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About The news-herald. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1909-1911 | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1909)
MORE LjZ3 d Thrills HIS business of devis ing new mctliudR of curling American r-plnes by moans of ' shrieks, shocks and thrills, Is making amusement -park own ers of the United States hump them selves. The American spine has become a somewhat calloused ar ticle. It has become more dilllcult year by year to make the pleas uroHoekers Bhrlek with Joy at the thrills which chase them selves up and down their spinal cords. But visit any amusement park and you will hear the same line of laughs, maybe not as loud, but Just as full of fun and vigor as those half a decade IRQ. The cause ia to be found In the ever-busy brains of the inventors of fun devices. There are new ones every year. A new way of producing tho thrills, n new rhythm to the mo tion of the device In fact anything 4 'Mi CI r" WLTCtlthQ different from the yenr previous goes with the pleasure-seeker. But the man who can evolve an entirely now ride or stationary device which actually begets excitement, has his fortune made. And let it bo said that the key to public sat isfaction is the ticket office, into which tho . common pee-pul pour their dimes. As long as the fun-hunters continue to pour sheckels the park owners consider their Investment a pay ing one. When the flood of silver drops ofT. then it is time to open negotiations for a new set of thrillers. In many American amusement parks the owners seem to have been stung by the bee of "death defiance." They evidently believe that tho average citizen, male and female alike, en Joys flirting with the hereafter with a margin of about one inch. Wise ones among the promoters say, how ever, that they must give their patrons tho dips. Jolts and shocks, with the omission of the vista through which heaven appears. AH amusement devices are safe, park managers declare, simply because they are thoroughly Inspected by city authorities before being tried out by the public. In the bl? cities the scenic railway this sum mer still holds the biggest share of the currency-producing thrills. Then there are the numerous coasters, each with more or less per ilous drops, which tend to excite howls and yells from the manly sex and timid little screams from the fair ones. In the west this season the "human rou lette" and the steeplechase have attracted some attention. The "human roulette" is all it signifies. It Is built on the merry-go-round principal, except that instead of sitting upon horses, cows, etc., the patron simply rests upon an -ficllned surface and is whirled through the various stages of maldemer, if the individual is inclined that way. The steeplechase consists of a horseback tide over the bumps, the wooden steeds speed ing along for half a mile or so on two rails. There are scores of other new rides this year, all built upon the principle that tho more Jolts and bumps the human system receives the oftener Its owner will return to deposit tribute. London, Paris, and Europe in general, is paying Its tribute this season to "the witching waves." The passengers are installed in little boats, and are promised all tho enjoyment of an ocean ride w ith little of disadvantage. By tho exercise of considerable Ingenuity a great sur face of imitation sea produces a constantly un dulating motion exactly like the waves of the sea on a quiet day. The wavy motion is im parted by a flexible sheet-steel flooring, oper ated by invisible mechanics. The passengers themselves steer tho craft, and therein lies additional fnscinatiou. Coney Island, New York City's prided amusement resort, this year has more than over to attract. The westerner who believes Ihnt this year's visit to the fun factories by Prl m ELLWOOD i - vs. I -r- .i.'-zr: v or v i :K V; - rawi J4 WAVES the sea will not bo ablo to show him anything new this summer, is giv en another guess. Coney has about twice as many - trick devices with which to catch the visitor and make him furnish fun for the mul titude as it ever had bo fore. There is a musical saw mill yes, indeed, a real live saw mill with the most attractive bbw- yers that ever pushed a log on a truck to a whizzing circular saw. Tho sawyers are pretty girls, who operate the music apparatus as they work. And then there Is the electric girl, who gives a shock every time you shake hands with her. She floats In the air, and greets you in the most unsuspected places in her palatial anode. There are no end of trick chairs, which shoot upward, sldewlse, downward and, in fact, most any way. And there, as big as life, is "Teddy" in Africa, shooting Hons of all kinds of crosses between highbrows and lowbrows In the ani mal kingdom. Tho new form is a series of punching bags ranging In height from two feet to six feet, and all labeled "Kick Me." You get a prize if you can kick all the bags, but the chances are you will be too tired to complete the Joh. There is a human menagerie, where inter esting couples are enticed In to taks a seat, and then, lo! the seat suddenly becomes a cage, out of which there is no exit. Well, what the gazing public do to the couple one has to go and see in order to appreciate. A falling statue, with a chair a safe distance away, is another scare-producing stunt to try one's nerves. The statue falls over on you whllo you are seated In the chair. Possibly the best fun lu one park is the stunt of walking the spar, which Is 25 feet long, at the end of which Is a spring which releases a huge Jumplng-Jack- six feet tall. Shrieks from the girls? Well! There are the Newlywcds, baby and all, and there Is a firecracker maze, which will get anybody going. But the musical floor is tho real fun. Every step one takes plays a note. And it's a breeze to see the startled facial ex pressions of the Innocent who walk onto this floor. There Is a confetti punching bng, too, which smothers you in confetti, and no end of trick scats. The human Niagara is the great mirth producer for tho audience, but It certainly does fcaze the victim. Going up this human Ningara is great sport, and you think that at the top it is all over; but not. so. You are hulled down again, and It Isn't particular in tho method of landing you back on terra flrma. GIDPY WHIRL The stir about is an other good startler for screams and roars of laughter. You start at the top of the building and come down a slide, and whirl to beat the dervishes about three times before you land at the bottom. The balky mule Is still balky, and still do hundreds try to reach his ears. The shoo-fly Is another screaming affair, with a slido for life as a paft of the excitement. "The girl In the well" Is a great fun pro ducer. Many think she Is the real thing, and try to get her, whereupon they find it is all a Joke, and wish they hadn't noticed her. An automobile course of a mile, where ono can go as fast as he likes, is one of the fea tures of many American parks. Scorchers of any kind can go the absolute limit on this '.rack without fear of arrest. There is no end of electrically charged chairs, and tho wise person is he who doesn't try to Bit down anywhere, at any time. PRESIDENTS ALMA MATERS William Howard Taft in succeeding bis great and good friend Theodore Roosevelt as chief executive of the nation, is the first son of Old Ell to obtain the honor. The record for train ing presidents is divided evenly between the first and second colleges established on Ameri can soil, Harvard, and William and Mary, that venerable Virginia seat of learning, founded at Williamsburg, Va., in 1693. Harvard bo stowed degrees on the two Adamses, on Theo dore Roosevelt and trained Rutherford H. Hayes In the law. William and Mary was the alma mater of Thomas Jefferson, of James Monroe and or John Tyler and two other presi dents, James Madison and Zachary Taylor, were trained under William and Mary tutors. Mndlson was graduated with high honors at Princeton In 1760, and Zachary Taylor, tho son of a Virginia gentleman, was about to enter William and Mary when the war fever seized him and he gave up books for the sword. Andrew Jackson could claim no alma mater except a Salisbury, N. C. law office, there ho i mi Hit' h 'vU mMMmffl. 1 i ml m i "'Ml mA Warn mm&tmmu. P m fit jfi:' ON A . ' oyr read and mastered some legal knowl edge with tho aid of politicians with whom he chummed. Martin Van Bu ren's sole book training was obtained in the Kinderhook, N. Y., academy and the law office of W. P. Van Ness. William Henry Harrison studied at Hampden and Sidney college, and in tended to take up medicine for a pro fession. He had made his medical studies and was about to take his de 'gree when he saw a better chance of preferment by the sword than by the prescription blank. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison, was .graduated from Union college, Oxford, Ohio, and studied law in the Cincinnati Law col lege. James K. Polk was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1808, and studied law in the private office of Felix Grundy. Millard Fill more, after having finished his course at the public schools of his native county, Cayuga, N. Y., studied law in the Buffalo School of Law. Franklin Pierce was graduated from Bowdoln college in 1824 and studied law in Portsmouth, N. H., with Levi Wood bury as his master. James Buchanan was graduated from Dickinson col lege, Carlisle, Pa., and studied law in the office of James Hopkins In Lan caster, Pa. , Abraham Lincoln's most painstaking biographers say that he got all told about a year's schooling from men whose knowledge was limited. An drew Johnson could claim no alma mater, even the humblest. Grant's bi ographers give all credit to West Point for his brilliant career, and his attend ance at provincial public schools at Point Pleasant is counted for naught. Rutheford B. Hayes was graduated from Fremont academy, at Norwalk, and from Kenyon college In 1842 He was valedictorian of his class, and went to Harvard in 1843 and completed his law course with signal honors in 1815. Garfield always gave his mother credit for being his best teacher. While he worked so laboriously on tho farm he and his mother read together every book they could lay hands on. He went to tho Geauga seminary in 1849, to the Eclectic lnstltu.e at Hiram, Ohio, and to Williams col lege, Massachusetts. Chester A. Arthur waa graduated from Union college when he was barely 18, and after some private study be came principal of the academy at North Pow nal, Vt. While there he studied law. ' Grover Cleveland's scholastic career is fa miliar to every one, In view of the widely pub lished biographies since his demise. McKlnley attended Union seminary, in Mahoning coun ty, Ohio, and Alleghany college, at Meadvllle, Pa. Thiodore Roosevelt was graduated from Harvard in 1S76. College and university men predominate largely in the list of presidents. James Bryce, ambassador from Great Bri tain, has noted that while this is the greatest commercial and industrially developed country on earth, no business man has yet been able to reach the goal of the presidency. "Politics Is tho great game in America," Mr. Bryce sage ly observes, "and the study of politics must be mastered thoroughly before any other knowl edge: Millions come for tho business man and the captain of industry, but tho great prize, chief magistracy, has never been bestowed on the man who hns not served the one party or the other w ith a whole heart and undivided at tentlon." Ths Great Teacher. 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Because your case Is a difficult one, doctors having done you no good, do not continue .to suffer without giving Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound a trial It surely has cured many cases of female Ills, such as in flammation, ulceration, displacements, Gbroid tumors, irregularities, periodic pains, backache, that bearing-down reeling, indigestion, dizziness, and ner vous prostration. It costs but a trifle to try it, and the result is worth mil. lions to many suffering women. NO TIME LIKE THE PRE3TNT. "Why, Mrs. Jones, what are you do Ing out in all this rain?" "Oh, I Just ran out to buy an um brella!" Decollete. Wu Ting Fang, at a dance In Wash ington, criticised the modern ballroom belle. "Like the ancient nriton, who dressed In bluo woad," he said, "the belle's idea of a magnificent toilet seems to be plenty of paint and very tittle clothing." Anneke Jans-Bogardut Heirs, having positive proof as such, address with itamp, 365 Lennox Bldg., Cleveland, 0. 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