MAKING BERRY BOXES, INTERESTING DETAILS OF A CALI- FORNIA COAST INDUSTRY. Cutting » Big Log Into a Single Shaving, The Great Blade at Its Work=Forming the Angles of the Box~Making the Bot. tom~Thoe Last Step. The thin sheets of wood which form the sides and bottom of a berry box are nothing more nor less than small places cut from a great pine, fir or whitewood shaving, and bent and fastened together in the shape of a box. These shavings, of course, are not like those which fall in graceful curls from the carpenter's plane, but are great long sheets, in each of which is almost the entire wood of a big log, and from a single shaving is fre quently made from 2,000 to 5,000 berry boxes, The logs, which are brought down from the northern coast, are unloaded in the waters of the bay and floated into the boom close to the shore, where the factory is located. From there they are hauled up on a tramway run- ning down into the water, so that the logs can be floated upon the car, When brought up, the logs are cut by a drag saw into uni form lengths as desired. These sections of the log are then placed in a large steam box, of which there are several convenient to the machinery, and left for twelve hours, sub- Jected to the effects of the exhaust steam from the engine. This softens the wood 80 that it can be cut into the thin sheets desired without checking or splitting into fragmenta, A section of great log, three feet in dia- meter, was rolled out from the steam box by two men, and, after the center had been marked at both ends, was hoisted by a small derrick and swung over a machine, the prin. cipal feature of which was a long bevel edged knife, firmly set in a strong iron frame, in very much the same manner as the blade of a carpenter's plane is set. Indeed, the Suiting portion of this machine is a great monster shaving plane, with the edge of the blade fixed upwards, The log was next low. ‘ered by the derrick to its proper position, the operator of the machine pulled a lever, and two great clamps, with strong, sharp pointed jaws two inches long, advanced and pushed their iron teeth into the marked cen- ters at each end of the log. The wooden cylinder was now beld firmly in front of the blade of the immense shaving - plane, and when the operator pulled another lever, the Jog commenced to revolve towards the cutting edge, exactly like the strip of wood in a turner's lathe revolves towards the chisel. Another pull by the operator, and the frame holding the great blade began to move up to the revolving log. When the knife came ip contact with the $‘caming Wood, the outer edges were pecled off in thin Strips without a sound of « ng, and the broad sheets rolled out under the blade as easily and noiselessly as would a slice of cheese under a sharp knife. After the water soaked, outer portions of the log had been trimmed off in this man ner, the operator adjusted, on the side of the log opposite to the cutting knife, s number of small chisel like instruments at the end of each of which was a mnall, sharp cutting edge pressing against tho log. These little cutters are placed at various distances, care fully measured by tho operator, and evidently formed an important feature of the operas tion. When the log again began its revolu tions against the blade of the great shaving machine, there camo mm under the knif { i, which ie ai Rip Of We the ul rolled and folded up like » wield v 4 Wie Min 15 a 3 men puiled out ar 44 111 paper, paj great white, steam. we ~ box, and the tw nded upward » Jone ratrin : od All} i off into this } ving, one-twentieth of an inch in thickness and pea 1,000 feel long, which is folded and broken into con venient ngths for bandiing comes from the knife The machinery which thus in a few min. utes ox ris a rough log into a long paper like = of is called a rotary venow machine, and in the factory are several of them of various sizes, the largest of them being adapted to the shaving of logs ten feel eight inches in length.” This, by the way, i the largest rotary veneer machine in opera tion in the United States. The thin sheets of wood, as fast as they are taken from the ma chine, are placed upon a long table near at hand, and pushed under a knife operated by steam power, which cuts the wood into nar row strips, lengthwise, and of the proper width for the sides and bottom of a berry box. The knife which cuts the long shavings crosswise of course cuts lengthwise of the grain. The narrow strips, as fast as they are cut, are taken away by boys and carried on an elevator to the second floor of the build ing, where a number of boys and girls rap idly bind them into box form. The last step in the manufacture, which is done by girls, fs the fastening of the botton and side strips together. This is done by a peculiar looking machine called a stapler, but which might very properly be called a wire sewing ma chine, San Diego (Cal) Union, lv riy as fast as if 11% ¢ wood Explorer Stanley's Extreme Taelturnity, Every white man who has served unde the explorer Stanley speaks of his remark able taciturnity, In the years he was found ing the Congo state stations be kept all bis plans to bimsell, and bis assistants seldom got an inkling of them until they were ordered to carry them out, Lieut Coquilhat gives curious instance of thischarncteristie. Quits contrary to bis usual custom Stanley one day ollered Coquilhas kis choles in the director slup of one of two proposed stations that were Lo Le started at Lalsogs and Be-Ngala, He told the licutenant that Lulangs was the center of a large and friendly populace | intense mental excitement--as in public SUDDEN DEATH OF THE SAD RESULTS OF OUR “QO-AHBADATIVENESS,” Americans, as a Class, Live Too Fast to Live Long--The Strong Man's Great Mis. take=The Old Gourmand at the Cafe, Apoplexy. The Bible speaks of three score years and tan as the age to which man may reasonably look forward, It seems as if at least seventy equable, contented and happy years—full of such comfort and gratification as the mem- bers of each class in the community have severally a right to expect should and might be within the reach of every ran and woman, In some countries, however, we find this to be much more nearly the case than with us. Americans, as a rule, live too fast to live long. Every person is originally en- dowed with about so large a stock of vitality, out of which to fashion his life, It amounts to nothing more nor less than the simplest of problems in arithmetic to show that if he draws upon this stock twice as heavily as he should the duration of his existence will only be one-half of what it was originally intended to be. Indeed, the mat- ter stands much worse than this; his life is | likely to be at any moment suddenly cut off short long before reaching even the half. A stean engine may use up its fuel in two | weeks or one, according to the rate st which | i is driven; if it is suliciently overworked | the resuit mgy be a genéral “smash,” or such | an injury as will necessitate a long and | tedious “stopping for repairs,” if, indeed, it ever becomes ‘as good as new.” We hardly seom ready to recognize the bounds estab. lished by nasture, but when we have reached them, in our greed and ambition, we summon our will, and, as the expression runs, “live upon our nerve,” congratulating ourselves on our praiseworthy display of ** American go abeadativeness” Unfortunately nature bas vot yet become sufliciently progressive in her ideas to manufacture Constitutions expressly for the American market, and in the midst of our triumphant tour de force, click, some thing snaps, and we vanish from the stage or break down for years, perhaps for life, In every community such ‘‘breakdowns” may be pointed out on every side, and many, even of our most “successful” men, freely confess they have paid too high a price for their prosperity. The prizes of existences are so great with us and seem to beso within the grasp of all, that practically all set out to win them. Each Is unflagging and merci. less to himself in his grim resolve to obtain thai for which be is striving. He works day and night, inclading holidays, and not fulre quently Sundays; be refuses to take time to | eat his meals properly, and in such a sense | less luxury as a vacation he never dreams of | indulging: amusement be regards as (rivo lous, and as abstracting too much valuable | time from the prosecution of the all absorb. | ing project. Every waking minute he keeps his brain grinding away over ways and means, and not improbably the hours which a sensible man would devote to sleep be un naturally curtails for the same puny The social competition runs equally high with that of business, Qf course, in fhe path- way he treads be jostles And jostled by competitors, and in a nature so tense and set in 30 great an endeavor as is his, the constant and wearing, though almost unperceived, play of the emolions—as envy, hatred, disappointment, eto Occasionally, a Jmlousy, is very great shave,” or sine + experiences a ny that shakes atisiiod | hh % sow close ITC OF SUCress culminating spasm of him to his vi with § IY cent nod his existence of Fa | packed up what | carry Lab { nature lvstows 1 bas ns nt he : f ] ts 10 face t delusion we fondly bug, while we think death as afar off. Yet every day, simply from faults of his ows committing, many ¢ un{ y the presence « bis Maker without an instant's warning. the twenty-five deaths reported by a New p week nine were that such may our fate in the harness ‘but to many sach a thought is ten rorizing; they pray that to them the end come slowly -that they may “ripen for the grave.” What are the causes of sudden death-—as by a stroke of lightning? They are not many when only the so called hatural acci- dents are considered. Death on the instant may result from apoplexy, or bursting of an aneurism within the chest or abdomen; it may be caused by the bursting of an abscess within the chest. Great mental shock—as from extreme anger or grief of even joy sometimes kills instantly through total paralysis of the chief nerve centers. Cass of sudden death from hemorrhages of the lungs are on record, but they are few in number, Diseases of the heart render the subject liable to instant death, and they are the most frequent causes, As we grow old we should avoid those In fluences which are likely to induce sudden and great rush of blood to the head, such os rtunate is burned inte ast that we die’ rE Contemporary one Gay | sLuden SUIe OF Us Nn wiali be speaking or in a fit of ~yiolont musce lar éffort, gluttony a ra ete, While one dines at popular cafes he has but to look about him and be is quite sure to see habits indulged provocative of apoplexy. A familiar sight isthe man about 60 years old whose highest pleasure is in tiokling his pal ate, Hels overwsight by tully yor pounds; his face is red and shining; be is full to burst. ing, and ho looks as though every lmportamt bution on kis clothing was threatened. One on a warm day gives such a man as “wide a berth” as he would a cookstove; be is alto gether 100 hot to sit pear. He commences his dinner with an appetizer-—gonorally cocktail. Then be deliberately ‘tills up,’ largely on meat and other “hearty” foods, al) of which are washed down with one at least, and generally two bottles of lager beer, As ho eats and drinks with one hand, be fans himself vigorously with the other, all the Limo growing and redder, and flually when be holats himsell out of his chalry faco takes a purplish hue In : even that slight effort, Ka when in Sohet every pot keyed up, and somothing the unusoal / Lok ————y | men of geniun, They | ghosts 1 might | us, fully armed and thirsting for ou | She rushed away, saying she was g | whose lot was opposite THE LANTERN'S LIGHT. Lack of the Little Illustrated Paper of Thirty-six Years Ago. 1 have not seen 5 stated in any of the sketches of his carser that Lester Wallack was at one time an editor. And although he was such in a comparative sense only, the fact, nevertheless, is worthy of record, In 1852 the late John Brougham originated and published a little illustrated paper here, mod- eled after The London Punch, calling it The Lantern. Its flame was a brilliant one, Once a week sll the leading contributors ! and artists connected with the paper used to meet at dinner, as do the artists and editors of Punch today, to make suggestions for and decide upon the principal cartoon to be printed in the next issue, The meeting was held every Saturday night at Windust's, a famous restaurant on Park row, and after every one had dulled their faculties with well served viands and mud- dled their brains with innumerable draughts of sherry and ale, cigars would be lit, the brandy . decanter passed around and John Brougham sitting at the head of the table, i | with Lester Wallack at the other end, would call the meeting to order und the business of the evening would begin. The assemblage generally broke up at about 3 in the morn. ing: and when the subject for the cartoon had at length been decided upon, my old | friend Frank Beliew would go howe and make the design. In the editorial duties of the paper, Lester Wallack, so Mr, Brougham has told me, was his right hand man, while | a Mr. Tioson, whom if I am not mistaken, | was a carpet manufacturer, with no ability whatever in art or letters, was chief adviser, Just why theso two gentlemen were chosen it is imposs.ble to say, for their artistic and general ideas were far inferior to those of | others in the party. Neveftheless the fact remains, Ibe contributors to The Lantern were all to a certain set that marked a sort of Elizabethan era in the annals of New York journalism. There waa Fitz James O'Brien, the author of many charming bits of verse, and an able literary and dramatic eritle, who esilisied in the Union army at the breaking out of ‘the war, and was killed while serving as aide-de-camp | to Gen. Lander. There was Thomas Dunn | English, one of the few who survive today, notwithstanding the bitter attacks made upon his character by Edgar Allan Poe—attacks which were calculated to kill outright any man. Thomas Power, who was christened Micawber by the party, both for his traits In comnmon with, as well as his re- sernblance to that gentleman, and William North, author of “The Slave of the Lamp,* and who afterward committed suicide, were also members of the Lantern club, Thomas | Butler Gunn, who stasmmered so that no one | could under tand what he said, but who was, nevertheless, a very able writer and artist, | was another of The Lantern's leading con- | tributors, and there aro many more whose conjure up were it worth | while doing so.~Jolin Preston Beecher in New York News, 81. Paal's Indian Seare, “It is difficult to realize.” sail a lady who has resided in St Paul from the early days, “that we bad such a scare about the Indians in this city twenty-six years ago, during the Indian troubles. There was a good deal of excitement all over the city for two or three days I remember one day an old colored woman came in great excitetaent to my house and said she had heard the governor had order«d the whole population to leave the | city at once—the Indians were marching on blood. ing to pack up and leave. A German woman who lived on the other side of the block, and * mine, barrio 3 r bed, dd, in 2 and tase bureau and erecil ur extren n the {ence » refug She uld be made on that day several of * heard " y to B58, g DOA Ine nwentdy | £0 square, - was fully convinced an | t \ 4 (8 5 a0 at nigh ward evening ra bezan t i ns had ik fo giv r two families livi they could jlown to Drid 5 oY y lw : { Jue : od « y DErsOns rus where WET Bit CXDOC y boar the p of Our carriage horses wero Laken r service during the campaign, t dead dans, 1 These were very trying times; but 8t Paul, of | 3% in no danger of alia The | or in Pioneer Press, Golden Rods and Asters, k's Magazine thinks that these grouped ed, War wo i savage state { mn. a very fine horse, was sli ite with ti ewan ie fess 1 was = is ae 514 | together should be accepted as our national | flowers "emblems of endurance, light and freedom.” After midsummer, in this coun | try, our rural landscape iseverywhere bright ened by the golded rods and asters; they form a distinet and beautiful feature of the scenery. The eyes of our countrymen are everywhere gladdened by their smiles, north and south, east and west, oft the hills and the moun. tain sides, in the valleys and on the broad | prairies, by the roadsides and the streams, | and in the field and copses they stand as | tokens of the genial heat that brings from the #0il the golden grains and the beautiful, lus | cious fruits. No other country in the world is thus characterized; these plants belong to America, and as stich should be our pride and delight, While on this continent there are from six- ty to seventy speties, and perhaps more, of the solidagos, or golden rods, and nearly all of them of vigorous babis, growing from a fool to eight feet in height, all the world besides affords less than a dosen, and these for the most part of small sise and confined to few localities of limited area, and always in such small numbers as to make them rare planta The species of asters in this country are still more numerous than those of the golden rod Both are the chiidren of the sun, eaking in his favors and reflecting hissmiles. Although many indigenous species of Bower are pecul far to this country, yet none so phvant no a tly claim possession as these, Home Spaielt y A Typieal Adirosdark Guide, The great character of our party was the driver, Charley —~a chap who is as hard to catch asleep as an old wensel. Ho is as tring built a8 an Indian rouser, os quick es greyhound, and can so exactly [mitate ilu bound in full chase that i& will pusle an ok band 10 tell which is the read bound. I setine made of whalebone, trinmed wit fadia robber, He will start out towards te east with a couple of dogs attached by « chain to his wala, another bo and his own two travel ia front, with them be holds general conversation on the way, Within threo Lows he will start each dog after n | ! OUR EXPRESS SYSTEM. She greatest business cepters of the world | friend in Arizona « i to a merchant in | to kbow anything about the location in the { trouble | whether it is in Maine or New Mexico {| Jordan | again used the address to Jor : : Boston, is left upon the side oaldnt be found, and the consignhor, al MARVELOUS PERFECTION OF DUR PUBLIC CARRYING SERVICE. Primitive Me hods of Early Days -Won. derful System of Today A Frequent Cause of Mistakes ~The “Old Hoss” Room, Promptoess and Celerity of the Next to the mystery of the postoflice, with its thousands, and even millions, of letters crossing and recrossing each other's paths daily, coming from everywhere and going everywhere else, with comparatively few miscarriages, the great express systems in the modern public carrying service are equally » matter of marvel to casual obwervers, In primitive days, when Keziah Root passed the door on regular days of tho week in his farm wagon on the way to market, and wes the common carrier for everything “goin’ to town,” it was not bard to understand how the knibbed socks reached Uncle Ben “in the first white bouse with a red barn beyond the orthodox meetin’ house at the corners.” or how Aunt Tabby got ber pall of butter, for Farmer Root was explicitly directed to vgo down the ma'sh road” on his way from Market, “and turn in the June next to So y Thomas’, she who was Bophrony earce, old Dea. Pearce's daughter, whose barn in the medder was burned last year and Jost all his pigs, and then "twould be the small white house with the evbbling shop fo frout.” Later, as the world grew and modern busi pess methods arose with the increase of trade, the problem of sending packages, whether of merchandise or of private goods, was still comparatively simple, forthe driver of the express, who took the paresis at the door, was in the majority of cases the sane who delivered them at their several destine- tions. Even after the railroads were in. vented and put into common uw, during the first few years theexpress serviovdid not form any great system. Now, however, wilh within the country, and with these centers fatimately connected with each other by in- pumerable ties, public apd private, commer. clal and social, the interchange of goods and has reached an enormous extent, which is not found anywhere else in the world. In wo other country is such a mar velous amount of business done nor such a perfect running service found. And it is this promptoess and celerity of dispatch, consid ered with the number of pieces hand'~d and the confusing variety of destinations, which makes the wonder of it A man is relieved of all care in sending parcels, It is as easy to send a package to & r a great box of dry gods New Orleans os to send a All that is neomsary » RI ’ i letter to either party. after the parcel is arranged address of the party to whoin one is sending the parcel. Instead of getting a postage stamp one simply bangs out a flag. Then the consignor's labor ends The expres; company's carrier appears, takes the parcel in hand, gives a receipt for it, which repre. sents it in values, and the company thereupor takes full charge of it until it reaches its des tination, or until it is handed over, at the end of that particular company's limit, into the hands of some corresponding company, which amounts to the same thing as far as the sender i= concerned. One does not peed ist w the city if the address is given, nor take the find out bow to w ei get to th to » The pie do all that for him. causes of mistake mindedness, A 1 & box | E In Le Dane i pel then, will gr CXPToss Pax ost frequent wis is alwent w “Ow gor Sad] Yes, wit WK Thessey The Largest, Cheapest and Best ‘Paper in the County. gute the way bills, sees that ho has Che maried mn WrRAng takes . Lo th Sew “ The stake is: elivery m ja The same abeent way of writ ink occars with the con. "The Democrat is bound other canse for a great wkings on dry | : ¢ been weed before. | im 1 ou Is boxes which av i & Marsh, or any similar large firm, some of the packing cases in which | When the boxes are dan & Marsh, The new ad- dress is put upon the top, indicating, we will say, = in Pawtucket, R. 1. Some where along the line, in looking over the stock, the messenger picks out all that which fs going to Boston, among which he takes the box with the name of Jordan & Marsh upon it. Then confusion arises, indeed, There is a curions feature in connection with these losses which is known in every express office as the “old hos” room. This is the room which holds all of the unclaimed wanderers, the tagless wails and ragged out- casts who are awaiting an owner. They are goods “on hand,” and the letters “0. HH." on the slips which are attached to them gave rise to the equine srpallatien. These stray parcels get into the “oid boss” room from al- most as many causes sy there are startling varieties to their character. The consignes R00 » ' will se goods com et mn ne one though duly notified, has never cared to re claim. One firm has sent goods 10 some per- son at his own order. He returns them with some complaint. The firm will not admit the complaint, and send them back witha very pressing bill, or else to avoid being held for receiving them back atall, they will not touch them, but leave them in the stare room of the express office. As neither party will have them, they disap, Ho bas moved, or died, perhaps, Bo they all drift into the “old hos” and are —~unlets of a perishable natures : E : £ a 3 i : J : E g : : 3 : B= - 7f : : ’ Liki Ri to be abreat of the times and willconstantly and con= sistently advocate what 1 believes to be in the inter= ests of the people. Toes A ; Qo Ya epantel No man can afford to be with- out a county paper and at ONE DOLLOR The Democrat is plac- ed in reach of all. SUBSCRIBE AT ONCH!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers