The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, February 25, 1891, Page 2

~ VIGOROUS Break-Neck ‘Sports Which Endan- | ger Human Life. Disastrous Results of the “Gentle and Joyous” Foot-Ball Fight and the Festive and Fetching Base- Balt Battle. Sir Walter Scott, in summing up the list of casualties which resulted from the tournament in which Ivanhoe car- ried every thing before him, says in ef- fect that, because only a few knights were mortally wounded and several others dangerously hurt, the tourna- ment passed into history and rhyme as “the gentle and joyous passage-at-arms of Ashby de la Zouche.” This mildly ironical expression is re- called, says t “ca Francisco Chron- icle, by the accounts of the recent foot- ball game between Yale and Princeton. We read that one player ‘mowed down half a dozen Princeton men;* that ‘in arush King was badly hurt, but re- vived sufficiently to go on with the game;” that ‘another player was re- tired on account of injuries,” and that “several of the players had to be car- ried off the field at the conclusion of the game.” Surely this will puss into the history of Ameriean sports as “the gentle and joyous foot-ball match be- tween Yale and Princeton.” In the National game, too, the list of @ season’s casualties is by no means a short one. Kroken fingers, cracked heads, bruised legs, spiked hands and sprained ankles are some of the most common accompaniments of base-ball, and it seems impossible that the game can be played well or scientifically without them. It is not intended to throw cold water upon athletic sports or games of any sort, but only to suggest that any game which results in personal injuries and often in disfigurement for life can be called “sport” only by an extremity of courtesy which amounts to a positive misnomer. ‘The injuries are not in- flicted intentionally, it is true, but they are none the less injurious; and all the apologies in the world will not mend a broken leg or cure a sprained ankle. With all our boasted civilization we are not much better in these matters than were the Greeks or Romans. Their games were not merely rough, but in many cases cruel and brutal. They seemed to have very little regard for human feeling, or even for human life, as every reader of Greek and Roman history knows. Whether this callousness was only an incident of the decadence of Athens and Rome, or whether it was an integral part of their downfall, is matter for argument. It has been claimed, with much earnest- ness and plausibility, that the so-called sports of Rome under the lesser Cxsars were an index of the disposition and habits of thought of the people and a forerunner of the destruction which overtook them; and it has been argued that we are showing signs of the same decadence which sapped the Imperial city and destroyed the mistress of the world. But this is not a logical deduction. On the contrary, our growing fondness for athletics is a favorable sign, the only danger being that we should over- do the matter. We are like a child with a new toy—we can not get enough of our field games and open-air sports. At the same time there is a happy medium between the gladiator and the “Miss Nancy;” between puss-in- the-corner and combats with the ces- tas. To show our manhood we do not need to knock somebody down every time we go on the street, nor toshow our proficiency in manly sports do we need to play foot-ball in such a way as to leave a majority of cach eleven crip- pled at the close of the game. There must be ways and means of playing footeball which do not put the player inte the category of what life-insurance people call “extra hazardous risks,” and it is time that new rules be found or made which shall eliminate the per- sonal danger from the game without diminishing its interest. ‘The question is certainly worth con- sidering. Fun {s fun, and a working people like the Americans can hardly get too much of it, but when fun is synonymous with wounds and bruises and fractures agd the like, it is time to devise some er kind of fun and to put some mits to the extravagance of our athletic yorths, Rightly Named. The Bad Lands of Dakota are com- posed of white clay, which, by the action of rains, has been cut into hill- ocks. ‘ ‘They are not high, says the Chi- cago Tribune, seldom more than forty or fifty feet, but it is up one and down another the whole way. There are no water courses, the nearest approach be- ing a gully forty fect deep, with a foot and a half of mud atthe bottom. At | A Pennsylvania Man Who Lives to Regret | 3 Lost Golden Opportunity. General John A. Wiley, of Franklin, Pa., saysthe News of that place, rises up now and then in the middle of the | t | They Are in Reoatee Demand Than Ever Befcre. - ~ night and kicks himself when he thinks | The Various Uses to Which They Are Pst! how near he once came to being a mill- ionaire. own that his plans miscarried, but al on account of 2 trusted party failing to earry ont instructions. It happened about ten years ago, ona trip witha friend through the Southwest. the mining ferer was at its height. They were at Tucson, A. T., where prospectors were as thick as Democrats | in Texas, and had talked to some of them who had “the best thing in the world” for sale. Finally a man put in an appearance who said he was positive that he had a big thing; that he had two claims, sixty miles from there, in would assay seventy-five dollars in sil- ver to the ton; that there was a hog- backed mountain on the claims which he had tapped in a straight line in four time. The man’s talk had the true ring, but, like most of the prospectors, he was without money. He had a fine gold watch and this he put up to guarantee the expenses of the two days’ journey by wagon in case the property was not what he claimed. They paid his expenses at the hotel and the next morning started on the trip. Ar. riving there they found every thing to be as he had represented and arranged to buy the two claims outright for the sum of $5,009, the General egrecing te take a quarter interest for himself. They had traveling with them a young man in whom they had confidence, and to him they intrusted the details of the arrangement, as they wished to proceed home,and had found means of returning to Tucson at once. So the agreement was drawn up, and the young man and the prospector were to goto Tombstone, eighty miles in an opposite direction, where the money had been deposited subject to the young man’s check, with positive instructions for him to pay the money and close the deal. The General and his companion ar- rived home, but three weeks having passed by and the letter they longed for not having come, they telegraphed their agent to ascertain the cause of his de- lay in forwarding the papers. He an- swercd that he had sent a letter. When it came they learned from its contents that he had not settled the matter, hav- ing come to the conclusion that it was best, in his judgment, not to purchase the claims. And this, too, from a man who had received positive instructions to close the deal. Well, shortly afterward an agent of Flood and Mackey came along, gave the poor prospector a cool $100,000 and the retention of a one-cighth interest for his claims, and entered into an agreement with the millionaire to work the mine on a certain percentage. The company was stocked for $12,000,000. So you see the General's one-fourth interest would have stood him $3,000,000. The Copper Queen is still a great mine, while it is said that the agent who took the con- tract of working the same has pulled out as high as $60,000 in one month for his percentage. The Hour When Death Occurs. From a study of fifteen thousand cases, extending over a period of twelve years, Dr. J. F. Burns states in the New York Medical Journal that death occurs seemingly without any particular predi- lection for any certain hour and that the number of deaths for cach hour is very evenly proportioned, considering the large number of cases taken and the time covered. The only very positive conclusions the author has formed from the figures are (1) that the idea that more deaths take place in the early morning hours is an erroneous one; (2) if stimulants are to be pushed in disease during these hours the practice must be justified upon some other ground than to avert the possibility of danger sup- posed to be very probable at this period; (8) that the vitality of an individual in disease is not regulated by the same in- fluences or subject to the same laws that govern the vitality of a healthy human being, the normal equilibrium maintained in health between the men- tal and physical states being altered, That Mysterious Gulf Reccmme For years and years the absorptive mind of man has taken the Gulf stream as an easy explanation of the vagaries of the weather. That mysterious ecur- rent has created cyclones; it has backed up the winds tothe Rocky mountains and organized tornadocs; it has warmed Europe, and its recent shifting has changed the climate of this land of ours. ‘These were the theories with which we pleasantly and ignorantly removed our meteorological difficultics. In the beau- tiful maps of our physical geographies we saw the Gulf stream circling around every few yards you must stop, and, with spade and shovel, cut a path down the side of ahill in order to descend, and then up the side of the one opposite in order to get up again. The mud is as sticky as tar, and in going a few yards the wheels of a wagon become solid round cakes, and all the mules that you can hitch to it will not be able to pull it a foot further. Then the les are brought and the wheels cleared, the operation being repeated two or three times in a hundred yards. The extent of the Bad Lands in Dakota is probably a hundred miles from north to south by fifteen to thirty miles wide. Many Fill Up on Soup. The thrift of the table-d’hote pro- prietor has made an interesting discov- ery in the dietetic life of New Yorkers, says the World. Give them, says an ex- pert, the very finest séup you can get made, with plenty of chicken and mar- row bones and tidbits and flavoring in it. The hungry table<Vhoter will rare- ly resist a second plate of such potage, and that fatal step once taken, with its | acquainted w accompanying bread .and butter and pickles and so forth, the appetite’s Geath-knell has been sourced. What matters it that the roast is small or the entree is meager. They will suffice and the magnificent soup will carry its | marrying ones victim through a poor dinner. the body of water from which it takes its mame, running in a well-marked body to the northward and stretching out its kindly arms toward the United Kingdom. But now Mr. J. W. Pedway tells in the Forum that there is no truth in it at all; that the Gulf stream never gets intothe Gulf; that while very little is known about it anyway, it is definitely ascertained that it does not go to Europe or anywhere near it. The Wrong Couple. An Ellaville (Ga.) minister of the gos- pei had a rather funny bit of experience not long sinee, though he did not enjoy it much at the time. He was called out in the country to tie’a matrimonial knot. When all was ready he stepped out into the middle of the floor to await the coming of the bride and groom. There was no music or extra display. One couple marched in and took position on the left, and enother followed and took position by the side of the first. Then followed another couple who halted a little to the right. Not being them. the couple w turned hefore the thinking dates for me j them about h tle lady, whe aad choking, t ndi- had | over there.” which was a rich deposit of copper that ; different places and struck copper each j; It was through no fault of his | when | lit | ngs squirming | containing the honored body along the We ain't the | streets of Indianapolis. . it's that other couple | the proud but sorrowful lead of the ne | engaged i in doing work which in Amer- and the Process by Which They Are Prepared for the Market. The present trade in ostrich feathers is almost unprecedented. For a num- ber of years the demand was so small that the raising of the ostrich decreased to the extent of forty per cent., and feather workers had to turn their attention to other channels of industry. But now the demand for skilled labor far exceeds the supply. During the spring and summer manufacturers were seriously embarrassed by the lack of competent help. A glance at women's toilets just now, says the New York Sun, is suf- ficient to explain the unusual demand. Nats are piled with fedthers. One shown in a Broadway jobbing house supported forty-two tips. Bonnets are edged with bands and trimmed with clusters of various size; boas and colla- rettes of every length, thickness and co!- orare shown in all the millinery, dress- making. and dry-goods houses, and re- cent importations of costumes disclose the fact that not only are cloaks, wraps and jackets trimmed with feathers, but gowns also. Carriage cloaks have huge yokes, collars and cuffs of feathers, sup- plemented with wide bands of the same bordering the front and lower edge. Frequently they are faced inside, some distance from the front edge, with os- trich feathers, the fronts being rolled back from a tight-fitting vest. In- cluded‘in the decoration of jackets and gowns is the wide Medici collar, cov- ered with feathers. Even in ball dresses the delicate fabrics are festooned around the feet and fastened to other parts of the skirt with bunches of tips; long plumes are coiled about the upper part of the arm to take the place of a sleeve, while others garnish the corsage. Perhaps more than one-half of the feathers uscd in America are imported in th natural state and prepared here. South Africa is the principal breeding place of the ostrich. Ostrich farms have been started in Australia and Saa Diego County, Cal., but the supply of feathers from sources sent to the New York et is scarcely preceptible. The at distributing market is Lon- here auction sales are held every other inonth, and are attended by buy- ers from all parts of the world. Feathers sell from fifteen to one hundred and fifty dollars a pound, the highest price representing “blood primes”— feathers taken from the wings and tail of the male bird when four or five years old. The plumage of the female bird is considered less choice than that of the male. Atthe present time values in all grades are fifty per cent. in ex- cess of those prevailing for several years. The past season was so prosperous that many manufacturers in this city employed between four and five hun- dred hands most of the time since last April. A feather manufactory is not a very inviting place, with great vats, sloppy floors, intense heat, and steam, but the work is interesting through the heroic measures necessary to cvolve from the feather in its natural state the dainty thing of beauty. In the nataral state most of the feathers are of a dirty gray color, shading to black, and are of all lengths—from three to perhaps twelve or more inches The quil} is thick, and the flew (the curly past) st t and lustreless. The darker shades are sorted for black feathers, und the lighter fer those of colored tints, tied in bunches of about a couple of dozen, and strung a few inches apart in sections about one and one-half yards in length. To remeve the natural ail the hers are soaked for several hours in a strong solution of soda and soup, and then scrubbed and thoroughly rinsed. Those for light colors are bleached with chemicals before being dyed, but those for black are only sub- jected to a triple dip in jet dye. Shaded feathers are made bg inclosing parts in rubber shields after the solid color has been acquired, and dipping them in a contrasting dye and combing while wet. They are dricd out of doors and in the sun if possible, and in a room where the thermometer registers 150 degrees. After the starching and another drying, each string of feathers is beaten against wooden tables, or partitions, to remove superfluous starch. So violent is this process that one expects to see the plumes fall apart in a hundred or more pieces. The only effect, however, of the rough usage isto make them look clearer and fluffier than ever. At this point the work, which thus far has been done by men, is turned over to women, who, in another part of the factory, be- gin the more delicate operations. Feathers of all hues, in different stages of devclopment, are scattered over long tables. The bunches are separated, and the quill of each feather is scraped thin by a bit of glass. Afterward they are sewed together to form the various designs, steamed over boilers having numerous spouts, and curled with an implement like the blade of an ordinary jackknife. Although apparently sim- ple the task requires considerable skill to avoid breaking the flew. Long plumes, boas and collarettes are only slightly curled, the ordinary tip more so, while those called ‘Princess,” and the narrow bands for the edges of hats and bonnets, are curled in fine tight curls. Preparatory to boxing, the tips are bunched and marked, the longer feathers, boas, ete., having separate boxes. Last of the Lincoln Hearse Horses. A local celebrity recently died after | a kind, useful life of thirty-eight years, | says the Indianapolis Journal. His| name was Jesse, and the one act which ister, | entitled him to mention was participa- ' tion in the funeral cortege of the mar-! tyred Lincoln. He was the last of the six white horses which drew the hearse His mate in team died eight years ago. ; ATHLETICS. — "| MISSED “BEING A MILLIONAIRE. ; | FEATHERS FOR ‘FINERY.| IN THE ELECTRICAL WORLD America has 1,000,000 telephones; the world 1,200,000. “—Madrid now basan electrical system. j | whe English own it. —Church lighting by electricity is | making beadway in England. —Storage batteries heave displaged primary batteries in the Berlin offices, —Electric motors are being intro- ; duced on the underground railway 1m | London. —It is proposed to establish neat Dresden ‘an electric station to fur- nish light and power to 16S small towns. —There has been designed in Vienna anew electric lantern for the use of lecturers. ‘The lenses are so combined that an enlarged image of an object may be thrown onascreen in its natural i colors. —In Germany iodoform is being made by use of the electric current. An alco- holic solution of iodide of potassium traversed by acurrent of carbonic acid is subjected to the electric current, and iodoform is produced in the shape of small yellow capsules. —The proprietor of the Chicago News is considering the advisability of in- stalling an electric motor plant with which to drive his presses. The pro- | posed plant will have a capacity of 500 horse power, one-half of which will bea iuplicate plant to be held in reserve. —Heretefore r-ports in relation to the | comparative power of different illumin- ants, as seen through fog and haze, have been against the electric light. Lately, however, three prominent English scientists say that when the electric light is deprived in a measure of its highly refrangible rays by the haze, its further progress is not more cut down than the light from oil or gas. —In observations with kites and bal- loons, Prof. Leonard Weber has found that the atmosphere is negatively elec- trified up toa height of about 100 yards, beyond which it is positively electrified in a degree increasing very rapidly with the distance from the earth. ‘The nega- tive electrification of the lower strata of the air is attributed to the presence of germs and dust particles. —Ithas been suggested, in view of the serious loss suffered by the electric- al companies from time to time by the hasty and clumsy cutting of their wires by firemen, that it would be worth their while to keep a corps of men with wag- ons equipped with appliances for cut- ting wires. who should goto fires and watch and handle the wires in the in- terest of the companies. A still more practical idea is for thecompanies to keep aman at each engine-house, who shall go with the engines to fires and direct the wire cutting operations. —There are not many electric light installations in Spain, but an important central station has been erected in the Calla de las Mozas, Seville. ‘The mains are all placed underground, and branches are taken off at snitableintervals. The cables consist of copper wires, insulated by several layers of pure vulcanized india rubber, the whole then being placed in a leaden pipe. The glow lamps vary from 10-candle power to 100- candle power, and the arc lamps from 500-candle power to 1,000-candle power. —A new diving dress has been adopted by the French navy. Jt contains but three pieces—helmet. collarette and body—the helmet being fitted to the collarette by a screw spring adjustment, by which the necessity for all loose pieces in the way of nuts is obviated. Tho helmet is fitted with an incandes- cent lamp. inclined forward at an angle which enabies the diver to derive the fullest advantage from it, and fitted with protector amd mirror. At present the battery is carried in a boat, which re- it is proposed to equip the diver witha water-tight knapsack, fitted with cells, somewhat after the fashion adopted for ballet girls when special light effects are required om the stage. In conjunc- tion with this form of diver’s dress, a respirator has been devised, titted also witb an electrie lamp, for use in ascer- taining the seat of a fire in asiip’s hold, whemas yet there is more smoke than fire. Liqeor in the Lega. It m generally supposed that intoxi- cating drink gets into the head. This is a mistake: 3 isto the legs that the fumes of the liquor fly. Such is the im- portant physiological discovery that has been made by Henry Bull, deseribed as “a bald-headed@ carpenter,” who, being broeght upat Marlborough street police court recently, explained that he had taken too maeh “Old Bass,” but that in- stead of its going into his bedy it had got into his legs The magistrate recog- nised the value of this discovery by im- posing “a small fine.” Mr. Bull’s the- ory was, oddly enough, confirmed in the same court on the same day, for Anne Lavoy. ‘‘a good-looking young woman,” having been likewise found ina doubt ful condition, laid the blame on her Jegs. The fact is, she had been in the hospital for a bad knee, and they had given her such a powerful lotion that she could not use it without taking a drop of strong drink—of course inter- nally. As the case appeared to require medical investigation, she was sent back tothe hospital. Certainly, one of the questions of the day would seem to be, “What shall we do with our eae London Telegraph. Six Potatoes to a Load. I was amused a few days since in watching a company of laborers at work digging potatoes in a field in a valley of the Rimac, writes a traveler from Peru. A team of oxen plowed up the hills with a light plow, leaving the tubers expused on the ground. Six Indian workmen | picked up the potatoes and carried them | to a pile in one corner of the field, while the overseer, a Spaniard, stocd in ma- jestic and dignified idleness watching the work. The men who were picking , up the potatoes had neither pail, bag jnor box in which to carry them. Two |of them put the potatoes in their hats and the others carried them in their hands, each one going from every part of the field to the pilesin one corner, carrying five or six potatoes each ¢rip. | Here were eight men and a teamof oxen ica would be done by one man aad a boy.—Philade]phia Call. mains near the scene of operations, but | ASTORI for Infants and Children. “Castoria is a0 well adapted to children that | EE Castori: Coll Sour St alg lic, Constipation, a IG So a fcc injurious medication, Tus Cevrace Company, 77 Murray Street, N. ¥ I recommend it as superior to any prescription known tome.” HA. Ancurr, M.D., 111 So, Oxford St, Brooklyn, N. Y. A. O. Welton Staple:Fancy Groceres, Feed and Provisions of all Kinds. QUEENSWARE AND GLASSWARE iCICARS ANT TOBACCO, Always pay the highest market price fer Countrv Produces East Side Square. Butler, Mo-" *paat BoM ass0Y 4Uq} Furi) 04} “BOI puUpiuJoTy 10} punog qroa i 0} 00'E$ WOI ssauIBY prey pUdvIG ‘qzZ% OF BAA 9 ‘Kyunop sai¥gq Jo eur sseuiByy J90u0, ST 62S 97 OTS WoL ssauivq ao. “Sayanoo sig} a apym qT TAdVS AOM MOO» MUOA TALS 1804 eq) pu 801498 [[8 Jo satpprg ‘oR SoM “SOUd ANVIUVDN Ss pee Sea 5.8, Bg eS o2-° 5 ws ee ara o 25 CI ® ot a" 5 sear FoR 8 ue 2 @ 242 S srg oe Sole Ageut for the Rockford and Aurora Watebes, in Gold Silver and Filled Cases, Very Cheap. JEWELERY STORE, Is headquarters tor Fue Jewelry Watches, Clocks, Solid Silver and Plated Ware, &c. Spectacles ot all kinds and for all ages; also fine Opera Glasses. You are cordially invited te visit his establishment and examine his splendid display of beautitul goods and the low prices ALL KINDS OF ENGRAVING NEATLY EXECUTED.