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THE MEYERSDALE COMMERCIAL, MEYERSD ALE, PA.
ROMANCE OF COAL.
Some of the Products This Complex
Muterial Yields to Man.
Coal seems to be rather an uninter-
esting. thing. Who would imagine
that the great, ugly black lumps could
afford any one a subject worthy of
study? And yet this same coal has
given civilization many of its greatest
possessions. The beautiful pink scarfs
worn by women are colored with dyes
that come from coal. The gas used to
illuminate and to heat our homes is a
product of the distillation of coal. Val-
uable chemicals, such as benzine, naph-
thalene and toluene, are coal products.
The tar used in” paving streets and
protecting roofs from rain is also a
byproduct of the commercial treatment
of coal, and finally aniline, the basis of
aniline dyes and coloring materials, is
one of the valuable chemicals contain-
ed in coal.
Coal is indeed one of the most com-
plex materials to be found in all na-
ture. To learn what it is we must go
back to the dim. geological ages. The
luxuriant vouzetation of these past
times, untrammeled Ly human io
ot and |
uncut by human hands, year afier year!
grew, bloomed,
forming deep beds of rotted. woody
fiber.
By degrees certain gases. such as
hydrogen and oxygen. were partly lost
from the mass of vereiable material
Pressure and heat converted this ma:
terial into what we know as coal. —St.
Louis Post- Disy atch.
No! UNTAIN CL!MBING.
Joys That Come In Reaching the Peak
and Getting Back to Camp.
A great deal has been written by
mountaineers about the joys of climb-
ing, says Waiter Prichard Eaton in
Harper's Magazine. The joys of climb-
ing are often a good deal like those of
heavy dumbbell exercises. In Glacier
park you want to sing the joys of com:
ing back to camp in the afternoon and
loafing on a bed of balsam boughs, with
your tent flap open wide to the view of
lupines and violets in the meadow ang
distant snow capped peaks beyond. You
want to sing the joys of fragrant food
and steaming tea, of twilight slowly
gathering as though so fair a day weye
reluctant to depart.
To ascend a peak, to see the tumbled
werid at its wildest, to sit again in
camp tired and warmed with food, to
bear with one ear the camp cook tell-
ing bear stories, with the other the
_ birdlike calls of the cro'nd squirrels,
“to smell the resinous v: oJ smoke and
the balsams, to catch 1 wv and then the
tinkle of little ice w:iicr brooks from
the snowfields, to : tcl the sunset
blush on Heaven's ' cak and the stars
come slowly out a. uve the Latilements
of the divide—well, that is, I fear, to
spoil you for any other life.
The little ice water brooks sing a
siren song in the uplands starred with
violets;- and woe to him whose ears
have heard! He can never be quite
happy again east of the Great Divide.
An Aged Gander.
The birds that live to a great age are
comparatively few. Gulls have been
known to reach forty years, parrots
frequently live eighty years and.swans
nearly as long. Ravens and owls usu-
ally die somewhat younger, but there
is good reason to believe that eagles
and falcons sometimes live more than
a hundred years. Of barnyard fowls
ducks and geese live longest. D, Mac.
Lachlan of Islay, Scotland, writes "to
the Field that he has a gander that is
now sixty-six years old. For forty-five
years it belonged to the proprietor of a
hotel at Bridgend, Scotland. Twenty-
one years ago the father-in-law of the
present owner bought it. Mr. Mac-
Lachlan says that the gander looks as
well and as young and seems as active
as it ever did. There is no doubt about
its age.
Her Adopted Name.
They were discussing the peculiari-
ties of names, and Blobton suddenly
said:
“By the way, Cox, your wife’s got a
queer name, hasn’t she—‘Duty? Where
did she get that name Duty?’
“Oh, she adopted it,” replied Mr.
Cox. “She claims that every married
woman's middle name is Duty, because
she is either being done or neglected.”
—London Mail
Explained.
“I know a man who is very success-
ful in business, and yet all his custom-
ers know his talk about his goods is
chiefly hot air.”
“How does he manage to fool them,
then?”
“He doesn’t. He deals in firnaces. 2
—Baltimore American.
Sheer Idolatry.
“@Gadspur has a little white hen that
lays an egg every day.”
“I guess he’s proud of that bird.”
“Proud is not the name for it. Why,
man, he has had a phonographic record
made of her -cackle.”—Birmingham
Age-Herald.
The Cithern.
The cithern, a musical instrument re-
sembling the guitar, mentioned” in I
Maccabees iv, 54, employed by the
Chaldeans, was probably Introduced
into Palestine by the Hebrews after
their return from the Babylonian cap-
tivity.
Her Chance.
He (Just to make conversation)—Do
you think opals are unlucky? She—I
should prefer a diamond if it’s all the
sane to you.—Boston Transcript.
Skeptical.
“What is a skeptic?”
“A man who always puts paste on
ghe back of a postage stamp.”—Puck.
faded and decayed,
| TRICKING THE CRELULOUS.
tures of Gold Brick S:izme- For the
Small In-estors.
Will persons with money never learn
how to take care of it they
never guard themselves anal t the
horde of tricksters who make a busi
ness of taking advantage of the cred:
ulous and especially
men?
Bear in mind that no one will make
of credulous wo
moner for you when he can make it
for himself.. If he offers to give you
the key te wealth, suspect him. for
such kers ure x
and are not
ept by their possessors
vin away to'strangers
The. pestofice a year or two ago
showed that over $150.000,000 had been
lost by persons who, listened to the
gold brick schiensers, but the game still
goes on despite the vigilance of the
postoffice department and the passage
of protective measures. known as “blue
sky laws.” by many states.
Will the people never learn to dis
count the alluring literature ‘which
these shysters send out and which is
writen for them by some of the sharp:
ost writers of our dov
Wise services can be easily obtained
for a few dollars?
1.0 2¢ my readers who receive
itose ii; ting propositions to send
iden at ouce to the postmaster gen
eral at Washington for investigation
“hat is the business of the postoffice
ost aia IB
i department. and it will be only too
happy to take up such matters.
Small investors are particularly the
victims of these bunko schemes, for
the false notion prevails that a man
or woman with a small amount of
money cannot buy high class invest-
ment securities such as successful in-
vestors prefer. This is erroneous. An
investment can now be made in the
best of paying securities with as small
an amount as $10 through the partial
payment plan, which is readily under-
stood, though the term may sound
formidable.—Leslie’s Weekly.
A LITTLE PIECE OF LEAD.
The Costliest Thing This World of
Ours Has Ever Known.
Just think of one small piece of lead,
probably weighing less than an ounce.
that cost the world some $100,000,000,
000 in mouey, probably $100,0600,000,000
in property, more than 11,000,000 lives
and individual suffering and loss im-
possible of computation—a bit of lead
that embroiled in war Germany, Aus-
tria-Hungary, Britain, France, Belgi-
um, the United States, Turkey, Siberia.
Italy, Montenegro, Roumania, Bulga-
ria, Albania, Egypt, Canada, Australia.
China, Japan, South Africa, India and
Russia and brought every other nation
to the brink of internal trouble or out-
ward disaster, the consequences of
which are being felt by every human
being. civilized or uncivilized. white.
black, yellow or brown!
That small piece of lead was fired
from a pistol in the hands of a crack
brained youth of Servian nativity into
the body of the heir to the Austrian
throne. The troubles arising from this
mad act and its punishment set fire to
the powder trains in Europe and led
to hostile act after hostile act and final-
ly and snddenly to open war in 1914.
That [ttle piece! of feid should be
preserved as a memorial to all future
generations and as the costliest thing
(mankind has ever known It would
become the greatest silent teacher the
world has ever seen. It would teach
restraint for the weak minded and vio-
lent; it would teach the importance of
minor acts and things; it would teach
peace as no costly monument, no book
of horrors, no painting of tragedy could
ever teach it.—Detroit Free Press.
Ox Bones.
Ox bones have a considerable value
The four feet of an ordinary ox will
make a pint of neat’s foot oil. The
thigh bone is the most valuable, being
useful for cutting into toothbrush han.
dles. The fore leg bones are made into
collar buttons and parasol handles
The water in which the bones are boil-
ed is reduced to glue, while the dust
which comes from sawing the bones
is turned into food for cattle and poul
try.—Exchange.
Fine Canal Locks.
Some of the locks in the New York
barge canal are the finest in the world,
the five at Waterford being the great.
est series of high lift locks in existence
They have a combined lift of 169 feet,
one foot less than the total lift of every
lock in the Panama canal. The upper
gates weigh forty tons and the lower
about 100 tons. .
Dislocation of the Hip Joint.
In demonstrating his now famous
method of replacing in its socket a hip
that has been dislocated since birth
Dr. John Ridlon of the Presbyterian
hospital, Chicago, said most of these
cases were girls and in most of them
it was the left hip. He could not offer
any suggestion as to why this should
be so.
Duets Popular.
Patience—What kind of singing do
you prefer, solos or duets?
Patrice—Oh, duets, by all means.
“Well, come over to thie house some
time and I'll start the phonograph and
the parrot going at the same time.”—
Yonkers Statesman.
Natural Tendency .
“Pop, do all trades have their own
diseases?”
“So they say, son.”
“Then is it only carpenters that have
shingles ?’—Baltimore American.
Gossipy.
# is a great gossip.”
: : le tonnage o
SHIPS AND THEIR SIZE.
Why You Cannot Compare the Vessels
According to Tonnage.
The different uses of tonnage terms
when speaking of ships are causes of
confusion to the lay mind, states Cap-
tain C. A. McAllister, engineer in chief,
United States coast guard, in the Popu-
lar Science Monthly. For example,
steamship companies in order to im-
press upon the traveling public the
size and consequent relative safety of
their craft will advertise the sailing of
a certain steamer of 20,000 tons, mean-
ing, of course, gross tons. The com-
pany’s agent, in entering her at the
custom house, will take great precau-
tion to certify that she is of only 7,340
tons when paying tonnage taxes. He
then is referring to her net tonnage,
and, in faet, that standard is used only
when paying:dues or taxes.
Displacement tonnage is almost ex-
clusively applied to wurships, as they
do ‘mot carry cargoes.
the tonnage of a battleship varies al-
most hourly, as coal or other weighty
objects are used or taken on board.
of warships is; however.
Zed. They are referred to in terms
i the fixed tonnage.
A statement that a 10,000 ton battle:
shih sank a 10,000 ton merchant ship
does not mean that the ships were of |
equal size. The merchant ship would
be much the larger owing to the dif-
ferent meanings of the term ‘‘ton’” as
applied to the two types of vessels. It
is absolutely impossible to give rules
“for tho relations of these terms, as the
conditions vary too greatly. Generally
speaking, the gross tonnage of a ship
is from 50 to 100 per cent greater than
the net tonnage. Tons displacement
are always in excess of tons gross.
Deadweizht tonnage is on an average
from 30 to 50 per cent greater than
gross tonnage.
THE BIBLE NEGLECTED.
Though Still the Best Seller, It Is Not
Read as It Used to Be.
Although thie Bible still leads all oth-
er best sellers, few read it. People
still present Bibles to brides and
grooms.
children. Colporteurs still roam the
country handiug out Bibles-among the
villagers.
thusiasts still put Bibles in hotels. But
the Bible is seldom read aloud in the
home. And the type of American who
daily reads his Bible in secret from a
sense of duty is becoming more and
more rare. :
Quite apart from its moral and re-
ligious bearings, the neglect of the Bi-
ble involves a cultural handicap worth
noting. It involves a cramping of the
popular vocabulary, as no other liter
ary masterpiece is such a well of Eng-
lish pure and undefiled. It involves a
dulling of literary perceptions, as liter-
ature abounds” in Biblical allusions
which every reader of the Bible in-
stantly understands, but which only
readers: of the Bible ever can. Finally
it involves a failure to respond’ to
many a good joke, as an astonishing
percentage of the best quips are noth-
ing more or less than Biblical allusions.
It is mainly useless, ‘we realize, to
propose a course of self enforced Bible
reading for adults. We insist, how-
ever, that parents who want their chil-
dren to get the most enjoyment out of
life may well see to it that their chil-
dren develop an acquaintance with the
Bible. It. is the basis of keen speech
It is the basis of intelligent reading.
It is the basis of culture. And by cul-
ture we mean a capacity for enjoying
the fine and beautiful things of this
world and the capacity for producing
gome:=-Chieage Tribune.
Fright and the Hair.
The hair does stand on end under
certain ' conditions, because there is
a little muscle down at the root of
each hair that will make each hair
stand up straight when this muscle
pulls a certain way. It is difficult to
say just how these muscles are caused
to act in this way when we are fright- |
ened. We know that when thoroughly
frightened our hair will sometimes
stand straight up, and we know that
it is this muscle at the root of each
hair that makes it possible, says the
Book of Wonders, but why it is that
a big scare will make’ this muscle act
this way we donot as yet know
Platinum Retorts.
Platinum is used directly in the mak-
ing of munitions of war and indirectly
in all sorts of operations that are in-
cidental to warlike operations.
To cite but one example, in the man-
ufacture of cordite perfectly pure sul-
phuric acid has to be used, and ‘sul-
.phuric acid can only be perfectly
purified in platinum retorts, each of
which, by the way, represents a value
of $50,000 to $75,000.
A Lot to Know.
When Disraeli was prime minister of
England a good looking young man ap-
plied to him for a government posi-
tion. “I know, sir,” said the applicant
wistfully, “how little I know.”
“Dear me,” sald Disraeli, “as much
as that? I haven't got half that dis-
tance yet.”
Biting.
Spinks— What made him so annoyed?
Winks—He told his wife she had no
judgment, and she just looked over
him critically from head to foot and
said she was beginning to realize it.
Word From Br'er Williams,
Don’t be in a hurry fer de long lane
ter turn, fer de lion what's waitin’
whar de turn is may be mighty hon-
gry!—Atlanta Constitution.
Strange to say, :
Associations of devout en-.
People still present Bibles to |
who are heulthy and vizorous unless
rickets develons ynawares by reason of
faulty dietary.” And he quotes the fol
lowing from Osler:
“Like scurvy. rickets muy be found
in the families of {lie weaithy under
rerfect hygienic conditions. [It is most
common in children fed on condensed
iuilk, the various proprietary foods.
cow’s milk and food rich in starches.”
Rickets is the cause of knockknees
andl bowlegs. It is due to too little
animal fat and protein in the dietary.
| who was present and who had been
| the prime mover in the marriage nego.
: tiations, “by marrying me.”
Bvery shadow points to the sun, and |
sorrow helps us to appreciate happi-
| mother and acc
WEDNESDAY
RE in the midst of everything—a sudden thought:
“Wonder how the fire is?” Then, it's leave your
Sweeping, run downstairs, rake and shake, shovel coal and
trudge back again. Wouldn't it be fine to go right ahead and
forget about the kitchen? It certainly would! And you can.
have brought a new kind of sweeping day—a new kind of
every day to thousands of busy housewives.
A Perfection Oil Cook Stove will come into your kitchen
and lighten your burdens. All you do is strike a match and
“put on the things.”
You can regulate the heat exactly as you want it. It stays
that way without watching.
the fireless cooker and the separate oven.
dealer near you who sells Perfection Qil Cook Stoves.
THE ATLANTIC REFINING COMPANY
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
You'll be specially interested in
Look up the
Another important thing is that
Perfection Oil Cook Stoves burn the
mosteconomical of fuels—kerosene.
There’s a difference in kerosenes
—not a price, but a quality. To be
sure of getting perfect results, ask
for Rayolight Oil. It’s so highly
refined and scientifically purified
that it always gives an even, intense
heat without sputter, smoke or
smell. Look for the sign:
PICKING MEN FOR WAR.
The Selective Draft Was Known In the
Time of Moses.
Registration for a selective draft was
known thousands of years ago. The
first cl Apter of Numbers tells how Mo-
he second year after the exodus
) pt was commanded to choose:
from among the various tribes men to
tabulate the names of the males over
the age of twenty who were able to
go to war. The passage, in part, fol-
lows:
“Take ye the sum of on the congre-
gation of the children of Israel by their
families, by their fathers’ houses, ac-
cording to the number of the names,
every male by their polls; from twenty
years of age and upward, all that are
able to go forth to war, thou and
Aaron shall number them by their
hosts. And with you there shall be a
man of every tribe. (Here are men-
tioned the men who are to assist in the
registration.)
“And Moses and Aaron took these |
men that are mentioned, and they as-
sembled. all the congregation together
on the first day of the second month,
and they declared their pedigrees after
their families by their fathers’ houses.
according to the number of the names
from twenty years old and upward.”’—
Chicago Tribune.
DIET AND DISEASE.
Rickets In Children ls ‘Caused by the
Wrong Kind of Foods.
“Beware of giving young children too
much pasteurized milk, proprietary
food or even cereals to the exclusion of
brown bread and butter, stewed fruit
or roasted apple and a little meat once
a day,” writes Dr. Beverley Robinson
of New York in giving a warning note
about rickets in the New York Medical
Journal,
He adds that he is “considering espe-
cially children two or three years old
together with too little lime salts.
Curious Choice of a Wife.
Some years ago an English curate
surprised his parishioners by marrying
a widow considerably older than him-
self. The astonishment was still great-
er when the cause was known. The
curate had become engaged to a young
girl whose frivolous conduct soon led
him to regret the step. He offered a
settler ent for his release, but it was
‘refused. He endeavored in every way
to break the engagement, but without
success.
“Is there nothing I can do to escape
this?” he exclaimed one day in despair.
“Yes,” remarked the girl’s mother,
The curate decided if he had to mar-
zy one of the two he preferred the
gisl married a wealt
That Means Long Service
Here are some records of Keen Kutter Tool
service; Saw 20 years, Draw Knife 13 years,
Hatchet 32 years, Shears 17 years, Butcher Knife
20 years—and 35 Saws have been sharpened with
one Keen Kutter slim taper file. The uniform
KEEN KUTTER
TOOLS
is shown by the fact that over 100,000 Keen
Kutter Draw Knives have been sold and never
one returned as defective. Keen Kutter Tools
have been standard of America for 36 years, and
no better tools have ever been made. The Keen
Kutter trademark covers a complete line of
tools and cutlery. Sold by
Meyersdale Hardwars 60.
READ THE ADS IN THE
COMMERCIAL
BALTIMORE & OHIO
SEASHORE EXCURSIONS
FROM MEYERSDALE, PA, TO
Good in. Pullman Cars
aie ADlANDIG OI
CAPE MAY, SEA ISLEECITY, OCEAN CITY,
STONE§HARBOR, WILDWOOD
JULY 12 and 26, AUGUST 9 and 23,
SEPTEMBER 6
TICKETS GOOD RETURNING 16 DAYS
Secure Illustrated Booklet Giving Full Details From Ticket
Agents, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. 26-29
$8.50,
Good in Coaches Only
$10.50
&
£
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