Republican news item. (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, January 23, 1902, Image 3

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8 F' rs t Models of 3
| great Inventions, g
oocoooooooo ooooooocococoo
That vast mausoleum of wrecked
hopes and blighted ambitions, the
model department of the United States
Patent Office in Washington, Is illum
inated here and there with the original
models of the very great inventions.
In one of the cabinets is to be seen
FIItST WASHBOARD—FIRST PAIR PEG SHOES—MORSE'S MODEL.
Morse's original model of the telegraph
instrument, fashioned by his own
hands. The model is very crudely
made, but it inspires reverence in the
visitor, and even a certain sort of awe,
when he pauses to think of what the
telegraph has done for the advance
ment of the world, and what a slow
universe this would be if we did not
have telegraphic communication with
our fellow beings the world over.
In another cabinet, inspiring the
MODEI, C F THE FIRST TYPEWRITER,
same soit of reverence, and bringing
thoughts of the days when every bit
of sewing in the world was done by
hand, is Elias Howe's model of the
sewing machine. The visitor uncon
sciously repeats to himself the words
of the song of the shirt, "Stitch, Stitch,
Stitch," and thinks of the agony of
that stitching in the days of Hood,
when it was all done by hand.
Elias Howe's tirst sewing machine
is almost as crude as Morse's telegraph
HOWE S SEWING MACHINE.
iounder, but In both cases the model
jperated exactly as described in the
specifications, and the patents were
iccordingly granted.
Not a whit less interesting is the
lodel of the first typewriter, the iu
ention of It. J". P. Allen, a Kentuck
in. It is still more roughly made than
lie models of the telegraph and sew-1
IRST ELECTRIC ARC AND FIRST INCANDESCENT LIGHT.
ig machine, but it proved to be ♦juile
s Important nu invention.
The first pair of peg shoes is another
iteresting invention exhibited in the
model room. The patent on peg shoe*
was granted to S. B. Hitchcock and
J. Bement on July 30, 1811.
Then there Is the first washboard.
It is as fresh-lookirg to-day as when
it was first placed in the cabinet, and
shows not a particle of corrosion, al
though the name of the inventor waa
S. Rust, and it was Bust himself who
made the modtg. The patent Is dated
February 9, IS3B. The first arc elec
tric light was made by Collier and
Baker, and patented by them May 18,
1858. The first Incandescent lamp was
the invention of Gardiner and Blos
som. to whom a patent was granted
June 29, 1858. Both the arc and the
Incandescent lights, it will be noticed,
were Invented In the same year. Noth
ing could be more different than the
incandescent lamp of 1858, and that of
to-day.
When you happen to be in Wash
ington go over to the Patent Office and
spend a few "hours looking around the
model room. You will tiud your pains
well rewarded.—New York Mail and
Express.
Klectrocutes the RedcntH.
The electric mouse trap is the latest
novelty to aid in exterminating the
pests which infest dwellings and other
buildings, and the inventor intends
that it shall lie the cause of many a
shocking death. There is no compli
cated mechanism about the trap; in
fact, it is so simple that the wary
rodent is not at all likely to regard
the device with suspicion. Everything'
is in plain sight, and the animal is not
compelled to Insert its head in a noose
or to enter a cage in order to reach
A VERY SHOCKING AFFAIR.
the bait. In this case the tempting
morsel is suspended within easy reach,
but the instant the electrical current
is completed by the rodent itself denlh
ensues without the bait being dis
turbed. The trap consists of two me
tallic plates connected by wires to an
electric light circuit, the plates being
Insulated by a plate of non-conducting
material placed between. The bait
holder is suspended from a supporting
arch secured to the outer plate. There
are numerous small animals which
may be captured in this way, and the
Inventor also Intends It for use in de
stroying roaches and bugs of various
sorts. The electrocution is accom
plished by the passage of the current
from one plate to the other through
the body of the rodent or insect. Tlio
inventor of this ingenious device Is C.
M. Shafer.
A lucid explanation is one that coin
cides with our views.
New Zealand sent Great Britain 1,«
457.197 hundredweight of muttonj
valued at $10,000,000 in the course oi
last year.
, MOST FAMOUS OF DIAMONDS.
' England'* Crown Jewel, the Koh-I-Noor
Will Be Worn by Queen Alexandra.
The Koh-i-noor, one of the most fa
mous diamonds in the world, wlilcl
used to be worn on special state oc
casions by Queen Victoria, may be,
conspicuous again at the coronation
The ls ls understood to have or
dered it to be placed in the special
crown that is being made for Queen
Alexandra. The Koh-i-noor, which ie
usually kept among the crown jewels
at the tower, was discovered originally
in the celebrated mines of Golconda,
about the middle of the sixteenth cen
tury. It passed through the hands of
several Indian princes, and was pre
sented to Queen Victoria in 1849 by
Dhuleep Singh, the last native ruler
of the Punjaub. The value of this
famous gem has been estimated at
$10,000,000.
The Koh-i-noor had a narrow escape
before it reached the late Queen. Af
ter the annexation of the Punjnub in
1849 it was given up to the British,
and at a meeting of the Board was
handed to John (afterward Lord) Law
rence in a small box beneath many
folds of linen for sare keeping. He
placed it in his waistcoat pocket and
forgot the treasure. When he dressed
for dinner the waistcoat containing it
was thrown carelessly on one side. At
a subsequent meeting of the Punjaub
Board Henry Lawrence suggested to
Ills brother the advisability of at once
forwarding the Koh-i-noor to Queen J
Victoria. John Lawrence had forgot- j
ten that the diamond had been given
him; then suddenly remembering, he j
quitted the Board with an unruffled
countenance, hurried home and in- j
quired of ills manservant if he had
seen a small box which had been left
in his waistcoat pocket. "Yes, sahib,"
the man replied, "I found it.and put it
in one of your drawers." "Bring it
here," said Lawrence. The servant
produced it. "Now," said his master, !
"open it and see what It contains." j
The old native obeyed, and after re
moving the folds of linen, he said, '
"there is nothing here, sahib, but a bit i
of glass." "Good," said John Law
rence, with a sigh of relief, "you can j
leave it with me."
Forto Itlco's Slone Collars.
The puzzle of archaeologists in th»
American Museum of Nntural History,
says the New York Herald, is what j
are termed the "6toue collars" from |
Torto Rico. Sonor Lopez-Nassa, an 1
erudite native, recently has written j
entertainingly of other antiquities, and j
slates ills belief that they were used j
for ceremonial purposes. Professor \
Otis T. Mason advanced the same h.v- j
pothesls in 187t>, soon after the ar- |
rival of specimens at the Smithsonian ;
Institution.
They are of the same size and shape j
os an ordinary horse collar, and made
ONE OP THE STONE COLLARS.
of very hard, greenish colored stone.
They are all more or less ornamented i
by a knot, or shoulder, 011 either the j
right or left side, which is covered j
with strange figures cut into the hard '
atone.
At the present writing anthropolo
gists have discovered the purpose or
use of everything manufactured by
prehistoric man with the exception of
these strange Porto Rican "collars."
•'Getting Into a Scrape?"
This popular phrase, involving the
use of au English word, in a sense dif
ferent from its proper meaning, has
considerably puzzled English lexico
graphers.
One, more ingenious than the oth
ers, has traced its origin to the game
of golf.
In the North of Scotland this game
Is played upon downs, or links, 011 the
seashore, where many rabbits burrow.
The small hole with which these ani- ,
mals begin their burrows is called In I
that part of the country "rabbit
scrapes," or simply "scrapes."
It often happens, in the progress of
a game of golf, that the ball of some
unfortunate player brings up in one of
t'Aese scrapes and is with difficulty re
moved. Special rules had therefore to
be made for the player "in a scrape."
This would seem an intelligible
source for an otherwise rather unintel
ligible expression.—New York Times.
The city of Portland, Me., has in its
streets thirty thousand shade trees,
some of which were planted more than
half a century ago.
STOKER BECOMES A MAYOR.
Dannl* Mnlvllhll Goes From Factory Fur
nace to city Hall.
We herewith reproduce the picture
of Dennis Mulvihill, the new Mayor
of BrJlgeport, Conn., who until his
election was employed as a fireman In
a manufacturing plant at sl4 a week.
" 'Honesty' will be the watchword ol
this administration," declared the
"stoker Mayor," in his inaugural
speech.
Mr. Mulvihill has worked at the
same furnace for thirty years. He was
born In Ireland fifty-six years ago. In
1896 he was elected Alderman. He is
the first Mayor elected on the Demo
cratic ticket in that city in the last
ten years. Mr. Mulvihill was so con-
DENNIS MULVIHILL.
fident of success that four days before
election he went from the fire pit to
the office of the factory and resigned
his employment, saying he might be
back after two years.
A Curious Windmill.
A windmill is apt to be a very pro
saic and ugly construction, but many
] attempts have been made with vary
| ing success to beautify these very use
ful and economic power producers.
) This engraving from the Scientific
j American illustrates
A TREE WINDMILL.
mechanics are sometimes blended. The
trees serve only as a support for the
platform at the top, and as side rails
of a ladder, it being necessary only to
provide rounds. The trees serve also
to stay the iron support. The wind
mill, which was built by J. G. Benster,
of Moline, 111., Is of peculiar constru
tion, there being 110 gear wheels 110?
crank, the power being transmitted by
an involute wheel which is a part of
the steel wheel to which the fans are
attached. The surface of the involute
Is perfectly smooth, as is also that of
the wheel attached to the pitman car
rier, the one rolling upon the other.
The luast Is of tubing, the pitman
being carried down inside. The wires
for throwing the mill out of gear are
attached to a thimble on the outside
of the mast. From this it will be seen
that the trees are not needed for act
ual support.
A number of these mills have been
attached to trees and have been giving
excellent results. It Is also possible to
carry the mills around on a wagon and
set them to work at any part of a
field.
lirltislt Naral Wetldlntr Custom.
By an old custom which obtains in
the Navy the marriage of an officer is
signalized by the hoisting of a wreath
of flowers, with silken 112« reamers, on
the vessel to which lie belongs, says
t h e J
time since the new royal yacht Vic-j j
toria and Albert was commissioned the; I
custom has just been carried out on! j
that vessel in honor of the marriage),
of Lieutenant Mansell, her First Lieu- j
tenant, to Miss Louisa Richards, the! j
daughter of .l naval captain. At night: [
the wreath was brilliantly illuminated 1
with the electric light |
I)B. TALMAGE'S SERMON
SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
fint>J«ct: Grasp Present Opportunities A
Prediction That tile New Tear Will
lio One* of tlie Greatest of All Time
Prepare For the Future.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—ln this, Dr. Tal
mage's thst discourse Tor the new yeav be
speaks words of encouragement to all the
timid and doubting. The text is Esodus
xii, 2, "This month shall be unto you tKe
beginning of months; it shall be the first
month ot the year to you."
The last month of the old year has
passed out of sight, and the first month of
the new years has arrived. The midnight
gate lust Wednesday opened and January
entered. She deserves a better name, for
she is called after Janus, the heathen
deity who, they supposed, presided over
doors, and so might be expected to preside
at the opening of the year. This month
waa of old called the wolf month because,
through the severity of its weather, the
hungry wolves came down seeking food
and devouring human life. In the missals
of the middle ages January was represent
ed as attired in white, suggestive of the
snow, and blowing the lingers, as though
Buffering from the cold, and having a bun
dle of wood under the arm, suggestive of
the warmth that must be kindled!
Yes, January is the open door of the
year, an<T through that door will conic
what long processions, some of them bear
ing palm lca%xs and some myrtle, others
with garlands of wheat and others with
cypress and mistletoe. They are coming,
and nothing can keep thom back—the
events of a twelvemonth. It will, I think,
be one of the greatest years of all time.
It will abound with blessing and disaster.
National and international controversies
of momentous import will be settled. Year
of coronation and dethronement, year that
will settle Cuban and Porto Rican and
Philippine and South African and Chinese
destinies. The tamest year for many a
decade past hag dup its millions of graves
and reared its milhons of marriage altars.
We can expect greater events in this
year than ever before, for the world's pop
ulation has eo vastly increased there are
so many more than in any other year to
laugh and weop and triumph and perish.
The mightier wheels of mechanism hnve
such wider sweep. The fires are kindled
in furnaces not seven times but seventy
times heated. The velocities whirling
through the air and sailing the seas and
tunneling the mountains will make unpre
cedented demonstration.
\\ ould to God that before the now open-
Ing year has closed the earth might cease
to tremble with the last cannonade and
the heavens eease to be lighted up with any
more conflagration of homesteads and the
i foundries that make swords be turned
1 into blacksmith shops for making plow
snares.
( The front door of a stupendous year has
opened. Before many of you there will be
twelve months of opportunity for making
the world better or worse, huppier or more
miserable. Let us pray that it may be a
year that will indicate ihu speedy redemp
tion of the hemisphere. Would to God
that this might be the year in which the
! three great instruments now chiefly used
for secular purposes might be put to their
mightiest use in the world's evangeliza
tion the telegraph, the telephone, the
phonograph. Electricity has such potent
tongue, such strong arm, such swift wing,
such lightning foot, that it occurs to me
that it may be the angel that St. John saw
and heard in apocalyptic vision when he
started back and cried out, '"I saw anoth
er angel flying in the midst of heaven hav
ing the everlasting gospel to preach unto
Ihern that dwell on the earth and to c*"ery
nation and kindred and tongue and peo
ple."
They were tongues o. fire that sat on
the heads of the disciples at the Pentecost,
and why not the world called to God by
tongue of electric fire? Prepare your bat
teries and make ready to put upon the
wives the world wide message of "'whoso
ever will."
Furthermore, this month of January
has the greatest height and depth of cold.
The rivers are bound in crystal chains.
The fountains that made highest leap in
the summer parks now not one jet,
for every drop would be a frozen tear.
The sleds craunch through the hard snow.
Warmest attire the wardrobe can afford
is put on that we may defend ourselves
against the fury of the elements. Hardest
of all the months for the poor, let it be
the season of greatest generosity on the
part of the prosperous. How much a scut
tle of coal or a pair of shoes or a coat or a
shawl may do 111 assuagement of suffering
between the Ist of January and the lat of
February God only knows. Seated by our
Warm registers or wrapped in furs which
make us independent of the cutting Janu
ary blast, let us not forget the tireless
hearth and the thin garments and the
hacking cough and the rheumatic twinge
of those who through destitution find life
in winter an agony. Suppose each one of
us take under charge one poverty-stricken
household or one disabled man or one in
valided woman. On our way home from
such a charity, though the wind may be
howling and the night tempestuous, I
should not wonder if we could hear a voice
that was heard on Galilee and at the gates
of Nain and by the pool of Bethesda say
ing, "Inasmuch as ye did it to them, ye
did it to Me."
Oh, the might of the cold! The arctic
nnd antarctic invading (lie temperate zone!
The victories of the frost—as when the
Thames in 1203 became firm as any bridge
and the inhabitants crossed and recrossed
on the ice and booths and places of tem
porary amusement were built on the hard
ened surface; as when many years ago
New York Harbor was paved with ice so
that the people passed on foot to the ad
joining islands. But the full story of the
cold will never be known. The lips which
would have told it were frozen and the
fngers that would have written it were
benumbed. Only here and there a fact ap
pears. In 1001 the cold was so terrific that
the wolves entered Vienna. In 1408 it was
f.o cold that wine was cut with hatchets
and distributed among the soldiers. In
1234 a whole forest was killed by the cold
at Ravenna. In 703 the Black' Sea was
frozen over. As wo go further back the
frosts are mightier, but as we come fur
ther down the frosts lessen.
The worst severities have been halted,
end the snows have lost their depths, and
the thermometers announce less terrific
falls of temperature, and the time will
come when the year will be on? long sum
mer of foliage and bloom. \Vhi!e the
world's normal condition will be reformed,
the worst climat?s will be corrected. You
could not have a millennium with a Jan
uary blast possible.
Do not read your almanac backward.
T")o not go out a'■ d ask the trees hung with
icicles by January storm whether they
will ever again blossom in May and leaf
in .li;ne. We are inning toward the
world's redemption. The »ro~en tears will
melt, the river of gladness will resume its
flow, the crocus will come up at the edge
of the snowbank, the morning star will
open the door for the day, and the armies
of the world will "ground arms" all around
the world.
The January of frost will be abolished,
and the balm and radiance of a divine at
mosphew will (ill the nations. Tf you do
not see it and hear it for yourself 1 think
at the utmost your grandchildren will see
and hear it. The heavens will take part
in Urn conflict between righteousness anil
fin, and that will settle it, and settle it
anight, and settle it forever.
j» thu very month oi January, 1043, two
months after a great battle had been
fought between the army of the king and
the army of Parliament, shepherds and
travelers between 12 and 1 o'clock at
night heard the battle repeated in the
skies—the sound of drums, the clash of
arms, the groans of dying men and then
the withdrawal of the scene into complete
silence. These shepherds and travelers
repeated in the neighboring towns what
they heard, and liyge number? of people,
expecting that all was a deception, \Tgnt.
out on the following night, ana they heard
the same uproar and tumult in the heav
ens—the two armies in battle. The king,
hearing of this seeming combat in the
heavens, sent embassadors to inquire into
the mystery. In the night they also heard
the conflict and came back to the king
and took solemn oath as to this mysterious
occurrence.
Whether those shepherds and travelers
and embassadors of the king were in de
lusion I cannot say, but this I know—that
the forces of God and the forces of Satan
are now in combat, the heavens as well as
the earth in struggle as to who shall win
tills world for blessedness or woe, and, as
the armies of God are mightier than the
armies diabolic, we know who will
triumph, and we have a right to shout the
victory through our Lord Jesus Chrint.
The King of Kings, the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Joshua and Havelock, leads in
the conflict. I have no fear about the tre
mendous issue. My only fear is that we
will not be found in the ranks and fully
armed to do our part in this campaign of
the eternities.
Again, I remark that the month of Jan
uary has seen many of the n>o3t stupen
dous events in the world's history and a
rooking of cradles and the digging of
graves that have affected nations. In this
month American independence was de
clared, followed by Lexington and Bunker
Hiil and Monmouth and Valley Forge and
Yorktown. January saw the proclamation
that abolished American slavery. Though
at the time there were two mighty opin
ions and they were exactly opposed—those
who liked the document and those who dis
liked it—there is but one opinion now, and
if it were put to vote in all the States of
the South, '"Shall slavery be reinstated?"
there would be an overwhelming vote of
"No!" The pen with which the document
was signed and the inkstand that con
tained the ink are relics as sacred and val
uable as the original Declaration of Inde
pendence, with all its erasures and inter
lineations. The institution which for sev
enty or eighty years kept the nation in
angry controversy has disappeared, and
nothing is left to fight about. The North
and the South to-day are in a» complete
accord as ever were flute and cornet in the
same orchestra.
'I ho North has built its factories on the
banks of the Chattahoochee and the Roa
noke, and the South has sent many of its
ables attorneys into our northern court
houses, its ino9t skilful physicians into our
sick rooms, its wisest bankers into our
exchanges, its most consecrated ministers
into our pulpits—all this the result of the
proclamation of January 1, ISO 3.
Furthermore, I notice that January has
been honored with the nativity of "some
of the greatest among the nations. Ed
mund Burke was born this month, the
marvel and glory of the legal world; Fene
ion of the religious world, Benjamin Frank
lin of the philosophic world, William IT.
Preseott of the historic world, Sir John
Moore of the military world, Robert Burns
of the poetic world, Polycarp of the mar
tyr world, Peter the Great of the kingly
world, Daniel Webster of the statesman
world.
But I cannot read the epitaphs of one out
of a hundred illustrious graves in this first
month of the year. Many of those well
known gained half their renown and did
half their work through the help of those
of whom we know litt* or nothing. Lordl
Hersehel is known all the world over and
will be known through all time, but little}
is said of her who was born this first'
month of the year, and without whose
help he never could have been what he
was—his sister, Caroline Lueretia Augus
ta. She helped him hunt the worlds:
She repaired and adjusted his telescopes.
She ciphered out his astronomical prob
lems. She was his amanuensis. She
planned for him his work. She discovered
seven comets and made "A Catalogue of
Nebulae and Star Clusters. - ' The month
of January introduced her to the observa
tories, but she has never been properly in
troduced to the world.
Cultivate faith in God and the feeling
that He will do for you that which is best,
and you will be ready for either sunshine
or shadojr. The other eleven months of
the year 1902 will not all be made up of
gladness or of grief. The cup that is all
made up of sweetness is insipid.
Between these just opened gates of the
year and the closing of those gates there
will be many times when you will want
God. You will have questions to decide
which will need supernatural impulse.
There may be illnesses of the body or per
plexities of mind or spiritual exhaustions
to be healed and comforted and strength
ened. During the remaining twenty-six
days of this month lay in a supply of faith
and hope and courage for all the days of
the eleven months. Start right, und you
will be apt to keep right.
Before the ship captain gets out of t!iO
New York Narrows he makes up his mina
what sea route he will take. While you
are in the narrows of this month make up
your mind which way you will sail an<£
unroll your chart and set your compass
and have the lifeboats well placed on the
davits and be ready for smooth voyage all
the way across or the swoop of a Carib
bean whirlwind. •>
Rev. Solomon Spaulding was for some
time in poor health, and to while away the
time he wrote a preposterous religious ro
mance. One Joseph Smith somehow got
hold of that book before it was printed
and published it as a revelation of heaven,
calling it the "Book of Mormon," and
from that publication came Mormonjsm,
the monster abomination of the earth.
Rev. Solomon Spaulding; might have been
better engaged than writing that book of
falsehoods. However much time we have,
we never have time to do wrong. Harness
January for usefulness, and it will take the
following months in its train. Oh, how
much you may do for God between now
and the 31st of next December!
The beautiful "weeping willow" tree
was introduced by Alexander Pope into
England from a twig which the poet found
in a Turkish basket of figs. He planted
that twig, and from it came all the weep
ing willows of England and America, and
your smallest planting of good many un
der God become an influence continental
and international.
Now that the train of months has
started, let it pass, January followed by
February, with longer days, and March,
with its fierce winds; and April, with its
sudden showers; and May, with its blos
soming orchards; and June, with its car
nival of flowers; and July, with its ha<
vests; and August, with its sweltering
heats; and September, with its drifting
leaves; and October, with its frosts; ana
November, with its Thanksgiving scenes;
and December, with its Christmas hilari
ties. March on, O battalion of months,
in the regiments of the years and the bri
gades of the centuries! March on and
join the months and years and centuries
already passed until all the rivers of time,
have emptied into the ocean of eternity,
but none of all of the host ought to render
higher thanks to God or take larger com
fort or make more magnificent resolve than
this the first month of the new year.
But what fleet foot hath the months and
years! People lightly talk about how they
kill time. Alas, it dies soon enough with
out killing. And the longer we live the
swifter it goes. William C. Bryant said
an old friend of his declared that the
going of time is like the drumming of the
partridge or muffled grouse in the woods,
falling slow and distinct at first and then
following each other more and more rapid
'y till thev end at last in a whirring sound.
But Br. Young, speaking of the value oi
time, startlingly exclaimed, "Ask death
beds!"
[Ccp.'Tirht, ISK2, L. Klopscb.]