HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1909-7-15, Page 2NOTES AND 'COMIVIi1 NiT$
Flow was It that you chanced to
Mae ane such a inlet/eke the oilier day'?
It was embarrassing and almost
inexcusable, only that something or
somebody brought it about. • Iiow
did it happen? Probably more in-
genuity and mental effort are (ex-
pended in explaining the causes
leading up to mistakes than are re-
quired for the task out of which
the mistake itself arises, Uncon-
aoiously the young man at large is
led to feel a necessity for explana-
tions in such emergencies. After a
few 'experiences of being held up
himself as the cause of others'
failures, it i.ecomes easy to adopt
the policy of "standing from un-
der"—if he can, At the same time
it remains unchallenged that in this
effort to shift the burdens of blame
in the business world, one of the
most destructive and wasteful of
all organization evils is involved.
When every detail of the whys and
wherefores of the circumstance has
been canvassed and accepted, it is
no more than an explanation.
There is nothing constructive in it.
It is no more to the point than is
the preverbal "crying over spilt
milk," At the same time business
methods may demand the explana-
tion. The question is, "Where are
you going to place the blame?"
For this question of placing the
blame is of more concern to the
young man making the mistake than
he is likely to suspect.
Mistakes always have oharacteriz•
ed the human agent. A machine
which operates to turn out a pro-
duct distorted and out of propor-
tion is "out of order." The man
who docs a thing short of his pur-
pose simply has "made a mistake."
But just as frequently in the man,
as in machine, he is out of order—
incapable, ineffective. One mistake
may he a mental or physical lapse
of a moment in the man, but any-
thing which minimizes this one mis-
take to the man making it must
serve as an encouragement to other
such shortcomings. As he finds ex-
cuse for himself he is the less pre-
pared for the next chance at error.
In two ways this search for excuse
show why he didn't succeed. Could
anything be more absurd
The truth is that in so many cir-
cumstances involving mistakes the
man who is called upon for the
explanations so rarely does more
than invoke himself a little more
deeply. "I took Jones' word for it,"
he says, "I took it for granted
that he knew what he was talking
about." Yet in using Jones' name
for clearing himself, he is willing to
leave the inference that Jones is
one of the least dependable men in
the world. Why, then, did he make
such a mistake as to depend upon
Jones in the first place? It would
have been a piece of constructive
genius if, suspecting Jones' know-
ledge and authority, he had ques-
tioned both to the end of saving
the mistake and turning the possi- t
bility into a best possible result.
THE PLAICE WAS T00 GREAT
The Rich Man's Difficulty Before Jesus
Is Here Bisouesed;
Jesus saki unto him, go sell what-
ever thou heist and give to the
poor; and Dome, take up the cross
and follow me.—Mark x. 21,
Here, wo have a drama that al -
mese merges into ,a tragedy, It is
full of power; it quivers with in-
tensest interest.
Two young men face each other,
Tile distinguishing quality in one
is the bearing of a cultured, well-
bred gentleman, The distinguished
quality of the other is the strength
and dignity and beauty of the soul
thab shines in every feature of his
face. In the face of the one is a
great expectancy; in that of the
other is the strong reserve power
thab invites the ctj of human
need, The one is a pupil, the other
is the Master.
Jesus took his band and, lifting
him up to that level where man looke
into the eyes of man, said : "Put
away, sell those things that are be-
tween you and your fellow man
and take the same pathway I am
taking; then you will truly realize
the vision that has come to your
soul."
These words created conviction,
for they voiced the message of- his
own soul. Fe felt that was the
door through which he must pass
and that on the other side would
be
NEW JOY AND POWER.
But the price was too great. In
a silence as of the grave he turned
sadly toward home,
This is no condemnation of riches.
There is no moral quality in mere
money. Our saying that money is
the root of all evil is only partly
true. It is true in so far as money
awakens the worst forms of selfish-
ness in us; it touches springs and
sources of soul poison as nothing
else does. If there is anything else
that will touch a deeper depth and
awaken a worse foi,n of selfishness,
then that is the root of all evil.
Jesus enunciated a great principle
and did not tie up mankind to a
narrow rul,e.
Life must have a vision, an ideal.
A vision is an outline of possibility,
"To live," to "truly live," is to
bring every energy, every activity,
every thought to bear upon the
filling in of that outline, it is to
see a "gleam" and follow it, To
see that melon is to see the purpose
of God, To set out co realize it is to
feel the presence of God in the life.
This gives tine bigness to the soul
and to the life. The Ivan who is
too big to consider shall things is
also too Small to consider big things.
We must have telescopic men and
men with telescopic minds. Too
many are microscopic men—intense
upon little things without seeing.
their interrelationship or their
relationship to a center, In religion
the order must never be inverted—
it is vision,. that wo may see how the
parts relate to the whole; outlook,
that we may helpfully and truly
get inlook,
WEALTH NEEDS VISION,
and this Jesus gave this young
man.
Vision finally changed him.
Tradition says the young man fol-
lowed Jesus later. This is easy to
believe, for no true soul oan'ever
get away from its vision or from the
love that awakened it. Both were
here. Every beggar he met, every
struggling workman he employed,
every ill -clad, ill -fed child he -saw,
every tired -looking mother and
every form of sorrow or suffering
would daily awakrn his vision anew.
It would be with him as he rested
on his own luxurious couch,
as he sat at his own richly
laden table, as he put on
his own comfortable garments,
as he balanced his weekly accounts
—the vision would pour in its light
and suggestions on these. And so
this vision, this love of Jesus, would
follow and a} -peal and plead until
the heart and life became shot
through with the Christ spirit, sel-
fishness was driven out, his soul set
free to follow the gleam, and the
true joy of ennobled manhood be-
came the young man's possession.
REV. DR. JOHN. R. MACKAY.
OILING TIIE WAVES.
Valuable Aid in Wearing Ship in a
G ale.
When the captain of a wave -beat
en ship pours oil upon the waters
he does not empty a barrel of kenos•
ene over the side. He stitches up
three or four cotton bags, which he
fills first with oakum and then with
oil, usually equal parts of fish oil
and Kerosene. The bags are then
tied tightly at the tops and pricked
all over with a sail needle to permit
the oil to exude, and are hung from
the boat davits and weather chains
to drip their mollifying contents
on the raging billows. The bags
must not be allowed to get empty,
but must be refilled every two
hours. For six bags ten gallons of
oil are used in thirty hours. Some-
times, if it is very cold, the oil con-
geals and will nut run out through
the holes fast enough, and the
mouth of the bag is then loosened
to let it escape in that way, Its
effect is magical on a rough sea. A
huge comber will arise threatening-
ly to bury the laboring vessel under
ons of water, but will strike a
patch of oil no larger than a com-
mon dining -table and subside in an
instant into a smooth, round swell,
which the ship rides like a cork.
The use of oil is also a valuable
aid in wearing ship in a gale anti
high seas. A few gallons of paint
oil over the lee quarter enables the
vessel to perform the manoeuvre in
perfect safety without taking a drop
of water on board. When a boat
ships so much water that it is impos-
sible to get the oil bags slung into
position without running the risk
of being swept overboard, an or-
dinary hed sheet saturated with
paint oil, tied to a rope and allowed
to float, will soon calm the seas
sufficiently to permit men to move
about the decks safely. Paint oil is
agreed to be the best to use, rape-
seed oil and porpoise oil rank next,
but kerosene is not satisfactory
unless mixed with some other oil,
.4
OIL AGAINST COAL.
The advantages of ell fuel for
stationary and marine boilers are
receiving much attention in Eng-
land.
n -land, Although the total cost is
greater for oil than for coal, oil:
has the advantage of greater con-
venience. simplicity and cleanli-
ness, It is also more efficient, since
a pound of good oil is found to have
a calorific value about 35 per cent.
greater than that of an equal weight
of coal. It also occupies much less
space. and in that respect is very
snitabie for ships. Many improve-
ments have recently been made in
the methods of spraying and burn-
ing the oil.
4•
LIFTING GRAIN BY SUCTION.
At the Millwall Docks, London,
a new installation of grain -hand-
ling and storing appliances has re-
cently been put to work, including
pneumatic elevators which draw
giain out of the hold of a ship at
the rate of 75 tons per hour for
each elevator. Four work simul-
taneously, each dipping into a sep-
arate hold. The grain is lifted
through flexible pipes to an eleva-
tion of 80 feet. Band -conveyors,
eleetrically driven, having a total
length of 2,I/t miles, carry the grain
to the granary on the quay.
—
"I understand the Neweds aro
having trouble," remarked the
spinster. "Some people take her
part, and some others side with
him. And, I suppose, growled
the bachelor, " there are a few ec-
centric people who mind their own
'minces 1
JAIL-111Rl) PLAYED COtiNT.
Il.is duke Got Him Expensive Din-
ner, Also Another Tern.
The French correspondent of the
London Telegraph•relates the fol-
lowing amusing story of a jail -bird's
joke. A man in rags and list shoes
stopped a motor taxi near the Arc
de Triomphe and said : "My name
is the Count d'Abbevilie, I have just
wagered fifty louts that just as 1
am now, I will get dinner in a smart
restaurant. There will be fi:.' hoofs
for you if you help me t; eh( the
bet." The chauffeur entr,,,1 ;lite
the fun of the thing, and P, no the
"count" to an expensive ret.taur•
ant at Montmartre. There he gave
the landlord the tip, and the
"count" was served with the tit -
most deference, not a waiter ap-
pearing to notice the state of his
clothing. When the time came to
call for the hill the "Count, d'Abbe-
ville" said: "I have not a sou. I
have just come out of Fresnes pri-
son on ticket -of -leave. Take me to
the police-staiton." The landlord,
the waiters, and the chauffeur
roared at Monsieur le Comte's good
joke, and, to keep up the fun, all
went with him to the police -station.
There the joke was found to have
even more point in it than they
thought; but a different one from
that which they had expected. The
"Count d' Abbeville" had been very
humorous at their expense in a lit-
eral sense. He proved to be one
Jules Duval, several times convict -
eel, and he was perfectly correct in
saying that he had not a penny, and
had just come out of Fresnes pri-
son. He has now gone back to jail.
In Republican France anyone seems
able to swindle anybody by calling
himself a count.
_-..--.
SCIENCE of WORN BOOTS.
Character Reading By Boots And
bhoes.
Palmistry, phrenology, grapho-
logy, and all the other methods of
judging character seem destined
henceforth to take second place to
cothurnology—the science of the
boots.
According to Dr. Garre, of Basle,
worn shoes give far more reliable
indications than the lines of the
hand, the features of the face, or
the style of handwriting.
If heel and sole of the shoe are
equally worn after two months'
wear, the wearer is an energetic
business man, a trusty employee, or
an excellent wife or mother.
If the sole is worn on the outer
edge the wearer has a marked ten-
dency for adventures, or a bold,
obstinate spirit. '
If the wearing is on the jnside
edge it is a sign of irresolution and
weakness in a man, modesty in a
woman.
Dr. Garre has put his views to
practical test, and on one occasion,
having closely observed a stranger
entering his house, noticed that his
slime were worn on the outer edge,
the tip of the sole being roughened,
while the rest was still new.
He was convinced that the man
before him was a scoundrel, and on
the very same day the individual
was arrested for theft,
4,
WHERE THE MIRACLE CAME IN
Dr. Walter C. Smith, the popular
Scotch poet -preacher on one oc-
casion tried to explain to an old
lady the meaning of the scriptural
expression, "Take up thy beet and
walk," by saying that the bed was
simply a mat or rug easily taken
up and carried away.
"No, no," replied the lady. "1
canna believe that. There would
be no miracle in walking away wi'
a bit o' mat or rug on your bo.lk."
14.414+00Nr41rsit
Erg flannel
APPETIZING MEAT DISHES.
. Creamed Ohiolren with Mush-
rooms,—Boil until tender one six
pound chicken, Take out bones and
pink the meat into small pieces.
Then season with salt, pepper, and
a dash of two of cayenne, Add
the juice of one lemon, one fair
sized onion, grated, one can of
mushrooms out in halves, one quart
of cream heated, one-balf cup of
butter and half cup flour rubbed
together. Mix all together nicely
and put in a buttered•. baking dish
with cracker crumbs over the top.
Bake half -]tour,
Barbecued Chicken.—Take a fat,
tender spring chicken of roasting
size, Clean and wash well and salt
inside and out. Sprinkle over with.
flour quite heavily. 'Plage in a
kettle with heart and liver and two
cupfuls of boiling water. Let it boil
well, as you would for a pot roast,
and baste often. When about half
done, or so that it scarcely resists
the fork, add one-half cupful of
vinegar, boil until" done, and take
out. Chop the liver and heart and
serve in the gravy, Chicken is de-
licious cooked this way and served
cold- The rich gravy can be used
as a dressing for lettuce.
Recipe for Suet Pudding.—One,
cupful suet, one cupful raisins,'
one-half eupful citron, one-half
cupful currants, one teaspoonful
each of cinnamon, cloves, and soda,
one-half teaspoonful of nutmeg and,
salt, one cupful sour milk, one
cupful New Orleans molasses, three
and one-half cupfuls flour. Add
one-half tumberful of good brandy,
Steam in cane. Keep in airtight
box. They will keep and may be
used when needed: Steam three
hours,
Meat Loaf.—A good substitute
for veal loaf is the beef loaf. Take
two pounds of round beefsteak and
one-holf pound of salt pork ;_.put
through meat grinder,. Salt and
pepper and a little nutmeg, one
egg, and enough dry bread crumbs
to mold into a good solid loaf.
If taken out of tin while warm, a
fine thick gravy can be made. It
should bake in a moderate oven
nejrly an hour. This is much
more economical than veal.
CLEANING AND CLEANSING,
Furniture Polish.—To one-half
gallon of raw linseed oil add two
and one-half ounoes of balsam of
fir. To remainder of container add
enough pure apple vinegar to make
up the gallon and shake well be-
fore applying. But a little polish
shuld be rubbed on well and dried
as much as possible. This is an ex-
cellent furniture polish.
To Remove Paint,—To remove
paint from any kind of cloth use
common paint remover, which can
be had at any drug store, pour it
on the cloth, and let stand a few
minutes and rub with dry cloth,
Cleaning Silver.—Moisten liber-
ally an old silk handkerchief or
then soft, worn siik with kerosene.
Rub it over silver and, you will be
lelighted with the almost immedi-
ate result, dark stains, of how long
standing, quickly disappearing be-
neath the friction, and the silver
will remain bright a long time. If
you desire an extra "shine" use
another silk cloth and dry rub with
polish.
To Remove Paint from Windows.
—Moisten the edge of a silver coin
and rub the spot of paint. The
paint will disappear like magic.
Mattress Pads.—One of the
simplest and nicest things for the
pad on top of the mattress is the
silence cloth which comes for din-
ing tables. Get the desired length
and bind the ends with bias strips
of white material. These launder
nicely and are delightfully com-
fortable.
1 UMPLING S.
German Potato Dumplings,—
Cook eight half potatoes, grate,
add a tablespoonful of salt, one
egg, three-fourths of a pound
of flour. Knead as you would breed
dought, Roll out, form into belle,
Put in a kettle of boiling water
and cook twenty minutes. Those
arc delioieus with roast pork,
Cherry Dumplings.—Two cupfuls
of flour, ene tablespoonful of lard,
one cupful of sweet milk, two tea-
spoonfuls of baking powder, one.
half saltspoonful of salt, one cup-
ful of cherries, one-half cupful of
sugar. Sift salt, baking powder
and flour together; rub in the lard
and wet with the milk. Roll out
about one-fourth of an inch thick
and cut into three inch squares.
Heap as many cherriee as the
dumplinge will hold in the center of
each; sprinkle thickly with sugar
and press together. Put in a ket-
tle of boiling water,
SEASONABLE SALADS.
Cab been Salad --Three-fourths
or.nful r,f e, o sit ar. one e tea -
1,' gone
sna,rful arourd mnstn.rd, one tea-
Faseenfnl bnttnr melted, half e110101
of virmear. Let come t0 a boil and
neer 004"' one small head of cab -
Lege cut fine.
gain Salad. --Out up email bits of
boiled ham, placed in salafl bowl
with the hearts and inside leaves
of a head of lottuee, Make dress -
lug tie follows; Mix in a saucepan
one pint of sour aneaal, as free
from milk as possible, half pint
good vinegar, popper, salt, and a
small piece Of butter, sugar and a
shall tablespoonful mustard mix-
ed smooth; boil, add the well beat-
en yolks of two eggs, earring care-
fully until it thickens to the cons
sistency of starch ; then set in a
cool place or on ice, and when cold
pour over salad and mix well,
Salad Drossin ,—Boat two eggs,
add three large tablespoonfuls of
vinegar, one'teaspoonful of must-
ard moistened in a little. of the
vinegar, add to eggs, and then add
salt and white pepperto taste and
one:teaspoonful of sugar, Add
two tablespoonfuls of cream "and
beat in quickly. Add lump butter
size ofan egg. Put in rice boiler
and stir slowly until the mixture
is a little thicker than thick cream,
VARIOUS USEFUL HELPS.
Removing Paint Specks.—Moisten
baking soda with water to paste
and apply to the paint spot. When
dry rub, off both paste and speck,
To Protect the Hat,—Buy apiece
of oil silk large enough to cover
the whole hat .and extend under
the brim,- Cut.the goods circular
and run a casing around the cclge,
so that when it es put on the hat,
the drawstring may be pulled up
lightly. Fasten the bag securely in-
side the crown of the hat, and then
when you are caught in a summer
shower, it can be quickly taken out
and adjusted to the hat and you can
go on your way in peace of mind.
Uses for Newspapers.—To keep
burglars out spread newspapers on
the floor. Thieves will not etep
on a newspaper because it crackle
may awaken some one. A well
known criminal lawyer is authority
for this statement. To fill cracks
in wooden floors put one-half
pounds newspaper in three quarts
water and soak three days. Then
add one tablespoonful powderekl
alum and one quart wheat flour.
Stir and boil till like cake dough.
Cool and fill cracks. It will harden
like cement. To fill rat holes use
above recipe, but add, when cool,
a liberal allowance of red pepper.
To clean carpets wet a newspaper
with ammonia and water, squeeze,
tear into bits, throw on the floor,
and sweep from one wall to the
opposite one. Repeat, beginning
where you left off. Use them to
cover top of shelves, bottom of
drawers for cleaning (dampening
them), hardwood floors, other kinds
of floor, also top of range after
each meal, outside of kettle and
pans.
ENGLAND'S DEBT TO CONVICT.
Fine Ronde and Fortifications Built
by Convict Labor.
The news published the other day
that a well -made road ;has just
been completed by convict labor
through Parkhurst Forest, in the
Isle of Wright, to the site marked
out for the new colony of habitual
criminals, serves to call attention
to a seldom -noticed phase of Eng-
land's penal system.
Not all prisoners are employed
at comparatively useless tasks, such
as oakum -picking and stone -break-
ing, for example, nor have •they
been in the past. But for convict
labor the nation would not to -day
own the fine docks it possesses at
Chatham and Portsmouth, to say
nothing of the fortifications on the
Verne and on Blue Bell Hill.
At other places remind the coasts
convicts have constructed fine
breakwaters, deepened harbors, nad
widened estuaries, The wonderful
system of defensive galleries at
Gibraltar, too, was constructed by
them; and at was
they have ex-
cavated vast subterranean granaries
in the living rock, capable of hold-
ing food supplies for the garrison
for ten year• ahead.
Perhaps, however, the most.
stupendous convict enterprise ever
undertaken is that now in progress
at Dartmoor, where the wilderness
is slowly, yet surely, being trans-
formed into someturng very like a
garden. No paid labor would ever
have accomplished this almost
miracle, for the simple reason that
it could never have paid for it to
have undertaken it.
The water-logged soil has first to
be trenched and drained rood by
rood, and almost yard by yard.
Then it is treated with white lime,
at, the rate of no fewer than five
tions to the acre. Afterwards spade
culture precedes the advent of the
plough and of ordinary manures.
And all the tools and other ap-
pliances used are manufactured by
the convicts; the I.ecessary draught
animals are reared by them. Even
the warder -overseers drive round
in prison -made traps drawn by
prison -bred ponies.
SENSE OF ART,
Homeboyo—"I've read some-
whore'that the Chinese will not al-
low their women to be photograph-
ed."
Glo
betintt--"Shows their some
of art, Int boy, I've been there, and
seen sonic' of 'en 1"
If we all had our own wayother
people would quickly got out oC 14
WRECKERS RS OF IHE SLUMS
h'11'3IAIa11 SitYL0C110 IN I+IYBIt-
I'0OIl, l;NGLAN'0-
Wantons Business Plied by Woman
—Charge 1,000 Vee Cent,
Iutereet.
Almost every week in Liverpool,
England, some woman domes up
at the Police Court charged either
with being an unregistered money,
lender er with Dairying on busi-
ness away from her registered ad-
dress, In nearly every ease the
woman le heavily fined, and the
fines are always pada without delay.
These women are extt•aordinarily.
active in . Liverpool, and in the
opinion of one who knows them
and 'their system thoroughly; they
are in some part at least respon-
sible for the city's black record for
domestic tragedies. '
WRECKERS OF SLUMS.
"They are the wreckers of the
slums," a London Daily News rep-
resentative was told. "How many
homes they have wrecked and how
much misery they have caused pro-
bably no one can estimate: And,
despite the activity of the police,
they seem to have established them-
selves firmly', so firmly that in some
districts they exercise absolute
tyranny."
Their system is very simple. They
do not bother themselves or their
clients with County Courts and the
paraphernalia of the law. Some
poor woman, possibly unknown to
her husband, goes to one of them
for a shilling or two to meet some.
claim. She gets it—at an interest
ewf 2d. or 3d. on the shilling per
week. Perhaps she does not pay
for a week or two. Tho debt mounts
up at compound interest. She can
then only pay off a portion at a
time, The rest stays to germinate,
and at last perhaps she, may have
paid ten or fifteen times the amount
borrowed, and still be heavily in
debts. The husband must not be
told, and so the money -lender main-
tains her grip. At last she is un•
able to pay an instalment.
FEMALE SHYLOCK.
Then the money -lender shows no
mercy to her victim. The women
are all burly. Fragile women do
not go into the trade. In the Police
Court a short time ago a woman
was dealt with who had almost torn
to pieces one of her victims who
could not pay. She gripped her
by the hair, pulled her down in the
gutter, and scratched her with a
hatpin. This is the usual method
of securing payment.
"Very often," the interviewer
was told, "the moneylender has a
general shop. at which her client
,s forced to purchase, paying exor-
bitant prices for inferior stuff — a
shilling, say, for groceries that
could be got for 3d. or 4d. at an
ordinary shop. And the more in-
terest paid often works out at more
than a thousand per ceut. per an-
num. A curious point about these
women was elucidated a short time
ago. For long it had been suspect-
ed that there was someone bchr.
all these women financing them -
a money -lending Moriarity. Recent-
ly the police got this man, and he
was fined $500. What is wanted is
power to imprison the women for
long periods without the option of
a fine."
A LAND 01' OLD TIN'S.
Discarded Cans are A.ppreeiatcd in
Hayti.
An interesting sight into social
and commercial conditions in Hay-
ti, the blank republic, is contained
in .a report from the British Con-
sul -General, issued by the Foreign
Office.
Old tins are in great demand
throughout the island. Condensed
milk, preserve, butter, and lard
tins form practically the bulk of thr
cooking and table utensils used
throughout the island, Cooking is
done in five -pound hotter and lard
tins. Condensed milk tins become
drinking mugs by the simple addi-
tion of a band which serves as a
handle.
Old petroleum tins are used for
storing and carrying water, and
even a cook in a well-to-do family
prefers old tins for cooking purpos-
es to ordinary saucepans or other
kitchen utensils,
CURE FOR POISON IVY.
In the summer season it is not
uncommon for persons going into
the woods to be poisoned by costa t
with dogwood, ivy or the poise
oak. The severe itching and semi
Ing which is thus produced may ur.
relieved by first washing the parte
with a solution of saleratus, two
teaspoonfuls to the pint of water,
and then applying cloths with ex-
tract of hamamelis. Take a dose
of Epsom salts internally or a don-
ble Rochelle powder. The cure is
immediate,
•
IN SUBURBS.
."How do you lik your new neigh -
hovel"
"I haven't palled on them. I
didn't like the look of their furni-
ture as it was being carried in,"
RAID OF MALAY PIRATES
EIGHT 01? A CITWJ1SI1 JUNK'S
• GREW THEIR L1YJ1S.
flung np the Steward and Forged
Him to Disclose Location
of Valuables.
A rousing,pirate story emelt
from the vicinity of Singapore. A
large Chinese junk left Singapore
for. Hainan, but found the winds
unfavorable and next night dropped
anchor between Pule Tolcong and'.
the mainland of Johore, not far,
from the " Sultan's Asian Monte
Carlo. The crew of fourteen and
four :passengers were aroused at,
midnight by the barking of the
junk's dog, but the alarm was
speedily .silenced by
A MALAY KNIFE.
Two prahus had come alongside
and inthein were ten men. some
Chinese and others Malays.
They proceeded to strike right.
and left among the sailors, laying
several low. Then they seized the
chinehow and proceeded to hang
him up in buccaneer style to force
him to diseioso the location of the
most valuable cargo. This he did(
and the pirates having secured a-.
the booty they could make way with
departed as silently as they had
Dome. The booty was not immense.
1t consisted of $4 in money, gold
leaf valued at $80, raw ehandu
valued at $90 and six boxes of per-
sonal effects.
When the survivors came to count
losses they found five dead on the
junk, two were missing, their bodies
having been thrown overboard. and
four were wounded, one of whom
died later. His deposition was
taken at the General Hospital at
Singapore. Seven of the occupants
of the junk were.
PRACTICALLY UNHURT,
and these started to bring their vese
eel back to Singapore, the chinchow
coming on ahead in a sampan.
When he 'arrived a police party
put out in the launch Lady Eve-
lyn and met the junk off Tanjong
Katong. She was towed into port.
and the injured men were convey-
ed to the General Hospital, and the
five bodies landed for burial. The
survivors turned over to the police
four weapons found on board af-
ter the pirates left. These may help
in identifying the criminals, who
escaped unscathed, 'The weapons
are two long Chinese knives with
narrow blades and hone handles,
an axe with a short ion handle and
the heavy murderous fighting blade
with which the greatest execution
was 'wrought.
—,F
RIUBIC OF TIIE TELEGRAPH.
The Bears Think It Is the Buzzing
of Bees.
Everyone has put his ear to a tele-
graph pole to hear the wires hum,
and most people have assumed that
the wind was entirely responsible
for the sound. So it is, in many
cases, but often the note is heard
where not the slightest movement of
the air is preceptiblc. A recent
French investigator tells us that the
sound in this case is due to the ex-
pansion and contraction of the wires
from variations of temperature.
As the wires are not perfectly uni-
form, they rub against the insula-
tors, making a slight noise, which
is amplified by the post acting as a
sounding -board. Another investi-
gator is sure that the sounds are
due to electric waves, but he fails
to explain how ordinary telegraph
wires should be able to serve as
wave detectors and in what way the
electric waves are transformed into
sound waves. The other theory;
seems more probaole,
Some curious stories are told of •
this telegraph wire music. In
Siberia the bears thinly that: it in the
buzzing of hese, and would tear
down the poles to look for honey if
the constructors did not pile great
stones about them to prevent this.
In France on the south side of the.
forest of Fontainebleau, the tele-
graph sounds are regarded as
presaging rain. This is because the
south wind in this region brings
rain, and the forest shuts off the
north wind. In some districts the
noise is popularly supposed to he
due to the passage of messages, but
it is hardly nocessary to say that
there is no evidence to support this
V iew.
`;OUTS POLAR MINERALS.
One of the results of the recent
r•'.ploration of the Antarctic (on-
:.ent is the discovery that that
:one and distant land, with its bur-
den of snow and ice, is able to fur-
nish minerals of value to the eivi
lized world. Among the minerals
is a very good variety of coal, Pro-
Mem: David, one ,of Lieutcntuit
Shackleton's companions, who
climbed Mount Erebus, expresses
the opinion that there are. many
minerals en the Antarctic C'ontin-
ont that could be profitably worked
from Australia.
Did outukemefor n fool whim
Iei r.
,y
you married rne'7" cried an angry
husband, in the thick of a domesti:
quarrel, to which the wife meekly
responded :-"No, Samuel, I did
riot.; brit then you always said I was
no judge of character.'
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