has all been done with care and rev
erence. Eacn piece of timber and each
strip and board that Is to be used In
the reconstruction has been tagged and
stored in fireproof vaults. The founda
tions have been strengthened and put
In condition to withstand the ravages
of time for ages, it Is hoped.
An old Pennsylvania law has been
singularly revived In Pittsburg. Fif
teen years ago Frank Leslie Gould had
a leg cut off by a car of the South
Side Passenger Railway Company. He
was then only S years old, but attain
ed his majority recently, and now
brings suit under an act of assembly
approved March 17, 1713, which per
mits a minor to bring an action for
damages within six years after he Ins-
comes 21 years old, in his own right
and without reference to the time
when the cause for action may have oc
curred. As late as 1S81 the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania decided a case
in which the act was declared to be
good law. Young Gould claims $25,00C
damages for the loss of his leg.
Birds that Have No Wings.
When one is a child and sees a bird
the usual thing told hi in Is: "Get a lit
tle salt and put It on the tall of the bird
and you can catch him." Of course, the
child and the others look at each other
and think it a huge Joke. Although this
may be the case In most parts of the
earth, it Is not a Joke at Laysan Island.
Laysan Island, situated, as It la
logltude 171 degrees west latitude 25
degrees and 47 minutes north Is a low.
long island, two miles by two and a
half in width, with the highest altitude
20 feet above the sea. On first approach
one sees large flocks of birds, which
make a black streak In the air, above I
taa island. This is surrounded by refj. J
Nerves Live After Death.
With an apparatus called the myo-
phone Mr. D'Arsonval has proved that
the nerves may, contrary to the old be
lief, live many hours after the death of
the body. This cannot long be made
perceptible through the excitability of
the muscles, but the sound In the In
strument shows that a nerve may act
on a muscle, In a state of electric ex
citability, without producing more than
simple molecular vibration.
Old Mathematical Work.
The Rhlnd manuscript deciphered
some thirty years ago, a hieratic papy
rus now in the British Museum, writ
ten by an Egyptian priest Ahines.
about 1700 B. C.. is the oldest intelligi
ble mathematical work extant Anoth
er and older roll on a mathematical sub
ject exists, but has not jvt been ds
chered, , t ,