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PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA
Cl" I pl-tinnl.
In Captain Kind's Trial of a Staff
Officer" an amusing story is told of Gen
eral Upton, who was at one time com
mandant of cadets at West Ici t. The
c immandant's tent was a great place fur
fighting battb-sovcr again
j One day (dx or t iilit of ns were gath-
fifi mere, aii'i me 11001 ,i sj nri i iiy one
of those blatant gentlemen who, having
graduated before the civil war. arid hav
ing had just as good a chance as tho gal
lant hand of ambitious young lieuten
ants who rose to be generals, had pre
f erred the safety, case anl slow promo
tion of mustering ail disbursing duty.
11 rid whose onl v brevet was for the w r-
vico of the "recruit .merit of the armies of
ITnited States.''
For some reason or other such men
have often been prone to disparage t h-i
Her vices of hiicccs.-fiil men, and to at
tribute the promotion over their l:cadn
of such Soldiers an Upton and Custer to
political influence. S Major w;u
on this day hoi ding forth about luck in
th lino, ending with this start ling state
ment: "Well, now, Upton's another instance.
Of course, I don't r.c-an to say but wha;
you fought all imbf, old fellow, when
you got a chance, hut 3 011 won't deny
that there were, fellows who went
through the whole war with the regu
1'irs, stuck to th"ir regiments or bat
teries, ;;ot wounded time and again, and
only got a brevet; but here yon .'in1 a
lieutenant colonel, and never got a
scratch!''
(Jon-Menm: the fact that Upton had
been wounded in three dhi'erent engage
nciits, I.e. might have been excused for
making a pointed reply, but he only
smiled qui' lly, :t-s he Pat writing at hi:
desk, and said:
"Well, there are lots of men who think
just as you do, I've no doubt."
DiHerent Kimls uf (iuhl.
?.lo?t ieo)le suppose," says an as
eayer, '"tfiat all gold is alike when tv
tined, l.T.t tliis is not the case. An ex
perienced man can tell at a glance from
what part of 1he world a gold piece,
comes, and in some cases from what part
of a particular gold district the me.tal
was obtained. The Australian gold, for
instance, is distinctly redder than the
California, and this difference in color is
always perceptible, even when the gold
is 1,000 fine. Again, the gold obtained
from the placers is yellower than that
which is taken directly from the quartz.
Why this should be the case its one of
the mysteriea of metallurgy, for the
placer gold all comes from the veins.
The Ural gold i3 the reddest found any
where. "Few people know the real color of
gold, as it is seldom seen unless heavily
alloyed, which renders it redder than
when pure. The purest coins ever made
were the fifty dollar pieces that used to
be common in California. Their coin
age was abandoned for two reasons:
First, because the loss of abrasion was
so gTeat, and, secondly, because the in
terior would bo bored out and lead sub
stituted, the difference in weight being
too small to be readily noticed in so
large a piece. These octagonal coins
were the most valuable ever struck,"
New York Tribune.
"Thou Diest on Point of Fox."
Fox blades were colebrated all through
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries
for their excellent temper, and mention
of them is freouent in English drama.
ihis is their history: Ihere was a cer
t:iin Julian del Rei, believed to be a
Morisco, who set up a forge at Totedo in
the early part of the Sixteenth century
and became famous for the excellence of
Ms sword blades, which were regarded
as tne best or loiecio. xnat city nau
for many ages previous been renowned
for sword making, it being supposed that
the Moors introduced the art, as they did
so many good things, from the east.
Julian del Rei's mark was a little dog,
which came to be taken for a fox, and
so the "fox blade," or simply "fox" for
any good sword. See "Henry V," act
iv., scene 4, "inon aiest on point or
fox." The brand came to be imitated in
other places, and there are Solingen
blades of comparatively modern manu
facture which still bear the little dog of
Julian del llei. Notes and Queries.
Sick Iluom Vafuries.
"It is curious to notice the moral effect
of illness upon people," said a prominent
physician the other dev. "For instance
among my patients are a preacher who
swears when he is sick and a gambler
who prays. A successful and well
known business man will not go to hia
bed when illness attacks him because of
a morbid fear that he will never rise
from it again. A lady of not the prettiest
character has all her jewelry and fine
dresses laid on the foot of her bed, 1 sup
pose to keep her mind from terrifying
thoughts. A hundred other peculiari
ties are develoied, but the most remark
able one to me is that of a professional
man who reads up in current literature
when he is really seriously ill because he
'hasn't time to do it when he's well.' "
Cincinnati Enquirer.
He Won't Do It Ag-ain.
An amateur beekeeper in Penobscot
county learns a thing or two almost
every day. Among other valuable lea
sons was this: While working among his
hot footed charges he clumsily upset a
hive, lie was shielded by netting and
loose overalls and could watch with
amusement the frantic jabbing of the
40.000 bees that covered his anatomy.
After a moment, however, he thought
fully stooped to pick up the hive. Then
it was that the bees were amused. The
loose overalls were drawn tight by tho
Etooping process, and the beekeeper
didn't sit down and enjoy, himself for
two weeks. Lewiston Journal.
Cost of America's Mis Ilridsje.
The cost of the Drookh n bridge was
$15,000,000, which was 3."000,CWO in ex
cess of tho final estimate of the engineer,
Roebling, who was appointed in charge
of the work on Alay 23, 1SG7. Two years
later he was injured by an accident,
i from the effects of w'oeh he died, and
l the engineering was corned through by
' his soa. New York Sun.
Wl.nt M.4jr Ho rutentetl.
A United States patent will U
rant"
to
any jwrson
who has invented or di-
covered any new ami useful art, machine,
mannracture or improvement tnereor,
not known or used by others in this coun
try, and not p itented or described in any
printed publication in this or any other
country before his di.-"overy or invention
thereof, and not in public use nor on sale
for more than two years prior to his ap
plication, unless the same is proved t
have ben abandoned, in this connec
tion the word "art" iin-ms the proce.-sor
met h d of j hi "lueiir-ran old or new result.
If a met hod tf doi ng anyt hinur c in tains
(ii)i: or more' new steps, the pr-es.s is
!Mv and patentable. The word '"ma
chine" means any il -vh e or thing by
means of which a mechanical re --nit mav
be produced, such a a iin. a cluira or 1
locoinot i . The word 'manufaeture"
means a made i;; arlk-le, su'-h a furni
ture, clothing, harries an 1 th" thousand .
of things which are o!f-red for sde.
"Compo-i i ion of matter" means a I e 11 i
cal comjioiuiii of ingredients. su.-h as
hard rubber, liquid gbi", lued'cine, it';.
Patents may al.-o j obtain" 1 lor de
? igns for man n fact itre and works of art ,
for three, sewn and t.-n years.
Tra le marks ma v be i'"'ri-tered f' -r an v
arbitrarv si.rti
or svmbol
wln'cli t,..t
descriitive; tlie
V.-I iimellt fee is t Well-
ty-(i'e dollars. Such marks are t hi-exclusive
property of the registrar lor
thirty years, and the time may he ex
tended. A 'labe!" is any descriptive
tag, print or impression to be place 1
upon anv article or its ca-e, and it mav
1
be
rein.-ter'-d for twvnt v-ehrht year.-..
The g 'Vernnit ut i e for a
1,
1 i.
ie.s
lab
; six
ei.-.l
ii X,,
rl.
dollars; but if it contains any
marker symbol, (lie ehire hcr
be a "trade mark" instead of
Washington Chr mii le.
a
Ti lift Agents ami ('mint irfei I s.
Counterfeit money comes into the
hands of the railroad ticket agent more
frequently than any whore else. Dut this
official of the great steel highway has to
become an expert in detecting it, else his
salary would suiter to the amount of
spurious coin which he took in.
The detection of counterfeits seems to
become a sort of second nature with the
ticket seller. To discover a bad piece of
silver is a comparatively easy matter,
for it has a greasy feeling and very sel
dom looks like good money. Even if it
possesses these requisites of good coin it
very seldom has the weight of the gen
uine quarter, half dollar or dollar, and
the lack of weight is perceptible by tak
ing it in the hand.
But to detect a bad bill is not, to the
layman who is not burdened with han
dling thousands of dollars each day, an
easy task. The expert ticket agent will,
however, when counting a ttack of bills
ranging in value from one dollar to fifty
dollars with great rapidity snap them in
both hands one after another and pick
out the counterfeits, Keemiugly by an
acute sense of touch. Some ticket agents
are marvelously clever in this way. The
method used by the majority in detecting
a bad bill is to hold it to the light and
see if it contains parallel silk threads
running horizontally through it. All gen
uine bills contain these. Albany Argus, i
How Some Secnls Travel.
The most curious provision j lossessod '
by seeds for self dissemination is the :
hygroscopic awn. In the wild oat (avena
fatna), for example, there is attached to
the glumelia (a small, leafy structure ;
connected with the seed), a spiral awn ;
covered with humorous fine hairs, and j
this awn has the power of expanding
when moist and of contracting when dry.
Thus the attached seed is constantly
on the move with the changes in the
weather, the hairs clinging to any object
met with, until germination or destruc
tion puts an end to its motion.
The seed of barley, too, is provided
with a similar awn, which is furnished
with minute teeth that point toward its
apex. The seed, when lying on the
ground, naturally expands with the
moisture of the night and contracts with
the dryness of the day, but, as the teeth
prevent its moving toward the point of
the awn, all motion must be in the di
rection of the base of the seed, which
will thus travel man3T feet from the parent
stalk. Knowledge.
Carlj-le's Opinion of Washington.
It is worth noting that Carlyle in his
sweeping assertion made no exception in
behalf of Emerson, who perhaps bored
him more than he dared acknowledge
with his transcendentalism and effusions
of the "over soul." But one might have
thought that he would have spared
Washington. Far from that, we find
him pleasantly remarking at some grand
dinner to Mr. Fields (a gentleman who,
both by bis writings and from all ac
counts by the charm o'f his personal
presence, must have done much to re
move the imputed odium from his
countrymen): "That grete mon of yours
George" ("did any one under the sun
ever dream of calling Washington George
before?" exclaims iliss Mulford, who re
counts the story) "your grete mon,
George, was a monstrous bore and wants
taking down a few hundred pegs!" Ex
change. Legiil Kxpenses Over One SoTereiii.
The Textile Mercury calls attention to
a recent bankruptcy ca.se in which the
liabilities exceeded 40.000, and there
was an item of -Y-i3 for legal expenses.
Asked by the crucial receiver to explain
how this was incurred, the bankrupt
stated that the costs arose in connection
with a dispute over a sovereign, as to
which he denied his indebtedness. The
myrmidons of the law were thereupon
set to work, and after the litigants had
had their fill the "gentlemen by act of
parliament" who had becn conducting
the contest presented the debtor with a
bill for 3:js.
A Domestic Hero.
"Thank heaven, I am safe!' shouted
the boy hero as he ran into the woodshed
j pursued by ins chum disguised as an
j Indian.
! ''You are. indeed, me bov!"' sai l his
i father as he caught him by the slack of
j his trousers and ran him into the house
' to take care of the babv. Detroit Frej
Pre.
SHIPS PULL UP CABLES.
j QUEER FISHING WITH
PROPELLER
SCREWS OF C1G BOATS.
An Ocean Steamhi CuirlM I'leee 1
Nuhniitrine Ciihlt from New York to
Liverpool Hml It.tek ll peri ence of 11
Mil 'Unit It;ti Into the Iuri.
Subinarine cables laid in shallow wa
ters are often ex posed to greater ri-I.
and rougher treatment than the great
ocean cables, which sometimes cost tin n
owner ; a small f.ii t line in repairs. ,N 1
Jong ago an ocean gone
leaving le-r duck at .b-isi
up the soft bolt iin wit!
st earn.-h ii
11.
y City, plowed
her powerful
1'i-opeiier, anil
ai le catch in t
ured a c '-.t ly and v 1 ! .1
shape of about a io.-..-u
m; b marine cables, which ci: me.-he. 1 t hem -selves
in the blades of the propeller ko
effectively that all the cables were torn
a-umler. and the ship had to ;;o into lr
dock to cl ar I. -r sc!ev of the gall. ii, d:
of iron, hemp ;.ud K rite with which it
had become embellished not to say em
barrassed. The learned judgv who presided over
the argument a to whether the tele
graph con; pa ny, wh ich ownet 1 t lie ca hie.-,
or the sU-aim-hip company, which owned
the inqui-'l t i ve ve--1. 'a- t ,' ie a " Tie ved
party, decided in tavor of the latter.
holding that a hai hor is to h
for n.i "iga! ion. and that a sit
titled to plow tl.roir.'h mud
I.e;I f I ,
amer is -i
as Well ;i
water, cables or no cables. If the cab!""
Were thought to he secure because tli-'V
w re lodged i:; two feet of silt, why, ?.
much the worse' for the cables, or rather
f r their owners.
According to the learned judge, ocean
steamers posse- - the ri:,oit i '' wa v tliriam.'i
the silt, even down to hard reck, am! 1 he
waters of a harbor for purpo.o s of nai
gation have no '"bottom." This is cold
' comfort for owners of submarine cable.-.
- in harbors, but by way of a,':. ling in.-uit
to injury tho very practical suggestion
' was made that cables might be laid in a
i species of submarine trench, and thus b"
', kept out of harm's way when oce.m
steamers (or others) lind it necessary to
. "take the ground."
TUG U AT AND CAI'.I.K.
It is quite conceivable licit th'1 power
j fill machinery of an ocean steamer sh uld
make light work of gathering up and
j rending into fragments a dozen or so of
submarine cables, but that a river tug
should take to the same game and twist
some hundred feet or so of heavily ar
mored seven conductor cable into a bunch
of Gordian knots is a littl" too much.
The cable is the pn perty of the American
! Telephone and Telegraph company, and
i serves to connect the pole line across
Staten Island with that running through
New Jersey, the cable crossing the Kills
between Linoleuuiville and Carteret.
The tug caught up the cable in the
most approved manner, according to the
: laws of harbor navigation, snatched it
from its quiet resting place in the silt,
and a stem battle between the pugna-
I cious propeller and the inoffensive and
defenseless (though armored) cable en
sued. Needless to say, the propeller was
victorious. The iron armor resisted vig
orously, but it was never intended to
withstand the attack of a river tug's pro
peller, so, after a stout resistance, ac
companied by endless writhings and con
tortions, it succumbed.
The sea serpent itself could not have
made a better fight. If the cable was
vanquished, its enemy was also, at least
for a time, pkiced hors de combat, for,
so closely were propeller and cable in
terlocked in their deadly feud that the
tug had to Be brought to New York and
put in dry dock in order to separate
them. The snarl contains about one
hundred feet of cble, and bears strong
evidence as to gol construction.
Few would believe that a cable could
resist long enough to be twisted up into
such hideous shapes instead of breaking
almost at once. The cable, which is a
seven conductor, Kerite make, has been
down for about five years, and was found
to be in perfect condition when repairs
were made. Indeed, the snarl testifies
to that.
SOME CABLE STORIES.
Not long ago Frank Stockton contrib
uted to one of the magazines a nonsensi
cal story, in which a startling incident
was narrated. By a stroke of lightning
a steamer had been converted into an
immense magnet, and had attracted to
itself a submarine cable, which held it
fast until the cable ship came to the res
cue. This flight of fancy is not alto
gether without excuse.
There is a story of an ocean steamship
catching up a piece of cable in the North
river, and towing it all the way from i
New York to Liverpool and back with
out discovering to what mysterious cause
the strange reduction of speed on the
round trip could be attributed.
There is yet another story of a 'sound
boat which fouled a submarine cable in
New Y'ork waters and towed a goodly
length of it to New Haven. There the
piece of cable was cleared away, coiled
down on the dock, and subsequently sold
by the steamship company to aiKjther
corporation whose business it is to main
tain electrical communication between
places. That corporation put the cable
into service, and (so the story goes) is
using it at the present time. Herbert
L. Webb in Electrical Engineer.
To Preserve Shoe Leather.
A German chemist has invented a
preparation which, it is claimed, when
applied to the soles of shoes, has the ef
fect of increasing their wearing capacity
from five to ten times, besides making
them waterproof. The preparation is
applied after the shoe- are finished and
the soles are buffed. The right to use it
has been sold to the Bavarian govern
ment for the nrmy. The inventor says
it has lieen tested in the German army
satisfactorily. Exchange.
An Kvery Morning Incident.
Mr. Suburb (slowlj- waking up and
rubbing his eyes) What time is it?
?Jrs. Suburb (looking at watch) It's
three minutes of train time.
Mr. Suburb (springing out of bed)
Tell llary to hurry up the breakfast.
New York Weekly.
German ingenuity is . itej to havo re
ported to a method revived from tho
most ancient past of rrndering fabric
proof against the ravages f decay for
an indefinite period, a process by which
it i- said, no matter how delicate the
texture or color of the fabric may , in
long life is assured. It appears t hat t ho
inventor in this case, a iicrman chemist,
based his experiments on the comiikonly
known fact that the wonderful preserva
tion characterizing the headbands of
Kgvplian mummies is at t ri but.e I to their
having l en impregnated with a kind of
lesin. Acting upon this assumption, ex
periments were made wit li t in - Mlb- tance
extra --ted from bir h bark, wit Ii 1 he n-i
Milt that t he creeii tar left al'ttrtle oil
u-ed in t-iririucr has been extracted from
the while hark of the bin h tree yields a
Mib.-tance m il her acid nor alkaloid; and
this, iii solution with alcohol, forms a
liquid wit ii a pow er of r -i istin g. alter
t .lie
i.le,
the
r. ii
I leeol a ;
hoi its' 1
property
l.-ring b
1 1 IV, even 1 lie act loll
,d 1- alle "ed to po--es-
i long a de. idera 1 u m of
e fabrics apparent !y im
perishable, as far as decay is concerned,
a pe. iiliarly valuable property beingal
ei nmed for it, mine ly, a ready union
wit
Il tl
-1 del ieat'' as well us bi i
. Yoii: .Sun.
i. mt
. ( e 1
In r Vol i:i'KM llr!
It w a . an u;
town Huilace car, ;i ii-1
iirviug .mail parcel.!
tlll'i e Wol.H II C.'l
boarded it.
After ilc jn .sing
tin tun 1 Ves on tli
tarled de- j .era I el
pot ketbooL'.s that
of their bundles arid
e seati. two of them
y at work to open tho
t Ih v carried in Uieir
hands. Neither suceeed
d to any x
i inductor wait-
lent . ainl t In- iv. i liail eil c
ed ai d winia d at a eios
eyed passenger
iii i i l. r to note f(r future i i Terence how
a or o-s eyed man wink's.
Meanwhile each of the women Jtaii
grasped the other's arm and e-a 1 aimed-
"Don'l, dear, I have ;h.u;ge." Th
third woman said nothing, and the con
ductor paused in front of the trio for hi
tare.
"Don't you dare to p '.y the fcirc!" said
one .f t he women.
"And don't you!" was tho reply.
Then while lids fri' iidly argument
was going on, the small woman who had
said nothing quietly handed the right
change to tho conductor and tho agouj
was over.
"Faith, thim wimin do be always the
same," said the conductor as he returnee!
to his post. And who shall say be wu
wrong? New ork Recorder.
No Doulit About Americitn Hold ier.
Infantry, of course, constitutes
main body of all modern armies, and ty
the quality of its infantry an army muni
be judged. Tim capacity of Americana
to make ecelleiit sohbers was proved in
the war beyond a quei'iion. That hun
dreds of thousands of men, most of them
entirely unacquainted with tho element"
even of discipline and drill, were trans
formed in so brief a period into oflicerr
and soldiers was certainly one of th
wonders of our time. But the material
was in the main of the best, the desire to
master the new trade well nigh universal
and very strong, and there were from
the beginning many opportuniti-? for
practising what had been learned.
The armies of 1802 were far and awi;
superior to the levies of 1801. The arn
ies of 18f: were decidedly sujerior tt
those of 1802. But in 180:3 it is probable
that the highest point of tfiiciency waa
reached in both the Federal and Con
federate armies in the east, and certainly
in the western army of the Confederacy.
John C Ropes- in Seribner's.
Hints for Travelers.
Nausea, from the motion of the cars,
may be prevent in the following way:
Take a sheet of writing paper larg
enough to cover both the chest anl
stomach, and put it on under the cloth
ing next to the erson. If one sheet it
not large enough paste the edges of tw
or three together, for the chest aud,
stomach must be well covered. Wen
the paper thus as long as you are travel
ing, and change it every day if your
journey is a long one. Those who hav
tried it say that it is a perfect defense.
Those to whom the term "sleejx-r" i
a hollow mockery may profit by the e
iierience of salesmen and others who
travel frequently, and have the bed
made up with the pillow toward the lo
comotive. Just why this should mak
sleep easier is not explained, but the
plan is highly recommended. Ladies"
Home Journal.
Out of the Ouebtiou.
Many pleasantries are written and
npoken about the capriciousness of female
servants, but it is doubtful if, as a class,
they approach in captiousness the trial
domestic servants employed by the riclu
Good male servants are hard to get, an
proportionately hard to please.
A gentleman had engaged an English
valet de chambre at good wages, and
everything had apparently been sati
factorily arranged, when the man said:
"Might I ask, sir, if I'm to wear livery,
sir."
"Ye.."
"And what color will the weskit b
sir'. '
"Red."
"Ow, indeed! Then I cawn't take th
place, sir. I'm much too blond, 3-ou
know, for to wear a red weskit, sir!"
Youth's Companion.
A General Concurreiiee.
Bloomer Don't you think th.
htgt
hats worn bv the women should be
abol-
j ishedV
I Blossom (who has just paid a milliner'
I bill) Abolished? Of course I do.
j Bloomer Especially in the theaters,
j Blossom Theaters or churches, they
should Ije abolished. What we want is
i a low priced hat every time. New Y'ork
! Epoch.
This Gentleman lil.
"Well, Ra.-t.ns," said 21 r. rre.shfieU
to the waiter, handing him a five dollar
bill to pa- a fifty cent check, T under
stand you have discovered the dilfereiicfir
between a gentleman and a gent."
"Yaeair," returned Rastns. "De gei
nleman nebber v aits for no cImo,
sah," Harp-r'j Bazar.
