One of the most successful airships
constructed by Santos-Dumont, who
Is to accompany Walter Wellman in
his polar expedition, is pictured in the
illustration. It will be seen that he
has done away with the rope netting
that usually surrounds the soaring
silk, and that what ropes are neces
sary to attach the car are fastened
into little sticks of wood, sewn into
fce thick sackcloth covering the belly
, of the airship. To the other ends of
the cordage is affixed a horizontal iron
rod, which holds the car. The oper
ator sits facing the propeller, a screw
that resembles two triangles with the
apex so curtailed as to change the fig
ure into a trapezium. The aluminum
screw whizzes round twelve hundred
times a minute. The motive power is
petroleum, and the steering apparatus
| is under the operator's seat, where
the oil tank also is suspended. Alto
gether this invention weighs not mor<
than 250 pounds. In a general senst
Santos-Dumont has the suffrages o
the aeronautic prophets. They say hf
will not only beat all rivals, but wil
yet be able to handicap them. His ship
fwr the flight to the pole is expected
to be a wonder of construction and
the plans are rapidly being perfected.
—Chicago Record Herald.
WAS FIRST SOCIETY JOURNAL.
Hand-to-Hand News Was Issued
Nearly 200 Years Ago.
In these days of many society pa
pers it is interesting to recall the i
genesis of the first, one of the race,
which was produced in France in the
beginning of the eighteenth century.
It was called Nouvelles a la Main,
or Hand-to-Hand News in those days
and the inventor was a lady named
Mme. Doublet.
Mme. Doublet received all the best
society of Paris and hoth she and her
guests loved scandal. To cater for
their taste a book was kept into which
every visitor wrote what he or she
had picked up in the way of news and
gossip since his or her last visit, and
these news items were afterward
copied onto sheets of white paper and
taken round to the houses of those of
Mme. Doublet’s friends who had not
called that day.
Eventually the thing developed into
a commercial enterprise, and the
Hand-to-Hand News was sold to all
who wanted it for six francs monthly
or $5 a year. But a dollar in those
days was. it must be remembered,
worth a good deal more than it is
now.
In 1758, when Mme. Doublet was
quite an old lady, an attempt was
made to stop the circulation of her
Nouvelles a la Main. But it had gain
ed so great a hold upon the public
taste that the police were'powerless
to do so.—London Express.
Moving Midnight Crowd in London.
“When the half hour after midnight
comes in London, the police of the
world’s metropolis begin to get busy,
for then is the time that all the
places of public entertainment are
emptied of great throngs of men and
women," says F. B. Binney. “The
moment these crowds reach the
streets there is begun the copper’s
constant cry, 'Move on!*
“They are a patient, goodnatured
set of officers, but the move on com
mand is one that must be obeyed. I
wanted to stand and watch the vast
procession of humanity, but a bobby
gave me the word, and I had to march
with the rest.
“Splendidly dressed women, whose
status was not at all doubtful, hur
ried to their homes, for they were too
Just a Matter of Taste.
Some men like the stately maiden with
fine statuesque charm? laden.
A Juno in her majesty of mien, and
manner, too;
With the head of a Greek statue, calm
browed, ox eyed, looking at you.
Marble fairness in her beauty—but she
chills me through and through.
Some adore a lovely Venus, who has con
que?ed scon as seen us.
Lounging in her languorous beauty with
a rate and thrilling grace;
With a soft, entrancing, willing, luring,
dazzling, winning, smiling—
But I never could live up to the per
fection of her face.
Others love a tender creature, shy of
glance and fair of feature.
Whose soft mouth it looks as never
harsh or angry words it spoke:
With a gentle blue-eyed beauty, with
whom love w'ould be a duty—
Let others choose the cling ng vine, but
I’m no grand stand oak.
Give me that half girl, half woman, that
sweet maid who's wholly human.
Who can pout and flirt and quarrel—
who can laugh and who can sigh:
Who wjth mischief fairly prances—with
the joy of life just dances—
The demure little damsel with a twin
kle in her eye.
—Baltimore American.
familiar with the law to need any ad
monition from the police. There is
more freedom and personal liberty in
London than anywhere, but not even
a duke may loiter if told to move on.
By 1:30 o’clock the immense multi
tude which blocked the streets at
midnight has disappeared, and the
city of millions seems as deserted as
a country town.”—Washington Post.
MID-WEEK HOLIDAY PREFERRED.
Writer Thinks Change Would Make
School Work Easier.
“Thursday, not Saturday, is the day
the school children should have off,”
said a member of the Board of Edu
cation. "Then the week of work
would be broken up twice, instead of
only once, as now. In France last
yaar I noticed all the children going
to school on Saturday.
“ ‘Why, how is this?’ I asked. ‘I
thought Saturday was a school holi
day all the world over.”
“ ’No,’ they said. ‘Sunday Is a holi
day with us, and Thursday Is. Sun
day and Thursday—they are the chil
dren's two days off. They are the
best days, for they break the week
twice.’
“ 'We have Saturday and Sunday off
in America,’ said I.
“ ‘Why, how foolish,’ said the
Frenchman. ‘Two holidays right to
gether, and then an unbroken stretch
of hard work for five days. School
is hard work, you know. The average
school child works harder than the
average man.’
“I came home convinced that we
ought to make Saturday a school day
and Thursday a day off. I have been
urging this change for a year now.
But the people balk at it. It is like
urging a change of religion.”—New
York Press.
Declines Honor of Knighthood.
When J. Henniker Heaton, M. P.,
declined to accept the honor of knight
hood the other day on the retirement
of the Balfour Cabinet, he declined for
the third time. The title was offered
him in recognition of his services in
carrying the imperial penny postage
scheme in 1898 and introducing tele
graphic money orders in the United
Kingdom and the parcel post in
France.
HOW SHOELACE SHOULD BE FASTENED
‘■^^^^** ■«*— — — — — — — — - — _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Next to the collar button, no article
of male attire has been the innocent
cause of more plain, everyday cuss
words than the harmless shoelace. It
would therefore appear that any meth
od which would insure its being un
der control at all times would fill a
long-felt want.
Such a method of fastening which
requires no knots of any kind is here
with described. Referring to Fig. 1
the first operation is shown. The lace
is threaded through one of the bottom
holes as for a single lacing, but the
tag is allowed to lie at right angles
to the width of the shoe between 'he
tongue and the upper. It is prefer
able to have the tag on that side of
the shoe which is stitched to the
tongue, as that tends to hold it firmly
in place. The other end of the lace is
then threaded through from front to
back, diagonally across to the next
hole on the opposite side, then out
and in through the corresponding hole
on the opposite side, and so on till
the lace is passed through the last
hole. This will leave the end on the
inside of the shoe This terminates
the permanent part of the operation.
After the shoe is put on the end
marked A, Fig. 2, is laid back out ol
the way, as shown in the illustration.
Making War Horses Invisible.
A special military commission is
now sitting in Berlin considering the
best means of making cavalry as in
visible as possible In warfare.
Harmonizing the men's uniforms
with natural conditions as much as
possible is not enough, and the com
mission is now discussing the advis
ability of dyeing the horses or screen
ing them with light canvas trappings
At the War office yesterday it was
said that several experiments had
been made in this direction during
the war in South Africa.
One official said: “Many horses
were dyed, but it was found that tht
dye soon washed off all except gray
horses. Several vegetable dyes anc
Condy’s fluid diluted were used, bui
the experiments proved of 'ittle value
“Canvas trappings made the horse!
perspire and Impeded their move
ments, and besides when the sun i!
behind the cavalry, the horses' leg:
can be seen through the canvas.
“The best screen for cavalry uset
In South Africa was a combination o
various heatherlike shrubs picked u]
-0* the veldt. These plants were it
' The cross loops from the bottom up
are then tightened until the top loop C
is reached. Holding the part marked
B tightly in one s hand, it is passed
round the eyelets as shown, missing
each alternate one on opposite sides.
Enough slack can be secured to en
J able the operation being easily ac
1 comp'ished by pulling the part marked
A. After the top is reached the loop
,
enced by tucking the lace inside the
shoe.
To unfasten simply pull upon the
part D. Fig. 4, which formed the loop
C in Fig. 3. when enough slack can
be secured from the loose end to en
able the lace to be unlooped from
around the eyelets. The surprising
ease and quickness with -which a shoe
can be fastened and unfastened will
; is 'looped over tae opposite eyelet and
over all the ones missed in the first
process. This when finished will look
I as shown in Fig. 3. Pulling the end A
tightens this last loop, and the lacing
appears as illustrated in Fig. 4. The
end is now tucked down between the
shoe and the foot, as shown in Fig. 5,
i and the operation is completed. No
i inconvenience at all will be experi
convince any one uiai tms is the onl^
way a shoe should be laced. It is in
reality a very simple operation, and
once ’ learned becomes automatic.
There being no knots, there are no
loose ends to look untidy or work
loose. A shoe can be fastened or un
fastened in the dark without any pos
sibility of a tangle, and when laced
will stay so without loosening up.
I many cases strung upward and down
ward from the trappings, and gave
1 the appearance, when cavalry were
: moving slowly across the sky line, of
I waving vegetation.”—London Dally
Express.
—
Unknown Luxury.
The young man with tte yellow
i suitcase stepped down from the stage
I in the far western settlement.
“I have come," he announced, “to
get local color for an article on the
six-footers of the west. I would like
to measure some of you gentlemen in
your stocking feet.”
“Wall,” drawled one of the big cow
boys at the stage station, "did you
bring them?”
“What, the tape measures?”
“No, the stockings.”
“ ..... , \
Spread of Tuberculosis.
It is true that 60 per cent, of the
deaths among the Sioux and Yankton
Indians now are from tuberculosis,
tuberculosis was unknown among the
Indians, and has fastened u)>on them
i only since the coming of the white
man to Dakota
Standing Treat in Australia.
Bariy Australian gold-diggers made
many contributions to the slang ol
that commonwealth. One of these
I was "shouting,” or standing drinks foi
everybody within hail, a practice ol
which the lucky digger was very fond
To refuse to drink with a digger whc
had “struck it rich" or turned up a
big nugget was a deadly insult. A
critic quotes from J. F. Hogan’s “His
tory of the Irish in Australia”:
“Shouting was at one time almost uni
versal. To shout in a public-house
means to Insist on everybody present
friends and strangers alike, drinking
at the shouter's expense. It frequent
ly happens that each one ‘shouts' In
succession.”
No Room for Argument.
“There are times when even the
friendship of a dog Is not to be de
spised,” remarked the thoughtful
thinker.
“That’s no base canard,” replied
the young man with the cerulian tie.
“I’d give anything if I could make
friends with the canine owned by the
father of the one and only gi-1.” '
f
American League Notes.
Third Baseman Barbeau, the Colum
bus recruit, has signed a Cleveland
contract.
Jesse Tannehill will go south early
this year to get some extra preps at
Hot Springs.
’Tis said that Lajoie has signed a
new four-year contract with Cleve
land, calling for $30,000.
Pitcher George Mullin tells his De
troit friends that he will report light
er next spring than ever before.
Joe Yeager signed a New York con
tract last week, thus putting an end
to the talk of his transfer to Buffalo.
Third Baseman Lee Tannehill has
come to Chicago's terms and has
signed. He says his leg is as well as
ever.
Jake Stahl thinks that socker will
crowd football from the colleges.
J'ake was a pigskin player while a
student at Illinois.
The St. Louis club will loan Ed Rod
abaugh, drafted from Waco, to St.
Paul or else send him back to Texas
for further seasoning.
“Rube” Waddell claims that his
pitching arm is rapidly getting back
its old strength and cunning. Medi
cal treatment and hand ball are doing
the trick.
John I. Taylor is quoted as saying:
“I am an American league man heart
and soul, and Dan Johnson is my
leader.” Taylor will sail for Europe in
a few days.
"Jiggs” Donohue, of Chicago, has
the magnate bee buzzing in his bon
net. “Jiggs” wants to buy a fran
chise in the Central league. It’s a
cinch bet that Comiskey won't let him
go.
The Washington club is making
strenuous efforts to sign a Toledo
High school third baseman named
Fred Merkle, who has been touted to
Manager Stahl as another Jack
Knight.
Jimmy Collins now announces that
he will not send Grimshaw to Minne
apolis. which club secured him for
Freeman, Sessions and $1,000. There
was no chance, as several clubs re
fused to waive claim, we are told.
The National Commission has de
Toledo is said to have tossed an in
sinuation toward Manager McGrew to
the effect that Bill Clarke would be
welcome there if New York turns him
down. As yet "Noisy Bill’s” sentence
tor next season has not been fixed.
Otis Clvmer, the Pirate outfielder,
declares he has started gymnasium
work and expects to be in fine shape
when the season opens. Clymer states
that poor health at times last year
prevented him doing what he is capa
ble of.
Manager McGraw of the world’s
champions says he would not give a
snap of his finger for indoor work and
is not in favor of walks or runs. He
wants the practice on the field where
he can see it and, while it need not be
long, it must be lively while it lasts.
He says it would be difficult to im
prove upon the game as it stands to
day, only he would like to have the
toul-strike abolished.
Central League.
Billy Regan, a crack Toledo player,
has signed with the Springfield team.
“Buck” Connors, the star first base
man of the South Bend team, has been
sold to St. Paul.
The Wheeling magnates say that
the report that “Lefty” Miller, the
Cleveland boy, bad jumped to the out
law league, is false.
Miller, Robertson and Doyle have
signed to pitch again for the Wheel
ing club next season.
Springfield has traded Shortstop Mc
Grew for Pitcher Alberts of the Can
ton team. This was about the only
trade registered at the recent Central
league meeting.
Jack Boyle, first baseman of the To
ledo club last season, has been signed
as manager of the Terre Haute team
for next season. This was the posi
tion Ed. McKean had been mentioned
for.
Springfield announces it is certain to
have a city park for weekday games,
while the Sunday games are to be
played at Hill Top, the country
grounds, where all games were played
last year.
President Carson has been notified
f7T.7ZSQ> '£'-J3LTCZ~
Outfielder of the Cleveland American League Club.
cided that Ralph Glaze, signed by
Boston, belongs to Savannah, by rea
son of having accepted Savannah's
terms, though he afterward refused
to sign with or report to the Savan
nah club.
Pitcher Frank Smith has notified
Comiskey that he will not p'ay with
the White Sox again. He likes Co
miskey all right, but the team is not
congenial. He wants Comiskey to
transfer him to either the Washing
ton or New York American, or Pitts
burg National teams.
National League News.
Infielder Miller Huggins has signed
a Cincinnati contract.
Catcher Pete Noonan of St. Paul
has sent in his signed Chicago con
tract.
Pitcher Cecil Ferguson, New York’s
Louisville recruit, is said to be ambi
dextrous.
The Cincinnati club has asked for
waivers on Pitcher Vowinkle and
Catcher Street.
The Nationals’ leading batsman,
“Cy” Seymour, has re-signed with Cin
cinnati for 1906.
Second Baseman Henry Pattee,
drafted from Jersey City, has signed
a Brooklyn contract.
Reports from Chattanooga are to the
effect that Brooklyn’s clever outfield
er Johnny Cobbs, is going blind.
Pat Donovan is trying to land Catch
er Jack Ryan of the Columbus team,
lor the Brooklyns. Pat had Ryan over
in St. Louis some years ago.
Catcher George Gibson has re-signed
with Pittsburg. That makes sixteen
cut of seventeen contracts sent out
■ by Pittsburg returned signed.
Two former noted National l eague
players, Jim Keenan and Jake Stenzel,
will manage a team in the K. of P.
league of Cincinnati next summer.
The deal for Jim Delehanty still
hangs fire. vFred Tenney now wants
Bridwell and a pitcher in exchange
for James and Hanlon declines to see
It that way.
The Pennsylvania outlaws are after
Looie Ritter, the clever catcher of the
Brooklyn team. Looie is a resident
of Pennsylvania, his father owning a
ferryboat that plies the raging Susque
hanna.
Manager McCloskey denies the re
mark attributed to him that he "is
able to decide the ability of a young
player after seeing him work in one
game.” He wouldn't be guilty of such
a foolish break.
by Secretary Farrell that the league’s
claim for damages against Isadore
Mautner. former owner of the Ft.
Wayne club, has been allowed by the
national commission. Mautner stands
suspended until it is paid.
Southern League.
Harry Kel'.er, of Carnegie, Honus
Wagner's protege, has been signed by
the Nashville club to play first base.
Manager Otto Jordan of Atlanta has
been engaged to coach the Georgia
Military College at Milledgeville, Ga.
Pitcher Shaffer, signed by Atlanta
is a nephew of Manager Charles Shaf
fer, late of Savannah, now of Rich
mond, Va.
Sam Laroque. who has been playing
in Southern leagues since 1893, is em
ployed in the Birmingham, Ala., fire
department.
It seems a settled fact now that
Newt Fisher will be one of the regu
lar catchers on the Nashville team
next season.
Outfielder Noblett of the Atlanta
team was last week banqueted by the
boys of the Gordon institute at
Barnesville, Ga.
The Western Association.
President Shively announces that
his league has voted to offer a prize
of $100 for the best schedule for its
circuit next season.
The veteran Tim Murnane. in com
menting upon the American associa
tion meeting, said: “It was pleasing
to the major league that a new light
broke in from the west in D. M. Shive
ly of Kansas City. A bitter rival for
years of George W. Tebeau, Shively
was picked as a fighter, but on the
level, and w'hile practically the cham
pion of the "brush," as he pleased to
ca l those leagues under Class “B,” he
stood just as strong with the higher
classes. Shively is a bright baseball
man and has a future if he cares to
follow this line of work.”
Western League.
Catcher F. J. Lucia, of the Denver
club, writes that he has decided to
p’ay independent ball next season.
Charles Rathbun, of Las Vegas, one
of the new pitchers secured by the
Denver club, has already reported in
Denver.
Ira Belden, last year’s left-fielder of
Denver, is working in a Denver bowl
ing alley, and Chas. Jones, the Wash
ington outfielder, is wintering in Den
ver.
GAM'BLE'R GAVE BACK. FO'RTVJfE
There is a well auth&.i*_esied story i
of Scrope Davis, a London dandy of
a hundred years ago, an inveterate
gambler, but also a man of talent, a |
gentleman and a wit. One night he
was introduced to a young man named
Hastings, who had inherited a colos
sal fortune, much of which he had
already gambled away. They com
minced to play hazard, Hastings re
marking at the same time that he
must soon cut out that sort of fun,
as he was about to marry and settle
down.
Scrope was in great luck. Main af
ter main he won, and as often wished
to cease play, but Hastings, who con
tinued to pour glass after glass of
champagne down his parched throat,
was pallid with excitement, and in
sisted upon a chance to retrieve his
fortune. The excitement became gen
eral. Other players left their own ta
bles to crowd around the duellists.
Time after time Hastings threw7 crabs, :
while Davis followed with the nick.
The rattle of the dice and the cease
less flow of wines went on all night
and far into the next day. Hastings
was mad with excitement. Every
pound and every security he possessed
or could think of he pledged and lost.
At last, like the gamester who staked
his wife upon a cast of the dice and
lost, he would have risked the welfare
of the girl to whom he was engaged if
the other would have accepted that
kind of security. But he would not.
Then Hastings hurled dice and box
across the saloon, smashing a splen
did mirror, and, throwing himself ex
hausted upon a soft chair, burst into
tears, exclaiming, “I can play no
more. I have lost everything in the
world. I am a beggar!”
Davis stood still, calm, unmoved,
watching him. Then he said: “Mr.
Hastings, listen to me. I will forego
everything I have won to-night on one
condition and that is, that you will
take a solemn oath never to touch
cards or dice again.” The ruined
gambler fell on his knees to thank
his benefactor and to take the oath.
The latter immediately restored every
thing he had won’, and, oddly enough,
Hastings kept his vow and lived a
wealthy and prosperous man.
But the medal has a sordid reverse.
When in after years Scrope Davis, re
duced to great poverty, ventured to
ask him for some slight assistance,
the hound wrote him a curt, formal re
ply, in the third person, regretting
that Mr. Hastings was unable to offer
Mr. Scrope Davis any assistance.
WEALTHS MEJ* OF TO-VAy
It Is admitted that we are the rich
est people in the world to-day—the
richest people the world has ever
seen, says Cleveland Moffatt in Suc
cess. The vaunted wealth of Croesus
is estimated at only $8,000,000, but
there are seventy American estates
that average $35,000,000 each. As
showing the rapid growth of individ
ual fortunes in this country there is
interest in a list of rich men, printed
in 1855, acceding to which New York
city at that time boasted only twenty
eight millionaires. And a pamphlet
published some years earlier says that
in 1845 Philadelphia could show only
ten estates valued at $1,000,000 or
more, the richest being that of Ste
phen Girard, which reached $7,000,000.
in contrast to which in 1892 there
were over 200 millionaires in Phila
delphia.
As to New York city, the number
of its millionaires, according to best
information, is over 2,000, while the
number of millionaires in the United
States is at least 5,000, or half the
total number in the world. There is
one family alone, at the head of which
stands the richest and most powerful
man in the world, John D. Rockefeller,
and the wealth of this family is esti
mated at $1,000,000,000, a sum so huge
that the human mind quite fails to
grasp it, a sum so huge that if at the
birth of Christ Rockefeller had been
making a dollar a minute and had let
all these dollars accumulate day and
night for all these centuries, he would
not yet, 1906, have amassed $1,000,
000,000. And if Rockefeller should
to-day turn his wealth into gold coin
and take it out of the country, say
into Canada, he would carry across
the border three times as much gold
as would then remain in the United
States. Nor would he carry it him
self, for the weight of it would be
1,750 tons. And if he loaded it on the
backs of porters, each man bearing
his own weight in solid gold (say 150
pounds), it would require 23,000 men
to move it. And if they walked ten
feet apart the line of them would
reach forty-four miles and would oc
cupy fifteen hours in passing a given
point. None of which takes any ac
count of the daily interest on this for
tune, which interest, if paid in gold,
would require the strength of seven
men to carry it, for it would weigh
1,000 pounds. Such are the riches of
a single family.
FO'REST OF THE STREE
“One of the most interesting re
gions in the ‘Old Fatherland’ is the so
called ‘Spreewald,’ the forest of the
Spree, situated not far from the Ger
man capital, in the province of Bran
denburg,” says Fritz Morris in Tech
nical World Magazine. “Each village
is a little Venice, every house a lit
tle island; and these islets are con
nected by bridges sufficiently raised
to allow boats to pass under them.
Most of the houses with their barns
and stables, rest on piles; and there
is generally a strip of artificial terra
firma, either in front or at the rear of
every' building. By means of these
land strips and of the bridges, the
slender land communication is kept
throughout the district; but most of
the business and amusement is car
ried on through the canals, which not
only form the main highways but
pentrate and cross and recross the
whole region. It is on these lagoons
that all traffic is conducted in boats,
during the period from spring, when
the last vestiges of frost and ice are
disappearing, until the end of autumn.
You see the letter carrier shoot up
and down the canals, performing his
duties in his frail craft, the police
glide leisurely along the banks, watch
ing everything going on; peasants
bring the products of their toil to
the nearest towns; children go to and
from school, young mothers, dressed
in their Sunday clothes, are rowed to
church, carrying in their arms a
small, queerish looking bundle from
which two large eyes in a tiny face
stare at the stranger in wonderment
—baby is going to be baptized, an im
portant moment with this strongly re
ligious town."
“Auto-preservation” is the name
which Signor Vercelloni, an Italian
doctor, has given to a discovery that
preserves the human body without
the use of ordinary methods of em
balming.
“There is no necessity to touch
the body at all, much less to dissect
it,” explains the doctor. "The old
method, which is a very expensive
one, is entirely done away with. No
unctions or wrappings are used.
“The body is simply placed in a
zinc coffin, which is laid inside an
ordinary wooden coffin, and between
the two a patent powder mixture is
sprinkled, which preserves every
feature of the body, and especially
of the face, exactly as it was at death.
Viewed through a glass lid. there is
nothing revolting in its appearance,
the person appearing as though in
being simply in a peaceful sleep.”
Signor Vercellonl is of the opinion
that the discovery will do away with
the religious feeling against crema
tion, and may be valuable from the
point of view of identification in crim
inal cases, and also in scientific re
search.
"In cases of family disputes,” said
the doctor, "think of the enormous
advantage it would be to be able to
gaze through the crystal lid and see
the body fully preserved. There is
a big case, involving millions of mon
ey, in the law courts now which my
discovery would have decided with
out the dispute being dragged before
the public. Then consider the histor
ical advantage in having the remains
of eminent personages exposed to the
public veneration.” — Manchester
(Eng.) Chronicle.
LAZ,IJ*ESS LEAVS TO LVfiACy
“Laziness is a great contributory
cause of lunacy,” says a British spec
ialist in mental diseases. “The only
way to preserve a healthy mind is to
lead a busy life. But modern condi
tions, the compulsory retirement from
professional occupations of men who
have reached the age of, say, 55, con
demn them to spend the rest of their
existence in idleness. They become
introspective and brood. They feel
themselves ‘side-tracked’ from the
main line of life, and almost uncon
sciously a state of rebellion is set up.
From lack of mental exertion the
brain loses the nutrition it has been
accustomed to over a long period of
years. Other conditions are set up
which cumulate in mental degenera
tion.
“Young men who inherit fortunes
and devote their time to spending
them fall ready victims to this under
mining of the brain. Tragedies of the
kind are constantly occurring. Many
women and girls who belong to the
leisured class are saved from a like
fate by their devotion to dress and
bridge. The zealous pursuit, of those
pastimes requires at least some meas
ure of mental exercise. Perhaps that
is the best that can be said of them.
“It is dangerous for a man who has
led a busy life to abandon brain ex
ertion. Medical science has prolong
ed the span of human existence, and
yet retirement is now forced upon
men at a much earlier age than hith
erto. The only hope for these men
is to cultivate some engrossing
hobby.”
QVICK. T'RIT FO'R fiAILS
' This story was told by Mr. Baker, of
chocolate fame: Some years ago, In
Milton, he had a man in his employ
by the name of Tim Reardon, who was
considered a handy man with tools
As Mr. Baker was walking through
his yard one day he noticed that the
shingles on the gable end of one of
his butldings had blown away. Seeing
Tim, he called him, and asked him if
he could replace the shingles.
“Of course I can,” said Tim. And
he immediately erected a temporary
staging to work on, some thirty feet
high.
He got his hatchet and shingles and
went up on the staging. He had been
up but a short time, however, when
he tripped and fell to the ground,
which, luckily, was soft, and he had
no bones broken, but was stunned.
While he was lying there, some one
informed Mr. Baker of the accident,
and he went immediately to see Tim,
who had just opened his eyes. He
asked Tim if he was hurt, and how he
came to fall. Tim answered:
"I don't know. Mr. Baker; I tripped
on something up there. But,” he ad
ded, “it doesn’t make much differ
ence; sure I had to come down for
some nails, anyhow.”
Whereupon Mr. Baker, trying to
keep a straight face, remarked: “Well
Tim. I like to see a man do a thine
quickly, but the next time you want
Tk llB, IJ£re,er that you come down on
the ladder, even if it takes a little
more time.”—Boston Herald