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About Harrison press-journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1903)
r T "frT V T 'I l1 T T T 'I' "I" "H-T-TT I OLD t TRIALS OF THE ACCOMMODATING MAN WHO HAS A TELEPHONE AT HIS FARMHOUSE OPINIONS OF GREAT PAPERS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS Are Advantages Disadvantageous. A RE wraith and ancestry handicaps which so heav ily weight an aspirant for success and honor that when lie wins in spite of them, he In entitled to extra credit? Frankly, we do not believe ft-Tie number of those of obscure origiu who attain conspicuous success 'in life Is very much greater than the number of those born to the advantages of wealth and a distinguished ancestry who do this, for precisely the reason that white sheep yield more wool than black sbeej there are a great many more jf them. It should also be remembered that to maintain a high level of Intellectuality and general capacity is much less conspicuous than to rise from the obscurity of poverty and Illiteracy to a place of influence and honor. To say that wealth and a distinguished ancestry are a handicap to one who wishes to be In the highest degree useful In life Is no more true than It would be to say the same of a good constitution or a system free from 'hereditary taint. To say that they diminish the Incentive to struggle with and overcome obstacles is true enough, since one who starts with great advantages does not have so f;ir to lift himself and need not do as much hard work In hand over hu ml climbing. That In many Instances the sous of rich and even great men show degeneracy and relapse Into obscurity is unquost louably true, but It would not be difficult to show that poverty, an illiterate ancestry, and the lack of incentive to self improvement hold millions annually at the bottom round of the social ladder, because they are Incomparably better lilted to stay there than to ascend. Heredity counts for a great deal, and it Is a safe generalization that the better a man's ancestry the better his chances of developing a high, well directed, and sus tained ambition. That this Is not an Inflexible law of Datum Is a cause for congratulation. If It were, society would gradually stratify Into castes. As it is, the fact that some are steadily sinking from the top to the bottom while more are as steadily, and much more rapidly, rising from the bottom to the top. and that between the bottom and the top Is the great mass of solid, common place, right minded citizenship to which the highest and the lowest strata contribute with every generation, establishes the existence and operation of a law not founded on a senti mental oiiicept of the disadvantage of advantages nor of the advantage of disadvantages.-New York Times. Schools Slur Study of fnglish. NGI.ISII Is one of the most tillable and adaptable Lof tongues. It has plundered all languages of their riches.' It has the greatest; of all literatures, save that of Greece, and It has the advantage over Gre cian literature of being concerned with modern life and being a living speech. English, probably, will become one day the universal language. I'm 11 very lately our pedagogues seemed to have over looked English as a medium of education. Earlier schol antic curricula made Latin and Greek the main forces In the higher education. The college boy of twenty years ago was stuffed with Cicero and Virgil, Demosthenes and Homer. . . . Then came the scientific movement In the schools. Laboratory work was declared to be the great educational method. Physics, chemistry and political economy took the place of Latin and Greek. The humanities fell Into dls r.r,ut iitwl nliniiHt fiifn itenetnfie. The old eolloce crrfldnati felt almost ashamed of his classics In the presence of the -supercilious young man that had been brought up on physical science. Hut physical science, it Is now admitted, Is not suffi cient for liberal education. A writer In the Popular Set nice Monthly confesses that there is undoubtedly too much narrowness, and too little general culture, an outward and visible sign of which Is the bad Latin published by many of the younger men In the form of zoological names. Ex perience proves that language and literature are necessary studies to produce clear and exact thinking and its correla tive, clear and exact expression. Why not, then, make English supply the necessary hu manitarian element In education? English has been slurred hitherto lu the schools, for the student was supposed to pick It up casually. The result was that the average stu dent In the scientific courses did not pick It up at all and left college with but scant knowledge of the English tongue and literature. ; If English were a prescribed study In all schools and colleges and were taught thoroughly the common speech of the land would soon Improve and the diction of our writers would become correct and more elegant. We lack pride in our language and conscientiousness In the use ot It. It Is time some literary mission work were done. San Francisco Hulletln. The Panama Canal. THE treaty signed by Secretary Hay anil Dr. Ilerran. the Colombian .Minister, is a long step taken toward the construction of the Panama Canal by the I'nlted States. A special session of the Colombian Congress will be hetd In the spring to consider the treaty, and the option of the French company, which will undoubtedly be extended. The cannl will cost the United States: (1) $40.000,imi) to 1)0 paid to the French company, the present value of its charter and construction work as computed by the Walker commission; (2) $10,000,000 down and $2."0,000 per year after ten years to the Colombian Government for the con cession, including the Panama Railroad; and Cb the further expenditure of JM.VMHi.'HKt on the canal is authorized by the act of 1'.MI2; more may be needed. The lease from Colombia runs loo years and is renewable by the t'nited States. And by an arrangement with Great P.ritain most creditable to the common sense of her statesmen the United States will have exclusive control of the canal strip, sub ject to arrangement with Colombia. Of the 4d.5 miles of the canal one-half will lie at sea level, and this portion is nearly completed. Thirteen miles more will run in a lake created in the vnllcy of the Chagres by a dam at Rohio, which will Impound half a cubic mile of water. The remaining ten miles, the famous "Culebra cut" across the backbone of the continent, presents the greatest difficulty. It will probably be passed by a section about seventy feet above the sea. And the sides of the cut will tower more than .loo feet even above that level. The canal will be nowhere less than 120 feet wide at the bottom and usually considerably more. The locks planned by the French company were to be 738 feet long, but the rapid Increase In the size of ocean craft may dictate a greater length. The minimum depth of ten metres (.TJ.S feet) planned by French engineers may also be increased. These facts convey some impression of the magnitude of the undertaking. Us total cost will be more than twice that of, the Suez Canal, more than five times that of the Kiel Canal In Germany. From an engineering viewpoint It will be tine of the wonders of the world; its usefulness to trade will he vast and rapid In growth. New York World. A Woman's Happiest Day. WHAT Is the happiest day In a woman's life? Three hundred New York club women met re cently to find out. One woman plumped for the day and moment when the carriage arrived to take her on her honeymoon, "because he was leaving all her old clothes behind her, although she would probably want them again In a month or so." Another speaker de clared boldly that the happiest day of a woman's life was when she struck a real bargain. In support of this she Instances the woman who, on hearing that a bank had lowered Its Interest to 3 per cent, scraped together all the money she could lay hands on, and deposited It forth with. The demoralizing effect of feminine clubs was seen In the contention of a third orator, who argued that no woman was so happy as when she had rend her' first paper at a woman's club meeting, and had seen an account of It in the papers the next day. A fourth said the happiest day never came, because It was always In anticipation; and a fifth declared It wasn't a day at all, but a moonlight night. On the whole, a man Is more puzzled than ever as to how to trim his sails. London Chronicle. WOODEN LEGS AND REAL ONES. Modern Invention Counterfeit Na . tore Almont Perfectly. In the case of a man who had been awarded ?3.000 for the loss of a leg by a railroad and who bad appealed the ease, dei-ming the compensation too small, a Chicago Judge has decided that artificial limbs should be accepted as part ricompeiise for the loss of n al one. During the trial, on appeal, wit nesses wi re introduced by the railroad who testified that though supplied with artificial legs they could get around as lively as persons with real ones, could dance and ride the bicycle. To this tmtl xnony the appellant strongly objected, whereupon the court handed down this ruling: ' "Art and Invention have done nine!) to mitigate the Inconveniences occa sioned by the loss of limbs and to restore the power of locomotion and the earn ing capacity which otherwise might be greatly lessened or lost, and evidence tending to show facts of that nature Is competent for the consideration of the Jury." During recent years the progress ma le by artificial limb makers has been wonderful. An interesting story is told In this connection of s man who was lost In a blizzard In the wilds of the Dakotas. When he was finally picked up he was so badly frozen It wail thought he would die, but by care ful nursing a part of the man was g,,ved that Is, his trunk and his head, both In a damaged condition. It so hap pened be had some money and ivtis able to pb ee hltuM-lf out. AftT he was sufficiently ri-covered from his Injuries hu was brought to Chicago and taken to an artificial limb maker, who was told to go to work on the foundation and see what he could build. In the first place bo put on two artificial legs, and the ninn could walk. The next job was to furnish the man with two arms, and this wtf done afir much work, and the battered trunk, dressed In the latest fashion, began to look quite like a hiimin being once more. The man was "till minus both tils enrs and hi nose and one eye, while tils lislr had all fallen out The artificial limb maker sld be could III tb ears and nose all right, and lie -went to work and made pair ot ears for his man, fitted them on and then took up the task of a nose! This was the most difficult of all, but finally a very neat celluloid proboscis was made, which was held in place with specta cles. The man next got a wig ami a glass eye and went out a new man In the real sense of the word. Wonders are certainly performed In the way of making artificial Ilmlis. Time was whim the peg leg was the only thing known, and the man who lost one of his lower limbs bad to go stumping through life with a wooden peg. Now he takes $100 and goes and gets him a new leg, and one that Is about as serviceable as a flesh and blood one, not subject to corns, rheu matism, and the other ailments to which flesh Is heir. It Is only about a century ago that the first artificial leg was made, and it was considered one of the wonders of the world. It was called the Anglesea I' g, from the fact that It was made for the marquis of that name. This fl st limb was wonderfully and fearfully made, as heavy as lead and as clumsy as an iron leg. Since that time great Improvements are made, until to-day a man with an artificial leg can walk,' run, jump. Imp, skip and do nearly ev erything that the' man with flesh an 1 blood legs 18 able to accomplish. EASY FOR PITCHERS NOW. Tbey lluve a HtiapCompured with Star of liyuone Ijr. ' P.uselmll pitchers lu these days think they are performing wonders If they officiate In two games a week. If they were asked to go In the box more than twice tbey would imagine they were being worked to death. Looking buck, however, to the days when John Chirksoti, Tim Keefe, Char ley Itndbourne, Ed Crane, Charley Sweeney and other famous boxmen were In their prime one cannot help feeling that the star pitchers of mod ern times are enjoying a comparative snap. When Hudliouriie was u mem ber of I he crack Providence team lu the National League he was called on to pitch every day. The Imjj was only fifty feet from the plate, to be sure but "Old Had" lind the best batters In America before Mm day after day, Ho bad marvelous speed when he wanted to use it, a wonderful slow bull, great curves and a head tilled to overflowing Willi gray mutter. Day after day "Had" pitched, whining con stantly and soon creating a furore In the bnsebiill world. Providence, as a result, won the National League cham pionship In l.NSl, and ltadlsiurne was famous all over the land. In l.HIM, when the New Yorks were making a great bid for the pennant, which was won that year by the Ibiltl niores, Manager Ward during the hist month of the campaign Induced Amos Kusle and .lotiett Meekln to pitch evfry other day. Roth were giants In build and depended chiefly upon speed. They pitched phenomenal ball, and with an other wiek added to the schedule they would have landed the pennant In the metropolis. As It was though the New Yorks came second. Ruslo and Meekln practically won the series for the fa mous Temple Cup by their fine work In the points. Hut that was 1he lust year either showed the form which had brought him fo the front rank of pitch ers. As lute as lDtst McGlnnlly, the "Iron Man," consented to pitch every day for the Hrooklyns toward the close of the season, for IMtilon thought lie had a chance of wliinln .he pennant. Mc Glntilty did not appear to be affected by the extra work, but on the contrary appeared to relish If, as he received a bonus for the Job. Put even since then the "Iron Man" has not been the same In point of effectiveness. Managers of top-nolch reputation have profited by these Incidents In baseball history. They want to ire- serve thelr-valnalile pllehers as long us possible, so they readily consent to the two games a week proposition and proceed to hire half a dozen boxmen. We'll 1'orget, We'll forget the winter Its wrath nud wrong When the sun comes out anil the days urc long, When the blooms bend down With the bees in brown, Ami the wind to the river sings Its song And the blooms fill thick where the' daisies throng! Atlanta Constitution. Before you let a boy sit In front of an electric fan, tie his fingers. FAVORITES 1 The Wearing; of the Green. ), Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that's going round' the shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground. laint Patrick's day no more we'll keep, his colors can't he seen. fur there's a cruel law against the wear ing of the green. i met with Napper Tandy, and he took nie by the hand. ind he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?" Ilia's the miSt distressful country that ever yet was seen. fhey are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green. Dien since the color we must wear is England's cruel red, lure Ireland's sons will ne'er forget thp blood that they have shed. fou may take the shamrock from your hat, and cast it on the soil, But 'twill take root and nourish there, tho' underfoot 'tis trod. IVheu law can Mop the blades of grass from growing as they grow, Ind when the haves in summer time their verdure dare not show, Chen 1 will change the color that 1 wear in my cauheen, But till that day. please God, I'll stick to wearing of the green. Cut if at last, our color should be torn from Ireland's heart, tier tuns wiih shame ami sorrow from their dear old isle will part; I've heard a whisper of a country that lies beyond the sea, tYhere rich and poor slaod equal in the light of freedom's day. 0, Erin! must we leave you driven by a tyrant's hand? Must we ask a mot tier's blessing from a ftrange anil (list ant land? tVhere the cruel cross of England shall nevermore he seen, ind where, please God. we'll live and die still wearing of the green. The Old Armchair. love it, I love it! and who shall dare To chide me for loving that old una chair? I've treasured it long as a sainted prize, I've bedewed it with my tears, I've em balmed it with my sighs; 'Tis bound by a thousand bunds to my heart; N'ot a tie will break, not a link will start; Would know the spell? A mother sat there!- And a sacred thing is that old arm chair. In childhood's hour I lingered near The hallowed seat with listening ear; And gentle words that mother would give To fit nie to die, and teach me to live; Klie told me that shame would never betide With truth for my creed, and God for my guide; 1 t-he taught me to lisp my earliest prayer As I knelt beside that old arm chair. I sat and watched her many a day, When her eye grew dim, and her locks were gray; And I almost worshiped her when she smiled. And turned from her Bible to bless her child. Years rolled on, but the last one sped, My idol was shattered, my earth star fled! I learnt how much the heart can bear, When 1 saw her die in her old arm chair. Tis past, 'tis past! lint I gaze on it now With uuivering breath and throbbing brow; "IVns there she nursed me, 'twas there she died, ;, And memory Hows with lava tide. Hay it is folly, and deem me weak, Whilst scalding drops start down my ; cheeks; Put I love it, I love it, and cannot tear (My soul from a mother's old arm i.iir. Eliza Cook. Triumphant In One Field. That a girl cannot throw a stone, drive a nail or spin a top as success fully as a boy Is pardoned, by a writer lu the Washington Post, because she can accomplish one marvelous feat which, he declares, no man or boy can ever eiuul. There Is one thing no man could ever accomplish, even if he were a noted contortionist, and that Is but toning a waist that has the buttons 'sewed on tho back! A inn n doesn't II ve who could but ton a shirt up the back without going )iiad. I have watched my wife, and every time she accomplishes this feat it buttoning her waist In the buck the feeling conies over me that, nfter nil, compared with women, men are a lot of Impatient and worthless beings. Why, I can't button It standing behind her with both hands free. 1 tried one evening, when we were In a hurry. I won't say that there were a million buttons, each about ns big as a pin hend, but there were a good many of them. "Look here," said I, "let me fasten that dress," and 1 began. 'In five min utes I had bultoned three buttons, and my wife remarked that I was not milk ing much progress, and in two minutes she had fastened every one of them. A woman's arms must be put In very free In their sockets to permit of her reaching back that way, and slip ping those tiny buttons Into the but tonholes without ever getting led In the face or trying to kick the cat or doing anything like that. Women may not be deft In a few tittle things that there's no occasion for them to be deft In, but for pati"iice (i nd self-control men cannot compete Willi them. CITY people whose neighbors use their telephones think they know al! about trouble," said a mddy-faced amateur farmer, "but I'll compare notes with them any day. If you are not obliging to your neighbors in the country you would better move back to town; so this Is what wo go through with iu order to be obliging. We have the only telephone In' our vicinity; and my wife and I ought to draw salaries as rural mes sengers. "The other day a call came to our telephone for some one In town who wished to talk with Mrs. Jinks, our tenant's wife. So my wife had to leave her sewing, don her siitibonnet and plod across the rough fields a third of a mile to tell Mrs. Jinks to come to the phone. When Mrs. Jinks got ready shs lumbered up to our house with a fat baby under each arm, and found out tliiif Rosy.' a friend of hers in town, wanted lief to crime and bring her out to spend the day. " 'Naw,' bawled back Mrs. Jinks, 'ain't got no boss.' "In a day or so another friend of the Jinks family telephoned out to say that she and three children would spend .Sunday with the Jinkses, and Mr. Jinks must come In with the wagon to bring them out. My wife could not answer that the Jinkses had no horse, as they had just got one; so she promised to deliver the message. She gave the errand to the Jinkses over to me; I intended to attend to it, and forgot it. The folks In town got ready and waited all day Sunday, but no Mr. Jinks appeared. Aliout Tuesday there was a great disturbance on the farm, involving all the Jinkses, my brother and myself, mid both of our wives. The message hadn't been car ried, and everybody was to blame. "This is only a sample," said the amateur farmer, according to the Detroit Free Press. "We have other neighbors near and far; but our house is the telephone ollice of tho district. People in town get mad at us and people iu the country get mad at us; our lot is hard." jSllVention Women In Dublin University, Women, It Is reported, are about to be admitted to graduate at Dublin Uni versity. After a man passes fifty, nothing In the show lino Is very good. A new process for drying fruit and vegetables already in use for drying hops consists in drawing air through a gridvvork of steam pipes into a cham ber below the slotted floor holding the materials to be dried. Absorption of sulphurous gases Is avoided, while burning is impossible. In a test at Worcester, England, samples of cur rots, potatoes, sliced and shredded ap ples, and other frvits and vegetables, were kept nt temperatures of !)0 to 100 degrees for six hours, reaching the ordinary commercial state of dryness. The cost of working being small, it is expected that an Important new indus try will soon develop in England. The curious phenomena of "symphll Ism" are being investigated by E. Wasmaun, a German zoologist. This lis the harboring of foreign species of insects, etc., in the nests of ants and termites, and it Is found that more than one hundred species of arthro pods, or creatures with jointed legs, are thus associated with the ants, at least, eighty-five or ninety species be ing beetles. All are recognized easily .by certain peculiarities. Most notable among the characteristics of these bee tles are their oily reddish-yellow or reddish-brown color, and special exu dation organs or pores with brownish hairs, but there are also modifications of the mouth and other parts. Some of the discouragements and failures of amateur photographers may be due to such imperfections of shut ters as were disclosed in a paper road at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by E. W. Morley of the West ern Reserve University and I). C. Mil ler of the Case School of Applied Sci ence. The better crude of shutters were found to be fairly constant iu op icration, but the actual duration of ex jposure was often not even approxi :mately that indicated by the maker. 'Different shutters of the same make land form gave widely different exoos-,111-es w hen set for the same time. With the best shutters of the diaphragm class the duration of exposure was nearly independent of the aperture of the opening. Some shutters of the cheaper grades, designed to give long, medium ami short exiosures. gave equal exposures in the three cases. The effects of the swift advance of knowledge, which sometimes causes a new book on some branch of science to appear a back number shortly after its publication, are felt no less In practical scientific undertakings. A striking illustration Is furnished by the enormous new coast-defense gun recently tested at Sandy Hook. This gun was Intended to be not only the most powerful in existence, but also the representative of the most ndvunc-V-d type of such weapons. Hut after It had been planned a special plant hud to be established for Its construction, and the few years' conseiiuent delay before it could be completed sufficed for such Improvements In gunpowders, and In the designing of guns for their use, that now the finished monster Is, In some respects, out of date before It has fairly been mounted for service. The new gun is of H! Inches' bore and 49.7 feet long. It Is calculated that It can throw a 2100-pound projectile twenty-one miles. CROW WITH LIVES TO SPARE. It Tormented lloirs anil Caused a 1 Farmer No Kncl of Woe. "Say you seed a hundred crows In one flock?" asked an Illinois farmer of a man who was telling him of a visit he had made to the country a few weeks ago. The farmer leaned over In his chair, took aim nt n ctispi-, dor half way across the lobby of a Dearborn street hotel, and turned again to tho city man. "Seed a hun dred? I've seed millions on 'em. Hut you don't see 'em any more. Crow day Is well nigh gone. Time wu when the pesky birds mighty nigh eat us oiitcu house an' home. I alu't seed 'em so thick fer five or six yeurs or so an' I reckon they ain't a-goln' to be so plentiful ngaln. I lamed a good many Idees about crows when they used to be lots on 'em. "You may not know that a crow Is tho thing that comes clostest to a ent lu bavin' Its life repewed a lots of times. It's a fact. When the corn belt was simply a-swarniin' with them, an' you couldn't hear yer own ears fer tile cawin', they would almost eat oup hogs up. "One year I had a bunch of fine porkers and the crows would light on! the backs of the hogs and peck away until they nearly killed 'em. 1 stuck up' all kinds of scarecrows, but that didn't do a speck of good. It got so bad ut Inst that I had to lay out in the hay mow by the winder and shoot crows all day. They are mighty shy of the smell of gunpowder, but they will risk a good many feathers fer a bita of live hog. "One day I seed a big, fat sboat come a runnin' across the lot a squeak in' and on his buck rode a crow a peckin' away fer dear life. I run out and scared the bird away, but It wasn't long until here he come a-ridia' in on another. He kept it up till I got tired of chasin' out and I got my old rifle and hid behind the woodshed. In a few minutes 'long come another hog a-squcalin' and the same old crow a -peck in' holes in his back. I knew I could plug a chicken hawk on the fly, so I took aim at old Mr. Crow. The rifle went 'bing' and I'll be durned If that hog didn't drop as dead as a dooe nail. The crow flew away cawln' at, me, and I was so all-fired mad I hit the gun over a post and knocked It Into smithereens. "After that I got a dozen shots at the same crow with an old mu..ls loader and I knocked enough feathers out of the bird to make a suit of -mournin' fer an Indian. One day I kind o' crept up on him, took good aim; and blew his dad drated head often him. That bird had nine lives if he had any at all and I ain't so sure be wouldn't have got away after I shot him if I hadn't tied him on a pole-.fet a scarecrow." DIVORCE HAS A DEFENDER. Marriage Needs Keculation More thaa, the Dissolution of the Tie, There is a general demand through out the United States for the enact ment of more stringent divorce law a, A recent writer iu an Eastern maga zine, however, presents some reasons for regarding divorce ns the only prac ticable way out of an unfortunate sit. nation in ninny cases and points out what he considers to be the true solu tlon of the matrimonial problem. Ha says; "We are told that the institution ot divorce separates husbands and wives and breaks up homes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Divorce never separates, just as the marriage, ceremony never unites. Each is but the symbol, the sign, which sets its seal upon that which took place be fore. If the husband nnd wife find that they have made a mistake and that the lives of both are made wretch ed by the mutual companionship It la their duty to separate and obtain free dom by legal process. It is a mistake, a perversion of tin truth to make the statement that homes are being wrecked In this way. No home that is n home Indeed has been broken by divorce, and none will be, for this legal step Is but the clos ing scene of the last net In a domestia tragedy, it Is a crime to rear children In a home life where father and moth er are mutually abhorrent, where love dwells not, where the contact of pa rents serves to bring out all the Innate evil of their mil tires instead of being mi inspiration to virtue, S "The rational, reasonable way to; minimize divorce Is to place barriers against easy matrimony and make marriage a bulwark of sincere and holy purpose against which the wave of youthful Impetuosity and unripe tit feet ion will dash In vnln. The greatest social evil In our country Is the marryj Ing habit, There Is practically nij check on marriage, nnd young people, wed at will and at times In bastej with nn angry parent In pursuit Even those below lawful tiges find little dIM liculty In getting the protection of law and are pronounced married. Making Cnnlious Approach. "Advise me. Uncle Jack." "(if course; wluit is It?" "SI, nil 1 nsk vou for 125 or IMF- Life. When you see n man going to work as If he were running to a lire, yon wl find from his employer that he need more prodding during the day than aa Iwdy.