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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron News-Record, 1894-12-19, Page 18s THE BUSINESS OF JOKE -MAKING. ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY, New York lite Center of a Floneheiee Hnetaeaa. The business of ,joke.maltir g and short -verse writing Is a trade in itself and has its center tart New York. In al most every city or barge town there aro one or two bright wits who have crack- ed some exceptional jokes which some comic paper has printed and paid for. In many a place there is some local punster whose efforts are the i)ride of his narrow circle. But only in New York does this work center itself. tiV'hott I speak ofjoke-writing its a busi- ness, witty some I meta it literally, There is a coterie of about forty writers. most of whom live in New York, who do nothing but write for the comic papers. They do not wait for a happy inspiration, but make the inspiration demo to them. They write jokes and verse for their living, and with some of them it is a very good living indeed. Those aro the, lieu the conn c papers depend pon ter inost of their material, and at hast ton of thorn make from $40 to $80 a week "just joke -writ- ing." Some of these aro well known to the general public front their names over verses or short sketches. L'ut some of thein again, who writ.: merely short "squibs," are known only to taw editor. It is no unc'Onmem thing for ring one of these men to tura out front fit'ty to two hundred jokes (branl. n u, ii•ar- ranted nut to fade) a wool:, n"d ten Lits of verse. The professional joke -writer frequetltie' sits down' without an idea in his head. Sonne turn of speech ':Onhes to hien—he writes down his joke on a small rectangular slip of paper, just the size to slip into an envelope coavdnient- ly. That, joke, or his train of thought, suggests another, and on he goes until in two hours he may have written twenty-five jokes. Then the business part of it comes in. By a system of special bookkeeping, he enters the head of each joke in a book, and places opposite the title the paper to which the, joke is sent. As a general thing, he will put the twenty-five squibs which he has just finishedinan envel- ope with an "addressed and directed envelope" inside, and start the package on its journey around the world of humor. He sends it first to the paper which pays the highest price, and then in re- gular order from weekly to weekly, until he has exhausted the list and got - ton down to where they pay as little as fifteen cents perjoke—a starvation price for the professional humorist. Suppose the first paper to which he sent the package took three jokes. When the others came back, he checks off the three as "taken" and "paid for,"if the paper' in question pays on acceptance—and most of them do to the leading writer. The rest he sends to the second paper, which may, perhaps, take four. The remain- ing jokes are again checked off and the package started again. There are as many as twenty-five papers and periodi- cals which pay for original jokes, so that the humorist has an excellent chance of getting rid of all the jokes of a series at some price. Of course he is continually sending out new batches to the first paper on his list and thence to the others, so that his name and his humor are constantly before the editors. The Infant Napoleon. There is a later myth, which recalls in detail that when the pains of parturi- tion seized his mother, she was at mass, and that she reached her chamber just in time to deposit, on a piece of embroi- dery representing the young Achilles, the prodigy bursting so impetuously into the world. To the man himself, and to the world, his nature ,was the product of the hour. When in banish- ment at Longwood, and on his death• bed, he recalled, the circumstances of his childhood in conversations with the attendant physician, a Corsican like himself : "Nothing awed ane ; I feared no one. I struck one, I scratched another. I was a terror to everybody. It was my brother, Joseph with whom I had most to do; tie was beaten, bitten, scolded, and I had put the blame on him almost before he knew what he was, about; wag telling tales about him almost before hs, had begun to know hirnse'f. I had to be quick; my mamma Letitia would have restrined my warlike temp 'r; she would not have put up with my defiant petulance. Her tenderness was severe, meting. out punishment and reward with equal justice; merit and demerit, she took both, into account." Of his earliest education, he said at the same time : "Like everything else B Buonaparte, it was pitiful." Lucien n naparte, hiegreat-uncle, was a canon. a man of substances (5,0'30 livres a year) and of some education—educa- tion sufficient, at least, to permit his further ecclesiastical advancement. "Uncle" Fesch, whose father had re- ceived the good education of a Protest- ant Swiss boy, and had in turn impart- ed his knowledge to his own son, was the friend and older p'aymates of the turbulent little Buonaparte. The canon taught him a few notions of Bible history, and doubt- less, also, the essential catechism ; from his eleven - year - old un- cle he learned his alphabet. In the sixth year the child was sent to a (lance's school. The boys teased him because his stockings were always down over his shoes, and for his devotion to the girls, one named Giacommetta especially. He met their taunts with blows, using sticks bricks, or any handy weapon. According to his own account, ho was fearless in the face of superior numbers, however large. Of French ho knew not a word; he had seen lessons at school in his mother tongue.—Prof. Sloane's New Life of Napoleon in the November Century. The Impulse of Sueclde- Is the impulse of suicide curable ? Not directly. It dep 'nds on family, on race, on the strain of that competition which marks our advancing civilization, Of these the two first are ineradicable. though doubtless capable of being modified in the course of generations through judicious marriage. The third is, for the mass of men, unattainable; yet individuals who know that they have an hereditary taint might, of their own free will withdraw from those oc- cupations which rouse the nervous sys- tem to abnormal excitement, and even at the sacrifice of some of the world's goods, lead wholesome lives, which (Would give the murderous instinct less chance to conquer them. Physical weakness, especially that resulting from over -strain, betrays and weakens the control over the mental flaw. 'Tis the old story the mons sana cannot per- manently dwell except in the corpus swum—Hospital. Ito Use an Depleting Svelte# on the Ocean neer. A short time ago a Frenchman brought himself to the notice of scion• tific naturalists by undertaking an ex• pploring toter of the Red Sea, from which he brought back a strange and curious collection ,of fish and shells, embracing several specimens entirely unknown. Continuing his rusenches on the coast of France, he assumed a divers costume to observe at the bottom of the sort the • inetamorplhos's of certain mollusca itn. possible to cultivate in aquaria. He was struck with the wonderful beautjr of the submarine laudscnpes and resolved to photograph what he could, since a sim- ple description would savor too much of an over -vivid imagination, At first he worked in shallow water \viol it water- tight apparatus and the clearness of the water allowed him sufficient light to sensitize the plates, but proportionately as the depth increased clearness diinin. ish:'d and the motion of the waves clouded his proofs. Then the young scientist conceived the idea of utilizing magnetism in an apparatus of his owls invention. This apparatus consists essentially of a bar- rel filled with n' vg,'n, and surmounted by a glass b, 1: o11taining an alcohol lamp. On the fi Imo of the lamp, by means of a me.rhenical contrivance, powdered inagneti•111 is thrown, fierily; as often as a view is taken. The bar- rel is pierced with holes on the lower side in such a manner that as the oxy- gen dinaiuishes the sea water enters, so ' preserving the equilibrium between ex- ternal and interred pressure. I3eautiful submarine photographs, taken on the very bed of the Mediterranean at Ban- yuis•ser-Mer, near the Spanish border, have been produced in this way. Hardly a day passes now but now and important photographs are produced by cameras of ever-increasing power. New stars have been revealed that were heretofore obscure from man. It is dif- ficult to realize how far these worlds aro from us. Otte of the most popular and eminent lecturers on astronomy is Sir Robert Ball, who uses simple and gra- phic illustrations to give his hearers ideas of magnitude and distance. For instance, he says, going at the rate of the electric telegraph—that' is, 18 i3Oo0 miles a secorld—it would take seventy-- eight years to telegraph a message to the most distant telescopic stars. But the camera has revealed stars far more distant than these. some of which, if a message had been sent in the year A.D. 1—that is to say, 1,894 years ago—the message would only just have reached some of them, and would be still on the way to others, going at the rate of 188,- 000 miles a second. Itnesinu Pickpockets, One day, at the dinner -table of a grand duke. the French Ambassador extolled the dexterity of his fellow - countrymen, as exemplified, among other things, in the cleverness of the Paris pickpockets. "I should not wonder if the St. Peters- burg pickpockets could give them a start," replied the grand duke. And seeing an incredulous smite play around the features of the Ambassador, he ad- ded: "Will you bet that, before we rise from the table, your watch or some other valuable will not be taken from your person ?" The Ambassador accepted the wager for the fun of the thing, and the grand duke telephoned to the chief constable asking him to send at once the cleverest pickpocket he could lay his hands on. The latter was to receive the full value of every article he managed to "annex" and be allowed to go unpunished. The man came and was put into liv- ery and told to wait at tableawith the other servants. The grand`I;tt keke told hien to give him a sign as soon as he had accomplished the trick. But he had to wait a long time, for the arnbassa• dor, whose watch was the article to be experimented upon always kept on the alert, and even held his hand to his fob when conversing with the most distin- guished guests at the table. At last the grand dupe received the preconcerted signal. He at once requested the am- bassador to tell him the time. The lat- ter triumphantly put his hand to his pocket and drew forth a potato, instead of his watch. There was a general burst of laughter in which the ambassador himself joined; though with a wry face, for he was unmistakably annoyed. To conceal his feelings he would take a pinch of snuff—his suuff-box was gone. Then he missed the seal ring from his finger, and lastly, the gold toothpick which he always carried about with him in a little case, Amid.tho hilarity of the guests the sham lackey was request- ed to restore the articles. but the grand duke's merriment was changed into alarm and surprise when the thief pro• dnced two watches, two rings, two snuff-boxes, etc. His Imperial Highness made the discovery that he himself had been robbed at the same time.—Das Nene Blatt, Tannage on Heredity. Now, the longer I live the more I be- lieve 111 blood—good blood bad blood, proud blood. humble•blood, honest blood, thieving blood, heroic blood, cowardly blood, writes the Rev. T. DeWitt Tal- mage in the December Ladies' Home Journal. The tendency may skip a generation or two, but it is sure to come out, as in a little child you sometimes see a similarity to a great-grandfather whose picture hangs on the wall. That the physical and mental and moral qualities are inheritable is patent- to anyone who keeps his eyes open. The similarity is so striking sometimes as to be amusing. Great families. regal or literary are apt to have the charac- teristics all down through the genera- tions, rind what is more perceptible in such families may be seen on a smaller scale in all families. A thousand years have no power to obliterate the dif- ference. The Targe lip of the house of Austria is seen in all the descendants,and is called the Hapsburg lip. Tho house of Stuart always gleans in all genera- tions cruelty and bigotry and sehsual- ity. Witness Queen of Scots, Witticism Charles I. and Charles II. Witness James I. and James II., and all the others of that Imperial line, Scotch biood means persistence. Dutch blood means cleanliness and good breed ing. English blood means reveernce for the ancient. Welsh blood means religi- osity. Danish blood means fondness for the sea. Indian blood moans roaming disposition. Celtic blood moans fer- vidity. Roman blood means conquest. Tho Jewish faculty for accumulation you may trace clear back to Abraham of whom the Bible says. "Ile was rich in silver and gold and cattle," and to Isaac and Jacob, who had the some family characteristics. DASH OF THE CHEYENNES. Hew Young Warrtora Plundered wagons of a 1i'rolglttunll Onret, "Talking of bad Indians, the ones that make Olio most trouble are not the old warriors,said the veteran plains freigbhter, as be smoked his pipe at the hotel ()tat) at Eldorado, IKan. "Those have made their reputations and got wives and polities, and have little to Gain and much to loco by going on the warpath against the whites. With the young buck the case is different. He wants plunder for a start in life, and, more then that, he wishes to nualco a game for himself in his tribe. So he is always ready to start hostilities, and will tape desperate risks to capture scalps or horses. "This brings me to an attack by In- dians upon a freighting train, made up of wagons drawn by six -mule teams, that was traveling'' in company with mine from Kansas City to Deliver in the early sixties. It was done in such a way and was so unexpected to; to be almost laughable, although it cost the outfit eighteen good mules, some freight and a good deal of bother in re- pairing damages and getting straight again. 'At this time the Indians were at peace with the whites, so 110 trouble Was looked for from theme, We had come to a creep prairie ravine with a good-sized stream flowing along the bottom of it. My train was in alit lead and had got across the gulch to tho high prairie be- yond, while the last wagon of the other outfit was in the bottom, just pulling out of the stream. "s\Ve hadn't sate) an Indian or it sign of one for weeks, and as they were sup- posed to be friendly, nobody was keep- ing very much of a lookout, There came a tremendous yelling that made every man in the rear train juinp, and round a bend in the bank. 15e yards up the creek, came about twenty•five young bucks in war paint, whoopingandshak- ing blankets' to stampede tate mules as they rode their ponies on the dead run for the rear wagons. The rearmost teamsters jumped to the ground and ran for the head of the tram. The Lt, diens paid no attention to them. but went for the last three wagons. While an Indian jumped to the seat of each and caught the reins and whip, others seized the mules' bridles and helped turn thein down the creek. Before the teamsters ahead could fairly realize what was going on the Indians had rust the mules and wa tons into the water a short distance be ow. While some of them unharnessed or cut loose the mules others overhauled the freight, taking .whatever struck their fancy. "Ther° was no escort along and but few extra men, so, of course, the first thing to do was to get the other wagons out of the ravine as soon as possible. By that time the Indians had plundered the captured wagons, and, driving the mules ahead of them, were off, safe from any pursuit that we could make. The teamsters sent a shot or two after them, but were too badly rattled to do any execution. `When I saw by signals that there was tronblo in the rear, I formed my wagons in a circle and sent all my spare men back to help the others out. All the help we could give, however was to lend a hand in getting the wagons out of the creek—one of them was upset —and pulling them out of the gulch. There they had to be abandoned, to- gether with as much of their freight as the Indians had left, until we could get to a station where more mules, could be bought to send back to haul them in. This delayed the other train a week, while I kept on, and the Denver firm to which my goods were consigned held the market at their own price during that time. "Wo never got any trace of the robber Indians or their plunder. All that could be known about them was the report of the badly scared teamsters who saw them. By that we knew that they were Cheyennes, and very young bucks, some of them being boys, apparently not mord than fifteen years old.''—New 3 ork Sun. Russian Tax on Amusements. Russia has probably the most unique tax in the world. It is called the "amusement tax;" and was instituted about fifteen months ago to found an institution for the poor under the name of the "Empress Marie Foundation." Tho tax is laid upon every amusement ticket sold, and the managers raise the price accordingly. Already nearly 1,000,000 roubles have been raised in this way (a gold rouble is worth 77 cents and a silver rouble 60 cents), of which St. Petersburg contributed 200,- 000 roubles. All cities except Riga are merriest in December and January, and the dullest in February and March, on account of Lent. Riga prefers to have its fun in August. Our govern- ment taxes whisky and tobacco because they are regarded as luxuries. Russia treats theatre -going and club life as luxuries. Elephnnts be the Teak Yards. To any one for whom machinery has a fascinataton, there is nothing stranger than the first glimpse of elephants at work about it. Alnidst the hissing' swish of belting, the buzz of saws, the multitudinous separate rattles mingled into a universal roar, and vibrating through a big sawmill, the ponderous figures of these slow-paced helpers pre- sent a curios; sight. One elephant places the log upon a movable platform to be squared, while another waits with restless eyes and flapping cars until the saw has (lone its work, and then taking a twist in an at- tached rope, slips the loop of it deftly over a big tusk, and leads the log away. Another piles lumber, lifting the long piece between tusks and trunk, end pushing it into place with the latter, if the pile is low, or with a broad fore head, it the (height demands it. Fetch- ing and carrying, lifting and stacking, pushing and pulling, these (smile and patient giants do) their work without complaint, week in and week out. Sometimes thc4 mahout (oozee it is in Burmese) walks beside the beast, some- times he sits on his big neck or broad back. But his Indolent figure never seems to be necessary, for one cannot watch an elephant at work very long without acquiring• the conviction, how- ever mistaken, that the intelligent direc- tion of his labor Is all his own.—The Century. The Soni of Frankness. Mr. Boetleson--Would you like the date put in our engagement ring, dear? Miss Beryl—By all means ' and then, if there's room, run in seine little motto like, "Any port in a store', ," or " A bird in the hand," or something ,pretty like that.—Leslio's Weekly. LL LADIES -- DMIRE THE BEAUTIFUL. And that is why the elegant Stock of CHRISTMAS GOODS just received at Are creating such a sensation in Clinton. A look at our Windows will convince you. Novelities of all kinds to make your Wife, Daughter Broth- er, Sister and Friends happy for years to come. Call early and select your presents. LADIES' and GENT'S Gold, Go/dfih/ed and Silver WATCHES. Gold Spectacles and Eye Glasses. FINE WATCH REPAIRING A SPECIALTY.. J. BIDDLECOMBE �---Watchmaker, Jeweler and Optioian.— ESTABLISHED 1855. SEA MONSTERS IN BATTLE, Alligators Overcool., by 13Ig Sharks la a Plena, n Determined Fight, • "The strangest sea fight I ever saw or heard of," said a statl'olticor ot'the navy to a New York Sun reporter, "was a battle that raged ort' the I'aeitie coast of Mexico between sharks and alligators. Between Manzanilla and Colima, a dis- tance of eighty miles, there is a large lake of blackish water, the .bed of which is several feet above the sea. This lake was filled with fresh water lisle and reptiles of all kinds, and the alligators that suhiierl themselves on its banks often attained a leegtlh of twenty to thirty feet. They were very fierce when aroused from their 'accustomed lethargy. The barrier separating tate ocean from the lake is a high sand trunk which, though nothing more than a mere spit of land, had. been, prior to this time sufficient to confine the waters of the lake. But a heavy windstorm from the north ast blew the water of the lake down to the south and west and piled it "up so high as to drive it over the levee or dam. Atter a short time a crevasse or sluice was formed, allowing the lake to drain directly into the ocean. Tho rush of water from the lake increased, the sluice became broader and the 300 square miles of lake surface fell lour feet. Millions of fish CA 111 pouring through the crevasse with the water and with these the enormous alligators for which the lake had become noted. "The sluice was fifteen feet wide when we reached it. We stood on one of the banks watching the enormous outrush of water and fish. The latter had attracted the numerous big sharks of Manzanilla Bay, and they had col- lected by hundreds to gorge themselves with the dainty morsels supplied 111 such an unlooked-for manner. The alligators, lass intent, p.rlhaps, upon the fish than upon the rush of waters, which was carrying them on, were met by the ebarky the moment they carne out into deeper water. There the sharks rushed furiously at the more slothful alliga- tors, and at once the battle began. 'r ho alligators, of course, labored under many disadvantages. Although croco- diles are oftenknown to sefin out to sea and spend whole weeks in salt water, the alligator is not found in the ocean. Five or six sharks would attack each saurian as he carne out, not giving the alligators an opportunity to form them- selves into a muss tor concentrated attack or defence. "Each fish and reptile seemed to understand clearly the character of his antagonist, and the powerful tails were brought into requisition as often as the immense jaws. While the alligators were more slow to more than the sharks, the tatter were obliged to turn over on their backs before being able to bite with any effect. This gave the alligators a chance to get away and bring• their wiry, horny tails into taction. Although the hard, bony armor of the alligators prevented them from turning and swishing their tails around as rapidly as the flan, often they could dash forward and snap a shark before the fish could turn on his back to bite or get away. Of course the armor of the alligator, though impeding his movements, was efficacious for a time against the blows and bites of his ad- versary. But after a while the constant sharp snapping of the shark tore it away uit uy- lilt, aha nnany wttn a furl - Os rush the huge shark would fix its sharp teeth in a good grip and crush through a vulnerable part of the alliga- tor as if the armor were an eggshell, The wnudertul strength of the alliga- tor's jaw cache into play, and time and again sharks were thrown almost out or the water. "The fight was carried on upon the surface of the water over an area of a quarter of a mile in plain view of the people on the bank and beach, and from our position we could see many of the movements of the huge animals. ' Sev- eral alligators were thrown upon the beach during the struggle, tore and horribly maimed, so that they di :d in a very few minutes. The whole sur- face of the ocean in the immediate vi- cinity was churned to foam by the lashing of the long tails, while here and there a reddish tinge in the water show' • ed where the combat waxed fiercest. For half the day we watched the battle until at last the - level of the lake went down, the volume of water coming through the crevasse. -decreased and no more alligators were seen. Tho foam on the surface of the ocean became less and less, until at last only the occasion- al swirl of a shark's tail showed where some of the alligators still struggled, or where the huge fish were still struggled, among themselves over the disintegrat- ed carcasses." "Gent" In Not. Modern Slang, The word "gent" nowadays seems to wear its cocked hat on one side of its head, and t0 walk with a caddish swag. ger of• vulgar self-importance. But know a worthy old lady in the country who calls her husband the "old gent,' using it as a title of respect, and such it was in her childhood and long before. In 1754 the Rev. Samuel Davies, erten ward president of Princeton College, traveling in England, describes the Rev. Dr. Lardner as a "little pert old gent," epithets that would net be flat- tering t0 a Inillietcr to -day, nor even dignified for a Minister to use•. "Pert' here had the sense of "lively"—peach as a Kentuckian alight UFO "peart,"" or a New Englander "perk." In- deed, I suspect that Davies g ave the word the sound of "poart." That Davies used "gent" its a terns of respect is shown by his characterization of an- other reverned doctor ns "a venerable, humble and affectionate old gent." It will not do therefore, to account a word recent because of its slanginess. When a smoker professes fondness for the "weed," he does not dream that he is using an epithet applied to tnhaeen by King James I. in 1620. and that nearly 200 years earlier than 1tulcs, in the reign of Edward IV., the hop.plants just coming into England wis cane(' "the wicked Weed." Whet plant had worn this title of contempt Int'eri' the hop I do not know.—Edward Eggleston in The Century. Seems of 1110 Sea, Another typo of warship i4 to be add- ed to the British navy in the "fleet cruisers" ordered ter next year at a cost of $1,000,000 apiece. Thov aro to be 270 feet in length, 40 in brendth, with a draft of sateen feet; their engines must develop 10,000 horse power, and a speed of twenty-two knots. The arma- ment will consist of quick -firing and Maxim guns and Whitehead t(n'p•'dnes only, as they are intended mainly for scouting ser vice. ruVGHT AND KILLED THE EAGLI; Unexpected Plunk Shown by a Settee Dog in I),fenee of a Itaby. "A strange accident happened neat Georgetown, 0., a week or ten days tree," said William S. Bre,dley at the Cochran to a Washington Post reporter. "lent in the suburbs of elle town the little child of a man named Kincaide was playing with a large hunting dog, who was very fond of the little One, and was looked upon as a sort of guardian se the child in the mother's absence. A leg eagle suddenly swooped down on the little 0110 and seized it in his talons to carry it off. The child was too heavy for lien to lift, and before he could make a second attempt the setter had fastei1 his te•'th in the eagle's bo ly. Now, it is an extremely` rare thing for a setter to fight gnaw.+ liu is crowded, but his fondness for the chikl made him conquer his dig nature and sail in like a terrier. The mother heard that child's screams and rust •d to its aseistailce,wliile the dog and tin bird were taming the yard into something' resembling a slaughter nen. It must have berm a terrible fight. It Iasi el several minutes, but finally though frightfully lacerated, Polito got the bit of the king of the air and gave him his (quietus. One eye was hanging out of tete dog's socket, and his lett Shoveler WAS nearly tarn otl'and he received some :rightful wounds in the belly, but the eagle was. quite as badly used up by the ring's teeth. The gallant animal is still living, and with the care he is receiving at the fiends of the child's father rued 'nether, and in tact the whole f'runih', ther,i is 40111,1 hope of his recovery. Tile strangest part about it to rine is that this was done by a setter. 1t' it had been a hound or a terrier it wou,dn't have sur- prised neo." Ile Knew the Law. Miss Sumner (co ttettishly)—Now, in dear old England, Mr. Parke, it is the custom for a gentleman to I1is4 any g'ir leo finds under the mistletoe, I believe Mr. Hyde Parke (siding toward th door)—Why--aw—yes! I believe it 1. the cu+ton ; but—aw—it's not compul- sory, you know! Christmas Conscience. Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee., 110 example sway thee no persuasion novo thoe to (10 anythlnq which then knowest to evil ; so shalt thou always live jollity, for a good conscience is a continued Chrismas. •