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About The Plattsmouth daily herald. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1883-19?? | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1888)
TIIF DAILY HERALD, IX A.TTSMU UTH, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 37. ICtt. MIND IN CniLDIIOOD. A tyYSTERY WHICH IS BEYOND ORDINARY PHILOSOPHY. Leading CtilJilUli liarnrterUtlr Snl tlveness to Imiirrtnlont A I'rrlud of jreat Maulal Activity Father and Mother Aatonlkhliig Question. Tbo late Bronson Alcott had many un wholesome ideas that mode him offensively eccentric, but his reverence fur children did a great deal to redeem Lis chnrarter "Hi shaping the character of his daughter, to whom he imiartod it. Her beat work and bcr boot is probably tho beat of its kind is the result of reverent study of child charac ter. The subject demand reverence, for it Is a true saying of the Iloman that the greatest reverence is the duo of children. The mind in childhood is a riddle a mystery beyond all our philosophy. We can no more tell when or where it begins than when or where it will end. The new born, sentient being stares with wide open eyes on. an un known world. It is an utter stranger, in a strange country, ainuiiK a multitude of Strange things and strange people. It is scarcely doubtful that it begins to learn; fthat its education begins; that tho mind in it ' begins to develop when the first ray of light Strikes its newly opened eyes. The develop ment then is rapid. Every object around it; every word spoken; every gesture becomes a part of its educulion. The very tones of the voice, high, or low, gentle or harsh, make impressions on the childish ruiud that are never to be effaced. Of all the childish characteristics the most impressive is wonder wonder at everthing; at the trees and flowers, at the clouds, the sun, the moon and the 'stars; and at the liv ing creatures under them. Children, sup posed to be too young to reason, will spend hours in-wondering at the enigmas of nature; in forming theories and attempting to ac count for things. They ask innumerable questions, or rather they will, if they are en couraged by right answers. A Vght answer will not satisfy a child, but it nu and it nearly always tloes discourage further ques tions. Vouug children cannot understand ftippancy; they have no idea of humor or of double meaning. , Everything is truth for them until they have learned that lies exist, and even then they are very slow in learning that what seems to bo untrue may bo all the truth we have uu any subject. If any ques tion they may ask on a subject which is of the deepest sigtiiiicauce to them is treated oa a commonplace and answered lightly or flip pantly, they drew back as from a blow. The mind in childhood is sensitivo to all impressions jwcuiiarly sensitive to lack of application or to ridicule. It demands sym pathy as well as knowledge. There is no commonplace for it. Its world is new, strange and awe inspiring, full of wonders. Everything is sublime to it. The religious sense of awe and wonder is keen and active. A child will wonder why tho sun rises, why tbo trees put on their leaves in spring, why tho birds build nests, why night comes after day. It does not discriminate between sub jects whero ail seem of equal importance. Its mil'! is growing as the mind of the raco grew. Its mental infancy has many points of rebemtla :e- t j thj mental infancy of tho race. It is deeply religious, full of the faith that is the complement of wonder. This faith, this awe, are a part of its reason, and during its waking hours its reason is inces sanUy active. It is constantly called into play by the new impressions it constantly receives, and so it nearly always happens that a child is given its final direction in life during its period of greatest mental activity before it is 8 years old. Fathers generally know almost nothing of their chiiuren oecause ui iulk. 01 sympauiy with them. The masculine mind in the full grown man is nearly always commonplace. It cannot reach the level of the mind of childhood, to which there are no common places. Tne mother's mind is nearest to that f the chihl, and on tho mother its education most deiends. She succeeds in the ineasura of her symiKxthy with it. If she shares its wondering awe of the many mysteries of the world, and feels the sublime as inherently and unconsciously as tho child does; if the world and lifo have not ceased to be awful to her, she Bwceeds in the largest measure. If she has reduced everything to common, place she will drive the reason of childhood into coininonplaceuess, from hich there will be no after escae for it. Tho astonishing questions which children ask questions which not infrequently go right to the bottom of the whole mystery of things are not mere accidents. They are the result of the keen insight of the reason of childhood that goes straight for tho truth. They may have cost hours, days, weeks of pondering and thought. It is a mistake to answer them lightly; it is a crime to answer them flippantly; for the keenness of tho childish reason is easily blunted, jt? capacity for truth easily lost. To retain the iuuid of -childhood through life is a happinesj that foils to few tho few great genuises. la one way or another the childish reason is lost; the childish faculty of faith, of awe, of appreciation of truth, is blunted in most who live beyond 13 years. IVe even lose the memory of what wo were And so despise the reason of childhood. lVomen retain it most frequently, and they can, therefore, better understand and sym ' patbizo with their children. St. Louis Re publican. Xapolaon at St. Helena. The Listener, years ago, knew a sea cap tain, one of that fine typo of knights of the sea- that has become extinct along with the American carrying trade, who had seen Sfapoleon at Si. Helena. Tho old captain be was then a young car tain had made in effectual attempts during a prolonged stay at the island to sec the captive, but in vain. The English authorities, who with very good reason suspected Americans of beingand will ing, if not prepared, to spirit 2aoleou away, resolutely deni.-d the captain any oppor tunity to visit Longwood. But Yankeo presoveranco is not easily baf fled. The captain in his rambles had discov ered a point of view commanding Napoleon's favorite promenade. There, securely en sconced with his trusty and powerful ship'a glass, he marked down Napoleon. Tho glass was so powerful that Napoleon's every mo tion as he talked with an attendant was clearly to bo discerned. Once Napcleoa turned his face full toward the captain, and the face of tho great man was for aa instant et in tho telescope as a miniature, and the wonderful eyes looked full into those of tho Yankee captain. TL latter described them as beautiful Ltl eyes, deep and pathetic, rather than penetrating. They were tho eyes of tho world conqueror conquered. Boston Transcript "Listener." MxleaM Ilailroad IIilo . i The Mexican exhibits at the Taris exposi-. Z "a.- :n m t-L- nf covpral VolumtS in viuu - - English, French, Bpani.su and German, giv ing tho railroad history of Mexico. It will contain an account of each rood, nma'jcr cf miles, cost, principal stations, character of country opened up, etc. Chicago Ileiald. AN INDEPENDENT CAREER. One Secret of Power Webater oa "Id plratlon" Iaw of flucceaa. Every one, in beginning his independent career, Las to consult two things: (1) Lis natural ambition; (V) his ability. Now, ho may have considerable taste in some direc tion, but lie unablo to get the drill and prac tice neeetisary to eminence In that line. "I should like myself to write for the press," wrote a gentleman to ma "I inclose a sam ple." I suid to him to succeed in becoming a versatile writer, able to tell tersely what you have to say, and then to have enough to Miy that people crire to read, requires daily prao tice in comp'tsitio! from the time one is 13 years old, and it nereis at least twenty years of keen, careful study in tho way of mind furnishing. It is often said that Roseoo Conkling's power over a crowd of listeners is incompre hensible. 1 know that he was incomprehen sible to me until I watched and found the secret of his jower. lie is naturally gifted to sway the multitude; but this is not alL Ho has, through all his career, seduously practiced self restraint. Nothing will induce him to waste his power on the 6cuflle of de bate. He never sjicaks until ho is prepared, and then he swings the hammer of Thor. Webster followed tho samo course, and was never a debater unprepared. Some one said that his great speech against ilayne was an instance of unstudied power. "It is not so," said Webster. "I prepared that speech in the main years before for another occasion. It so hapjieued that debato never took place. I had my notes in a pigeon bole, and when I lay no mode his attack upon mo and upon New England I was already pouted, and only had to tak9 down my notes and refresh my memory. If he had tried to make a speech to fit my notes he could not have hit it bet ter. No man Is inspired I never was." Probably men of -tho Webster type never are inspired in a better way than to make good prejwratiou. To make a good editor one must begin at the bottom and climb. Dickeus said of novel writing: "I do not be lieve it possible that any natural or improved ability can claim immunity from the com panionship of the steady, plain, bard work ing qualities. I never put one hand only to my work, but my whole self, and I never de preciate the work." I have an acquaintance of some genius who considers it essential to assert that ho throws ofT his work spontane ously, without severe labor. His boasting is silly; but, fortunately for him, he does work assiduously, and his work is to the point 2L Maurice, M. D., in Globe-Democrat. Old Persian Wine Jam. I arrived in Persia In tho middle of the gra;o season, and shortly after reaching Te heran became an interested spectator of tho process of making wine there. The houso in which I spent tho winter belonged to Mr. N , a member of the Persian telegraph department. It was tt native built house, with a square court yard in tho center. Quo of the first things that awakened my curios ity was three huge earthenware Jars standing ia a row on one side of the compound. They wero jars that stood as high as a man's shoulder, and bellied out much in the shapo of slender barrels. Each vessel held about thirty-five gallons. 'What are they for to hold rain waterf 7as the natural query that suggested itself to me. "No," said 17 , "they aro wine jars, reg ular old Persian wino jars, that were in uaa 2,003 years ago." "But not these samo jars 2,000 years?" "No. not exactly; but those three jarshavo probably had wine fermented in them every season for the last 100 years." He then went on to explain further about tho jars. Tho Persians believe that these wino jars improve with age, just as the wine itself does, and that better wine can bo made in old jars than in new ones. A wine jar 100 years old i worth several times more than a new one, not because of any value attached to its antiquity in the abstract, but because it is a thoroughly seasoned vessel. Good wine, they say, cannot be made in new jars; the older tho jars the better the wine. Tho Mohammedan injunction against the making and drinking pf intoxicants has bad tho effect of making gad hypocrites of three fourths of tho upper class of Persians, Even the mollahs and seyuds get drunk in secret, but openly they not only do not indulge, but they profess to regard those who do so with abhorrence. When the wine making season arrives there is as much wire pulling and diplomacy employed among the Persians to make wine on the quiet, without incurring a scandal, as there is here in a political 'cam paign. Thomas Stevens in New York Sun. Floor Dukt Dangerous. The Milling World reminds millers of tho oft proved fact that flour dust is a danger ously explosivo material Beware, says the editor, of lights thrust or carried into bins or rooms filled with dust laden air. A week ago, he adds, I was startled as well as amused on entering a friend's mill to seo tho latest "cub" going around with an uncovered light, doing some investigation on "his own hook." As be ibrtjst the light into a very dusty place, which his boyish curiosity suggested to Liin to explore, he was whistling in that par culisr foghorn tone peculiar to and possibly to nobody btii a blf crown boy the popular old tune, "I want to be an afigcl," As his whistle rose keen and triumphant aboyq tho whirr and rattle of the mill machines I al most expected to witness tb? answering of his whistled prayer by an explosion of dust that would at once convert him into the angel ho professed to wish to be. Having put f hf foreman on his track, I felt safer to stay Inside tu :ni1ding until my business was transacted, in how uny psf is tho wild, fresh, careless, untutored ."cubv tne real cause of "mysterious"' fires and explo sions Ho is often as dangerous as a djna mita bomb or a fire brand, Scientific American. Superstition of porting; Men, A superstition among sporting men there are still a few of that ilk in Chicago, though tho ranks have been greatly decimated under the vigorous anti-gambling crusade of tho authorities is that it brings bad luck to ride in a street car alone, A conductor tells a story that a gambler took passage on his car and happened to bo the sole passenger. He was in a great hurry to get down town, but hesitated C3 bo looked at tho vacant interior of tho car. Finally a happy idea seemed to striko Lim aud his face brightened. Fishing ,a dime from his pocket, he handed it to tho conductor. "Kero," he said, "take two out of that." The conductor looked at him won dcringly. "That's all right," ho said; "it's ' you who ere riding with me. I can't plav a kmc Laud, for I wouldn't have any luck fo.' a week." Then he explained his superstition, ar.d was happy when the conductor rang up for two fares. Chicago Tribune. A Formidable Fish. Thero is found in the streams of California what is called the dog or bull salmon. These Cih possess formidable weapons in their teeth, which on the lower jaw have a strong and backward curve, capable of inflicting severe wounds by tearing the flesh of an an-tT-o?!ist. It is said they do not hesitate to attack horses fording a stream, and often ; succeed m cutting ugly wounds on their legs, j Boston Budget. 1 THE WEE SMA HOURS. PEOPLE ENCOUNTERED ON A SUR FACE CAR AT 2 IN THE MORNING. A Conductor Chats with an KnterprUing; ltrporter Some Enperlencr Country Cousins ond Drunken Outcavts Who Utilize Ktroet Cars aa Lodging- Holmes. Probably but few of the units that compose tho throngs daily overcrowding the surface and elevated cars of New York's local tran sit system ever pause to reflect upon the per sons who occupy their vacant places during the long hours of tho night when, with the majority, they invoke the refreshing influence of Morpheus. They ure of all sorts and conditions, rang ing from men of culture, intellect and refine ment such as those who dribble ono by one out of tho hugo newspaper offices from mid night until tho first glimmerings of dawn to the homeless little newsboys, who haunt the vicinity of Park row and play pitch and 'toss in front of tho city hall, while tho greater world uronnd is buried in sleep. A reporter recently rode on a Third avenuo car from the city hall to Twenty-third street. Ono of tho occupants of the car, other than the reiorter, wus a frowsy looking object, huddled close to the stove, wearing a slouched hat, riddled with holes, pulled closely over its face; a threadbaro coat, tightly buttoned over its shirtless chest, and a pair of trousers well calculated to excite tho derision of any respectable scarecrow. Strangely enough, its boots were comparatively decent perhaps an indication of the extreme laziness of the wearer. This creature was hopelessly drunk. It had begged or stolen sufficient money for an indulgence in Bowery whiskey, and a few nickels had been reserved to spend in riding up and down between the termini of the street car line until morning breaks, and it could crawl unmolested into some secluded corner and continue to sleep off the previous night's debauch. The car stopped opposite the entrance to the Brooklyn bridge to take on a Uttlo party of llated musicians, the members of some orchestra fulfilling an engagement in the City of Churches. They were sober, but wide awake and merry withal, and their gut tural German aceoDts drowned the noise of tho car wheels for awhilo. Then as they got drowsy they relapsed into silence and quiet reigned until Grand street was reached. A PASSENGEH NOT WANTED. Hero tho brake was applied in answer to a hail from a woman leaning against one of the "L" road pillars. As she loosed her hold on tho pillar and approached the ear the miserable creature betrayed her condition. She staggered blindly against the platform guard and ejaculated a tipsy oath, but the conductor snatched at the bell strap and signaled the driver to proceed, while with the other hand he gently pushed the would be passenger against her friendly pillar, at which she clutched just in time to save a fall. "No," he said, in answer to questioning looks. "We don't let 'em get on when they're like that. Guess it's lucky I saw her in time; once that sort are aboard it's hard to get rid of 'em." "You must see some strange sights and Eomo queer people during your night trips,'" the reporter suggested, and tho conductor smiled slightly as ho replied in tho affirma tive. "You would be surprised if you know what a number of 'lodgers' we get," he said. "There are this sort bums and such like (in dicating tho inebriated slumberers) who get hold of a little money, get drunk and ride up and down until they have nothing to pay their fare with. But they are not the only ones, by a long way. Women? Why, yes! and respectable ones, too. That is, I don't say they're all respectable, 'cause they ain't. But sometimes we have a real nice country girl who has arrived in the city late, has no friends here and dont like to take her chances at a strango hotel. They get aboard a car, and when they find it keeps running up and down tho road and nobody dares interfere with 'em, why, they feel safe and conclude to stay with it until daylight. They can doze pretty easy in one of the corners. Oh. yes, the drunks make a disturbance now and then, but, as I told you, we won't allow 'em aboard if they seem quarrelsome, and if by chance wo get one of that sort ho has to shut up or get bounced that's all." At this point in the conversation the con ductor jerked the bell strap and stopped tho car to take on three loudly dressed, coarse locking women, who ostentatiously displayed their sealskin sacques and the huge diamonds on their fat red hands. They only rode a few blocks, and after they had alighted the conductor volunteered tha information that they were connected with a "museum" and tho adjoining saloon. GOIXG HOME TBOSC THB BAIX. By this time we had reached some popular assembly rooms, where it was evident that a ball been in progress. Several devotees of Tersichore climbed on to tho platform. The first party consisted of a respectable German, apparently a mechanic; his wife, a heavy looking blonde, and a pert child, 10 years of age. They were followed by two couples of flashily attired youths and young girls, and a stout elderly man, accompanied by a foxy looking young fellow and two women, attired in grotesquely juvenile cos tumes, who might be any age between SO and 50. Tho whole party were in a hilarious condition, and the assumption of cheap blonde wigs by the males, coupled with tho short skirts of tho women, seemed to indi cate their recent participation in a bal masque. "Talking of all night passengers, w 9 often have fellers rido" with us who have lots of money about 'cm," tho conductor 'remarked. "Why, one night I had a reg'lar country tsofty' who tad come in from New Jersey on one of tho late vrains, He ha r,.n some bunco eteerers, but a detective warned him, and then he was so scared that be got on my car and stayed there all night. He showed me a big roll of bills, and said he had $4,000, with which he was goin' to pay for some land or sumthin'. He did not know enough to go to a respectable hotel and leave his money in their safe, so he dbcided to ttay by me until the banks opened." Here the car reached Fourteenth street, and the noisy masqueraders alighted. The foregoing examples are types of tho night birds who are to be found on any of the surface cars. The ''I1 road paasengera. are of a slightly modified plass. The road is equally well patronized by those whom busi ness or legitimate pleasure calls forth at hours when in the country, graveyards yawn, but fewer inebriates find their way up the stairs leading to an "Li" station. New York Herald. Servant Girls. Some New York people propose to build a school for the training of servant girls if they can raise the necessary $0,000 or $00, 000. The past year about $7,000 was raised in small sums. Chicago Herald. An oyster, the shell of which measured ten by twelve inchea, was recently seen In Balti more. It weighed five aud one hail ounce. A WASHINGTON CHIROPODIST Tells About the Various President Who, lie Says, nave Rat la His Chair. There is an old chiropodist in Washington who has doctored tho corns of all the great men in the country for the lost third of a century. I asked him the other day how many presidents had sat in his chair. "Let me seo," be answered. "I bellevo 1 have had every one of them since the time of Buchanan. I came to Washington in bis administration, but had not much practice then. People used to doctor their own corns. Several times a year I went to tho White Houso while Lincoln was there. Both ho and his wife had very troublesome feet. While 1 was operating on Lincoln once he admitted a delegation of clergymen, who had come to see him about extending the work of the Christian commission in tho army. They were very much astonished when they were shown into the room whero he sat on a table with his bare feet upon a chair, and I do not know of any other president who would have received so dignified a delegation under simi lar circumstances, but his time was very val uable, and he did not want to keep them waiting. He told a number of funny stories about his experience with corn3 and bunions, and very soon tho doctors of divinity recov ered from their astonishment and began to exchange views on the subject, Then they sobered down and presented their case to Mr. Lincoln, who promised to issue tho order they wanted. "At another time I was with him when Secretary Stanton como over from tho war department with the news of a groat vic tory and tho president wife so pleased that ho jumped around tho room with his bare feet like a boy. "I never had much to do with Johnson, and never treated Lir.i bui o:ic-o tli . 10 niember of, when he camo to the office. Grant had very good feet. They wero quite small for a man of his build, and he bad lit tle trouble with them. I do not rernemler having treated him more than three or four times while he was president, although after he went out of office he camo down hero on several occasions. Ho was visiting Gen. Beale, I believe it was after his trip around the world. "Hayes sent for me only once, but Garfield was a regular customer all tbo while ho was in congress, and after he becanio president I suppose I have his uarao twenty or thirty times on my book3. He was always troubled with corns. The day before he was assassin ated, a colored man, in footman's livery, came into my office and asked if I could treat Gen. Garfield at once, as he was to leave town the next day. I had a patient in tho chair, but ho kindly consented to give way for the president, who then came up, and v.'tus here for half an hour. Arthur never Lad any trouble with his feet he always was very careful about his shoes but I was sent for several times while he was president to treat members of his family or guests." Washington Cor. New York Tribune. How One Woman ?!ates Money. A clever young woman is building up a business of somewhat novel character ia New York aud Brooklyn. Traveling agents have long made a good thing out of antique furniture picked up on excursions in the wilds of rural New Hampshire or Connecti cut, inducing farmers' wives to ransack their attics and bring out mirrors that only waste, regrinding, or brass handled chest? of draw ers in want of nothing but polioh and var nish to fetch round sums from modern wor shipers of bric-a-brac gone by. Tho best hunting ground for such things, curiously enough, has been overlooked almost entirely. New York and Brooklyn, as things go in tins country, are ancient cities. There are low browed Dutch homesteads within tho limits of the former city, and old houses on Second avenue, in the Washington square region, and on Fifth avenno itself, in New York, which only need to jield up their treasures to delight all the lovers of last century carved oak, mirror front wardrobes, rare spindle legged monstrosities and choice bits of buhl, This young woman has begun a series of tours among tho stately old mansions sunk to second class boarding houses, or gone yet further on the road to neglect and decay, and when she finds a relic of past grandeur she rehabilitates it and introduces it to an art lover or a curio lover, or a person ambi tious of the repute of an art or curio lover with money. An old ebony cabinet, in laid with mother of pearl, an old dressing table, with a tray of Sevres let into the top, an old chair covered with French flowered satins of the early years of tho century, these are grand dukes in banishment to be restored to their lost estate. It is pleasant business for a j-oung woman with some knowledge, a good eye aud better judgment, and she makes it profitable. New York Cor, Nashville American. The Persian on Horseback. It is strange that, although the Persians aro all horsemen, they do not know how to ride, using tho term in our sense. They wiil canter or gallop all day long without visible discomfort, but they will sit on their animal.-, liko ruonkeys, with their knees drawn up and with their reins clutched tight, and will fall off on the slightest provocation. When babies pt 3, they are already in the saddle, and they are in it all their lives; but they never receive any instruction, never know what a good, steady trot is, and never learn to keep firm on their horse's back. And, like them, the Persian horses never receive any training. The gait they are easiest to ride the gallop is their natural one, and they will only quit that for a brief spell in order to rest a little. You cannot get a trot out of a Persian horse unless you devote years and years of patient training to it. Then, again, they ore all hard mouthed, and most of them shy at any unusual ' oh ject or noise. For alj that they have a good deal of native intelli; gence, and they are k.iud nd afTectlonatQ, KioktoTS, and biters are very rare- among them. While in Arabia and Turkey marcn are universally ridden, in Persia it is tho 8t llion3 alone that serve this purpose. Geld ings are unknown. Wolf Von Schierbraud ia Tho Cosmopolitan. Folona in Bottle Stoppers. - The frequency of unaccountable deaths and the spread of deadly diseases has been a puzzle to sanitarians. A drop of solder in a can of fruit will cause the sickness and per haps the death of the family which has par taken of it. But there is a danger compara tively new that threatens many. The expense of tho common cork used as a stopper for bottles has induced many to substitute for it a plug of rubber, which is in no way deleteri ous if it is pure, but to make a cork cheaper still woolen fiber, or rags, mixed with black lead and then saturated with hot asphaltuna has been substituted for the rubber. An ex amination of this fiber with a microscope has been made, and it is found to contain blood, pus and deadly virus, showing tha; the material out of which it is made is the I east off clothing from hospitals, quarantine and similar places. The black lead is in itself a virulent poison, but even that is not the. worst of it, ' The fluid contents of the bottle dissolves tho blood, pus and other defilement of the cloth, which are taken into the system in drinking. Chicago News. The Plattsmouth Herald 7s 011 joying a Soom in "both, ita DAILY A.N D WESSLT EDITIONS. mmm i mm tmmmm mm wm The Will be one during which the subjects of national interest and importance will bo strongly agitn ted and the election of a President will take place. The people of Cass County who would like to learn of Political, Commercial and Soeial Transactions of this year and would keep apace with the times should -FOU Daily or Weekly Herald. Now while we have the subject before the people we will venture to speak ot our "Which is first-class in all respects and from which our job printers are turning out much satisfactory work. PLATTSMOUTH, ear 1888 EITIIKR THE- NEBRASKA.