TIIE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: DECEMBER 9. 1906.
Can Railway Accidents Be Prevented! a d,, noMay show.. o. 3
laitd Made Freici iiiieiie
m
WO week ago, with nil the liar-i-owing
circumstances of the re
cent railway horrors nt Atlantic
CIIV UTirl WnruR-llL. e 1-
f'J '- In III
nilnJ. we uimiI ihi. u ......
Tor the thorough Investigation of railway
accidents by government expert should be
established In this country. Such a B.,.
turn of accident InvesliKation has been in
!! union In in-ut Britain for over thirty
jear. Mb printed one of these expert
reports on an Ki,ginh trolley accident in
ur issue of November il, and In thin is
hh wo print tho report upon the disas
trous derailment at Salisbury, Kngland,
hist summer. In which a number of well
known Americans wer killed.
Two causs imrwl un to return to Urn
subject agiin. One is the receipt of u
letter printed below, from the president
of one or the largest American railway
ayatema. The second cause Is the shocking
death of President Samuel Spencer of tho
Southern railway In a rear collision which
occurred on that railway on the morning
of Thanksgiving day.
The letter referred to reads aa follows:
-lIc. 1 !'?v r'Hd yo,ir "cent comments
fn the subject of a detriment of the gov
ernment to Investigate railway accidents,
vi. T "."2! wm to m ,nat Engineering
ZfZl '",lk.lnf the vlew whlcn technical
paper might properly be expected to take.
You have Jumped at the conclusion that
railroads do not thoroughly Investigate ac
cidents; I think this Is a very unwarranted
conclusion, and seems to be bused wholly
on the fact that railways do not publish
trie results of their Investigations. MV
own observation leads me to think that
every Important railway company and
every pod railway management makes a
moat thorough Investigation of nny serious
accident, and that these accidents ara dis
cussed between the officers of various rail
way, with the vlw of trying to determine
what the proper remedy Is.
The recent serious accident on Ihe At
lantic Citv line of the Pennsylvania, end
on the Unltlinote Ohio line In Indiana,
near "hlcno, have been common sublecta
for discussion by rnilwny officials. Wh.it
right lias Engineering News to sav that
they hav not been thoroughly Investi
gated? Then again, Engineering News sugvests
that the proper remedies are not applied.
Tn many rases the most effective and com
plete remedy involves a very large expen
diture; for example, extensive double
trucking, automatic block signaling and
"thar devices. Can rallwnv officials Ret
these improvements by simply wishing tor
them? With friKht rates statlonury or
jrolng down, with passenger rates being
reduced by state legislation, with the price
of materials and the wages of employes
going up. many railways of the country
ere unable to secure the added capital
which they very much desire for many
Improvements.
I notlco you refer to the precautions
tnken to protect the cotton manufacturing
Interests of the country from fire. Kd
ward Atkinson, to whom vou refer, I knew
very well. He was employed by prominent
cotton manufacturers who allied themselves
In an association for mutual protection.
This is as if the railways should pet to
gether and select a man to Investigate ac
cidents and dev'se a remedy, which N a
very different, thing from having the gov
ernment take It up. Yours trulv.
F. A. n.
Western Vnlon Building. Chicago, No.
vember K 190S.
Our correspondent says that "every Im
portant railway company and every good
railway management makes a most thor
ough Investigation of any serious accident."
Does he not really mean as thorough an
Investigation as the operating officers can
make in such time as they have to sparer
We are well aware that it Is the practioe
U have train masters and division superin
tendents investigate accidents far enough
to place responsibility on particular em
ployes at fault and to exercise discipline.
In wuli Investigation at times, the signal
engineer If the road has one the superin
tendent of motive power, the chief engineer
or other officials may take rart.
Hut when all Is said snd dune, how do
these secret railway company Investiga
tions compare with such a thorough-going
piece of work as Major Frlngle's Investiga
tion of the Salisbury disaster In England?
It is well enough for your train maefr
nnj divljlnn superintendents to find what
engine runner or conductor or flagman was
at fuult for a collision, or even what ap
pliance was effective In causing or pre
venting a wreck; but what railway com
pany goes beyond this? Can our corre
spondent report one such Investigation In
which It was found and reported that the
fault at the bottom was a defective method
of operation or defective appliance, whose
continued use hiay have been due to Ig
norance or prejudice or worse, of g general
manager or a president, or perhaps of men
even higher up who run railways from the
financial side and not from the operating
side? We have no desire to Indict rail
way managements; but surely any one can
see that the present system of railway
company Investigations of accidents Is
pretty nearly equivalent to setting a man
to Investigate his own acts-or the sets of
his superiors.
In the second place our correspondent ad
mits that railway oompanlea keep secret
the results of their Investigation and by
this admission he really proves that the
present plan of letting the railway compa
nies Investigate the accidents themselves Is
a failure. What U the object of Investiga
ting these railway accidents? Surely the
one great object ought to be to diminish
the liability of their recurrence. To ln
veallirate to see wherein a brakeman or
conductor or onglnn"r blundered and to
punish thobc. al fault by suspension or
discharge may be well enough so far as It
goes, but cannot our correspondent see that
it does not go far enough?
We want investigations that will lay bar
the whole matter In relation to every serl.
ous railway accident; that will make clear
the lessons which ought to be learned from
It, and, most Important of all, that will
bring home these lessons to the whole body
of railway officials and employes.
The railway companies muy make their
Investigations ever so thorough, but so
long as they adhere to the secretive policy
and confine the knowledge of the circum
stances of an accident to a chosen few of
their own officials so long will accidents
from the same old causes occur again and
ugaln with such monotonous regularity that
the railway officials and even the public
become hardened to them, and, we regret
to say It, oblivious to the lessons they
ought to teach.
Our correspondent has referred to the At
lantic City disaster. It illustrates well the
point we wish to make. The West Jersey
& Seashore railroad oRlclala doubtless made
their own secret Investigation, as our cor
respondent saya Its results are known,
confidentially, to a number of the higher
officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad sys
tem. Possibly a few officers of other roads
may casually learn In time of the actual
result of that Inquiry. But for every rail
way ohicial who receives this information
a dozen or a hundred will resd in the
dally newspaper that the cause was an Im
penetrable mystery, that the bridge and
signaling appliances were as perfect as
they could possibly be made witness the
sworn testimony of the engineering head of
a great bridge company.
And with such knowledge of the actual
circumstances as this our correspondent
says, no doubt truly, that this accident
was common subject for discussion among
railway officials. What does discussion
amount to In the absence of knowledge of
the actual circumstances? Is not such din
russlon as this among railway officials, with
that little knowledge of facts which Is
proverbially dangerous, responsible for
many of the crude Ideas and prejudices
which are so widespread?
Let us make the case still more definite:
The lepsons of the Atlantic City disaster,
written so large that any one could read,
were: (1) put Inside guard rails on your
bridges; (21 make your drawbridge Inter
locking systems compMe. Those lessnn
ought to be brought home with force and
conviction to every responsible railway
officer In the country; but how many such
officers does our correspondent think will
ever hear of them from the railway com
pany's own Investigation? Instead there
went out to the newspapers of the country
the testimony of an official that Inside
guard rails were dangerous!
Let us turn now to the fatal disaster on
the Southern railway. In which on of the
greatest of American engineers, Samuel
Spencer, lost his life. The prominence of
Mr. Spencer and of the friends who died
with him rivets public attention upon this
accident. The general circumstances have
already become known to most of our
readers, doubtless, through the dally press;
but we may briefly state here from tho
Information at present available that the
collision appears to have been primarily
due to an error of a block signal operator.
The collision occurred after the two trains
(No. S3 and No. 37 following) passed the
signal tower at Rangoon and before they
reached the tower at Lawyers, four miles
farther south. The following relating to
the accident Is taken from the New York
Tribune of December 1:
An exnmlnatlon by an Associated Press
representative of the telegraph sheets kept
at the Rangoon and lawyers block offices
shows that Mattoax, the operator at Ran
goon, allowed train No. Xi, the Jackson
ville express, upon the block, the train
passing his station and getting a clear
track from him at 6:06 o'clock.
The operator at lawyers, the next station
ahead, claimed that Mattoax did not ask
hlni for a "char track" for No, 83, and h
therefore did not know this train had
passed Rangoon.
The block sheet nt Lawyers bears out
this claim. The sheets at both offices show
that the operator at Rangoon naked I .aw.
yers for a clear track for J7, the Washing
ton A Southwestern vestlbuled limited,
and the lawyers operator, not knowing
No. 33 was In the block, gave No. 37 the
right-of-way at 4.14 o'clock, and No. 37
f ussed Rangoon at that lime. If Mattoax
ind reported train No. 33 on the block to
lawyers there would have been no acci
dent, because the operator at lawyers
would have held the southwestern limited
at Rangoon until the Jacksonville train
had cleared the block at Lawyers.
It Is well enough to Inquire Into the fail
ure of tho signal operator to do his duty,
but It Is of far more Importance, for tho
prevention of similar accidents, to ask
what additional safeguards of systems and
of appliances can be put In fores to pre
vent such fatal lapses of memory on the
part of signalmen.
Apparently the block system as operated
on the Southern railway main line Is the
very simplest form of telegraphic block.
There seems to huve been no merhsnlcal
check to prevent tho operator giving a
train a cloar signal without permission
from the oierator in the block tower ahead.
If there had been, Rangoon would have ben
compelled to report to Lawyers the pa.-maso
of No. 33. Or If thero had been a track
circuit system In use Rangoon could not
have cleared his signal for th next train
till No. 83 had pawed out of tho block. The
failure of the time-honored (or time-condemned)
plan of relying on the rear flag
man la shown by the tact that although the
flagman did go back, and was seen by th
engineer of tho following train, who applied
Ms emergency brakes at once, the train
could not be stopped soon enough to avoid
striking and telescoping the private car on
the rear of th standing train.
So far aa at present appears, therefore,
tho lesson of this latest disastrous wreck
Is that while any form of blocking Is better
than nothing It Is worth whll to surround
even a simple telegraphlo block with such
mechanical appliances as will aid to pre
vent fatal errors on th part of the tower
men. This lesson ought to come home with
the mor fore to railway officers because
Of th prominence of the prlnolpal victim.
But It may be asked what could a govern
ment investigator do in relation to this par
ticular accident? lie could make known
to th railway officers and employe th
country over all the facts relating to the
occurrence. It has been widely advertised
that this was a collision under the block
system. In the Interests of sound railway
practice It ought to be made public Just how
much and how little of a block system It
Was. In the interests' of sound discipline,
block signal operators', the country over
should have placed before them the partic
ular error of which one operator was guilty
and Its disastrous results.
We may go one step further and set down
what Is, we believe, pretty well known to
railway men. Th main line of th South
em railway, on which this collision
occurred, has had a bad reputation for at
least five years, and we do not know how
much longer, for Its great number of train
wrecks. The traffic carried long ago out
grew the facllHies for moving It and the
system for protecting the trains on tho
road. Had these aecHents been Investigated
by competent government experts, Instead
of according to our correspondent by tho
railway company Iteelf, w cannot help
believing that long ago something would
have had to be done for tha betterment of
operating methods. It might well b that
such Improvement would have averted th
collision that coat President Spencer's Ufo.
Ry a curious coincidence, on the smne
day with tha reports of the Southern wreck
there appeared In the dally papers Inter
views with one of the principal officers of
the Great Western railway of England,
who Is spending; some time in the United
States. Aked for his opinions of American
railway practice he expressed great ad
miration for American methods of moving
great volumes of freight at low cost, but
frankly revealed tho fact tha American
Jffi
iwmummmmvmmmmimmmmmmmmmmmmmmi ill
At th opening of th holiday aeason we announce our
display of hnnl wrought undermusllns, Imported pclaUjr for
DrandeU. This elaborately trimmed snowy lingerie Is mad
la tho convents of France. Nothing could be daintier or more
acceptable as a gift. Our showing Is large and the variety sur
passes any showing In the west.
Fnwh hand marie ChemisesTrimmed with German and
French Vol. and Cluny lacesniany elaborately band m
broldered made of fine linens and I 4a Q Oft
nainsooks prices I.a&J IU JJJ
Drawer KxqulHUely hand embroidered I 1SiA QQfi
and embroidered all
Beautifully band embroidered Skirts
elaborately ' trimmed with Ger
man and French Cluny laces and
drawn work medallions all
hand
made
,,,,2,50 to $32.50
and lace trimmed prices
Corset Covers Elaborately
hand made
from
(iowna that are elaborately embroid
ered and lace trimmed with hand
made drawn work and medallions
arc
trimmed
$1 lo 6.50
2.50 lo $29
Match Suit In three pieces, bssu
tlfully embroidered and lavishly
trimmed hand needlework, fine
tucks, made of the finest linens
prices
at
.$15 to 37.50
AT BRANDEIS' UNDER MUSLIN SECTION MAIN FLOOROLD STORE
practice in signaling and the protection of
trains mode him stand ughast. . .
And now, finally, a word in answer to
our correspondent's ploa of poverty near
the close of his letter. Whatever tho cir
cumstances of Individual roads may be,
the tact Is, as shown by the figures pub
lished in this column last week, that the
railways of the country were never more
prosperous thsn they are today. Taken
aa a whole, the railways of the country
can well afford the appliance and methods
necessary for safe operation. Wherever
they cannot, they should reduce train
speeds to such a point that safety will be
secured.
The plan of letting the railway's conduct
their own se;ret Investigations of acci
dents has been lonj on trial and the
slaughter and maiming still goes on. Is It
r.ot time the secret policy in railway mat
ters was abolished? Is it not time the
public, whose lives and limbs are at risk,
should ssort Its right to some knowledge
of tho methods which are being used fur
are not being used) for Its protection?
Why not try the plan of government in
vestigation? What have th railways to
fear from It? Why should railway officers
oppose It when their own lives ar ofteneit
the ones at stake? If the reason Is that on
many railways th methods In use will not
bear a critical examination, then there Is
all the more reason why such an examina
tion should be made. Th Knglneerlng
News.
Mighty Close Shave This
rhlle
AN a man five feet eleven Inches
in height, ITS pounds In weight, 96
years old, healthy and robust and
wise, squeese himself In between
the rails on a steam railroad
heavy freight train pusses above
him and still live to tell the story?
Albert E. Roth, a Dalttmore & Ohio
brakeman, related that eiperience at the
Thanksgiving dinner at his home, 120
Hhaler street, Duquesne Heights, Pitts
burg, yesterday. Nineteen box cars,
clumsy freight carriers, rolled above Mm
at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles an
hour Tuesday night. His clothing was
torn from his body, literally stripping
hi body of overcoat, "Jumpers" and even
undergarments.
Roth lias a lump on tha back of his
bead, his shoulder la bruised, his nose
out and his left leg sprained. He left his
clothing In shreds on the track. But he
told tho story to Ills parents and sisters
at the Thanksgiving dinner at the Shaler
street home yesterday.
Roth fell from th top of a freight cur
in the Baltimore & Ohio yards, near the
South Tenth street bridge, at 1:10 Tues
day night. Fellow workmen who saw him
go under the wheels gave lilm up for
dead. Th train was neurlng th Tenth
street bridge when the young brakeman
took his tumble. Ruth lay on his stom
ach beneath the train until the last car
had passed, then rose, picked up hi
broken lantern, and fell, bleeding beside
the tracks. Two yardmen came to his
assistance and sent hint to Rasaavant
hospital. Yesterday morning he arrived
home, after his sister hud searched th
city for him in vain.
Roth is 5 feet 11 Inches, weighs 17
pounds . and is about -t years old. It
tells the story of his hairbreadth escape
without any melodramatic effect. Th
train had Just passed the switch with twenty-one
box cars when ho fell.
Suddenly he waa Jerked forward te
feet by his overcoat catching a brake.
At the same time he received a blow on
the back of the head. Awaiting his death
blow from each cur that passed, he
threw his hand to the buck of his head,
when another brake caught Tils glove,
tearing it from his hand. Then, aa each
truck passed him, another strip was torn
from some part of his clothing.
Roth heard the last car pass. II
sprang up with hardly a slued of cloth
ing left. He expects to be able to re
turn to work in a few days. Pittsburg
Dispatch.
Another View of Bankers' Currency Plan
HE following from Dun's Review
Is a careful discussion of the pro
posed changes In the currency
law:
The new currency plan, if that
It can be called, is u com
measure. The committee tn
the matter was referred at the
meeting of the American iiank-
nu the committee dia-
1m wuat
promise
which
reoeut
era' asuoctatlon
ignated by the New York Chamber of
Commerce to coimlder the same almcuU
subject, reached an uncxpeotwlly speedy
agreement. It Is proposed mat any national
bank, which has been actively in bualnei-s
for one yar or mora and hua a surplus of
at least iu per cent, muy Imsuc credit notes
up to 40 x-r cent of its boiid-secu.ed circu
lation, subject to a tux therein at the rato
of 4 per cent per annum on the averaKH
outstanding amount; also, a further Uituu
up to lU'j per cent of lis capital, subject to
a S per ci-nt tax on the uveragc amount out
stunuing "in excess of tne amount first
n. luluned." Ther seems a little unoT
tainly of meaning in this last expisni..n,
but th total botli of credit notes and of
bond -sec ii red notes outstanding is not to
exceed the bunks capital, and the laauo
under the 40 per cent rule Is not to exiceU
tt ht cent of the capital. The relation pro
vided between the new issue und the pres
ent bond-secured not en is intetiued to pre
vent a fcale by the banks of their bonds now
bold to secure notes In order to avail them
selves of tiie new note issues, which they
might ueem more profitable, so aa to avoid
the possibility of any action tliut might
tend to deprem the bouUx in the market. If
the rutin of the total capitalisation of ail
tiolng national banks to tne total outHtand
iug amount of urunututrd bonds ahould
hereafter increuse, then the allowed Issue
of credit notes shall be Increased to a cor
respondingly higher ratio to such link's
bunuscuied notes. The ratio of reserve
now required to be curried UBiilna deposits
hull ulm be required us to the credit notes,
und the taxes upon tha latter shall be held
aa against the expenses of printing and re
demption, und as u giiaiuutua fund for re
dumption of notes iT fullttd banks. Bo that
this fund may he ample from the start,
each bunk which wishes to lake out tho
new notes must dnpclt 6 per cent in gold
on the amount desired, the unused portion
of this Initial payment to stand us an uu
set of the contributing bank, and may it
withdrawn whenever practicable without
reducing the fund bolow the 6 per cent limit
of credit notes outstanding. '11 te existing
linUt of retirement of bond-seaured notes
to fcl.Ouo.Ouu a mouth is to be repealed.
Tris proposition. It Is to be noted, is for
a distinct credit or assets currency, with
no hpeclllo guaranty deposit behind it uo
eording to the existing ruie, but depending
upon the general substance of a yoliig
bunk with a good surplus, plus the prac
tical restraint of a Uix, and also having
a redemption fund us a dernier resort, the
present reserve of A and 16 per cent re
quired agalnat deposits to apply to tlusa
notes and to he carried especially against
them. It would only be repealing wnat
every business mau knows (yet has seemed
thus far to muke very Utile Impression
upon Cuiigress, because, it has madti no
vigorous impression upon the country) If
We say thai the preeikl currency Is ut
terly unresponsive to the demands of com
merce us Inelastic as a track rail and
forms one of the obstacles to healthy trade
which lb atrongly throbbing Ill's of a
strong country t sole to overcome; we
get on somehow with it, but It becomes
Increasingly a stricture upon trade move
niunta The plun now proposed conies after
very matured uoruddaruUon, and is com
mended by the weight of authority of
representative banks all over the country
aa well aa by the Chamber of Commerce.
It Is distinctly better than the plans di
rectly before the bankers' convention, in
that It does not put the proposed issue
In the hands of any government commis
sion; the speclttu regulations tall under
the comptrollers department as usual, but
th action la to be according to the option
of the banks and not according to the dis
cretion of any government officer. This
leaves the process to determination by
trsds demands- precisely w hat ta lucking
under the existing scheme and its cor
rectness la too clear to need elaboration.
We d') not think there is anything In the
Idea of a o-calll credit currency which
suolild sun sent alarm, and the safety of
this on seem ample. Aa the Joint com.
n.lttee point out, a ank note la tiie same
In essence as dcir-ind deposit, equivalent
to a bank book credit placed In anch foim
that It commands acceptance. Th pro
posed not Is equivalent .o an Indivldu.il
check possessing general convertibility und
credit: or it may be called the equivilrnt
of a cashier's check ir a deirun l cettificat
of deposit "a current deposit liable of the
Vank' and carrying the warrant of the
bank with It. The proposed ultimate
luilly behind it seems ino-t umplu In the
committee's opinion, uruii g from past ex
perience, the tax will create a fund many
tunes larer than will be required for the
pnttHjsc of IcuempUoU. i
Wbeth-T this will suffice o peifo-m
the other Important function of holding the
1'iiuit note' in r:.e k and moving them
twuJM queUuu uu wuaU thus may b
differences of opinion. By the latest figures
the total capital of the bunks Is t15,ooo,'.4)0
and the total outstanding notes flS,X),1nO.
Computed on either of these totals by the
ratios provided, the possible volume of
credit notes may exceed f:'lU,U00,0UO. There
mtKht be undue Inflation, but we doubt It.
T'ltimntely a special tux must serve to
force tho retirement of unused currency,
thouKh a graduated tax us proposed by
the Chamber of Commerce might be prefer
able to the plan outlined by tne Joint com
mittee. Thero can be no increase of liberty
of action, however, without involving the
possibility of hazard, and the possibility
In thin instance is very remote. Any plan
will lind before It differences of views, und
perliaps supposed conflicts of Interests, as
well as the customary Indifference and
inertlu to be overcome. This plan, how
ever, represents the beat matured thought
of the classes best fitted to advise. MSnor
details may be susceptible of modification,
but the substance Is sound and should be
retained. Whether the outflow and Inflow
of the notes will operate precisely as de
signed can only be determined bv expert
emy , but w are much more trustful of the
healthfulness of trude movements when
left to regulate themselves under rather
general lines of control than of all at
tempts to guide them by any clos regula
tions of statute. When analysis Is applied
we find that the Uilngs done are the resultn
of Individual action, each trying to work
out th best for hlmself, and not the re
sults of any program of action laid down
by the majority for individuals in the shape
of statutes.
Tha further proposition that all public
moneys above a reasonable working bal
ance, from whatever source they come,
shall be currently deposited from day to
dny In national banks without requiring
any collateral or other special security
therefor. Interest to be paid at 2 per cent
per annum, and no bank to receive deposits
alMive is per cent of Its capital, we leave to
the last, because it does not seem to ned
discussion. There Ir no good apparent
reason" why the government, a handler of
vast sums, should not deposit and druw as
private persons do. If any Individual were
to keep his funds locked In hi own safe In
the form of currency he would be exerting,
on a small scale, the same unreasnnihln
mischievous Influence which the government
exerts. This change would remove the
treasury disturbance from affairs, and It
seems incredible that It has gone so long
unmade. Whatever the fat of tho re
mainder of tho plan now preaented, this
Hhould certulnly be carried out at the next
session of congress.
Stories by Vanished Scribes
HERB still survive letters posted
B. C, wherein we yet can read
between the lines, aye, gauge
the writer's mcod aa he bit tho
nd of his wrltlug-reed in medita
tive pause, and sum up his character so
very human were those vanished scribes,
whos missive llv to prove how very
much alike Is all this common clay, mere
crocks, good, bad and indifferent, fashlonod
as tli whel turns under th Great Poter's
hiuid.
To.begin, then, with those from the land
of the Nile. A soldier serving in the army
of one of Uie Pharaohs unbosoms himself
to his mother thus: Can't she send him
more of tho needful? Without however,
letting his father know this time (!). He
hates drawing upon her housekeeping al
lowance in fact, It makes him feel awfully
bad but, at the same time, what Is a fellow
to do?
The governor shouldn't keep him so short;
that is the crux of the matter. It seems
all the more Inexcusable, too, considering
his father himself hud ut one time served
in the army, and might, therefore, be
reasonably expected to know that no fellow
can live on his pay, seeing the expenses he
Is continually being put to.
You can't keep out of everything; If you
did you'd only get sneered at by the other
men in your regiment, many of whom, in
our friend's case, "are the sons of very
wealthy parents." He therefore suggests
that on the next favorable occasion the
mother shall try her well-known powers of
persuasion on behalf of her loving son, uti
les she wishes to see him over head and
ears in debt a state of thing he feels sure
she would move heaven and earth to avert!
Another young hopeful from the prov
inces, evidently destined for commerce and
apprenticed to soma thriving house of busi
ness, writes to his mother, a widow. Will
she be so good as to send him a pah- of
leather breeches, and that speedily. Also
a set of new stlilrta. the lust dear mother
wove for him having gone the way of all
shirts, some being reduced to a suite past
praying for and the others h st In the wash.
And at the end of this effusion lie 1jb
his fond parent to remember and make this
hew set larger in the neck, the last having
left something to be desired in the matter
of fit generally. ,
Btlll another missive from the lund of th
Sphinx, hinting at piquant "on dits" and a
tactf jlly averted scandal. Here we l ave an
absent spout. writing In evident fepidatlon
to the wife of his bosom who bides at
home at a safe distance. How much do-s
she know, and how much doesn't she?
We cast our mind's ey back over those
odd thousands of years, and seem to sea
hint busily tracing hurried and flurried
hi. rog'yphlcs upon the scroll, only to b
IrnlaUy torn up again, and a fret reed
and more papyrus . called for. Then he
makes a fresh start.
Business detains htm longer than h hid
anticipated, scrawls he, but his dear wife
Is to give no attention to the evil tongues
of men, who, he understands, have been
busy coupling til name with that of a
certain fair temple dancer, saying that he,
her falthfulest and ownest one, had been
having his portrait painted for th hussy.
Now this 1 how It stands, and then the
poor man, so sorely put to It, goes en to
explain tiie fact that his portrait ordered
had been for the temple, not for the vestal
maid on duty there. Nor was It a por
trait of him, her devoted lord, but a pic
ture of his late lamented father, whose
tomb this dutiful son had, to his chagrin,
found was devoid of so necessary an ad
junct to the mortuary chamber of ix-rsons
of rank.
He had, therefore, hastened to make good
the oversight, and hence, he suppnsed, the
wagging of idle tongue Tut! tut! Hhe
wus. however, to give it no further thought,
but be of good cheer; and furthermore, he
inclosed her u string of pearls to solace
her for his continued absence, hoped to be
buck soon, sent kisses to the children, etc.
A very pretty story and a plausible one.
This Kgyptlan husband was evidently
quite an adept at putting the thing nicely,
and we can only hope that for his sake he
managed to wriggle out of this fix with no
more than a cold sweat. Such rumors huve
landed the nier 'man "A. D." lu remark
ably tight corners before now. Resides,
"temple dancers." too h'm! h'm! Mad
amo'ri reply, w note, has not survived. It
wus pioluibly given verbally and lost nutli
ing for the keeping.
And, lastly, to I ass to what after such
antiquities Just riled must by comparison
strike the reader as lucre modernity, we
would quote from Vet another mouldering
yellow missive, penned some time during
the early middle ages, when, by tho way,
the urt of letter writing was a far greater
exertion than in the heyday of ancient
culture.
It balls from the lands now forming the
kuiser's realms, yet before a Germany was,
since Wends and Teutons were still strug
gling about th mark of Brandenburg for
ultimata possession. Th letter In question
is the labored missive of a Wendisfi i.-in-cora
to her sister, evidently at soma dis
tance, and disclose th distressing fact
that her highness has espied crows' feet
sbi.ut fur eyes; aye, and further, noted a
yellowish tinge o'ershadowing her skin.
Does her dear sister not know some remedy
which shall dispel such evils? Yet, heithho!
who likes tliis growing old? Moreover, her
lord "blues in the enemy's country, " where
she has heard there be "many beauteous
damsels, with eyas like th sun snd lulk
whit brows;" auX wait we all kuunawhat
nt a ar.
w Ji
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