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About The news-herald. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1909-1911 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1909)
Paililiiad's Most tempting . l Art for thc Appeal Dilcttant By MARCEL PREVOST. pp AINTIXti, 1 believe, is j,rcttin;? to Ik- the most tempting art for tho dilcttant, more tempting even tlnm music. There, arc. inure painters than there are musicians, writers;, than every tliing else, nlinost. There are infinite numbers of them. The most moilrst Imnipiet of painters reunites hundreds of guests. At every exposition modern paintings cover n largo area of space. And what does honor to these volunteers of art i the fact that no financial bait induces the greater part of those painters to follow this vocation. The majority of people who do not paint themselves value a picture, unless it bears the -name of some noted master, only by thc worth of its frame. Ind"cd, one's imagination is too weak to conceive what dark abyss engulfs those numerous rolls of painted canvas which represent human being", llowers, landscapes. Where did they come from? Whence are they going? Jt is possible, that these pictures bide themselves to die? However, this uncertain destiny of their works does not discourage the thousands of this vocation. Ever increasing numbers of indefatigable buman hands are mixing paints und putting them on canvas. It would set in that painting bad an irresistible attraction for them. Where, then, does this tempting quality which painting lias for these neophytes come in? Is it possible that they all take up this vocation in obedience to our inner voice, to a call from (iod? Xo amateur who is reasonable will i.dmit this except perhaps to himself. If be think of all the others he must admit that so many people cannot be "necessary" nrl ist. A work of art is by the definition of it an exception. One has proof of this in the fact that one ceases to consider the present and one begins to value the legacies of the past. Without even seeing tbeni one can confidently state that out of the T,0l() paintings which the Paris Salon exhibits annually the number .of really great works of art is decidedly small. The rest arc more or let successful. J,cfs presumptuous than poets, less chimerical than musicians, many men of talent who hang, up their pictures in salons from time to time admit that they paint for the pleasure of painting only. The pleasure of painting is complex. While giv ing an occupation lor tne painters lingers punning is not exactly a thing to stir the soul of the amateur. The amateur is not reouired to undertake a number of compositions and to pick out the most difficult. A faithful reproduction of a house at the edge of a stream and the amateur has gained the name of an art ist. Painting within the limits in which the dilcttant exercises it is one of those arts where invention and originality hae been greatly reduced. A successful copy of a picture of a great master with them passes for a work of art. It is for these reasons that canvas and brush stand in no danger of remaining idle. Personal Feeling Should Re Guide Br Dr. THOMAS DARLINGTON Unllh Commisiioner ol New York City vegetarian is not because Nebuchadnezzar, the. first uni tarian in history, was afterward found to be crazy. I eat simply what appetite and experience have told me agrees with me. The reason for this course of diet is that it enables tne to work l. hours a (lav. Perhaps I might say that others should be glad 1 do not follow what is judged to be a scientifically balanced dietary, for as mat ters are 1 am able to make a speech lasting two hours and a half. What would happen to my hearers if I really were kept in form by proper eating? It reminds me that once I spoke for two hours and 25 minutes on the evils of alcoholism and when I finished half my hearers rushed for nearby cafes, while the other half said that they were so tired they never wanted to hear the word alcohol again. lint, seriously. 1 should say that whatever I may iind expedient in niv own case anybody who wishes to feed himself properly should consult his family physician, whether or not he is yet a sufferer from indigestion. Reading Maketh a Full Man By RV. THOMAS R. SUCER ing power without lowering his moral ideals. If the world seem Hat to him, and his outlook narrow, many an Ninth. r may be. to him just the inspiration that he needs. The best seller in the world is the Hible, and, happily, it is cheap, not in the popular sense. So that after all it is the kind -of reader upon whom the impiirv must event mill Test-. Kvcn the excitement that comes from rcadin" books is as vnriou m kind as the books themselves. The spirit of adventure is excited in the boy by m good a book as Stevenson's ''Treas ure Island," which is not to he compared with the penny dreadfuls com mollis represented by "Thc l'ink Robbers of the Blue Mountains," "The r.ullv Pov f the Ciilieo Kv" or "The Poisoned Gumdrop; or, The Candy Woman's J'cvcngo." And I suppose St. Paul got far more excitement out ,f being "a day and a night in the deep" than any vulgar-minded person has secured from tin- perusal of "Three Weeks." What I cat myself is not what I would recommend as thc diet for anybody else. Perhaps this is because 1 follow no theory in my eating and take what is set before me. My only care is that the food shall be fresh, a condition which I am glad to say is usually evident. Therefore the only iiestion 1 ask as to my menu is: "lines it agree with me?'' Naturally I do not set up my own fare as a model, since in that case I liud buck wheat cakes and sausage, for example, an excellent breakfast food. That I am not n Xo hard and fast rule as to ethics can be basetl upon commercial success in litera ture. The "best seller" is not necessarily a bad book, but, unfortunately, a bad book is apt to be one of the "best sellers." There are four reasons for reading a book: In formation, inspiration, entertainment and excitement. As Lord Ibieon says, "Read ing maketh a full man," but it is common .observation that it makes a difference, what a man is "full" of. If a man be fagged and need entertainment he has a right to anv entertainment that restores his work t '. rM -v X V v- ; s2 Trtf A$TLVt. IX1MOUTH ap It Is Indeed surprising to find how unfamiliar the English are as a race with tho beautles of their own coun try. How many of them spend their holidays on the continent in search of beautiful scenery, not knowing that within easy access they havo scenery difficult to equal and practicaclly im possible to Bupcrsedo. The glorious county of Devon Is lit erally teeming with beauty spots, the climax being reached in the dellghtftil little twin villages of Lynton and Lyn mouth, nestling between precipitous hills and ending in the gigantic rock bound cliffs which skirt this portion of the Brlstol'channel. Blackmorc's romantic novel of "Lorna Doone" and Whyte-Melvllle's "Katerfelto" have done much tp make these beauty spots famjliar to us, and those who travel to Lynton and Lynniouth via coach from Mlnehead can acquaint themselves with most of the points of Interest with which the readers of these famous novels are familiar. Leaving Minehead wo pass varied and beautiful scenery till we arrive at the quaint little village cf Pollock, where we pull up at the picturesque "Ship Inn." Two additional horses are here attached, for we have a very steep climb of several hundred feet before wo reach our next stopping place, aud even with the six horses we now have the ascent Is nono too easy. Behind us we see gradually dis appearing the exquisite vale of Tor lock, on the right are the gleaming waters of tbe Bristol channel, whilst on thc left we obtain glorious views of hill and moorland. At Yearnoor Moor the horses are changed, and the rest of our Journey through Somerset past County Gato Into Devon Is Indeed one of the lovo liest. On our right we still have the Bristol channel, and on our left breezy Uxmour, and if we have selected a lino day for our Journey we experi ence an Indescribable feeling of ex hihuVttlon as we Inhale the pure air of the moors and enjoy the beauties of hills and coombes surely un equaled elsewhere. If we have chosen the autumn for oar visit, we revel In a wenlth of glo rious color that is Indescribable; mile after mile of purple heather Inter mixed with brilliant golden gorse, and a glimpse of Kxmoor under these con ditions is never to be forgotten, whilst If fortunate wi may catch a glimpse of tho red deer for which the district is so famous. After a glorious ride of about twenty miles we reach Counte3 bury Foreland, and we now commence our descent Into Lynmouth. On our left are towering hills, whilst on our right Is a sheer drop into the sea of several hundred feet, and wo hold our breath as the coach gradually de scends tho steepest hl'l In England, till the rushing waters of tho Lyn re mind us that we are rapidly nearing our destination. The coach stops at the Lynbrldge hotel, where visitors to Lynmouth alight, and ono and till agree that the latter part of the jour ney has left an Impression that noth ing will ever efface. The coach is now llgh'tied of much of Its luggage, and the horses start on their arduous climb to Lyn ton, several hundred feet above, and here again the Impression created Is most profound. And now for a few words about theso exqulslto villages Immortalized by Shellcv, Southey and others of our poets, and eulogized by Gainsborough among famous painters. Nestling between gigantic hills Is tho tiny vlllngo of Lynmouth, its one street skirted by tho East Lyn, whoso waters rush and tumble over tho rocks In their haste to reach tho sea, and here stretched beforo us Is a scene of loveliness. On our right reaching far out to sea Is the gigantic headland of Countos bury Foreland, whilst on our left nre btupcudouo cliffs covered with brll lmntly hued flowers or wooded almost to tho water's edge. If we retrace our steps and follow Uio course of the Lvn. iu a few uiq .1 X I fit. Mi V t- vl..'.''- V V CASTLE ffOCM.LWrpt ments we find ourselves In a scene of beauty, and we can wander along the banks for several miles lost In won derment at tho glories opening out before us. Below Is a ravine down the center of which Is a rushing stream, the bed of which is strewn with hugo rocks, round which tho water whirls and lashes Itself Into foam. On either side are precipitous hills densely wooded, and we here and there obtain a glimpse of banks of gigantic foxgloves and other wild flowers, whilst near the water's edgo are ferns In bewildering variety, 6ome of which are almost tropical, reaching a height of nearly six feet. A walk of about two miles brings us to the famous "Watersmeet," whero the Coombe Water Joins tho Brendon Water in a succession of beautiful falls, and tho grandeur and manifold beauties of the scenery nt this noint may tempt us to remain hero till we are ready to resume our Journey back to Lynmouth. - Should, however, we decide to pro ceed, we can follow the Brendon Wa ter for another four or Ave miles through scenery momentarily growing more beautiful until wo at length reach Doone valley, where we can ex pore many of the points of Interest referred to In Blackmore's novel. In cluding tho famous Waterslide, and the tiny church at Oare, In which Lorna and Jan Kldd were married. Thero are two or three routes by which we can wend our way home wards, each equally beautiful, but as we are probably tired, we may find It advisable to charter one of the car riages which ply for hire near the en trance of the Doono valley. A tiny cliff railway for a small coRt will take us from Lynmouth into Lyn ton near the North walk, probably the finest coast walk In the kingdom. Cut In tho face of tho cliff between six and seven hundred feet high with Jagged masses of rock towering above us for another two or three hundred feet, we have a scene of superb grandeur, and after a walk of abqut a mile find our selves by Castlo rock, and at tho en trance of tho famous Valley of Bocks. Days and weeks fly quickly by In exploring the beauties of this romnn tic little spot. Lee Bay and Woody Bay nro w ithin easy distance and their delightful glens, coombes and rushing streams, beyond which is tho steep gorge of Heddons Mouth, whilst coach rides to Ilfracombo, boat trlpB to Clovelly, and the toy railway to Barn' staple give us tho opportunity of fa millarizlng ourselves with beauties of which all Englishmen should be proud. A Reconnoissance. Mr. Uawson's mule had strayed away, and Pomp had been sent to find It. Instead of running along the road In tho direction In which the mule had been' last seen, romp- scrambled up Fvospect Hill as fast as he could go, and surveyed tho countryside. When he returned In triumph with tho mule an hour later, Mr Rawson inquired why he had wasted llrno climbing the hill. "'Twa'n' no waste ob time!" said Pomp, Indignantly. "Don't you know, Mr. Hawson, sah, dat a mewel is one oh dose animals you is got V 'proach from de front end foh yo' own safety? An' how could I 'proach dat mewel from do front end till 1 knowed v.har ho was?" Youth's Companion. Pastor's 50,000 Mile Drive. At this morning's service In the Union church at Neffavllle, the Hev. Dr. E. J. Fogel announced his resigna tion as pastor of the Reformed Con gregallon at that place. Pr. Kegel has served tho Jordan charge which Includes threo churches besides Union, for 42 and a half years, and during this time ho calculates that he has driven 50,000 miles In at tending to the needs of Union church alone. He lias baptized over 800 chil dren, confirmed 900, officiated at C42 funerals and preached over 1,100 ser mons nt this ono church. Allcntown CVrospondouce, Philadelphia Press. ffOM PLANS SIGNALING TO MARS Prof. David Todd of Amherst to As cend Ten Miles In Balloon to Ob serve If Man Is Inhabited. It it were proposed to expend con siderable sums of money In erecting a powerful plant to send messages by wireless telegraphy to the Inhabitants of unexplored regions of Central Afri ca, we would doubtless hear sugges tions that the effort be at least post poned until we should ascertain whether there are any Inhabitants in tho locality Indicated and also- wheth er they could detect and comprehend the messages when received, says the Literary Digest. Considerations of this kind do not seem to bother the people who are planning to signal to Mars, among whom apparently are numbered a few well-known astron omers. It may be surmised, however, that these gentlemen consider specu lation regarding methods of this na ture as legitimate amusement. When money Is subscribed to carry out any of the proposed schemes, we may be justified In protesting, but not .before. Some of the plans that have been put forward are thus-briefly summar ized in the Scientific American. "Prof. Pickering's idea of signaling to Macs by means of a huge system of mirrors, which will flash the sun's light rhythmically to our planetary neighbor, seems to have attracted not a little attention, and to have called forth other schemes from more oj less emtnent scientists. "Prof. Pickering believes that $100,- 000 should bo spent In preliminary work before ny attempt Is made to Prof. David Todd. flash signals. These preparations will consist in the building of a huge tele scope, and in experimental observa tions made with the co-operation of the foremost astronomers of the world. The object of this preliminary work is to decide whether or not the canals of Mars are rpally artificial. In all, -three years' time would be consumed In these preliminaries. "A correspondent of the New York Sun. who states that he Is a practical heliograim man, calls attention to a fact which seems to have been over looked. Prof. Pickering proposes to make mirrors of such a size that they must necessarily be moved by ma chinery. His idea appears to be that if they were each ten feet across, there would be about 500 of them to the mile. The heliograph man points out that a pocket mirror two Inches square will do just as much work as a mirror that Is ten feet square. All that any mirror can reflect is the single Image of the sun. He states that it is possible to flash from 6 to 48 miles with a shaving glass. This seems to be borno out by the fact that the standard size of an army heliograph Is less than four inches. Hence, ten-foot mirrors would- hardly be any more serviceable than four inch mirrors. Prof. David Todd of Amherst col lege also intends to Improve the op portunity offered by the earth's prox imity to Mars next autumn to discover whether or not the planet Is really In habited. He assumes that if Mars has inhabitants, and If they are as intelligent as we are, they may pos sibly attempt to communicate with the earth at that time, and that they may employ Hertzian waves for tho purpose. It Is his plan to take the most sensitive wireless telegraph re reivers he enn find up In a balloon, In order to diminish any obstructive Influence that the atmosphere may ex ert, and listen for signals in space We wonder how Prof. Todd can tell whether his signals come from Mars or whether the receivers have not simply responded to electrical .waves sent out from the sun." Succecsful Riveting of China. Klvetlng china Is an extremely dif ficult and delicate operation and one that requires considerable skill and experience if It Is to be performed successfully. In drilling the holes the safest plan Is to Immerse the china completely In water, so as to avoid fracturing It. No chemical is used to eat away the glaze; a good sharp drill with a nho point Is nil that Is needed For riveting, white metal wire, which may be had from any large metal dealer, is used. This wire Is com pnratively soft and can be rlvettcd without hammering it too heavily. All the tools required are a drill, a ham mer, a supply of wire and a pair of 1 cutlng pliers. I. iJU.v tJL4 -c i .j&j.-mt. , . . t INVENTION CURES HAMS QUICK Long Device Consisting of Long, Pointed Tube Made of Segmental Sections and Blade Conducts a Pickling Solution. Formerly It required from 30 to 60 dayg to cure a ham. Now, through the genius of a Minnesota man, the work can be done In much less time and more effectively. The old way to cure a bam was to throw it Into a vat of pickle and let it soak for a month or two until the pickle had thoroughly saturated the meat. The new pickling device consists of a long, pointed tube - 1 i i i i t - No Need of Pickling Vat. made of segmental sections and a blade closing around them to form a barrel, which conducts the pickling solution. A crosspiece at the handle prevents the tube from sinking too far into the meat. This tube is thrust Into the center of the ham and the pickle flows to the inside, penetrating rapidly to all parts and effecting a cure much quicker and more effective ly than in the old method. The tube is removed before the ham is con signed to the smokehouse. SUN AFFECTS EARTH'S ORBIT. Centrifugal Tendency Prevents Planet from Being Drawn Directly To ward trie Center of Attraction. The earth's motion Is the resultant of component forces. These forces are, first, gravitation, or the attract tlon of the sun for the earth; second, the momentum of the earth's mass, which Imparts to the earth the centrl fulgal tendency or the tendency to fly off Its orbit In the direction of the tangent. The attraction of the sun for the earth prevents the tangential motion, while tho centrifugal ten dency prevents the earth from being drawn directly toward the center of attraction. In the illustration reproduced here, at the points B and D the sun's at traction Is the same and the earth's velocity is the same, but the direc tion of the earth's movement is not the same at both points; that is to say, the centrifugal tendencies at these two points are different. At B, owing to the action of component forces which have brought it to that point, the resultant tendency is slight ly towards the sun with an Increasing velocity. At D, however, the direc tion of motion is slightly away from the sun, and therefore, since the com ponent forces, namely, the attraction of the sun and the centrifugal motion at D are different from those at B, The Earth'a Orbit. then the resultant motion is differ ent. The difference in motion, then, is caused by the difference in centri fugal tendencies at the two points. BITS OF SCIENCE. Oklahoma is the only Rtate which requires the teaching of agriculture in nil Its country schools. Russia Is rich In asbestos and stead ily Is Increasing in the production of the Ural mountains. A three-ton motor truck recently was hitched to a plow to open the streets of Springfield, Mass., for gas mains. An electric devlci for bakers allows dough to rise to the limit, then sounds an alarm when it begins to fall. The tonnage of the United States battleships and armored cruisers to tals 607,241 to Great Britain's 1 395. 930. ' ' Soaking a cheap lead pencil In lin seed oil will improve its writing qual ities and make Its sharpening more easy. Field telephones provided with a specially light wire are to be added to the equipment of every Infantry sub-division of the Austrian army. Qualified authorities have estimated the standing timber In the United States all the way from 822,862,000 000 to 2,000,000,000,000 board feet. Comet in Moving Pictures. Tho changes In progress In a comet are now shown on a screen In mov ing pictures, Morehouse's comet was favorably situated for observation In Englnnd during last autumn, and as this body gave an unusual opportu nity for studying changes, the As tronomer Itoyal had photographs made at frequent Intervals so as to obtain a cinematograph record. One serleR shows the alterations that took place lit a period of about nine hours.