Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1901 — Page 3

Not Açording to Plans

Famous Monuments That HcfVe 'Been Properly Constructed.

We live In a half-made world. So it ever has been since the Tower of Babel was left uncompleted, and so It will be, no doubt, to the end of time. In our hurry to begin things we forget to finish them, and all over the world today the Great Unfinished stares us in the sac big thing waiting its completion, says a writer in New York Press. There is the Washington monument, that giant obelisk rising up. from the low flats back of the white house. Every one is familiar with its present appearance, but few people remember how it was originally designed to look. This tribute of a grateful nation to the father of his country was begun In 1848, and has never been completed according to the original designs. Probably it never will be. It was hard work to get it as near completion as it is. When the monument was started all the rulers of the world sent blocks of marble to be placed in the interior

of the ornate, columnated structure which was to surround the lower part of the great, shaft. The work of building went on briskly at first, then languished, and finally stopped entirely. It was not until 1876 that work was resumed upon the monument, and not until 1884 that the shaft was finished. All intention of completing the monument according to the original designs seems to have been abandoned, and there it stands, towering aloft 555 feet above the unfinished world. The - Grant monument as designed by Mr. Duncan had imposing approaches, with great flights of stairs leading down to the river and many other accessories of which it is now bare. As it is, the monument has an unfinished look, and a glance at the original designs will show how far from completion this memorial to the great general is and is probably destined to remain. Wellington's Tomb Unfinished. England was exceedingly grateful, too, over Waterloo, and when Well-

ington died decreed him a public funeral and laid him away in St. Paul’s Cathedral to the “noise of the mourning of a mighty nation.’’ But she never finished his tomb. The equestrian statue which was to have surmounted the tomb stands headless in the crypt of the cathedral, propped up by some old lumber and tied about with ropes. Where the head is no one knows—if it was ever made —and the pedestal which was to support the statue was never completed. The house of lords surprised itself into a discussion of the subject a year ago, and all that could be said officially « was that the money appropriated for the tomb ran short and the work had been arrested “in its present stage of development’* Yet SIOO,OOO was appropriated for this tomb fifty years

ago. Nobody seems to care now whether it is ever completed or not. After the lapse of half a century patriotism is not easily transmuted into money. The Iron Duke, however, no doubt sleeps very soundly without his equestrian statue perched above him. London is in a much more halfmade state than New York any way, and evidences of incompleteness meet oue on every hand, although your true Briton is never tired of talking about British “thoroughness.” An empty pedestal in Trafalgar square stands proclaiming daily to a wondering world that England has now no hero to stand with Nelson, Gordon, Napier; Havelock and George IV.! Save the mark! And will somebody put a clock in St. Paul's tower, which was evidently designed for one, and place the statues on the pedestals along Blackfriars Bridge, as was orinally intended? Then there is Westminster Abbey, which was meant to have a

spire, and the much-discussed marble arch, which was designed to have a statqe on top of it. And Westminster Abbey Also. The abbey is perhaps the most widely known specimen of an uncompleted edifice in the world. Wherever the English tongue is spoken “the abbey makes us we;” yet it never has been finished and probably never will be. The disastrous attempt at completing it made by Sir Christopher Wren when he put up the two Incongruous square towers on the west front is a wellknown architectural crime, the results of which are enough to frighten off any other architect from trying his hand on the ancient edifice. The existing abbey is, in a great degree, the building erected by Henry 111. after he had pulled down most of the Confessor’s building. It was Henry who erected the chapel of the Confessor which forms the rounded end of the choir, or the apsis of the building, the four chapels in the ambulatory that extend around the choir, a considera-

Me portion of the choir itself, a small portion of the transepts and probably the chapter house. The nave thus begun was carried forward., further in the reign of Edward 1., and gradually finished with other portions of the edifice in the thirteenth and forurteenth centuries, and the grand close of the whole work took place in the reign of Henry VII. by the erection of the chapel which bears that monarch’s name. The great central tower and the western towers were, however, still unbuilt, although the work had been in progress for three centuries. Knight says: “The great central tower and the western towers were still unbuilt, and so to this time the former remains; the latter have been added to by the architect of St. Paul’s in a style that makes us regret that he did not

confine himself to St Paul’s and works of a kindred character; most assuredly he was profoundly Ignorant of the character and merits of the productions to which he presumptuously applied the epithet if ‘Gothic crlnklecrankle.’ ” The first church was built on the site of the present abbey in 184 A. D., and so, with rebuilding, tearing down and adding to, the work of the making of Westminster Abbey has been going on for 1,717 years and the edifice is still incomplete. So it will, in all probability, always remain, chief among the world's Great Unfinished. Within the inclosure of the Alhambra at Granada stands the unfinished palace of Charles I. of' Spain, a structure which the monarch fondly imagined would outvie the palace of the Moorish kings to which it stands adjacent. Charles died before the building was completed, and there it stands to-day after the centuries have swept by, still incomplete. Near London stands a modern example of unfinished things. It is the socalled Wembley tower, which its projector designed to be 150 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was to cost $1,000,000. The lower platform is all that has ever been built of the structure. This low.er platform occupies the same space as St. Paul’s Cathedral. So the list might be stretched out. Nearly every one will remember something to add to it But these few examples cited show what a half-made world this is after all.

Seattle Cemetery.

Seattle has secured ownership of a tract of 100 acres, with a view to conducting a municipal cemetery, in imitation of a project successfully carried out in Cleveland. There a level, finely situated tract of land has been acquired by the municipality, and burial plots are sold without regard to location at the uniform price of 75 cents per square foot. This price includes the actual maintenance of the lot at the expense of the city in perpetuity. The maintenance includes grass seed, sowing, moving and general caretaking. Flowers and shrubs, when required, are, of course, charged additionally. The purpose is to defeat speculation in land for burial places, and to Insure perpetual care of the graves. In Cleveland the enterprise is self-supporting, although the charges are very low.

Indian's Salvation Work.

The attitude of our government toward the Indian in allowing him in idleness to follow his own untrammeled will on the reservation, is a relic of the old French and Spanish original discoverers. Are these wards of the government never to have homes, but be always condemned to tribal relations? Are they to never know the mental uplifting of a wife’s hands, but be always fated to burden-bearing squaw life? Some day a statesman will arise and point the way for these aboriginal Americans to become men and women among us, and truly citizens of our states. Until that time —until Indians are alienated from their savage surroundings—their treatment is a proposition not reached by any pink-tea standard of ethics.—Na tional Magazine.

As Good as a Corkscrew.

No doubt you have found yourself in the predicament of having forgotten the corkscrew, and you are out in the fields trying to get a draught from a fold bottle. Here' is a new and simple way to overcome the difficulty, the invention of which is to be accredited to a convivial young scientist. Hold the neck of the bottle firmly in your right hand and with your left hold a handkerchief against the trunk of a tree. Now with a quick blow hit the side of the tree covered with the handkerchief. The cork will immediately fly out. Then turn the bottle upward so the fluid will not flow out after the cork.

Gen. Gordon's Bible.

In the corridors at Windsor stands a little ebony pedestal, and on it a splendid casket of seventeenth century Italian work, with sides of engraved rdck crystal. Within this gorgeous editing lies wide open, on a satin cushion, a little well-worn book. It is Gen. Gordon’s Bible, and is open at the gospel according to St. John. Below a little plate bears an inscription recording the fact that the Bible was presented to her majesty by the sister of Qen. Gordon after his death. This was one of the most prized possessions of Queen Victoria, and she never failed to point it out to visitors.

New Swiss Revolver.

Swiss military papers speak in high terms of the new revolver which has been adopted for the mounted troops of the Swiss army, and which is the invention of two Berlin engineers. The recoil on firing brings a fresh cartridge from the magazine into the barrel. The pistol weighs 11 pounds 13 ounces, and its center of gravity lies Immediately over the hand of the flrer. The magazine carries eight cartridges, and practiced shots can fire <8 rounds in from 28 to 30 seconds. The caliber of the weapon is .32 inches, and its range is given at 2,000 yards. In the last forty years Great Britain has produced 40,000,000 tons of steel, or about one-third of the world’s total products.

A WOMAN WHO KEPT A SECRET.

Now Slia's Married and Apparently Glad That She Didn’t Tell. Judge John H. Baker, of the United States Disirict Court, Indianapolis, Ind., was in his private otiice the o.uer day when a well-dressed woman, hardly more than twenty, knocked at the door and, in response to his invitation, walked into the room and approached his desk. As the full light from the window fell upon her It revealed a face of more man ordinary ueauty. The blushes deepened on the cheeks of the visitor as she reached the desk and stood looking at the judge. * * “1 want to thank you,” she said in a low, musical voice, “for having sent me to the reformatory and also tor seducing my pardon. I am now married and happy and I owe it to you for having placed me Where I would no longer be under evil Influences.” The judge recognized the woman and spoke in words of praise of her conduct in the prison and congratulated her on her better surroundings. Then, as if recollecting something, he asked: “Now that you have been released from the reformatory, are you not leady to tell who gave you the counterfeit money?” The young woman seemed thoughtful for a moment and then, shaking her head slowly, replied: • “Ob! I don’t have to tell you now." Judge Baker recognized his visitor as a young woman who was brought before him five years ago on a charge of passing counterfeit money. She was then about fifteen, and neither the court nor the district attorney was disposed to prosecute her very vigorously, but they were anxious to learn from whom she received ths money that the maker could be punished. Two men were under suspicion, but the Government had no evidence that would justify arrests. The girl was asked from whom she received the counterfeits, but she remained silent and no amount of coaxing could get the information from her. Finally the judge told her* he would send her to the reformatory till she was of age unless she told the name of the person from whom she got the money, but would release her If she would telh The girl kept silent and was sent to the reformatory to spend the night, the court hoping that a sight of the institution and the prospect of spending six years there would cause her to name her confederate. When she was called before him the next morning she was as obdurate as ever and he passed sentence upon her. He thought a great deal of the case and after a while he made up his mind that the girl should be pardoned and she was ultimately released through his recommendation. Inquiry developed the fact that she married soon after leaving the reformatory and was living in this city, but the judge had never seen her since her commitment till she appeared to thank him for tbe pardon. “There is one woman that can keep a secret,” said the judge after his visitor left the office, and he smiled as though it was a pleasure to have made a test which resulted in such a demonstration.—New York Sun.

WORDS OF WISDOM.

No sword bites so fiercely as an evil tongue.—Sir Philip Sidney. Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.—J. Wesley. Words are the counters of wise men and the money of fools.—Hobbes. ▲ man of Integrity will never listen to any plea against conscience.—Home. Every one complains of his memory; nobody of his judgment.—Rochefoucauld. He is richest who is content with the least; for content is the wealth of Nature.—Socrates. He who gives himself airs of importance exhibits the credentials of impotence.—Lavater. The men who are always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue.—Cicero. Rest, is not quitting the busy career; rest is the fitting of self to its sphere.—J. Dwight Passion may not unfitly be termed the mob of the man that commits a riot on his reason.—Penn. He that is ungrateful has no guilt but one; all other crimes may pass for virtues in him.—Young. It makes great difference in the force of a sentence whether a man bo behind it or no.—Emerson. One part of knowledge consists in being Ignorant of such things as are not worthy to be known.—Crates.

Not Ashamed of Him.

An Englishman named Crowe was a fine classical scholar and a distinguished orator. He made bls own position in life, even at a time when classes were far more seriously regarded in England than they are at present. His father was a carplenter, working in the town of Winchester, and on the most loving terms with his son. One day the son, then an eminent man, was standing near the catnedral . door, talking to the dean and warden, when his father passed by. The old’ man was in his working dress, with his rule sticking from his pocket, and was evidently willing to spare the .son a salutation. But ths younger called out in gooff Hampshire dialect: “Here, fayther! If thee balnt ashamed of 1, I balnt ashamed of Companion. A new cotton ginning machine enables two men to gin 4000 pounds a day, and under the old system they could turn out less than a hundredth part in the same amount of time,

SOME NEW INVENTIONS

Co Find Lott Ship/. Finding, lost Ships at sea is a tedious piece of woik, even when the position of the vessel is partially known, and our Illustration shows a device intended to facilitate the search as much as possible. With Its aid the search can be thoroughly made over the ocean bed, either one ship or two being used for the work. If only one ship is at hand the cable is anchored at one end and the ship sweeps around the buoy above the anchor with the free end of the cable; or if two ships are in use the cable Is swept across the ocean bed in parallel lines. Near the wreck in the picture the cable is shown divided for the insertion of a reel, on which a portion of the cable is wound. The tension of the cable is not sufficient

APPARATUS FOR LOCATING SUNKEN VESSELS.

to unwind the portion on the reel when dragging freely along, but as soon as an obstruction is met the unwinding of the cable from the reel prevents the sudden alteration of the vessel’s course until the source of the obstruction can be determined. If It Is other than the lost ship the vessels can continue in their line of search without neglecting any of the ground, as might be the case if the course was suddenly altered by the tightening of a single length of cable. Electric Farmin//. The up-to-date farmers with a large acreage finds It slow work to plow his fields with the old single plows of the past, and so he utilizes the electric current and multiplies the number of plowshares to suit himself. In the West this is practically a necessity, on account of the large size of the fields and the cost o. labor and teams. Our illustration shows a convenient form of motor plow which has been designed by an inventor in Friedrlchsburg, Germany. It consists of two electric motors operating winding drums on separate carriages, which may be placed at any required distance apart, only one motor being connccteu with the main feed wife. To supply power to the second motor a feed cable lying parallel with the traction cable is readjusted at every trip of the plow to follow the latter down the

ELECTRICALLY OPERATED PLOW.

field. The mechanism is so adjusted that when once set in motion the apparatus practically operates itself, moving the carriages forward at the beginning of each trip to bring the plowshares in position for the next row of furrows. Combined "Belt and Braces. From far-off New Zealand comes the combination shown in the illustration, that a pair of suspenders which can be quickly altered to a belt when the wearer desires to change from one to the other. The Inventors state that

for ordinary wear and th? belt for special work will appreciate the merits of a combination which will supply both at a cost of little more than that of either article alone. A glance at the illustration shows the manner of making the change, the braces being pivoted at the back to allow alignment.

Adjustable Curtain Support. Two views are shown in the illustration of a neat curiiin support recently pat-

anted. The ordin r. r y manner of a 11 a c hln the lace cur t .in does no! permit them to be adjusted readily when it be comes nec ess ar y tc clean the window or

to push the curtains back to allow more light to enter the room. Then, too, they soon become soiled from frequent handling while being adjusted, which also tends to wear them out more rapidly. All these objections seem to be overcome by the lazy-tougs arrangement in this invention, the frame being shown in the upper portion of the cut and the mounted curtain below. The disc carrying each frame Is mounted on the verticle shank of a bracket, which is screwed to the window frame, allowing the curtain to be swung out from the window or around against the wall when desired. A pull on one of the cords concealed behind the curtain opens or closes the frame to adjust the curtain across the window or fold it back against ths side, it being unnecessary to touch the curtain with the hand to move it in either direction. JVo "Dry "Dock. Speeded. The expense of docking ships in order to remove foreign growths from the hulls is considerable, besides the

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING HULLS OF VESSELS.

time necessary to go from a station to the dock and back again, and to remove the barnacles and other substances without the necessity of docking is the purpose of the scraping apparatus Illustrated In the cut. It has been patented by Major A. and Asa L. Stump, of Normantown, W. Va. The apparatus consists of several scrapers of the pattern shown, suspended on cables from the rail of the vessel by means of rolling hungers. Provision is made for taking up the slack of the suspension cable as the leaner# are pulled lengthwise of the hull by the main cable, which is wound up on a drum located on the deck of the vessel. The scrapers comprise heavy wooden blocks, with steel abrading b»ades at the rear, and the Inventors claim that these blades will remove the barnacles as well when the ship is afloat as can be done in dry dock, without the loss of time necessary by the latter method, the ship maintaining her course throughout the operation.

Improved Fruit Jar. This invention is intended to provide a fruit jar which can be sealed so tightly that

the danger of fermentation is reduced to a minimum and at the same time make it a c o,m para tively easy task to open

the jar when the contents are wanted. It is a woman's invention, the patent having lately been granted. The jar proper is similar to those now in use, except that it has a series of studs or projections arranged around the edge of the top, and the outer edge of the fastening ring is provided with a similar row of studs. Two wrenches of band steel, of small cost, are also provided. I Life Saving Buoy. A novel and extremely simple lifesaving device has been invented by M. George Broussel. It is a sort of automatic folding buoy, and is formed merely of two boards of wood, which are joined together in the center. In ordinary weather it can be used as a seat on board a vessel, and when there is danger of shipwreck it can be instantaneously turned into a life-saving buoy. Many experiments have already been made with it and they show that it can do effective work as well in a storm as in a calm sea.

-the device is particular 1 y adapted for use by athletes, cricketers, boating men and football players, and also for workingme n who use a belt while at work. Any I of these per- ] sons who prefer the - s u s p e nder

PRIMITIVE CHINESE MONEY.

Era Whan a Workman Waa Paid With a Hatch* c. The little brass cash, the Chinese coins, the lineal descendants, In unbroken order, of the bronze axe of remote Celestial ancestors. From the regular hatchet to the modern coin one can trace a distinct, if somewhat broken, succession, so that it is im- • possible to say where the one leaves off and the other begins. Here Is how this curious pedigree first worked itself out: In early times, before the coin ducted between producer and consumer with metal Implements, as it still is in Central Africa at the present day. At first the Chinese in that unsophisticated age were content to use real hatchets for this commercial purpose, but after a time, with the profound mercantile instinct of their race, it occurred to some of them that when a man wanted half a hatchet’s worth of goods ho might as well pay for them with half a hatchet. Still, as It would be a pity to spoil a good working Implement by cutting it in two, the worthy Ah Sin ingeniously compromised the matter by making tin hatchets of the usual size and shape, but far too slender for practical usage. By so doing he Invented coin, and, what Is more, he invented it far earlier than the claimants to that proud distinction, the Lydians, whose electrum staters were first struck In the seventh century B. C. —Cornhill Magazine.

NICKELS ARE DESPISED.

Street Vemlora Who Holl Nothing ■ Thao a DUne’a Worth. There are many stories in this city where a nickel is not a welcome medium of exchange, because nothing so cheap Is sold, but It Is hard to believe that there is a street' stand which would not welcome a flve-cent purchase. If any one is curious in this regard let him go to one of the fruit stands in Cortlandt street, near the Pennsylvania railroad ferry, and try to make such a purchase, the New York Tribune. "Let me have five cents’ worth of cherries,” said a man the other day, pointing to a loose pile of the little red fruit. "As much as all that!’’ exclaimed the street merchant, and not for a single minute did he cease dusting a bunch of bananas. The intending purchaser waited a moment, then crossed the street and repeated his request to another stand. ’’Well, you’re a cheap one!” exclaimed the vender. “You want to spend a whole nickel do you?” He did not stop sorting oranges. The man who longed for cherries tried a third stand. “We can’t sell you less than a dime's worth of anything at these stands,” replied the man in charge. “You’ll find an Italian up the street who will take the lead money. The “cheap” man decided he didn’t want cherries after all, and, going into a cigar store, bought a whole bunch of cigarettes with the money.

Cheap Meais in London.

"Speaking of cheap restaurants," said a gentleman who has just returned from a visit to London, to a Washington Star writer, •‘reminds me of a dining saloon in the Whitechapel district of London, where a relishing and fairly substantial meal may be had for half a penny, or one cent in our money. This cheap repast is not served up in the shape of a cut from a joint and two vegetables. It Is a big brown pie, very juicy and very hot. The absence of beefsteak is evident when you cut ths pie, but you find inside a liberal sprinkling of sheep’s liver, onions and turnips, and a plentiful supply of gravy. For a half penny extra two slices of bread and a cup of tea are supplied. Between the hours of twelve and two the poor and hungry from all parts of the east side of the city flock to the dining room. Most of the patrons are shoeblacks, penny toy men. costermongers, and now and then young clerks whose salaries will not permit them to Indulge in a more costly dinner."

Buttons for the Chuarch.

There is far more In the oft-repeated statement that old buttons if useful for no other purpose may serve as an offering to the Lord. It is recorded as i a fact that a clergyman’s wife was mending clothes for her boys when one of her neighbors called in to have a friendly chat It was not long before the visitor's eye was attracted by a large basket more than half filled with buttons. The lady could not help remarking that there seemed a very good supply of buttons. Thereupon she began to turn them over and suddenly exclaimed: "Here are two buttons exactly the same as those my husband had on his last winter suit I should know them anywhere." “Indeed,” said the clergyman’s wife. "I am surprised to bear it As all these buttons were found in the collection bag I thought I might as well put them to some use." Before she had finished speaking ths visitor hastily arose and said she must be going.

A Plous Hope.

Judge Rice of Novena Is perhaps lacking in a sense of humor, but he Is the most punctual man in Indiana. When made superintendent of the Sunday school he at once set about to reform In the matter of attendance and punctuality. A few Sundays ago he had the pleasureof making the following statement: “My dear fellow-work-ers and children, I am able to announce today that out of the entire school only one person is absentlittle Maggie Wynn. Let us all hope that she is sick." .