McHenry Public Library District Digital Archives

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 5 Jun 1878, p. 3

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J. YAK 8LTKE, Mltor * PwMlaher. f McHENRY. T ILLINOIS Jft-'lllW 11=f. CERTAIN LEOTUlbs. 1130 P.M. p to the country thU t'm too absurd, Mr ny wiLleee. smtonUUTT ion Daren't the money to apendr 1 tell yon that's all You " *-»•**---*• When You'Jl iriah yon had" listened to me, And retrenched in some other direction- - -- .1 tell SKI. zrct v.ilL Ux. B. J" - » • ; • /" • » ' J- r I've told every body we'» going To Long Branch, and then to the Springs; And now to come down to the country! t They'll be ttying fil manner <of thmgB. Have jou thought of the shock to your credit? t That's worth more than money, you pay:, s !>1I hopefolks WillthitakrltismeannesB, 1 IAnd not that you xeallr canH pay. think jou mu&t n^to afford it. " How fott them tomarrvK You haven't the money to spend f " v and nonsense. _ B 8. f • <t Bnt the sirb will be ao disappointed^* It's cruel, it m, dir. 1}. • > .s> To get her invited last winter: Must she write now and say she's too poor \ To buy a respectable outfit? What excuse she can make I don't Vw ' And it never will do to offend them: 1 tell ihe that coal sWteahaveffLuin! M That s the way with you--off upon stocks, Whenever 1 ask for a dollar, Or tell yon the gtrle want new frocks. Seems to me, to be risking vour money In this way is very unwise; And if you will do it, why don't you Invest in something that will rise?. , - a ' You know how we all ft^te the countrr. And just because board there in cheap , To ask us to go there this summer!-- : •' Mr, B., I believe you're asleep! 1 ) I f , 1 --uatper't Batar. 'tflSfefers^EAE -TREE. An Anelent Legend of Flanders. - ONCE upon a tiihe, there iived in the Village of Vicq, on the banks of the Scheldt, a good woman called Misery, who went aboiut begging fromfdoor to door. In those days the village of Vicq was little better than a"hamlet. It lay on the edge of a marsh, and there were only a few miserable farms covered cwith rush^g to4 be seeji. Afisery dwelt lajBaft in 4 lonely;; hul plastered with cray, where her lole* companion was her dog, Faro, and her wordly goods were a staff and a scrip, which too often she brought back almost empty. To tell the truth, however, she had beside in a ljtUeinclosij^,behind her, hqvel, a tree--a single one. Tims tree was a pafer»tree so beautiful that its like was lie?1 jmice gie guxious apple-trea. of the Garden of Eden. The only de­ light that Misery experienced in this world was to eat the fruit of her gar­ den, that is of her pear-tree. Unhappily^ the little boyskof the v^l- lage came to rob her inclosure. Every day Misery started forth with Faro to bee; but,in the autumn Faro remained ' at home to guard the pears, and it waf heart-breaking to both, for the poor woman and the poor dog loved eaoh otijer with a great affection. Now there came a winter in which for two whole months it hailed fit to break the very stones. Then there fell such a snow that the wplves left the woods and came into people's houses. It was a terrible time far the whole country, and Misery and Faro suffered more than the rest. One evening when the wind howled and the snow piled up in great drifts, the two unfortunates Were nestling close to keep each other warm before the dying embers on the hearth, when a knock was heard on the door. Always whenever anyone came near the cabin, Faro barked with rage, thinking that it was the little marau­ ders. This evening, on „ the contrary, he began to whimper gently and to Wag his tail as.a rhark of joy. s, v For. the love of God," cried 4 plead­ ing voice, "open yqyr door to a poor man who is perishing of cold and hunger!'1 • '<• Pull the latch-^tring," answered Misery.' " lb shall never be said that iniuich a tipae as this I would keep one of the dear( Lord's creatures outside." The stranger entered; he seemed event alder and more miserable than Misery,' and had no othqr' covering than a blu& iroek all in tatters. , 44 Sit yoh down, my good man," said Misery. "You have come to a very poor place, but I . have still something left to warm j*>u up with." , She put her last stick on the fire and gave the old man three morsels of bread and a pear, which was all she had left. Very soon the flame leaped up and the old man ate with a hearty appetite. Now, while )ie ate, Faro licked his feet. WhSn her4 gdest had finished, Misery wrapped her «old eoverlet of fustian around ^im and forced him to lie down upon her cot, > while "for herselfl dhe settled herself to sleep with her head resting on her stool. In the morning, Misery was the first to awake. •41 have nothing left," she said to herself,44 and my guest wil^go hungry. *£4t ?u£ see if there is no way to go and( THeVsomething in the village." She put«fier heakd out of tne U,oor; the* hgd ceased to fall, ^nd the sun Ihone as if it were a spring day. She turned back to get her staff and saw *w stranger risen aoiLready to leave. 1 41 Vfhat," said she, "are you going already?" ^ ' t •..» % , " My mission fs fuffiiled,-', replied the unknown, "and I have to go to give account to my master. I am not what I seem; I am Saint Wanon, the patrtn of the Parish of Conde^ and I have been 'suit by the GooctFather to see how my jlaltliful (|nes pracfice charity, which is the Hirst of the Christian virtues. I have knocked at the doors "of the Bur- Somaster and1 burghers or Conde;* I ave knocked at the doors of the Lord and the farmers of Vicq; the Burgo­ master and Bie burghers of uonde, the Lord and the farmers of Vicq have let me freeze atT tffeir thresholds. Thou alone hast had pity tjpon me, a%d thgu art as wretchecf as I. God will reward thee; make a wish and it shall come to Jj^isery croeseil herself and fell,on her H-iL i- w'Greal J Jrreat Saint Wanon," saidvshe, 441 no lpnger marvel that Faro licked your feet, but it is not for reward that I do a charity. Beside, Vhave need of notiil infl^". ff | - T4 Thou fcrt too destitute of everything to have no wants:speak, what wilt th6u have?" _ , Misery kept silent. *t | "Wilt thorn have a beautiftl farm, with the granary*foil of wheafc the wood-house full of wood, thd cupboard - 4ull of bread? Wilt thou have ridhes? Wilt thou have honorsP Wilt thou be Ip. Duchess? Wilt thou be a Queenf"' Miseiy shpok her head. V- • | 4< A saint who has any self-reject ought not to he under obligation to a poor woman," returned Saint Wanon. with aft air of piqtte. "Speak, or I shall think thou refusest me from pride." j "Since you insist upon it, great! Saint Wanon, I will obey. I have there i In my garden a pear-tree which gives me most beautiful pears; unfortunately, the young rogues In the village come to rob me of them, and I am forced to leave poor Faro at home to mount guard. (Grant that whoever climbs my ^ear-tree may not come down With9ut my permission." 'Amen!" replied Saint Wanon, smiling at her simplicity, and after hay- ijog given Mer fcfs blessing, he aet out upon his journey. The blessing of Saint Wanon brought good luck to Misery, and from that time, forth, she never returned home with an empty sack. Spring followed winter; (mimiKor, spring, and autfcmn, summer, The little boys, seeing Misery go off with Faro, climbed up the , pear-tree tod stuffed their pockets; but, when they undertook to come down, they found they wtir^ 'caught fast ill a trap. Misery, on her return, beheld them perched up ift a tree, left them there a good while, and, when In the kindness of her heart she let them go, set Faro barking at their heels. They did not dare to come again; the villagers them­ selves avoided passing the enchanted tree, and Misery and Faro lived as hap­ py as one can live here below. Toward the end of the autumn, Mis­ ery was enjoying herself in her garden in the Sun, when she heard a voice cry­ ing, "Misery! Misery! Misery!" The voice was so mournful that the good woman began to tremble in every limb and Faro howled as though there had been a Corpse in the hottse. She turned around and #aw a man, tall, lean, yellow and ojd, old as a pa­ triarch/ This man carried a scytQMnp as long as a hop polte.; «, * * t ' Misery recogfuz^d Death.' " f v ~ * "What do you want, man of God?" said she, in an altered voice; "and* What have you come for with that spytheP" " „ "I C<$ne tevdo my worfc. Come," fay goo<| Misery| thine ho&T bath #tzii0k; thou must follow iile." • "Already?'? J, - "Already! But thou shouldst thank me, thou who art so poor, so old and so crippled." 44 Not so poor nor so old as you think for mfster. I have bread in the cup* hoard fthd wOodln the pile; I shall be only ninety-five come Candlemas, and as for being crippled, I am as straight as you on my legfc, without offense, be it said." 7 • '*-GO4O! Thou wilt be much better off in Paradise." " We know what WW lose, what we gain by change we know not," said Misery, philosophically. "Beside, it would grieve Faro so much .Jf " Faro shall follow thee. Come, make up thy mind." . Misery sighed. " Grant nie at least a few moments, till I tidy up a bit. 1 should not like to make the people in the other world ashamed of me." Death consented. Misery put on her best gown of flow­ ered Indian muslin which she had had for more than thirty years, her white bonnet and her old - Silesian mantle, all worn but without a hole or a spot; which she never wore except} on the great Saints' days.' While dressing herself. She caste a last glance upon her cabin and called to mind her pear-tree. A strange thought came into her head,, and she could hardly keep back a smile. 44 While I am getting ready, will ydu kindly do me a service, man of God?" said she to Death. 44 If you will get up into my pear-tree *and pluck me the three pears which are left, I can eat them oh my journtrtr."' ' * ' , ; " Be it so," said I)e8thi &nd he got Up in to the pear - t r ee . i » a . ! s ; < ; He plucked, tfye three pe^rp, agd at­ tempted to come down, but, to his great surprise, he was unable to stir from the ti*ee. J r * " ' 44 Ho! Misery!" cried he; "belp me to get down. I believe this cursed tree is bewitched.'** Misery came to the door-way. Death was making superhuman efforts with his long arms and long less, but# every time that he got himself free frorfi the tree, the tree, as if it w^re a living creature, took bold of him again ana f&lded him in.its long branchdfe. •* ' 44 My soul!*1 said she, 441 am not at, all in a hurry to go to Paradise. Thou art very well off. Stay where thou art, my good fellow. The human race will owe me a debt of gratitude." And Misery shut her door and. lift Dfeath perched Up in her ^iear-treek V At the end ol a month, as Death no longer did his work, everybody was as­ tonished to find that there had not heen a single loss of life at Vicq, at Fresnes and at-Conde. The astonishment was redoubled at*the end of the next montk, especially when it was learned that it was the same" r»t .Valenciennes, at Douai, vat Lille ana* bfaipowghoufc ull; Flanders. A like thing had never been heard of, and when the new year came in, it was known by the almanac that the same thing had happened in Frjwt;e,|in Bel- gium, in Hblland, as well "as with the Austrians, the Swedes aftd the Kus- sktns. _ •"" •• The year wfetit4)y, and it wa#aset­ tled fact that for fifteen months there had not been throughout the entire world a single case of death. All the sick had got well without the doctors knowing how nor why, which had not at alt prevented them from taking to themselves all the credit of the cures. This year rolled round like the pre­ vious one, without any deaths, and when it came to St. Sylvester's Day, from one end of tfafe land to the other men embraced one another and con­ gratulated themselves on having be­ come immortal. There were public rejoicings, and they had a fete in Flan- #!*, such as had net bean jeen sfoce the world was. The good Flemings no longer having any fear of dying from indigestion, or JSgut or apoplexv*jrtfiLand drank their ml. It was calculated that in three days each person ate a bushel of gram without counting meat and veg­ etables, and drank a barrel of beer, to sav nothing of Geneva and brandy. , I confess for my part th it 1 find it hard to believe this, but all the same the world was never so happy and no­ body suspected Misery of being the cause of this universal felicity; Misery did net boast of it, from modesty. All went well for ten, twenty, thirty years; but, at the end of tbirtv was not a rare thing to see ofd men of 1-10 and 120 vears, which ordinarily is the age of the most extreme decrepi­ tude. Now, these last, loaded down with- infirmities, with memory gone, blind and deaf, deprived of taste, feel­ ing and smell, insensible of the slightest enjoyment, be£an to "find that immor- fc&fity is not at all the great 'blessing which it had been at first thought to be. They were seen dragging them­ selves felong in the sun, bent double over^ their staffs, with hoary locks, shaking heads, sightless eyes, coughing, tottering:, their flesh, gone, out of fhape, withered up, like sb many enormous snails. The tomett jrere even more horrible than the men. The feeblest of the old men kept their beds, ahd there was not a house where you did not find five or six beds where the ancestors babbled, to the great weariness of their great-grandsons and the sons of their great-grandsons. Tbey were even obltged to get them together in- immense hospitals, where eacb new generation was occupied in taking care of the preceding ones who could not be cored of life. More than this, as there were no longer any wills made, nobody inherited anything, and the new generations possessed nothing of their owh, all the property belonging by law to the great-gra.ndt'athess ana the great-great-gr*ndfather8, tohocotdd not enjoy it. * * Under invalid Kings, governments grewwefik, laws relaxed, and soon the immortals, sure of not being punished after death, gave themselves up to every crime; they pillaged, robboa, but alas, they could not kill! In every kingdom the cry 4'Long live the King" became a seditious ery, and was forbidden under the severest pen­ alties, with the exception of the penalty of death, This was not all. As the animals did not die any more than the men, soon the earth was so overrun with inhabitants that it could not nour­ ish them; then came a terrible famine, and men, wandering half-naked through the fields for want of a roof to cover their heads, suffered cruelly from hun­ ger, without being able to die Of it. If Misery had only known of this frightful state of things she would not have been willing to prolong it, even at the price of life, but adcustomed of old to privations and infirmities, she and Faro suffered less from them than others; and then they had become, as it |were, deaf and blind, and Misery did not take mhch account of what was go­ ing on about her. ' Then men set themselves to work, with as much ardor to seek their final end as they had hitherto done to avoid it. They had recourse to the most sub­ tle poisons and the most deadly weap­ ons; but weapons and poisons only in­ jured |h*ir bodies without destroying them. Formidable wars were decreed. With common accord, in order to render one another the service of mutual destruction. Nations rushed to arms, each against the other; but they inflicted the most fright­ ful calamities without succeding in killing a single man. A Congress of Death .was assembled; tile doctors flocked to it from the four quarters of the globe; there came white, black, yel­ low and eqpper-colpred; and they all sought together for & remedy against life, without being able to find it. A prize of ten millions was offered to whomsoever it might be that should dis­ cover it; all the doctors wrote pam­ phlets on life, as they used to doonchol- cra, and they did not cure this disease any more than the other. v It Was a more dreadful calamity than the deluge, for it lasted longer and there a|>peare$, RO sjjjn of ; its ever earn­ ing toan end. ' Now, at this'time,' there was in CGnde a most learned physician, who spoke almost altogether in Latin, and whom they called Dr. De Profundis. Hfe was a most worthy man, who, in the good old ti'mes, had helped off many a poor body into the other world, and who now was disgusted at being unable to cure any one. One evening when he was coming from dining with the Mayor of Vicq, he loft his way in the marsh. Chance brought him near ^lisery's gar­ den, and he heard a plaintive voice, which said: 44 Oh, who Fill set me free, and who \yill deliver the land from immortality, a hundred times worse than the pesti­ lence!^' * « ' ' r , . ^ i « Thei learned doctor lifted tip his eyes, and his delight was only equaled by his surprise; he had recognized Death. "What, is it you, my old friend," said he, y quujt agts inkicpyro perched? What a#4 yd* deing up there in the pefr-tree?" 44 Nothing at all, Dr. De Profundis, and that is what makes me so unhap­ py," replied Deajtii; "lpnd me your hand to get down. Th^ good doctor gave him his hand, and Death made such an effort to get himself out of the tree, that he lifted the doctor off the ground. The pear-tree immediately seized bojd of him, and held tyim in its branches. ' De Profundis struggled in vain; he was obliged to keep company with 1\ i.L 1/cniUt There was much astonishment the next day And tiro day after when he failed to appear. As he gave no sign of life they had him placarded and ad­ vertised iii the Gdi&Ue, bdt it wad la­ bor lost. De Profundis was the first man that had disappeared from Conde for many a year. Had he then found out the secret of dying, agd had he, heretofore so generous, kept it for him­ self alone P All the inhabitants of Conde set out upon the search, and they beat up the country So well in every seqse of the word that they came upon the garden of Misery. At thieir approaeh ttt^doctor waved his handkerchief as a signal of distress. "This Way!" he cried to them^ "This way, my friends; here he is, here is Death! I was right in my pamphlet, I sa.id we should find him in the marsh of Vicq, the true nest of the cholera. I | have got him at last, but non pdssumus decen(tcre~\ve oan't get down from this 1 cursed pear-tree." "Long live Depth!" shouted thi Con- deans in chorus, and they approached without fear. The first comers held out ther hands; to Death and the doctor, but, like the doctor, they were taken off the ground and seized by the branches of the tree. Very soon the pear-tree was entirely covered with men. Wonderful to re*- late, it grew jn proportion as it got hold of people. Those who came aft­ erward took the others by the feet, others hung on to these, and all to­ gether .ormed the viugn of several chains of men which extended to the distance of a musket-shot. But in vain was it, that the last ones pulled with all their might, they could not pull oft their friends from the accursed tree. They took it into their hands to cut down the pear-tree; they started off to hunt up axes, and began to chop all at once; alas! they could not even see the marks of their blow,s. They looked at one another entirely confounded, and did not know what saint to call on, when Misery was at­ tracted by the noise, and asked the cause of it. They explained to her what had been going on for so long d time, and she comprehended the evil she had unintentionally caused. 441 alone can set Death free, ahd I consent to do it, but on one condition, that Death does not come for us, Faro and me, until I have called him three times." , 44 Agreed," said Death. ; ^ " Come down, I give you permis­ sion!" said Misery, aim Death, the doc­ tor andMlie rest iell from the tree, like so many over-ripe pears. Death set himself at work without leaving his place, and sent off those who were in the greatest hurry, but every one wanted to be first. The great man saw that he would have too much on his hands. To assist him, he raised an army of doctors and appointed Dr. De Profundis general-in-chief. A few days sufficed to Death and the doctor to relieve the earth of the excess of the living, and everything got back into order again. Everybody who was more than a hundred years old had the right to die, and did so, with the excep­ tion of Misery, who held herself quiet, and who, since then, has not yet called Deaththree times. That is the reason, they S4y, Why Misery is always with us in the world. --Scrtbnrr's Monthly for June. FACTS AND FIGURES* ASIA contains half the people of the globe. THE South African diamond fields continue as productive as ever. Tnom Oregonians who can salmon shipped 366,65 4 cases last year. EIGHTEEN families in New ITotk count up $240,000,000 among them. THERE are more than 11,000 women telegraph operators in Great Britain. * PROF. H. R. PALMER ahd wife sailed for America May 18th, in the Soythia. MORE than 11,000 applications for the War of 1812 pensions havfe been tiled. THE American Tract Society has dis­ tributed 74,000,000 of tracts within a JTBflT. «I :t . ; ' r > WASHINGTON TERRITORY estimates her voters at 10,000 and her bears at 15,000. r ; «•- I FRANCE proposes spending $150, Q00,- 000 on her army and $45,000,000 on her navy in 1879. ^ ( ' THE colored citizens of Georgia are credited with the possession of proper­ ty worth $5,480,844. THE Dallas Herald makes an item of the fact that 4,000 murderers are run­ ning around loose in Texas. * OF the $400,000 required to save the Old South Church, Boston, the sum of $158,000 IS still to be raised. ' * THE VALUE of the cigars shipped from Kqy We st, Fla.,'!ast year is piaoe^in round numbers at $27,000,000. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN flour has a very high rank in 'the English market, being much used to mix with inferior grades. AN oyster shell, weighing five and one-half pounds, has been found in the Diablo Mountains, Cal.,, 4,000 feet above sea level. y . • THE Parisian Gas Company made $5,805,000 last year. After handing $1,<>70,000 over to the city, it declared a dividend of 2<fy pter cent. V * IN the year 1877 marriages in En­ gland fell, for the fifst time HI six years, below 200,000. In Scotland the num- ber W4s the |owest registered, sificS A SINGLE orange tree in the Azores in one year produced 20,000 orahges in a fit state for exportation. The Azores send every yfiar to London more than 200,000 boxes of oranges. THE Jrfew York Bible Society , dis­ tributed, by gift and sale, during April, 5,872 Jiibles and Testaments among 3,648 families, 220 vessels and 7,903 emigrants at Castle Garden. ONE single house at Neufcliatel for­ wards annually to Paris 6,000.000 cheeses, the Value of which is estimated at 1,200,000 francs. The manufacture of these cheeses requires tfye milk of five or six thousand cows. A HERE were 107 failures in Bfiston in April. The aggregate liaMlitlfs re­ ported were $7,002,900.49, and the aggregate assets $3,474,884.92, the average indebtedness to a failure being $6u,4wo, and the average *32.475. --The heirs of • Brigham Young brought a restraining suit too late, ana the executors hjtve restored, to 'the' Church property of the estate valued at from $500s000 to $750,000. An ex­ amination of the books has been going on since Young's death, and it snows that he was in debt to the Church about $1,000,000, which is almost the full value of his property. youths' Department. • : • - f • . ' 1 < 1--" -!V i -- MISS MUSMN O OK8 INTO THE : - ? , • vGojjntmy. , ; utiades Peierkin Paul, MT, ft well knnifti to ytin all. ta not to ha wondersd at. cofea, pips-- In short Miss Muslin arrived at the farm late at niirtJt, ̂ hwf up early ttnd And Muwdes. grand RRR lord, started out Kitiht away after breakfast, to sho# her abont. "er the barn, garden, orchard and Tha^rif'sheeb. the ftiaoes nay, he even inth> WMh a fl"urfii and Ixmfty tte old v rooster. • . > "frhereT^ ai ^en|th s%id Wiftiafliny jfeterkia As they panedr fcfy tKe wood-pile,441 think that r laall » 7 llat tore is to be seep." Just then John Haitry Who ctaNbdd 1» be«ofa]« by, stopped and looked - hiAr-. » " Whĵ ' said he, " there is surely one thing you Yon'velSt tekte your «ourin down into th« lot X® mess Oid Daddy Dool&le." VW«U2 that is Orlcid Miltla^es, gaily.' though." " Now * Old Daddy Doolittle," it ehonld be said, Was nothing at all but a broom-stick, arrayed In a battered old hat and an old suit of clothes. Set up in the corn-field to frighten the crows. And John Henry Jack, when he made that sug­ gestion. Had some mischievous purpose in vi$w, beyond , question; , ' , That was plain from the twinkle that lurked in 4 his eye. ' Though just what he intended we'll ŝ e by and When she found Daddy Doolittle really was not A man, but a scarecrow set np in the lot, Ledtho WH.y: and they (HreseMly rame in fill Of the Iigur#, which looked n6t to the left ntii %> right. go at once n B<it stood there, apjutrently hoeing away As if he were getting two aollare a day. "The old gentleman's dreadfully deaf oCtifte ear," Our explained, as they both drew nemo* i " We must go very close." Then he gave an • " akemf" a4' To call t he old fellow's attention to them. And bPgan, with his most ceremonious air-- " Here's my cousin, Mies Muslin, of QuintUlidn Bqware, , Who 3'asi come all the way from the city, dear ' To ma^e ao^uaintanee. I'm sure ̂ you'll Then he paused--and no wonder! For, all at once The scare-crow it straightened, brandished its hoe. And bqgan to advance with an unearthly roar; Wherf*npon. without waiting to hear or see more, Miss Muslin turned, screaming, and ran, like the wind. With Miltiades, yon may he mire, close behind; And neither found course to halt or look back, Till they saw from behind the wall, John Henry Jack, f » • i I Starting up all at o^ce, almost dying with laugh- While just then, too, the scare-crow, who'd fol­ lowed close after, Laaghed, too; and.they then saw that ifcwaa BO other Than BesijaminFianklin, ]iiltladlK, biotfcer. "Olo! what does Hhis meah^' inquired tiie tat- . ter, ' n,( " People don't run like that unless something's i j the matter!" "Why!" explained ^ouqg Miltiades Feterkin "We were making believe we weee trow--tl»t is all." ^ --John JfroienjoAn, In June Wide-Awake. THE TELEPHONE AND THE PH9N0- ,T.f tUtAPH. ^ Vj1:"} >-T • • ' i£pi mu , r~ \ , BKtL '8 r a f so j l „„ , , l l l ! ; WpAT is a telephone P u An instrument to'convey sounds by means of electricity." That gives one a general idea of it; but, after all, that answer is not the right one. The tele­ phone does not convey sound. " What does its name mean, thenf" do you astf? Simply^ that it 'is a fat-sounder; but that doew not necessarily imply that it carries sounds afar. Strictly speaking, the telephone enty changes sou#d-w*ves into waves, of e^epU^city and bao^ again, , , : The most of you probably know that sound is produced bv rapid motion. Put your linger on a piano-wire that is sounding, and jou will feel the motion, or touch your front tooth with a tuning* fork that is singing; in the last case yon will fee!, very aistntetly, the raps made by the vibrating fork. Now, a sound­ ing body will not only jar another body which touches it, but it will also give its motion to the air that touches it; and ivhen the air-motions or air-waves strike th^ sensitive drums of our ears, these vibrate, and vfc hear the sound. Thus, fronr our evtfry-day experience we have proof of two important facts --first, sound is caused by rapid mo* tion; jjecond, spund-wavqs give, rise to corresponding motion. Both these facta are involved in the speaking telephone, which performs a two-fold office--that of. the ear on the one hand, that of our vocal organs on the ofc^er. ' To serve as pn ear, the tetariipne must be able to take up quickly, and nicely the sound-waves 6f the air! A tightened drum-he&d will do that? or, better, a strip of goldbeaters' skin drawn tightly over & ring or the end of a tube. But Prof. Bell wanted an ear that would translate the waves of sound into waves of electricity. Just when Mr. Beu Was thinking about thlH, some one experimented with a magnet having a coil of silk- covered wire around it, found that when a piece of iron was moved in front of the magnet and close to it without touching, the motion would give rise to electric waves in the coil of wire, which waves could be seut great distances along,wirep. , This was just wh&t Mr. ^ell wanted. He said to himself, " TJie sound of my voice will gite motion to a thin plate of iron as well as to a sheet of gold­ beaters' skin; and if I bring this vi­ brating plate of iron ' close to a mag- neti the motion will set up in it waves of electricity answering exactly to the sound-waves which, move the iron plate.** • " ' ' Btit the instrument must not only translate sound-waves into electric im­ pulses; it must also change these bach again into sound-waves; it must,pot only hear, but also speak: . •/ ton remember 'our first fact in re­ gard* to sound: it is caused 6y motion. All that is needed to make anything spwtk is to cause it to move so as to rive riSe to lost sttdh mif-W*ves as the voice makes. -Mr. Bell's idea yfas to mane the iron fflafcHof TSis ^omid-t^. ceiver speak. He reasoned in this way: From the nature of the magnet it follows that when waves of electricity are DMM| through the wire coil around the net, the strength of the magnet mart va«y witti the f»«ee of th^eKdliaft»I pulses. Its pull on the npr it mn&t vary in, the The varying pull on the plate must nlake it tuove, and this movementmtirt s6t in motion the air near the sound-w^yes corr̂ popding exacOf with the moupn setting up the electric waves fa the 1 Irst place; in other word#, the 8ound-taotion in one telephooii must be exactly reproduced as soun4» waves in a similar ins^nuneot joinedrlo it by wire. . < Experiment proved th* reasoniw correct; and thus the speaking-teli- phone was iuvanted. T H The receiving and sending ments are precisely alike, eaoh i for both purposes; but there rnqst two, since one must alwajps be hearing while the other is speaking: ; W When you speak into tikis Siouth- piece of Bell's telephoh®,' the sound of your voice causes the " to \ibrate in front of tho mt.nntr Tin vibrations cause the smpat^i ptill upon the diaphagm to ivary in force, which variation is angered by eleo- trical waves in tlie cou and over tte wires connected with it. At the othir end of the wire the pull of the magttftt of the speaking telephone is v&iieu*fe- actly in pioportion to the strength^ the electric impulses that come oy^r the wite; the varying null of the mag­ net sets the diaphragm in motion, i»vl that sets the air in motion in Wav<|® precisely like those of the distant void. When those waves strike the listener!* ear, he seems to hear the speaker's e|> act tones, and so, substantially, he doft hear them. ^ • ; THtS PHONOGRAPH. . ,| - In these days, ohe invention 1 often leads to another, and the tell* phone already has an offspring not lefr wonderful than itself* : & is ealled tife speaking phonograph. TXt was invented by Mr. Edison. ( , Eirtdently, Mr. Edison sale! to hin^ self: "The telephone hears and speaKf; why not make it write In its own vrhf; then its record could be kept, and sndr time after, the instrument might reap aloud its own writing.11 Like a great genius as he isv Mr. Edison went tp work in the simplest way to make tn« sound-recorder he whntecL Ycrtl kno# how the diaphragm of the telephone vibrates when qpofcen to. Mr. EdimA took away from the telephone all e% cept the mouth-piece and, the di%> phragm, fastened a. point of metal, which we will call a style,to tttl center of the diaphragm, and then colt triyed p simple arrangement for mak» ing a sheet of tin-foil pass in front of of the style. When the diaphragm |a sttll, the style simply scratches ^ straight, line along the foil. When ** sound is made, however, and the diit phragm ^et to vibrating, th® mark of the style is not a simple scratch, hut qn impression varying in depth according to'the diaphragm's vibration. Anq that is how the phonograph writer f6 the naked eye, the record of the souiM appears to be simply a dine of piflp points or dotsy more or less close to each otjier; but, under a«maguifier, tkf line is seen to be a delicate but excee^t inely complicated series of marks. ** • Now for the reading. The imprefZ sion on the foil exactly records the vt* hrations of the diaphragm, and thofe vibrations exactly measure the sounds waves which caused the vibrationftr The reading simply reverses all tlxisT The strip of foil is passed aghin beneaOT the diaphragm, the point of the styli follows"the groove it madcr at first, and the disphragn) follows the style it! all its motions. The original vibrational are thus exactly reproduced, setting ujt sound-waves in, the air precisely iikj those which first set the machine in motion. Consequently, the listenw hears A mimitely exact echo of* whall the inftrument heard; it-might 'hat# heard it a minute, or an hour, or H year, or a thojusand years before,. ha^ the 'phonograpli been in use so long. What a wonderful result is that! Am yet, the phonograph has not been ptre to any practical use; indeed, it t# scarcely ;in operation yet» and a great> deal must be done to increase the defcf icacy of its hearing and the "strengtty " its voice. It mimics any and eve: sort of sourid with marvelous fidelit but weakly. * Its speech is Mke that # a person a long way off. or in another room. But its possibilities are almdat infinite.--St. Nicholas for June-, . «.. flOUH. . . I . »-«' M-i * M 1 j. '* '• , : 1 v s:i&H • m and Bnad. • » ;? , • i '1 £ »> W A WBITEK in the Jmrnqi of Scietic^ warhs speculators on the population, question that they must henceforth cease to regard war a«- one of thettf "positive checks.1' Gunpowder eon- tains on an average 75 per cent, oft saltpeter or nitrate of potash, eqijivq*) lent to 10.2 per cent, of combined o^. available nitrogen. Of this 10.2 per cent., 9.98 per cent., or practically this whole, escapes in the fofrm of irew nitrogen, - and is consequently rendered? useless. Assuming the total prod now tion of gunpowder to be at least 100,^ 000,000 pounds annually, this is shov- ,to mean the destruction in advance 500,000,000 pounds of bread a y« Every ounce of powder used in warv celebrations, etc., means the absolute unrecoverable loss to the world of % certain quantity of food; diminishes th|| fertility of the earth, a»d makes tha struggle for existence steadily mort difficult. There is here furnished a&l additional argument -against Fourth of* - July combustion of gunpowder, an#\ arbitration advocates may also fairlM cite it against war. A great war net* only extinguishes large numbers of'usd£ ful lives, but does so at the cost of pdf" t-ential life. If people buried everj£ year 500,000,000 pounds of brbad in t-hftj earth, they would be guilty of f?ightfiu ̂ prodigality; hut, .then, the nitrogen, would still be available for the*futur% „ When they burn 100,000,000 pounds of; «ii»nnnrilAr_ KnWftVflr. tln'g MfflfftU l| infinitely more wasteful "'act,' as theg: permanently diminish tiie amount at' food the earth is capable of yielding. ti ' i m m m l» ' I • '3, ^A brother of the late Vioe-1 dent WRson opens the' doOr for visitor to the United States Senate Chainbei and a brother of Senator Blaine, wh||4 only slightly resembles him. fnUa p»» pers in uie document room. i

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