The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 6, 1904, Page 8

| ickuamn Railroads. 1 | k Times and | Bow the is 1904, Joseph B. nd Angels” is to be applied to a railroad. ifying pseudonym has been | United States Senator | wed U A ( on rk’s new Los Angel w Pedro and Salt Lake Railroad, now in construction. This road, | half finished, is designed | 1o connect Salt Lake City—the home of | Saints”—with Los Angeles, Cal, City of the Angeis.” From the earliest period in roading there has been a “stove com- who the sit stove in a railroad station e persons Lhe and emit thec opinions and facts anent the current topics of the day, philosophical, political, r ious, social | - | the history of rail | r This “stove committee” 1= responsibie for most of the nicknames | | that the principal raflroads in this ‘ and 1 country bear to-day. A g a centu: ago the pa® trons of the Delaware, Lackawanna and | Western lroad grumbled a great | deal about the dilatory transportation ! given them. These grumblers received | a hint from the “stove committee,” | and for many years the letters D. L. | and W., painted on the company’s cars. | were translated into “Delay, Linger and Wait.” It is scarcely necessary to say that conditi on this road have changed so materially that the old | nickname has become obsolete. A roughly constructed road was the old | Indiana, Bloomington and Western. | Sufferers from ague were cured of their | malady when traveling on this road by the familiar homeopathic principle of | similia similibus curantur.” The favorite joke about this road at one time was that it need only “to be taken 10 be shaken,” and the people who did not care to be shaken construed the initials 1. B. and W. into “T'd Better Walk.” | | The traveling public generally has an | | | aversion for long names for railroad companies. The Connecticut man who would waste vocal power on the New York »w Haven and Hartford is a Ask any person who dwells | the region traversed by the lines | of that company to designate it and he will promptly answer “The Consoli- | This term of course applies to serger of numeérous lines by the cons ssed by the Con- | In Pennsylvania ever hears the Pennsylvania Railroad? It is the “Pennsy,” and local pride h given imctuous melody to | the na b 3 ‘Panbandle” is know to thousands where ithe Pittsburg, Cin- cinpati, Chicago and St. Louis is known to one. The nickname is derived from | the fact that road crosses the | handle of the pan which the shape of | West Virginia suggests. v name “Nickel Plate” brings ’Jp; The ons of William H. Vanderbilt Cs n S. Brice. The last-named financial meteor conceived the idea of paralieling the Lake Shore and thus bringing *“old - Vanderbilt” to terms. Mr. Vanderbilt buy the new road the question of price came up Mr. jce’s figures were so high that W liam H. vehemence be mickel | | i | as a matter of self-protection, and when ) exclaimed with characterist “Why, your plated! And Plate™ been ever West Shere Railroad w: Mr. Vanderbilt under si and although he for two er three road mu th} “Nickel since. The 1ar conditions, | stormed and fumed s against what he sald was “pure blackma he w_meaning to tht company's in L n he said “Why, sto," to Mr. De- | pew’s suggestion, have to buy this road.” Take Gould zroup of nificant nicknas M me couid | Pacific than | Be Wall street | em, and while a natural abbreviation of the “Mo. which appears on many of the| s cars it is expressive of thel of that | H | for ation Jay Gould rposed to mop up ali the trafc ihe Southwest. The term “Cotton Belt™ as applied to Gould's St. Louis and outhwestern is far more familiar than § (ke corporate name of the railread if. There doubtless hundreds specuiators in Wall street who buy “Katy” shares who could not tell you the full name of the railroad in stock of which they are speculating. This nickname is but the natural com Linztion of the two last initials of 1 Miesouri, Kansas and Texas. one stoge in the history of the “hicago, Rock Island and Pacific there was a great deal of complaint that the movement of trains was slow and un- certzin. This led tc the reduction of the company’s corporate designation C. R. 1L & P. to the popular expression “Cry and Push.” A letter received by the writer recently asked for a defini- tion ‘of “Big Four.” This Vanderbilt line, now so energetically managed by President M. E. Ingalls, is known of- ficizlly as the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis. It takes its present short name because of the con- solidation several yeats ago of four im- portant jines, as follows: Cincinnati, Indienapolis. St. Louis and Chigago; Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis; Indianapolis and St. Louis, and the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cieveland railroads. “Why the Clover Leaf and the Mapie he n INST RUC | of the Erje system is “Nypano.” | sylvania and Ohio. | the excuse for this abbreviation. | principal | lacial period, produced conditions to ; | in 1 think that we shall | i | the change in climate conditions and JSTUD T Leaf?’ somebody may ask. Simply be- cause each of these lines, as drawn on n‘ map, forms the main arms or arteries| of the leaf named. The Clover Leaf is| the Toledo, St. Louis and Western, and | the outlines of its route present an ex- | this country we have a large number of educational| ¢ometimes enforced discipline cellent picture of a clover leaf. The Chicago Great Western, which is known as the Maple Leaf, has its heart in the stem and three important ter-, minal pdints all within the frame of a| tion of affairs prevails wherever %hcre are free school_s evidence enforced by her lowland people, which quite and free speech, and doubtless will continue to prevail! ¢pame Mr. Greenleaf and his book on evidence. maple leaf. Among old railroad men perhaps the most familiar nickname is “Coffee, | Cakes and Ice Cream,” which applied | to the Chicago, Columbus and Indian Central, now part of the Panhandle di-! vision of the Pennsyivania nailroad‘ eystem. This is something like “Brandy | and Soda,” by which pseudonym the| Buffalo and Southwestern was known'! before its absorption by the Erie Rail: | road. ! Speaking of the Erie, there are sev-! eral nicknames that come to mind, but ostly ephemeral. The pres- remembers ould’s Own,” ill’sticks to a part | This | ation of the name of the d company, New York, Penn- | Any person who writes N. Y., P. and O. will clearly see the name that There is one railroad that certainly deserves nickname, and that is the “Little Giant"—the Pittsburg and Lake Erie. This road, running out of Pitts- burg, has returned to its stockholders a greater amount of revenue—mileage | considered—than any other railroad in | this country. Its earnings have heen\ at times phenomenal. | —— | BY G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, A. M., LL. D. | Author of “The JIce Age in North Amer- jca,” ete. (Copyright, 1904, by Joseph B. Bowles.) In 1839 Dr. Koch of St. Louis gave | an account in the Journal of Science of the discovery of the skeleton of a | mammoth in Gasconade County, Mo. | (fifty or sixty miles above St. Louis), which showed clear evidence that man | had aided in the killing of the animal. | At the same time some one attempted | to throw doubt upon this description. but subsequent discoveries render it perfectly credible. The skeleton was | found, as usuai, in a peat bog, in which | there had been a considerable ac- cumulation of vegetable mold, blue | clay and sand, and was about five feet below the surface. Beneath this sketelon was an Indian spearhead and a stone ax of unique patteth:; also shes and pieces of burnt wood and burnt bone. There were also pieces of rock, weighing from two to twenty- five pounds, which were scattered as | though they had been thrown at the‘ anjmal., The hind and fore foot axere : stilf preserved, together with pieces of | the skin. Dr. Koch supposed that the | animal, having become mired in the! mud, was attacked by men, who thus | aided in his destruction. | These facts give point to the ques- | tion put to me by the distinguished | Professor Schmidt three vears ago in | St. Petersburg, when I asked him con- cerning the cause of the destruction, of the mammoth. He said: “Are you sure that man did not have a good | deal to do with it, as he had with the destruction of the buffalo and other | animals?” Nevertheles, one cannot but feel that this destruction has been | too widespread and on too large a scale | to have been much affected by the agency of man. It seems more likely | that elimatic changes have been the | ency in the destruction, | and that these changes were not from | increasing cold, but rather increasing | warmth, | The mammoth, as we have seen, was | undantly supplied with fur, which | shielded him from the effects of cold. | He lived on the vegetation that grows | in semi-Arctic regions. It is very like- ly that the nelioration of climate, which followed upon the close of the Man:moth’s Extinction. { ! ] which the species could not adapt itslef. It is astonishing what small things nature are oftentimes destructive ( of life. The cattle are driven off from large areas in South Africa by the at- tacks of a little ly which swarms in | the region. Grizzly bears in Alaska | re often killed by mosquitoesl, The | mosquito attacks the eye, which is| the weakest point, and the bear, in! attempting to kill the moscuito with | w, scratches his own eyes out| ecomes blind. Thus the devel- | and multiplication of some | 1t enemies of the mammoth | readily mate grew warmer may have } . been fata! to his existence. H There is, however, much evidence | that the nmoth became extinct in | many places because his instincts | ased to be an unfailing guide amid | the changing conditions which fol- | lowed the close of the glacial perfod. | Dr. Robert Bell, from hiz wide ex-| pericnce, has suggested a theory’ something as follows: The mam- | moth was in the habit of seeking | shelter within the forest line during | nter, and. with the opening of/ spring migrated to the timberiess | country of the north, whers he could | browse on the smell trees which line the river courses of the Arctic Ocean. | These habit: uld not always become | fixed, rimals couid not always | perceive the dangers cpnnected with | would sometimes be too far away on the approach of winter successfully to reach safe winter quarters. In this case they might be caught in the early winter storms or attempt to eross an ice covered body of water before it was sufficiently strong to bear them. Dr. Beill relates that on an island in Ungava Bay a whole herd of rein- deer perished from starvation during one storm when a heavy snowfall was followed by rain which formed a crust, thus cutting off the supply of moss. The island was never restocked afterward. Suck may have been the means by which large herds of the mammoth were destroyved in northern regions. Stockmen in the West, as well as in Siberia, often now suffer great loss from these storms of sleet, which form such a crust over the grass that the animals are unable to procure the nutriment that is almost in sight of their longing eyes. | concluding remarks, Sir Oliver Lodge spoke of the im- F | his party were kilicd, but their side captured two of the “started after the mountain men and that another battle THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1901 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proptietor o « « « « « + « « « Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager e = Publication OfICe ......coceseeressaginsnnciicine 0 orerreoirieass . Third and Mazket Streets, S. F. PUBLIC SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. | HEREVER there is a public school there is! a problem and a multitude of persons ready to instruct the teacher how to solve it. In courses and methods of instruction. A similar condi- to the end of time. The instruction that suits one age hangs heavily on the men of Cumberiand Mountain, and they go to the lowlands for amusement, carrying salt and switches along to use as dictated by their desire to be useful. = We freely admit that the White Caps of Indiana have in ‘the country by the | conferences every year an-d at each ,0( 'them th"f .a"! same methods, omitting the salt, and we have no desire | numerous speakers to point out evils in the existing| {5 gird at Kentucky, which is a great State. We rather exalt her above Indiana by reason of the new rules of this, be understood, without indorsing the Kentucky and one locality does mot suit another; so that except way, which is merely interesting because of its piquant in countries where bureaucratic government obtains, and originality. where fixed systems of instruction are arranged for | whole nations, it is not likely there will ever be agree-| ment as to what instruction should be given, or how. Time was when educators believed that a few ghings ell taught are more profitable than many things hali! ght. *Those were the days when men talked much: about “the man of one book,” when great stress was | iaid upon the fact that a “Jack of all trades” was “master of none.” To-day some of the foremost educators teach the opposite doctrine. They wouid have the public schools give a smattering of well nigh everything, leaving it for the pupil to determine later in life what special study or trade he would follow, and then pcricctl himself in it after leaving the lower schools. Such; views are held not only in this country, but in so con-| land as Great Britain; and among those who | ch them is no less a person than Sir Oliver Lodge, | principal of Birmingham University. 2 At a recent conference of the Teachers’ Guild of ! reat Britain, Sir Oliver was the principal speaker. In reporting the event the London Daily News says: “Sir Oliver approved of a person having a smattering of a large number of subjects, and gave the Greek alphabet as one of the things that everybody should know. The early outline of nearly everything could be acquired quite easily, but before a subject was gone into beyond this rudimentary stage it should be con- sidered whether the circumstances and ability of the pupil were such as to make it likely that he would pursue the subject to a useful, practical end. * * * In his s servative te portance of teaching cdurtesy in the use of the streets for driving and walking, politeness to each other, meth- ods of life saving, the avoidance of panic in casf of fire, the advantages and objects of municipal government, how to preserve the teeth, how to breathe, cleanliness, the evils of expectoration and other foul habits, and the proper care of the body.” A public school curriculum, including everything from the Greek alphabet to the care f the teeth, would cer- tainly have scope enough to satisfy almost any one. It appears from the statements of Sir Oliver that at pres- ent the public schools of Great Britain are doing hardly anything worth doing. The report quotes him as saying that a majority of the schools turned out boys who were ignorant, who did not know how to acquire knowl- edge, who found no interest in it, and did not respect it —who were not ashamed of their ignorance, and were usually not even aware of it. Whit he desired to see was that the whole processes of instruction should be overhauled, the methods studied, organized and made efficient, and the work conducted by trained and en- franchised teachers under improved conditions. In this country we are better satisfied with our school | system. Our reformers go no further than to advocate a little tinkering here and there; the most radical among them would probably be startled by a proposal of any | such radical programme as that of the principal of Bir-| mingham University. It seems the only things Sir | Oliver would have taught up to a utility point in the public schools are modern languages. He cites the fact | that Nansen was able to lecture in English, French and | German because he had been taught those languages in the public schools of his country, and he recommends a similar careful training in British schools. | A German Princess, a trifle derelict in those nbliga~! tions that debtors owe to creditors, was accused of fraud flxc other day and promptly acquitted. There are some | plebeian traits which those of aristocratic blood may still display without the customary consequences. heE Princess, however, will have to fortify her credit wilhi cash. THE KENTUCKY WAY. P i OLLOWING Governor Beckham'’s vindication of his Statc against aspersions upon its fair fame for law. and order, comes a lively atfair in Letcher County, which seems to cail for a spe-| cial and explanatory message {rom the executive. "The! Assoeiated Press reports that a committee from the Cumberland Mountain waited upon Mrs. Muilins in the | shank of the evening and denuded her of garments and | whipped her on the bare back until she became uncon- | seious der their admonitory attentions. They then! rubbed salt into the gashes cut by their whips, nmi; were preparing to return to their mountain lomes, | equipped with the consciousness of duty done, when llley: were beset by an adverse party, headed by 2 brother-in- | law of the ciplined lady. f In the cnsuing battic this relative and a member of close upon un party of admonition from Cumberland Mountain. Thcl? captors were versed in the law and knew they must have cvidence. The question was how to secure it. They could see guilty knowledge trying to hide in the ! heads of their two prisoners, and decided to extract it,} if possible. While the process they adopted is open to condemnation as primitive it mast, by all thinking men, be approved as efigetive. They tied. the witnesses m; green hackberry trees, and omitting the formality of an | oath, made them tell the truth, the whole truth and noth- | ing but the truth by Kindling fire under them. They ! were not half baked before they revealed the whole plot and the names of their accomplices. The names of thesc two heated witnesses are given as Bill Haley and Hooker Smith. It is to be regrettad | that the account stops with their testimony. There will! always be curiosity to know whether Bill and !-Imzlm-l were put back over the fire and cooked until they were | done. It is only said that the judiciai coaks immediately | is expected. All Kentucky waits for news from the | front. The account is not illuminated by any reason for' the desire of the men of the mountain to peel and pickle Mrs. Mulline. The fact that her relative and neighbors rallied in her defense is circumstantial evi- dence that she was approved of in the community of which she was probably an ornament. 2, = It may be that time, in these long, i tions certainly is a rich one. Within the classic shades of Berkeley there is no place wherein offenders against the peace and dignity of the scholastic community may be imprisoned pending an inquiry into their conduct. Some towns, like some build- ings, otherwise complete and good to look upon, are sometimes constructed without the most necessary ad- juncts to comfort, convenience and utility. Berkeley ought to have a jail even as a sop to tradition. THE INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY: P ROFESSOR FRANK W- BANCROFT of the University of California has just made a remarka- ble contribution to scientific knowledge by deter- mining the ratio in which pigmentation in rabbits is in- herited. In other words, given a piebald bunny and a calico “jack” and Professor Bancroit will compute to the decimal part of an inch just how their progeny will be striped or ringed with nature’s dun shades. He- redity is reduced to a formula of logarithmic precision in the case of rabbits. Hardly a month passes over this wise world of ours | | but some deeper and keener solution of the riddle of life is pronounced and we are nearer to the answer to the everlasting “Why” by just that much. Our scientists with their ova of sea urchins and their vertebrae of sala- manders are hewing the way to that millennium of thought when everything will be knowable. All honor to these pioneers of knowledge. There is a new and entirely untrodden field open, how- ever, to the scalpel and the microsco_e. Its importance is growing with each recurrent sun. The possibilities for remarkable achievements therein are enormous. Fhe hardy adventurer who first sets his foot in this terra in- cognita will not only win the anudits of the erudite but the encomiums of a grateful nation. Severe his task, but manifold the rewards. It is to trace the effects of heredity in the Democratic party; it is to prognosticate the prodigy which is to be born of the St. Louis con- vention. The Berkeley professor had but to account for the prenatal influences of two rabbits to determine whether the young bunny, their offspring, was to be of paternal similitude or favoring the distaff side of the household. He was sure that it would be a rabbit at least. Equally certain was “he that it would be possessed of a brain, though it were the humble’ cerebellum of the rabbit kind, and that it would be endowed with the power to live, move and have its being. Not only that but the college "scientist could chart to a nicety th delicate blending of light and shade which would characterize the future ad- dition to the rodent world. Well might the trembling scientist gaze ‘with fear upon the stupendous task of formulating the results of pre-’ natal influences in the Democratic platform which is to be. First there is the insistent influence of the Jeffer- sonian Democracy, which hasebeen sending its strain down through the generations, suddenly to be made manifest in that wild sport of nature, the Kansas City platforfn. Added to this blood infusion there is the rank reversion to a primitive type, personified in William Jennings Bryan, lately returned from appearing before all the crowned heads of Europe. i The shadow of free silver and the haunting vision of wild-cat Popocracy appear to the delicately adjusted mi- croscope which is turned upon this field. Add to these hereditary influences the Sphinx shadow of a\Cleveland, the man of the Old Guard, the prophetic utterances of a Gorman and the notably shy and unobtrusive advances of a Héarst—all of these entering into the spawn of the St. Louis convention—and who can venture the wildest guess as to the fearful monstrosity which will see the light as the resiit of those birth throes? Who will even dare to venture that this thing which is born will have the stamina, inherent -ithin its conglomerate self, to survive even until weaning time in November? With ali due respect to the erudition of the Berkcleyi Full-songed. a bluebird sweet flits by! scientist it must be granted that his task was child’s play in comparison with that of the much needed political vivisector and obstetrician. " The railroads which now tap California for patron- age are vying with one another in fixing low and cer- tainly acceptable colonist rates for people im.the East- ern and Middle West States. The scheme suggests it- seif as highly commendable. 1f we can induce colonists {0 come among us we have that wealth of good things of the carth that will make them contented, prosperous and permanent residents of the Golden State. A i s : Harvard University is carrying into practical effect a plan to preserve in the phonograph the voices of the leaders of contemporary humanity for whatcver uses posterity may choose to put them. How strange it is that of all the physical attributes of*man science has found it possible to preserve only the most elusive, ‘zpparently the most ephemeral. and intangible—the voice. S A R Oakland Judges are making it very clear to that pest of cities, the hoodlum, that hic cannot insult young women without paying the penalty that decent commu- nities demand. A little of the spirit of these lawgivers infused into the minor magistrates of San Francisco would do 2 world of necessary good. The field for opera- PR e In the crash of a demoralized market the other day many fortunes were wiped out in the New York cotton exchange. T!f/zre is always one redeeming feature to these diverting incidents of American speculative life. Nobody worth considering is ever hurt. Honest men are neyer involved, and the fools ‘simply record another necessary lesson. ———— THe adventurous spirits of Hawaii that have taken to farming in the crater of the Punchbowl may find some oy d" they ‘have raised a crop of molten lava. Sitting e stove ought to be a tempting and seductive _comparison tq cultivating squash over the a slumbering volcano. o ’ We do | His Image. Marked with the indisputable evi- dence of an encounter with John Bar- leycorn and a hard fist, he ambled into a Mission drug store for relief. His eyes were half closed, there was a wandering, bleeding laceration across his forehead, his nose was tilt- ed to one side and a gash in one cheéek completed the damage. ! The druggist cheerfully replied that he would fix up the caller. “Wait a minute,” said the apothe- cary, as he reached for the gauze, the lint and the antiseptic. The badly marred customer disconsolately saun- i tered about the shop, but suddenly stopped in front of one of those con- vex mirrors that do such queer tricks of distortion with their reflected im- ages. Our friend caught a glimpse of himself ont of these disturbed optics. | With a yell of terror he tore himself loose from the scene and bolted for the door, searing the druggist half to death. “Come back here,” drug clerk. ¥ “Not much,” almost shrieked the fleeing man. *I just saw myself in your looking glass and’if I don't get to a doctor I'm ruined for life. | Anda he did not stop for explana- tions. shouted the Don Quixote Oneal. On one occasion in the State Senate Senator John F. Davis of Amador was speaking in his usual graceful and forceful way in favor of a measure to which Senator Louis Oneal was op- | posed. Davis had spoken for some time ‘and had been interrupted frequently | by questions from his colleague of the “prune belt.” Finally, at the close of i one of the Amadorian statesman’s best | periods, came the rasping request, “Will | the Senator permit another question?"” IHe would. The question was pro- | pounded, and, of course, it carried with {it a suggestion of weakness in Judge | Davis’ bill. Thereupon that gentleman #ralher testily exclaimed, “Oh, the Sena- | tor from Santa Clara is charging wind- { mills!” Instantly Oneal replied, “Yes, |1 admit that the Senator from Santa | Clara is charging at least one wind- | mill!” And the eloquent orator was forced to join in the general laugh at his own expense. Mother's Affection. The warrant charging the young man with being insane was sworn to by his father and mother, an aged Ger- i man couple. As they affixed their sig- | natures to the big official looking docu- i ment which branded their only boy |as one bereft of reascn great tears : coursed down their wrinkled cheeks, ; he mother seemed particularly affect- i ed, and it was with great difficulty.that ithe Lunacy Commisstoners were eén- . abled to learn from her the history of { her boy’s mental condition. At last the preliminary examination | was over and the aged couple was | brought to the cell cccupied by their json to assist further the examination ! by the doctors. They saw their only | child strapped to a narrow iron cot, ! his puny limbs bound together by cruel i looking leather bands and his hands i incased in big, ugly locking gloves. The | sight proved too much for the father !and he hastily left the cell. Not so ,the mother. With a cry of anguish she threw herself beside the form of her boy. cailing him “her pet,” “her , darling,” and other endearing names ! which a mother knows. i Then she turned to the doctors and i cried in her broken English: - “Doctor, ! doctor, my boy is not crazy: he is | only sick. He is a good boy. I do not | want to send him away. I must take i him home again.” ! February. | The laggard sun, on frosty morn, Throws long beams through the stubble | corn. Against the sunset, naked trees Weave magic bredes and traceries. From woodman’'s ax the splinter bounds; The flicker's cheery tapping sounds; ; Tee thaws and in the quickening flood t Are vague. fond hopes of leaf and bud, When, lo; like fleck of living sky— | —Outlook. Strect-car Manners. There is a l(nivernl rule that a man | seated in a street car should arise if | necessary and give his seat to a wo- | man. The reasons for such a rule are | self-evident, and if a man care to merit i the resnect of others he will follow it. It is one of the sacrifices to the weaker sex that he is required to make. Women . have come to recognize this rule or | custom as a right, and often complain +if it be not strictly followed. But there :is another side to the case, and it is | this: Because a man is expected freely 1 and pleasantly to relinquish his seat to a woman, is there not an obligation ‘upon her to allow him seating room 80?7 And may not the cause why some ! men do not recognize the custom as a right be the treatment they have re- 1 ceived at the hands of women who have , failed in this regard? On the outside of the sm*ller electric i cars of this citv there are |.uilt seats intended for three people, (ot how often is it seen that two women, evi- dently intent on occupving the greatest possible space for the least possible fare and utterly oblivious of the com- fort of others, svread themselves over the entire space. Unfortunate man, lw.lpttully eying the coveted seat gone to waste, is left te stand and sway whither the jolting car listeth, without . even a strap to hang to—for the placing _of straps, sadly needed in that part of | the car, has apparently never yet been thought of. 2 Man is human, and being human is | sometimes tired. Yet in the instance spoken of it is very awkward for him to ask a woman to move up, although he unquestionably has a right to do so under” such circumstances. On many | of the lines in San Francisco during the busy rs the street car facilities dre inadequate, and for a traveling to and from his work during those hours a seat is a rarity, quently he does not obtain one for day: lat a time, although there is a . When it is easily within her power to do | o tion that he is entitled to the seat for which he has paid his fare. If women would remember that it is no more than fair that they be a little thoughtful of the rights of men and move into the space it is intended one person should occupy, it is possible they would mot so often have occasion to complain of lack of gallantry on the part of men. . “Don’t Forget. Many years ago, Wwrites Bailey Aldrich in “Ponkapog Papers, a noted Boston publisher used to keep a large memorandum beok on a table in his private office. The volume al- ways lay open and was in ne manner a private affair, being the receptacle of nothing more important than hastily scrawled reminders to attend to this thing or'the other. It chanced one day that a very young, unfledged author passing through the eity looked in upon the publisher, who was also the editor of a famous maga- zine. The unfledged had a copy of verses secreted about his person. The publisher was absent, and young Mil- ton sat down and waited. Presently his eye fell upon the memo- randum book, lying there spread out like a morning newspaper, and almost in spite of himself he read, “Don’t for- get to see the binder,” “Don’t forget to mail E. his contract,” “Don't forget H.'s proofs,” and so forth. An inspiration seized upon the youth. He took a pencil and at the tail of this long list of “don’t forgets” he wrote, “Don't forget to accept A.'s poem.” He left his manuseript on the table and disappeared. That afternoon when the publisher glanded over his memo- randa he was not a little astonished at the last item, but his sense of humor was so strong that he did accept the poem—it required a strong sense of humor to do that—and sent the lad a check for it, although the verses remain to this day unprinted. English Railroads. There is a popular belief in this coun- try that American railroads are r.uth superior to those in England, beth in equipment and in administration. Sid- ney Brooks, writing in the current Har- per’s Weekly, takes exception to this opinion, and makes some interesting assertions to prove its fallacy. The equipment of the American railroads, says Mr. Brooks, is far behind that of the English lines. In England there are 98 lccomotives for every 100 miles of railroad, and in America 20; 307 pas- senger vehicles per 100 miles ‘in Eng- land. and 18 in Americ: 3161 freight cars per 100 miles in England, and only 719 in America. The smallest villages are provided with “well built, comfor- table stations and generally with as- phalt platforms; and a comparison of the casualty statistics of England and the United States shows an immense percentage in favor of the English man- agement. Answers to Queries. MAN-OF-WAR—C. F. D., Grimes, Cal. The complement of one of the largest men-of-war of the United States navy is from 37 officers and 663 men to 45 offfcers and 777 men. DREIBUND—Subscriber, San Jose, Cal. The German word “dreibund means triple alliance. The alliance known by that name is that formead in 1883 between Germany, Austria- Hungary and Italy a8 a check to Rus- sia and France. POWDER HOUSE—W. T. D, Au- burn, Cal. If a powder house is situ- ated in such close proximity to a eity or town as to be menacing to the safety of the inhabitants any citizen may pe- titlon for its removal. The petition should be presented to the Supervisors. CURING SKINS—-W. S, Alameda, Cal. The following is the process for curing rabbit or hare skins: “Lay the skin on a smooth bgard, fur side under- most and fasten it down with timned tacks. Wash it over first with a solu- tion of salt: then dissolve 2% ounces of alum in one pint of warm water, and with a sponge dipped in this solution moisten the surface all over: repeat this every now and then for three days; when the skin is quite dry, take out the tacks, and rolling it loosely the long way, the hair inside, draw 1 quickly backward and forward through a large smooth ring untl it is quite soft, then roll it in the contrary way of the skin and repeat the operation.” TROTTING RECORD—R. T. V, City. The record of Flora Temple, a trotter, was made in 1839 and was 2:193%. Maude S made her record in 1885, 2:08%, but since then the trotting record has been reduced by Lou Dil- lon in a race against time, October 24, 1903, at Memphis, Tenn., to 1:58%. This is the world’s record. The best record ter. Townsend's California glace fruits and --n-.fln.u.-...