HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe East Huron Gazette, 1892-04-28, Page 7reins Se toe lad and
the house. It was a
w, coning back from
he hal died within
Geering Water.—
Engliata IlIustrated
O: His Grave.
clerk of the townshil
a reliable and truth,
tory, which can be
al of Imo ueightors,
Long.'s cis and Phil -
the Longford farm
's there is a small
months ago an un-
-en in the daytime
crying at night in
v ard. about three
as ascertained that
Robert Cooper. Or
sling the graveyard
ani rip to him and
ober had been un•
got r-uch worse the
bor, a week. Hu
io thio graveyard
eel/ nen-ly all the
e nights hideous by
t has been taken
s to the grave as
people around there
ition, being Ievel-
ists, but they are
he dog visited the
there howling be-
e Difference.
ou any differently
oted ?"
asked iii
ou, I suppose ?"
t the most notice -
you ask them to
used to ; but that
Ce."
ugh now when I
seem interested
ings my children
lona shake of his
hear of -that," he
ked the other in
foreign missions.
of diplomats. "—
gemett.
us," s. id a gen,
that you nevei
miry r of the soft.
out a gal, sah,''
eahs ago. Sam
tubbed de ram
git duh, and de
1. We bof wah
teed ob me hit -
t, we brought
ah standin' neap
in ?" asked the
ested.
vallyble mule,
skeart like. So
ble prearrange-
d to pay for de
nce 1"
cellon•
ty-seven years
was marked by
chsruhe, where°
larger number
e visited him
he Prince held
had a hearty
pon him. He
large number
from all parts
rous deputa-
the country
ted him In
enting I0,000
et, the Prince
e closely as-
e himself was
ted aspersions
The environs
y thronged a1l
s of honoring
At night the
ed and atorch-
The Prince's
in Berlin and
any. A tele -
sent to the
f ,the members
le.
in ?„
. She's dead."
d ?"
g�ht up stairs
shoes and
jnst soaking.
p,' whenever
Nic_Iello' in
considerable
an Austin
t aeknd the
• was the
low whether
:es to wait,
:nty minutes
Uu.
tor of the
for flowers
urply," re-
riean Beau-
leys ?"
Ity-five pe;
'hey've got
WHAt HE RE1i1E1[BE IS.
�toreSt: Incidents in the Life of a
j peer in the H. B. Oo's Service.
Indian's Terrible Uexenge—i Woman
Alt prays For a Looking -glass in Exchange
for Der Child.
Going up in the train to Coldstream, re-
cently, I sat in the seat behind a very old
man who was watching the scenery, as the
carriage dew along, with evident enjoyment.
There being very few other people in • he
car, we soon got into conversation, that is
to say my fellow traveller did, for I sat the
whole time in delight and listened to him
speak about old adventures and early days
Canada. We had not been speaking
above a couple of minutes when I found out
that be was a pioneer of pioneers, and that,
though physically old and feeble, his mental
capabilities were as
BRIGHT AND ACTIVE
as ever. So I sat still and let him go ahead,
switching him off occasionally by a judi-
cious word or two into the subjects I more
particularly wished him to speak of. It
would be impossible to crowd into such a
abort sketch, as this is intended to be, half
of what my companion said, nor could I,
however much I tried, give an idea of the
manner in which each anecdote fell from
his lips, nor of the animated gestures and
powerful word pictures with which he gar-
nished his remarks.
" I was a raw Scotch lad in the m days,
he said, " when we broke up home in Wick
Ind I tumbled off to Lon Ion with the old
man, who was going to see me safe aboard
the Hudson Bay company's ship Prince of
Wales. I was apprenticed for the usual
years, and on the 2nd
number of h of March,
1851, we sailed away, down past the docks,
out into the Channel, and off to sea, I won't
Teak of the voyage now, beyond saying
Chet, as in all the H. B. Co.'s ships at that
time, the apprentices were treated with the
greatest kindness, and the vessels belong-
ing to the corporation were always splen-
didly manned, on account of their reputa-
tion. Our chief officer was the father-in-law
of Senator Macdonald, and our captain one of
the best known skippers sailing out of Eng-
land. We arrived in Hudson's Straits in
the latter end of the year, and sailed up
them before entering the Bay, staying at
several small native trading posts ono the
way. At one of these, as our ship sailed up,
through the
SMOOTH ICE-COLD WATER,
I happened to be busy in the lee chains,
and when we swung round on our anchor
chains a long skin canoe hauled in right
alongside me, and hooked on to the chains
on which Ti was standing. In the bow of the
canoe was a young woman, with a child in
her awns, and, as they got underneath me.
1 palled out from my pocket a small, crack-
ed piece of lookingglase that I had bought
for a penny before I left Wick, and held it
right ever her face. She looked into it,
screamed with delight, and then offered me
her baby for the precious treasure. She
cried and screamed alternately until I gave
her the glass, and when she handed me the
child in return I put it back in her arms
and waved her away. She could not believe
that she was to have possession of both for
several minutes, and when our interpreter
explained it to her she passed up, out of the
boat, four ivory tusks, which I took, and
Ifterwards sold in Montreal for six hundred
dollars. So out of my penny investment I
made thirty thousand per cent. That would
have satisfied Jay Gould, wouldn't it?"
asked the old man, as he plunged into his
second tale.
" When the 6Prince of Wales t eached
the upper waters of Hudson's Bay, I was
told by the old hands aboard, who had been
in those parts before, that they would show
me some,
WONDERFI-L ESQUIMAt x SHOOTING
before we got up much further. They then
proceeded to attach to some fine string some
big ship's biscuits, and tied them, with about
hang of three feet, to the extremity of every
yard of the vessel. When we reached James
Bay, which was our next point of call, the
water was rather rough, and, as we let go
the anchor, the old Prince was shaking and
tumbling about not a little. This, however,
did not deter the natives from crowding
►round us in their skin boats, and a shout
went 'up as they recognized the biscuits,
for they knew what they meant. And in a
minute a man fantastically clothed got up
to the bow of the largest canoe with a bow
and arrow in his hands, and, as he was
steered round the ship, fired upwards. Out
of six shots he cut four strings, clean in two,
and caught in his hands three out of the
four biscuits. I have never since seen or heard
of such accurate shooting, even when men
were armed with the latest invented rifles.
"When I left the ' Prince of Wales,' and
after a series of adventures, reached the
Fraser River, still in the service of the 13 B.
Co., I was sent up to posts on the river, and
for some time was engaged in salting and
pickling salmon. When the fish were
brought up from the river we used to pre-
pare the salt in the barrels and stand. them
outside round about the fort. One day, late
in the season, we had about ten barrels out-
side, full of the clear, strong pickle, all
ready for their fish, when about twenty
ugly -looking Indians came down to the fort,
with weapons reversed and all signs of ab-
iect submission on their faces. Mr. James
Murray Yale happened to be in the fort at
the time, and it was soon ascertained that
they were all suffering from the worst sort
of ophthalmia, their eyes being distended
and bloodshot and in a very bad condition.
The tribes about us, whose members were
our fishermen, were hostile to those who
had come down, and some of the local chiefs
determined, as they dared not fight at the
fort, to wreak their vengeance upon them
in some other manner. Accordingly, three
of their women, prompted by the chiefs,
approached the afflicted warriors and
told them that some medicine had
been just made for bad eyes, but it was
to be distributed among the river Indians,
and that none would be given -them because
they were hostile. ".However," they went
on, " if you are quick and will go to -night
when the white men are asleep and dip your
heads in those barrels for two =mutes your
Byes will be bright and good once more."
That same evening everybody in'the fort
was aroused by aterrible screaming and
yelling, and rushing out, headed by Mr.
Yale, we found the 20- visitors in a terrible
:ondition, their . eyes and faces saturated
with the strongest brine pickle ever made..
They were at once ordered to plunge in the
:aver, and for several hours behaved like
madmen. Our t,octor succeeded in allaying
the torture of several of them, but it was
loon ascertained that eight were blinded for
tife. Three years later, sometime after our
Jost had been removed from that point, I
heard incidentally that the Indians who
tad practiced the Joke bad been wiped out
exieteeee by the tribe to which the blind-
ed me, :Tong 4. So that justice sometimes
gets evened up among the medians aawell as
n>thite men."—Victoria (13. C.) Colonist.
vrarsn *tearh requiree a cool head.
QUEER THING -ABOUT BANKS.
They Give the Depositor Very Slight Evi-
dence of Their Debt to C ipt,
" Did you ever give any particular
thought to how insignificant and informal
is the evidence of debt which a bank gives
its regular depositors in return for the large
sums of money the depositors leave with
them ?" asked the head of a big mercantile
house, as he glanced at the entry just made
in the firm's bank book, which a clerk had
returned with.
" For the $3,073 in gold and currency,
to say nothing of the $5,263.20 in drafts
and silver, which we left with the bank
just now, all we got in return were the six
figures and the date ; no promise to pay—
not even an I. 0.1.1e from the bank Where
in any other department or any other cir-
cumstances of mercantile life can one find
this equalled?
" Positively nowhere else ! In many re-
spects I consider this feature cne of the
seven wonders known of in connection with
no other period of the world, so far as I
know.
Some day we will hear of a gigantic
fraud of some sort or other as the result of
the present deposit book system. Already
many small ones have happened, but have
been hushed up by the banks.
" It is a generally accepted fact in bank-
ing and mercantile circles that this is the
one weakest spot in the business doing of
to -day.
" Think of it a minute ; no contract—not
the touch of the pen or a line of printed
matter acknowledging obligation on the
part of the banks in return for the millions
of money daily received by them from
depositors
q
toil .
It is
P certainly a remarkable
thing and one wbich should be changed—
but how ?"
ASLEEP FOR NINE YEARS.
A Young Woman Who Dosed Off In 1$83
Still Sleeping.
A remarkable case of suspended anima-
tion, of scientific interest, is referred to in an
issue of the English Mechanic, The sleeper
is a young woman named Marguerite Boyen-
val, of the village of Thenelles, in France,
who fell into a cataleptic condition on May
29, 1883, since which day she has never
shown the slightest sign of returning con-
sciousness. When the actual nature of this
profound sleep was realized by her medical
attendants from the non-success which at-
tended all efforts to awaken the young wo-
man, attention was given to sustaining life.
As the jaws were rigidly,fixed, it was found
to be impossible to introduce food into the
stomach, and injections of nourishment
were resorted to.
During these nine years she has been free
from all cares of life,- without thought or
motion, consequently there has been no ap-
parent waste of muscular or nervous tissue.
The hand of tine seems to have spared this
unconscious sleeper, no change has taken
place in her countenance, she appears no
older to -day than when she tell asleep nine
years ago at the age of twenty-five. During
this time the growth of hair and nails has
completely ceased ; the joints have become
quite stiff through disuse, to such an extent
that the arms, if raised, will remain in that
position for an indefinite period,
The eyes are turned upward, so that the
pupils are entirely out of sight on opening
the eyelids. The lips, when moved apart,
seem to lack the elasticity necessary to re-
turn spontaneously to their original position.
About Animals.
Spiders are seven times stronger in pro-
portion than lions.
The pig has forty-four teeth, the dog has
forty-two, and mankind only thirty-two.
A cocoon of a well-fed silkworm will
often yield a thread 1,00) yards long, and
one has been produced which contained
1,295 yards.
A cat the other day killed a big alligator
in Florida by jumping on its neck and
biting through the tender hide until it
reached a vital spot.
It is known that the hoofs of horses were
protected by boots of leather at a very early
period in the world's history—at a time
which at least antedates Pliny and Aristotle,
both of whom make mention of the fact.
Snail's eggs absorb moisture. The most
singular thing about them, however, is their
marvelous vitality. They may be is
in
a furnace and thus reduced to powder, yet
on the application of moisture they swell
and regain their vitality, batching out as
freely and successfully as if they had been
let alone.
It is the present expectation that -every
species of fish and other aquatic animals
large enough -to be seen, which is native to
inland water and to the Atlantic and the
Pacific oceans, except, perhaps, a live whale,
will be exhibited in the fisheries depart-
ment of the Exposition.
A few years ago the owners of a river -side
farm in southern Indiana published a report
which seemed to prove that for a few weeks
at least, birds of certain species are apt to
hibernate, like bats and squirrels. A num-
ber of laborers had been clearing a patch of
wood at the river shore, and came across
several martins or chimney swallows that
had taken refuge in a hollow sycamore tree
and appeared numb or half dead with cold,
but on being brought to a warm room reviv-
ed and fluttered about the windows as if
nothing had happened.
A GROUP OF DON'TS.
How tevoid Incorrect Forms of Expres-
sion and Colloquialisms.
Do not say " He speaks bad grammer."
but " He uses poor English."
Not " I am real ill, "_ but " I'm really ill."
Not " I feel bad," but "I feel badly."'
Not " Hadn't ought, but " Shouldn't
have."
Do not begin all remarks with an exclam-
ation such as " Well !" " Say !" " Oh !"
Do not say " Pm not going, I don't be-
lieve," but "I'm not going, I believe."
Not a "free pass," but a " pass ;" not
"new beginners," but " beginners ; " not
"elevated up," but "elevated."
Not "I am through dinner," but " I have
finished dinner.
Not " It is.. too salty," but "It is too
salt."
Not "It is tasty, but ," It is tasteful."
Not " Light complected," but Light
complexioned."
Not " He don't come to see me," but "He
doesn't come to see me."
Not " Who are you going with ?" but
" Whom are you going with ?"
Not incorrectly " She wrote to Nell and
I," when you say correctly, "She wrote to
me."—jCity and Country.
Often the Case.
Ted—"I feel dreadfully mean, old boy."
Ned—"So ?"
Ted—"Yes, Dear Mies Oldgirl gave me
the handsomest present I ever received
and I -sent her only a pair of gloves."
SAVED BY A MATCH,
On the north side of Manitoulin. Island is
situated a small village known as " Little
Current," which takes its name from a nar-
row channel of water lying directly before
it and separating it from one of the many
small islands that lie between Manitoulin
and the, north shore of Lake Huron.
As I was standing here one day gazing at
the dark waters of the channelwhirlingand
eddying in ceaseless agitation as if some
troubled spirit concealed beneath vainly
sought surcease from sorrow, I was accosted
by a tall, bronzed and weather-beaten
stranger, who, judging from his long boats,
blue mackinaw and red sash, I concluded
to be a "shanty -boy ;" nor was I wrong in
this conjecture. In the course of the con-
versation which ensued he spoke at some
length concerning the singularity of this
current, and told me that the waters were
never at rest. Sometimes they would flow
for several days in one direction ;
then they would turn and flow
as steadily in the other. So to and
fro, year in and year out, their action never
ceased. Even in the depth of winter during
the hardest freezing weather the channel
had never been know to remain frozen over
for more than a few hours, or at most, a day
at a time, although at this point it is scarce-
ly more than a furlong in width.
"I know the place pretty well," said he.
"In fact, there was something happened to
me once over on that island, --Goat Island it
is called—that has caused the whole scene to
be impressed upon my mind in a way that I
am not likely soon to forget.. I nearly lost
my life on that spot, and if you like I'll tell
-youexpressed a y how it was."I at once expr s d
de-
sire to hear his story, which he thereupon
narrated something after the following man-
ner :—
Away beyond that line of blue hills you
see ycnder, about 40 miles from here, lies a
dense pinery, where some 5 years ago I was
working in a lumber -camp. The wiuter set
in early that season, and a very cold winter
it was. We had two feet of snow by the 1st
of December with a steady spell of sharp,
freezing weather. Now• my -parents live on
Manitoulin here, not more than a mile from
where we stand, and the day before Christ-
mas I made up my mind to come home and
spend the day with them ; for I always
make it a point to come home at Christmas,
although I may be away all the rest of the
year. Some way or another I don't think
it would be Christmas to me if I was away,
on that day. At any rate they always
expect nie there when the time comes
around, and I always manage to be there.
They say we shanty -boys are a pretty rough
lot, but I guess the worst of us don't forget
home and mother at such times.
Between here and where our cam
was located there was and is yet nothing
but a howling wilderness, and no re-
gular road to travel by. Consequent-
ly I was obliged to hire an Indian guide who
could take me by the most direct route and
make sure of reaching my destination. The
day before Ohristinas then we set off on our
tramp, expecting to reach Goat Island here
about night -fall. You see between this
island and the North Shore lie a great many
islands. The channels which separate these
are generally frozen over in the winter time,
so that there is no trouble in crossing from
one to another. But a person can never be
sure about the " Current" here, for though
when the weather is calm and cold for some
considerable time it may freeze over solid
enough to carry a man across, yet as soon
as the wind rises, the open water outside is
put into commotion, the current rushes
through here with great violence, and in a
little while the ice is broken up into smither-
eens. However, on this occasion as there
had been an exceptionally long spell of calm
freezing weather, eve expected to cross in
safety. But even if the passage should prove
to be open, we knew that by signalling a cross
to the village we could get a boat to come
off and take us over, as there is one kept
here for that purpose.
Well it was a long trudge, and to make
matters worse I had not been used to tramp-
ing for some time previous. In addition to
this the walking was heavy, for the snow
was loose and fluffy causing our snow -shoes
to sink down considerably at every step.
Then too there were plenty of hills and
rocky ways to climb up and down, so that
before two-thirds of the journey was com-
pleted I was pretty well tuckered out. But
Joe—that was my guide's name—was used
to long marches, in fact he had done scarce-
ly anything else all his life, so that this was
mere child's play to hien and he showed no
signs of flagging. I resolved not to be out-
done by an Indian, for I knew he would
brag about it afterwards. Therefore I tried
to treat the matter as unconcernedly as pos
sible, as it it had been the most enjoyable ex-
ercise imaginable.
When we had completed about half the
journey we stopped to partake of a lunch
with which we had provided ourselves ; and
when we set off again Joe lit his short black
pipe, remarking as he threw the burnt
match away that it was the last one he I ad,
but, that he would purchase more when he
reached the " Current". He thought little
of the incident - at the time, but found rea-
son to remember it afterwards.
p
The trip was a very monotonous one.
Everything was still as the grave excepting
that every now and then the sharp "click"
of the trees told that Jack Frost was busy.
We didn't see a single living creature, not
even a chickadee, to bear us company on the
way. Unfortunately, too, before we reached
the coast -line where we were to take the ice
and cross from island to island un til we reach-
ed this last one, we lost our way, and before
we got right again we wandered some dis-
tance in the wrong direction, and of course
wasted considerable tirre besides. 1 had
now become so tired that I was scarcely
able to drag one foot after the other and
frequently was floundering in the snow by
catching my awkward shoes on obstacles
that otherwise I might have avoided. To
be brief, it was night -fall before we reached
the shore, - and to add to our disappoint-
ment we had not come out at the right
place ant so found ourselves still some ten
miles from Goat Island. The walking was
very good over the ice, however, and Tee
were enabled to dispense wit tur snow-
shoes, which was some consolation.
By this time a northwest wind had risen
and was blowing with considerable force.
The sky had become over -cast with clouds
which were flying along in a wild sort of
chase, and among which the moon soon be-
came so bewildered that she was unable to
give much light. Still the worst of our
journeyseemed a erred over, although I had become
so fagged out that, humilating as it was, I
was obliged to hang on to Joe's arm for
support, much I think to his satisfaction,
for he was very proud of his powers of en-
durance.
Hous I ever managed to struggle on as
far as Goat Island I do not know, and it
would be tedious to tell if I did, but we
got there at last about 10 o'clock. The
wind had now increased in violence and
was blowing a regular gale. It was so keen
that it seemed to pierce the very bones like
darts of ice. - We hastened across the bleak
island to the crossing -place and found what
latterly we had too good reason to expect.
The ice was gone. In its place the water
was dashing upon the shore in foam -crested
waves and roaring like a mill -dam. We
were t ho l i te. I was so overcome with
e.01d and exhaustion that with this fresh
disappointment I sank down powerless on
the lee side of that little claml of cedars
you see jus'. to the right of that big rock,
every spark of ambition gone. A11 1. cared
for now was rest and elev. Joe knew ;,he
danger of allowing mei to remain in this
condition and tried to rouse me one of it.
But I only begged him to let me alone and
turned a deaf ear alike to his warnings and
entreaties. I no longer felt the cold. I
was comfortable now, entirely satisfied, and -
asked for nothing more. In fact I was fast
sinking into that sleep which often passes
into the eternal sort. My companion see-
ing that his efforts were unavailing to pre-
vent tor any length of time my dozing off
into the fatal slumber now tried to rouse
the villagers by shouting with all his might
across the narrow channel that had proven
so treacherous in our hour of need. He
could see lights still shining in the windows
of those who had not yetretired forthenight.
and he pictured to himself how comfortably
they were situated around tleir firesides
while we were being frozen outside not more
than a quarter of a mile away. Again and
again he shouted with all the energy of de-
spair, but the roar of wind and waters
drowned his voice and his efforts were in
vain. The louder he called the louder the
noise of the elements seemed to mock hien.
The hour was late and unless some straggler
happened to be on the street at the time it
was very doubtful if all his shouting, even if
it could cover the distance, would attract
any attention. Then he bethought him of
building a fire. But, as you can plainly see,
the island is almost totally bare of timber,
the only thing that at all resembles wood
being those low cedar shrubs which you
notice growing here and there in small
clumps. Fortunately, however, Joe remem-
bered that a small shelter had been built
not more than ten rods from where we then
were for the a,commodation of a few sheep
that had pastured on the island during the
autumn. The boards of this sheep -pen were
all of pitch -pine and when once set on fire
would make a great conflagration. Joe soon
had them wrenched from their fastenings
and piled in a heap. Then with his long
clasp -knife he quickly prepared an abund-
ance of fine shavings, and when everything
was ready put his hand into his pocket for
a match. It was not until that moment
that the fact flashed upon his mind of his
having used the last match to light his pipe.
Could he have possiblyoverlooked one some-
where in a corner of his pocket ? He made
a thorough search but found nothing except-
ing the broken end of one, and that the
wiong end. Then he searched my pockets,
—I was lying all the while like a log en-
tirely unconscious of what was happening
around me,— but I had never been a smoker
and had no oc.lasion to carry matches, so he
found none on me. Then he hunted his own
pockets again in a persistent sort of way, as
you know a person will do even after he has
lost all hope of finding what he is looking
for.
The future looked dark. Onethingseem-
ed certain, that if help did not come soon I
would be past all help, for I was by this
time completely overpowered by the stupor
that had stolen over my senses. As for
himself, being inured to all scrts of hard-
ships, he could possibly have weathered the
night out, but he could not bear the idea
of seeing a fellow -being perish before his
eyes.
Now in the midst of his despair, as he
still listlessly rummaged in his vest -pockets
in an aimless sort of way, the fore -finger of
his right hand found its way through a hole
in the upper edge of his pocket. This was
the entrance to a larger pocket, or rather
the space between the lining and the cloth
of his vest. Now right down in the very
corner of the lining his finger encountered
something that caused him to give a great
start of surprise. For there where it had
lain safely concealed for a long time, no
doubt, was nothing more nor less than
the piece of a match. But it was only one
match, or rather only the piece of one match,
and life or death depended upon the success
or failure of igniting it. Joe, however, was
a cool-headed fellow with plenty of nerve.
He redoubled his care with the shavings,
made them so fine and light that a spark
would almost set chem off. Coarser kind-
lings were placed around these ; every stick
was put into its proper place, and all being
ready he crouched down closely over the
heap with his over -coat unbottomed and
drawn around in such a manner as to exclude
every breath of air. Then with steady hand
he drew forth the precious fragment of
match upon which so much depended.
Even at that moment he was not sure that
it would ignite, for if it had been damaged
by dampness all his pains would prove use-
less. .But another instant would decide
everything. Life or death. With a quick
motion he struck the match. It burned up
brightly into a little flame. In an instant
the shavings were on fire. In the next the
heavy pieces were aflame and burning like
torches. Ever; available plank and board
and stick was piled upon the rapidly increas-
ing blaze, and in five minutes a great roar-
ing bon -fire was flashing through the night
our signal of distress.
Joe now took his stand before the fire
facing the village, and whenever the wind
lulled tried the effect of a regular old-fash-
ioned war -whoop, at the same time throwing
his arms about in a wild, dramatic way.
His efforts were not in vain this time, for
soon after he heard faintly an answering
call. Then he saw a lantern flashing about
on the opposite shore. Shortly afterwards
came the dip, dip of oars through the water.
But of all these things I knewnothing,
and when I cane to my senses I was lying
in bed and someone pouringstimu]anta down
my throat. I could hear the buzz of re,k:1-
iar voices in the room. In fact, I was safe
beneath the parental roof with mother and
father standing by the bedside. .It was
three weeks before I was on- my feet again
but if it hadn't beenforthat lucky piece of
match, it is not likely I would ever have
been on them again, or telling you now why
it is that I remember " Little Current " so
well.
Lynn, Mass. V. H. Mc--.
About the Tongue. • .
"The boneless tongue, so small and weak,
Can crush and kill," declared the Greek.
` The t onguedestroys a greater horde,"
The Turk asserts, "than does the sword."
The Peraian proverb wisely saith,
" A lengthy tongue—an early death."
Or sometimes takes this form instead,
"Don't let your tongue cut off your head."
"The tongue can speak a word whose speed,"
Say the Chinese, " outstrips the steed."
While Arab sages this impart.
" The tongue's great storehouse is the heart,"
From Hebrew wit the maxim sprung,
EDISON
Was asked, "can electricity be -used in
case of war ? "
" That," said he, " I want to talk about
It is true I have invented an electric for
pedo, the Sims -Edison torpedo, which
have sold out to the Armstrong Gun Com
pany. It is a very fine thing. It is put o
a wire, as of course you understand, an
moved by electricity. It can be run o
two miles ahead of a man-of-war's bow and
kept at that distance ready to blow up any
thing in reach. It is a very pretty and de.
structive toy. But it is not in that kind o
thing that I take pride. What I want
see is some foreign nation coming to tib
country to attack us on our own ground
"That is what I want to see, and I thin
that electricity will play such a part in wa
when that time comes it shall make gun
powder and dynamite go sit in humble ob
scurity with the obsolete flint arrowhea
and call him brother. Every electrician
when that time comes, will have his plan
tor making the Iife of his enemy electrically
uncomfortable. Here is one item of defeus
which I have in mind.
"It is simple as AB Car -lave never spoken
or written about it before. With twenty
five men in a fort I can make that fort abso
lutely impregnable so far as an assault is con-
cerned, and I should only need twenty-five
igen in the fort to do it. This is not guess-
work, but a matter of absolutely scientific
certainty. In fact, twenty-five men would
be a very liberal garrison. Some years ago,
when the wires loaded with heavy electric
charges began to go up everywhere, I pre-
dicted that there would be danger of the
firemen receiving deadly shock by the elec-
tricity running down the streams of water
which might cross the wires. The insurance
people laughed at the idea. But I tried it
on a cat, and the cat and I found my theory
to be true. That is to say I did, and the
cat found it out if there is another world
for cats. He never knew anything about it
in this world.
In each fort I would put an alternating
machine of 20,000 volts capacity. One wire
would be rounded. A man would govern
a stream of water of about four hundred
pounds' pressure to the square inch, with
which the 20,000 volts alternating current
could be connected. The man would simply
this stream of water back and forth
with his hand, playing on the enemy as they
advanced and mowing them down with
absolute precision. Everyman touched by
the water would complete the circuit, get
the force of the alternating current, and
never know what had happened to him.
The men trying to take a fort by assault,
though they might come by tens of thou-
sands against a handful, would be cut to the
ground beyond any hope of escape. For-
eign soldiers undertaking to whip America
could walk around any such fort as mine, but
they never could go through it. It would
not be necessary to deal out absolute death
unless the operator felt like it. He could
modify the current gently, so as simply to
stun everybody, then walk outside his fort,
pick up the stunned generals and others
worth keeping for ransom or exchange,
make prisoners also of the others if con-
venient, or if not convenient turn on the full
force of the current, play the hose once more,
and sen d them to the happy hunting grounds
for good."
Western Union sixteen yes rsugo foci ,I , -
and spent the whole of it in :experirnenti'ng
r�-
in trying tc make a wire carry six -messages
instead of four. I didn't succeed. Bothat
finan iallq I am worse off titan I would have
been had I never invented the gaadruplei
system."
w
"How about the stock ticker ?"
"That employs about five hundred men
n at work and represents an investment of
d $8,000,000, paying about 5 per cent. a year.
ut From that invention I have received at
different times $50,000. I spent 360,000 in
. getting the thing up. That again was a
loss."
f "Nfor the telephone, Mr. Edison. -
to Everybody supposes that you and Prof. }sell
is have millions stowed
.swag" , made on your
, telephone inventi
k " Bell invented the receiver. 'That is the -
✓ end of the telephone which you put to your
. ear. He was trying to use that siultane-
- ously as a transmitter, lint could not mak*
d it go. The thing, therefore, did not pay.
, I invented the carbon transmitter, which
made the telephone a financial seeress by
making it commercially available. Bere are
e the financial figures on the telephoe e, which
really stagger me now that I come to look
them up. Throughout the world there are
at least one million telephones in use. They
pay $50,000,000 a year rental. They repre-
sent an actual investment of $100,000,000 al
least, capitalized at twice that sum, and
paying about $10,000,000 to year profit.
That invention of mine was a very good
thing for the girls, which is a gratifying
thought. It employs 20,007 people, mostly
young woman. I got for the telephone
about $102,000 in all, Taking out what I
expended in experiments I probably realized
$25,000 in clear profit,. Bell made about
half a million. Many people imagine that
be made an enormous fortune, but he didn't.
It was his father-in-law who made a vast
fortune by gettmg control of much stock.
" My electric pen and mimeograph
duplicating apparatus is used very largely
here and in Europe. Three hundred men
make a living out of it. The profits on that
are not large.
" My incandescent light system is the
most satisfactory to contemplate as regards
the employment it gives to great numbers
of men. Thoughout the world 36,000 men
make a living out of that invention. In
my shops at Schenectady I employ 3,800
hands; at my Harrison lamp works, 1,000; in
the New York works, 150. About four
million lights are burning. These represent
an investment of cold cash of a hundred .
millions. I can count up eighty-seven mil- '-
lions.
lions. In addition to that custo fere have
paid twelve millions more for the installa-
tion of wires. The thing is capitalized,
taking all of the companies together, at
about two hundred millions, paying from 4
to 20 per cent a year. My patents on in-
candescent lights netted me about $140,000 I
spent about $400,000 in experimenting.
" The electric railway is, of course, not
such a big enterprise. I built the first in
the United States at Menio Park in 1879.
It was three miles long, and on it I obtain-
ed a speed of forty miles an hour. I sold it
out long ago. I did not get my money back
on it.
" The phonograph is a new thing. It
will take four or five years to pioneer it.
It will be greater than the telephone. To
pioneer athing is to get it on its feet. It took
twelve years to pioneer the typewriter. Yes
I might invent an electric typewriter, a
noiseless one, but the thing is not pressing,
as it is in very good condition now. I have
sold the phonograph out, but about that
there is a complicated story, which need
not bo told. I have made no money out of
it, but there is one thing which I am now
working on out of which I shall make money
and of which nobody can get any share ex-
cept the boys here who own the thing with
me. That is the magnetic concentration of
iron ore. It is the latest commercial thing,
I have got up. I have a mill at Ogden, N. J.,
with a capacity of 2,000 tons in twenty
hours. This is the idea briefly. Iron ore is
not Bessemer ore unless it contains as little
as a fifty thousandth part of one per cent. of
phosphorus. If it has more phosphorus than
that, it is brittle and cannot be used for
making Bessemer steel. We are obliged for
our Eastern manufacturing interests to im-
part Bessemer ore - from Algiers, Cuba,
Spain, etc., as the freight from Michigan
is too expensive. We import about 1,600,000
tons per year. New Jersey contains the
largest strip or area of primal rock contain-
ing ore in the United States. There is pro
bably more ore in this State in the prima
rock than in all the rest of the States put
together. The magnetic concentration of
that ore would produce enough to supply
the United States for centuries.,The pro-
cess of concentration—that is, of xtracting
magnetically the small particles of ore from
the rock in which it is scattered --makes it
Bessemer ore of the highest quality by de-
stroying the phosphorus in it. I have been
for three years leasing all the available de-
posits of ore in New Jersey.
"From my various patents, so far as the
patents themselves go, I - have stood an
actual loss in experimenting and in lawsuits
of $600,000. -I should be better off if I had
not taken out any patents. I do not mean
to say that I am a pauper, as you might
think from my talk. But my money has
not been made out of patents, or out of any
protection that the Patent Office has given
me. I have made it all out of manufactur-
ing, and I have made quite enough to pay
for my experiments and toget a good living
which is all that I care about."
" Mr. Edison, Chauncey Depew in his
speech at the World's Fair dinner comment-
ed on the fact that wheras'in the exposition
in Philadelphia there were only a few over-
head wires to tell the tale of electrical in-
ventions, the Chicago exposition will con-
tain a building of great size, devoted ex-
clusively to the progress of electricity, and
filled with machines, nearly all of them
the work of one man. If you were to try,
regardless of space, how big an exposition
of your own work do you think you could
get up ? How many machines have you
worked on in your life ?"
" WeIl, it would be hard to say. I have
worked on as many as forty machines at one
ime. An exhibition of all the machines
hat I have worked at and experimented on
f I had kept them would cover about
wenty-five acres."—N. Y. World.
The picture raised by Mr. Edison is cer-
tainly a most beautiful and attractive one.
It is nice to think of all the fine descriptive
matter that cculd be written. Such a fort
and such a warfare as Mr. Edison has plan-
ned would make old-fashioned generals and
M. Detaille, of battle scene fame, turn in
their graves. We should have infantry
moving on lofts at a quickstep, dressed all
in rubber, with chilled glass soles to their
shoes and non-conductor handles to their
swords and guns. Generals would look
much funnier than a picture from Punch,
charging at the head of their armies riding
on horses shod with rubber arctics, the
generals themselves carrying large rubber
umbrellas, with gutta-percha handles, over
their heads.
The world owes a great deal to Mr. Edi-
son for the things he invents, and for the ease
with which he gets out of the common place
and makes life worth living. This fact
was pointed out to Mr. Edison, and then
this question was put to him :
" The world owes you a great deal. How
much has it paid you for the work you did?"
Mr. Edison laughed.
"Oh, I don't know," said he. "Prob-
ably as much as the world thought it was
worth.
" Mr. Edison, some people think you have
made untold millions. Incidently they are
glad if yon have. Others say you have not
made much of anything. That most of the
money your inventions produce goes to make
other gentlemen fat and happy. Could
you take the trouble to go carefully
over with me all your inventions, make an
estimate of the amount of money which they
produce, and give me some idea as to what
share you got out of that wealth.
Mr. Edison thought he could. First he
wrote down the following list of his inven-
tions, which, as he said, were his commer-
cial inventions ; that is to say, those which
by returning a profit had proved their own
success.
As he made the list he made comments on
the various inventions, and that list is in-
teresting, because, written in his own hand-
writing, it give. his own estimate of his
personal share in the various electrical in-
ventions with which his name is connected.
District Telegraph.—" Of that I am one-
Ihalf inventor."
(,quadruplex System of Telegraphy.—
"That is my invention."
Stock Ticker.—" Of that I am one-half
inven tor."
Telephone. —" One-half my invention."
Electric Pen and Mimeograph.—" My in -
Incandescent Lighting System.—" My
invention."
Electric RaiIroad.— "I am one of the in-
ventors of that."
Phonograph—" My invention."
„: he district messenger service is in use t
in 6cities and towns in the United States. t
Thenvestment amounts to about $4,800,000 i
payg about 5 pet cent. The system em- t
ployabout thirty thousand persons, averag-
ing a day salary. .
" The quadruplex system of telegraphy
" 0 miles of ‘q�eatern Union
is in use on 72,00
wire. Eleven years ago the Western Union
reports stated that the quadruplex system a
saved $560,000 in interest and repairs. Inas- s
much as every mile of wire actually built b
does the work of four miles of wire, the s
quadruplex system represents 216,000 miles
of phantom wire, worth $10,800,000. a
" On these $10,000,000 worth of wires t
there is no repairing to be done. The value u
of those phantom wires is, therefore, repre-
sented by a saving of $860,000 in repairs at h
g
The5$eight of Hie Ambition.
A teacher had devised a scheme to pre-
-
re.
sent idleness in the school -room. She had
corner of the blackboard ruled off and in-
cribed over it the well-known proverb that
eeins with " Go to the ant." Whenever
he caught any youngster idling, down
went his name under that motto. One day
small boy was paying attention to any-
hing but his books, and the teacher spoke
p.
"Johnny, if you don't go to work F shall
ave to put your name down in the slug
and list."
" Well," responded Jo?as .,y. " I wouldn t
mind being a slugger, 'caner tlq.an. when I
got in a fight, I'd always lick."
- 4 a mile annually, besides the interest on
the $10,800,000 which it would have taken
to build them. Three thousand men work
on my duplex instruments."
"Mr. Edison;°how many millions do you
"Though feet shouldslip, ne'er let the tongue." ma
The sacred writer crowns the whole, - do
Who kepa his tongue doth keep his
soul.
ke out of the millions which that inven-
n of yours creates ?"
`Not many. I sold the system to the
The British and F, .nch Goverrmra{as have
agreed to prolong the modes'revesec t in re-
uard to the Newfoundland rashe&iern.