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l l fir" “ ignite on being rubbed against' any INVENTIUNS or BOYS MARCONI STUMBLED ON WIRE- LESS TELEGRAPEY. __â€"â€". Combination of a Child, a. Negro, And 3. Saw Gave Us the Cotton-Gin. Sir John Brown, who made the first rolled armor-plates for modern battles-hips, was but a lad 0f Simeon when the sight of a carriage worked by a spiral spring at a Village fair: suggested to him the conical spring buffer for trucks, out of which, after a long struggle, he ultimately made a fortune. Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cottonâ€"gin, got the germ of his great idea from seeing, through the insterâ€" stices of a hut, an old negro work a. hand-saw among the freshlyâ€"picked cotton stored within. The teeth of the saw tore the lint from the seed easily and quickly, and young Whit- ney (he was barely thirteen at the time), realised at once that a machâ€" ine working a number of similar saws simultaneously would revolutionise the cotton-growing industry. He said nothing to anybody, but set to work building models and exâ€" perimenting. I-Iis difficulties were enormous, for he not only had to make his own wheels, cogs, and so forth, but he had also first to forge his own tools, and even to manufacâ€" ture the plant wherewith to color his many plans and drawings. But he succeeded in the end, and though the outbreak of war and other hindrances prevented the invention from being actually placed upon the market until many years afterwards, the first complete cotton-gin ever Constructed was built fro-m.those very models and plans, and with scarcely a single alteration. THE SECRET OF CAST STEEL. At 'Attercliffe, near Sheffield, in 1760, there lived a. watchmaker nam- ed Huntsman, whose temper had of- .ten been tried by the defective qualâ€" lty of the watch springs then in use. He sometimes wondered if it were not possible to make these articles of like nature, and at last came to the conclusion that if he could only melt a piece of steel and cast it into an ingot, its composition would be the same throughout. He experimented, and at last sucâ€" ceeded. The supply created the de- mand. And ere long Huntsman was turning out cast steel ingots by the hundred of tons, and reaping a forâ€" tune. The'workmen in the mills were paid very high wages, and-were sworn to secrecy. Nor did they betray their trustâ€"at least not wittingly. But one bitter night they gave shelter to a. wan, halfâ€"frozen lad, dressed in tattered corduroys. He asked no questions. Indeed, he seemed dozing most of the time in the warm glow of the furnaces. Nevertheless, when he went he took the secret of steelâ€"casting with him, and within half-aâ€"dozen weeks there were as many mill-owners in Sheffield working the new process. ‘ THE SAFETY BICYCLE. Mr. Harry Lawson, the inventor of .‘the modern chain-driven bicycle, was, in 1869, an apprentice at the Phoenix Engineering Works in North London. Next door lived a man who had brought oVer from France one of the old original “boneshakers,” a, mas- sive affair, weighing about 100 lb. Young Lawson and another appren- tice used to climb over the wall durâ€" ing the dinner hour for the purpose of having surreptitious rides on the machine. But Lawson, being of very short stature, could only reach the pedals with the greatest difficulty. So one day, during the owner’s ab- sence, he took the mechanism to pieces, and tried to devise some plan by which it could be adapted with equal facility to the use of either a big man or a little one. 'As a regult, tw0 years later, the first "safety" bicycle came into be- ing. It Was built in a shed attached .‘to a disused limeâ€"kiln near Brighton, and carried secretly by night in a cart to Clayton Hill, where the ini- itial trials took place. Samuel Crompton, 'as a boy of six- teen, copied the best features .of the spinningvmachine invented by Har- reaves and Arkwright, added to .them some of his own, and, after Zthirty months of anxious and secret experimenting, produced the first spinning muleâ€"so-called because it was a kind of hybrid between Har- greavcs’ Jenny and Arkwright's waterframe. THE RAW APPRENTICE L'AD was, however, no match in cunning for the cotton lords, who soon found out the secret of his new machine, and shamelessly robbed him of the fruits of his enterprise and ingen» uity. Many years afterwards, it is true, they used their influence to secure for him a, Parliamentary grant of $20,â€" 000, but he was then a. broken-heart- ed and disappointed man, to Whom the money came too late to be of any real service. The late Sir Isaac Holden’s inven- tions in connection with the wool- combing industry have almost ob- scured from the public’s remembrance the fact than. he was also originator of the lucifer match. This happened while filling the position of lecturer on chemistry at the Castle Street Academy, Reading. He used to. rise at four in the morning in order to pursue his studies, and found the oldâ€"fashioned flint and steel extremely iiiconvenient. So, one day, he made a paste of phosphorus and other subâ€" stances, stuck it on the end of a rough substances. Holden himself did not realise the importance of his discovery. Not so, however, a pupil of his to whom he showed it. This youngster, who chanced to be the son of a London manufacturing chemist, at once wrote to his father about; and, shortly afterwards, lucifer matches were isâ€" sued to the world. THE HYDRAULIC CRANE. Lord Armstrong, as a. boy, was in- tended for the law, but as it happenâ€" ed there was a, water-wheel of curious construction near the office where he worked, and the man who owned it explained its mechanism to the inâ€" quisitive lad. He also explained to him an idea he had for utilising the power of falling water in order to lift great u eights. A few brief words set young Armâ€" strong thinking. A little later he started experimenting. And the reâ€" sult of it all was that there was per- fected, in due course of time, the enormously powerful hydraulic crane, which has rendered possible the am- bitious enterprises of the modern builder. Last and most wonderful of all comes the case of the little Italian lad Guglielmo Marconi, who, through seeing a conjuror perform certain tricks by means of electrical agency, was enabled not so very long afterâ€" wards, to astonish the world with wireless telegrnphy. His first experiments were carried on in a field on his father’s farm, and his apparatus, consisted merely of tin biscuit boxes set up on poles ‘ of varying heights, one of which was connected with a crude transmitter, and the other with an equally crude receiver, both 01? his own manufac- ture. This was in 1886, when he was in his fourteenth year; and he was barely twenty-one, a shy, mod- est, beardless stripling, when he was in London explaining to the greatest scientists of the age the greatest dis- covery of the centuryâ€"Pearson’s Weekly. ______+_____._ SMART SAWS . Charity is a cheque drawn upon heaven. In friendship we give our heart; in love we lend it. Glory, like champagne, giVes us inâ€" toxication and thirst. One buries friendships more often than friends. If you Cannot inspire a Woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself; all that runs over will be yours. The lords of the earth have “pleasâ€" ures," the people have “joy.” Adversity, which makes us indulâ€" gent towards others, makes them severe towards us. The first love that enters the heart is the last that leaves the memory. Man changes all his opinions save the good one that he has of himSelf. In the eyes of men whose opinions we share, our vices are halved and our virtues doubled. Ordinary people form the metal that the great man stamps with his image. 'A man full of good qualities lacks often the one quality that Would make them all valuable. It is as diflicult for a young wom- an to learn that she is plain as it is for her to be ignorant when she is pretty. The less we have of power, the more We love to use it. Religion is a. hospital for wounded souls. ___.__+___. KEEP Aâ€"G OIN' ! If you strike a thorn or rose. Keep a-goin’! If it hails or if it snows, Keep a-goin’! ’Taint no use to sit and whine, When the fish ain’t on your line, Bait your hook and keep on tryin’, Keep a-goin’! world- When the weather kills your crop, Keep a-goin’! When you tumble from the top, Keep aâ€"goin’! S’pose you’re out 0’ every dime. Gettin’ broke ain’t any crime; Tell the world you’re foelin’ prime, Keep a-goin’! When it looks like all is up, Keep a-goin’! Drain the sweetness from the cup, Keep a-goin’! ' See the wild birds on the wing! Hear the bells that sweetly ring! When you feel like singin’,â€"sing! Keep a-goin’! *4“ WHERE ENGLISHMEN EXCEL. It is a somewhat remarkable fact that Englishmen are engaged as tea- tasters in nearly every part of the world. Russia is probably the greatâ€" est teaâ€"drinking country, and nearly all the best tea goes there. The Russian tea firms employ English tasters, and it seems to be generally accepted that they are more reliable than those of any other nationality. Tea-tasting is an “art” that re- quires great tasting tea, a taster does not swal- low the liquid, but merely keeps it in the mouth for a few minutes. Someâ€" times one man will taste as many as thirty varieties or samples in the course of half an hour. W HARD SUBSTANCE. The crown of a human tooth is covered by a brilliant white cap of abstemiousness. In DRUNKEN ORGIES AS MUKDEN FALLS. Description of Riot and Panicâ€"- There Was Vodka Enough For All. This is the story of the orgy and the panic of the Russian evacuation and retreat from- .llul-‘den. Some features of it are almost incredible of belief, but I have photographs and signed statements to prove them, writes a correspondent. The Russians were demoralized at the outset by the destruction of their stores March 3, when a large amount of supplies were burned around the Mituran headquarters of the army, on the extreme right. Vodka casks were opened with swords and h-atchcts, and the men knelt down to drink the muddy liquor, which was flowing ankle deep on the ground. Some used as gob- lets the cases of exploded Japanese shells which fell around them. Some- times firearms were discharged acciâ€" dentally, sometimes the report that the Japanese Were but half a mile away caused a commotion, but the soldiers soon resumed their orgy, all disobeying their officers. Thousands of soldiers wore lying around in drunken stupor, and even wounded olllcers Were so intoxicated that they were only able to crawl arou’ndl. ALCOHOLIC DEMONS. The storm enveloped the scene, giv- ing the frenzied crowd the appear- ance of alcoholic demons battling in a hell of smoke. The soldiers deâ€" veloped Anglopho‘oist "sentiments that were dangerous for me, but Rikach‘ell‘, the Russian newspaper correspondent, helped me to escape. A similar scene occurred at Fuslian which the Russians call Quanshan, and afterwards at Mukden itself. ("in March 4- I returned to Mukdcn, Where I found 'a remarkable assembly of armed and wounded Hunhuses in the Russian service. They all were young men, gorgeously dressed, and fierce as tigers. They draw their swords on the spectators on the slightest provocation, and the terâ€" rorâ€"stricken citizens of ll'l'ukdrn gazed at them from afar. I. do not know why these men were assembled, or what became of them. MUKDEN IN FLAMES. On Friday morning, March 10, I found that Mukden had been evacuâ€" ated during the night. The Russian settlement was burning and drunken soldiers were throwing handfuls of cartridges into the flames. I rode northwards along the railway. Sev- eral miles to the north I found 5,000 men, the debris of seven regiments, lying behind the railway embank- ment, under heavy fire from the east. Many corpses were lying about, the Wounded were neglected, and the fields were strewn for a. dozen miles with provisions, rifles, cartridges and dead horses. The leader of this force said that he had been farther north, but that the Japanese had driven him back.. Everybody was dispirited, for the soldiers knew they were surrounded. In the evening I went east with the intention of making a wide deâ€" tour to avoid the Japanese. Woundâ€" ed men were strewn thick on the ground, wailing, “Brothers, do not abandon us.” I gave my horse to a. Wounded man, who had lost his own in the confusion of the retreat. I helped place other wounded soldiers on gun carriages until there Was no room for more. Some of the men fell down asleep. Many intoxicated men lay on the road. Some were tortured to death by Chinese bandits, and I saw many corpses that had been stripped naked. CORPSES STREW THE GROUND. I walked all night over rifles and cartridges, tormented by thirst. Freâ€" quently I fell over corpses left on the ground. In brief intervals the J aps’ searchlights swept the horizon toward the north. The Russians alâ€" ways tried to hide from this searchâ€" light and all the [men shivered when- ever they saw it fixed on them like the gaze of a gigantic eye. Several villages were blazing afar off. Some J apancse scouts fired a, few shots at close range toward midnight. Dawn found me in the hilly coun- try near Talienpu, 12 miles north of Mukden. The enemy was invisible and we thought we were saved, but when we Were entering a side valley the firing began from the south. We rushed wildly northward like frightened sheep, but were soon stopâ€" ped by a. sharp fusilade from an un- ‘seen enemy in the north. We were also fired upon from the east and shelled at close range from the heights to the westward, the shrapâ€" nel bursting among the soldiers, who rushed to and fro in panic. They seemed to imagine they were Icing fired upon by their owu men, and raised loud cries of “Vol!” "Veil" and uttered in loud, inarticulate wails the most dreadful sounds I ever heard. BUGLES SOUND SURRENDER. The officers finally succeeded in getting the men lined up in two shallow furrows, but, being absoâ€" lutely poworless against the enemy's fire. the men threw away their rifles and waved white handkerchiefs, while enamel, which is not only the hard- the buglers sounded “Cease fire.” It est tisSue sisting as it does of 96.5 per cent. of mineral and of 3.5 per cent of the Russian of the human body, conâ€" seemed hours, however, before the Japanese ceased firing. Meanwhile commander was killed animal matter, but also the hardest and many officers and men wounded. sliver of wood, and found it would knowu organic substance. The. Russians became convinced that the J apanese intended to giVe no quarter. The soldiers hitherto had suspected me, but now a depuâ€" tation of them, weeping hysterically, asked me, being a. British subject, to go and beg the Japanese to spare them. I replied that it was imâ€" possible. Suddenly the firing ceased, and from the right and left two detachâ€" ments of Japanese infantry seemed to rise out of the ground. They ad- vanced rapidly, and when they were close I saw they wore the uniform of the Imperial Guards. They met the Russians like long-divided brothers. JAPS FEAR RUSSIAN KISSES. The Russians heartily shook hands with the Japanese and tried to kiss them. The Japanese, however, obâ€" jected to the kisses, fearing the Rus- sians wanted to bite them. We reached Linoâ€"Yang late at night. The city was quiet, but the Government offices were still open. The scale afforded a great contrast to Linoâ€"Yang under Russian rule. "he Japanese were living in the com- fortable Russian houses at the staâ€" tion. Thousands of dirty, ragged Russiâ€" ans were penned insidc a fenced en- closure near the station, sleeping on the bare ground, without covering, without decent privacy, and under the contemptuous gaze of crowds of Japanese and Chinese wh'o peered through the bars as if at a men- agerie. Many of the Japanese held their noses on account, they said, of the evil odor emanating from the Russians. Words cannot convey an adequate idea of the tremendous hu- miliation the white race thus sufferâ€" ed in the eyes of the Chinese. .____+._.â€"â€" MANY RUSEAN EXltES THEY ARE THE BEST EDUCAT- ED IN THE EMPIRE. By One Who Has Voluntarily Left St. Petersburg Never to Return. I am not a revolutionary, or in any way a dangerous character, but an advocate of moderate and pruâ€" dent reform on strictly constitutionâ€" al lines. I am well known in St. Petersburg, where I am a member of several learned societies, and on the “douma,” or local town council. My father held a very high office in the Government service, and several of my sisters are to-day maids of honâ€" or to the Empress, writes an exile in Pearson’s Weekly. ' epidemic in hull Yet because of my 0; inions of re- form, and principally because of my attaching my signature to a. petition, advocating the reception of a depu- tation of workmen, my name has been removed from the list of Gen- tlemen of the Court. My house in the Bolchoia Morskaia has been kept continually under csâ€" pionage since that moment. I could not walk or drive without spies fol- lowed me, as if I were some crim- inal. Hints have been throwu out to me that worse punishment may follow. , For weeks this torture continued till I could stand it no longer, and so I have sold up my property and migrated to the FREE SHORES OF BRITAIN. Already in Lon-don I have met some thirty Russians who only a few weeks back ’were law-abiding citizens of St. Petersburg, I have been given the addresses of more than a hundred wealthy exiles, who have voluntarily come to your coun- try, while I am assured that many hundreds of my countrymen have recently made their homes in Paris. As you Will See by your news- papers trainâ€"loads of wealthy Rusâ€" sians are leaving my humiliated and missâ€"governed country. The bureaucracy is forcing us out. The ignorant peasant, by the perniâ€" cious police system, are whipped inâ€" to submission; the intelligent and educated citizen who allows himself opinions is either forced to suppress them or be banished from his home and loved ones, perhaps for ever. Because we seek to amend governâ€" mental methods we are called Nihil- ists. The term is very misleading. There is no section of the protesting party in Russia to whom the word Nihilistic, in the sense of destruc- tion. really belongs. Rather should we be called reformers. Yet, because of our viewsâ€"and amongst our ranks are members of the nobility and a great number of the best educated in the Empireâ€"for the advancement of our country, we are hounded about. and TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS. In the penal settlements and mines of Siberia are thousands of cultured men and women whose Only offence was their dissatisfaction at govern- mental methods. The majority of them have been deported under what is called “the administrative process,” which does not require any legal form to carry into effect. They have. been sent off because it has been considered neces- sary to restrain them, lest they might be “tempted to do something which would tend to raise a pre- suinption that his or her presence at home was likely to become prejudiâ€" cial to public order.” ' Yet every such charge is supposed to be investigated by the Governor of the district. The investigation is a sham. It is too much trouble for the average lazy, drunken otlicials. Some of Russia’s MW have been exiled to Siberiaf! could tellvyou the. lifestOI'y of hundreds of them. My friend, Professor Kavalâ€" efshaya, under “administrative pro- cess,” was exiled to Minnsinsk, in Eastern Siberia, and his wife, Maria, was deported to the mines of Ka'ra. After several years of separation she was allowed to join her husband, but .a. change of governors taking place, she was sent back again to the mines. On her friend, Macrame Sigida, another 1.0]itical exile, being flogged to death for striking the commandant, Madame Kavalefshaya. COMMITTED SUICIDE. Korobenko, a novelist whom I met. frequently in St. I’eteerurg, was ex- iled on two occasions by administraâ€" tive process. Ilis wife shared his exile with him. On the first occasâ€" ion 113 was sent to Tomsk, 2,000 miles from St. Pctersburg, and on the second to Yakutsh, 5,000 miles- away. Fortunately he managed to escape to the United States, where- I believe he lives toâ€"day. Felix Volkh‘ovsky, a poet of repute, was exiled for political reasons, but escaped, and is at. present in Lon- don. Dr. Beillic was captured in. Ivangeroc‘. on the charge of giving lessons to two ladies who were “po- litically untrustworthy.” He was- sent to Verkhoy-ansk, 6,000 miles army, his faithful wife following him. After traversing 4.000 miles. how-- ever, and coming to a place called Vcrkholensk, which she believed was- the place where she Would find her husband, and discovering that she was still 2,700 miles from him, she became insane, and died in Tokutsh. prison. I could fill a volume with the painful details concerning political exiles I have lmOWn personally. But enough has been written. Besides- these poor sufferers, every Continen- tal city has numbers of intelligent Russians who have voluntarily ex- iled themselves. Thank Heaven, my reader, that you live in a country where freedom of speech, thought, and opinion are universal. They are a blessing beyond all price. _____..+._.___. THEY ALL EZELPED . This incident happened in the» streets of London, England. 'A gen- tlcman hailed a bootblack‘ for a shine. The lad came rather slowly for one of that lively guild, and beâ€" fore he could get his brushes out an~- ' other larger boy ran up and pushed him 'asidve, saying, “Here, you go and set down, Jimmy!” The gentleman was indignant at what he deemed a, piece of outrageous bullying, and sharply told the new-Comer to clear out. ' “Oh, that’s all right,” was the re- ply. .“I’m only going to do it for him. You see, he's been ill in the hospital for more’n a month, and can't do much work yet, so us boys all turn in and give him a lift when we can.” ‘ “Is that so, Jimmy?” the gentle-- man asked. "Yes, sir,” wearily replied the boy, and, as he looked up, the pallid, pinched face could be discerned even. through the grime that covered it’. “He does it fur me, if you’ll let him," “Certainly; go ahead,” and as the bootblack plied the brush the gentle- man plied him with questions. "You say all the boys help him in this Way?" “Yes, sir. When they ain’t got no job themselves, and Jimmy gets one, they turns in and helps him, ’cause he ain’t ’very strong yet, you see." “What percentage do you, charge him on a job?” “Hey?” queried the youngster. "I don’t know what you mean.” “I mean What part cf the money do you give him, and how much do you keep out of it?” “You bet I don't keep none; I ain’t such a sneak as that.” ' “So you give it all to him, do you?" “Yes, I do. 'All the boys give up what they gets on his job. I’d like to catch any fellcr sneakin’ off the poor chap, I would.” The shine being complete, the gen- tleman handed the urchin half a dol- lar, saying, “You’re a, pretty good fellow; so you keep ten cents and ‘give the rest to Jimmy here.” “Can't do it, sir; it’s his customer. 'Iere, J im.” He threw him the coin, and was off like a shot after a cus- tomer of his own. “Works well, don’t it?" comment- ed Jimmy, ten minutes later, turn~ ing a cartâ€"wheel. “That makes two dollars.’ ’ +â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"- VIOLIN MAKERS , In the village of Mittenwald, in the heart of the Bavarian highlands, live men who manufacture the greater part of the world’s supply of violins. Mittenwald has taken the place of Cremona, although it may be an- other 200 years before its violins Can be mentiOned in the same breath with those of the famous Italian town. Of the 1,800 inhabitants of the village over 800 are exclusively occupied with the manufacture of violins, and the output reaches the incredible figure of 750,000 violins per annllnl. They are exported to all countries in the world, the better instruments going to England and America. One organization of makers alone exports 15,000. .. __+____ Motherâ€"“You must be patient with him." Daughterâ€""Oh, I am. I know it will take time for him to see that he can’t have his own way.” “Do they make you full at home at the Gwillises?” “.{adeed they do! They quarrel right before me, greatest men just as if I were one of the family!" » avenger-i - . a " 1-. :1 -. v ' ' - ' .v en ~ ' - t. I .l‘rv ‘v ' I “2., r V':"uv',‘.v'v.lj'." ,' , .I~ > .:,-r,‘r-:.. ..