Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1909 — At TO WETTING PENCILS. [ARTICLE]

At TO WETTING PENCILS.

Putting Lesd *a—kip* Sool’s Pencil hk<A anorf- tt-trfangaa fct*e;th. The act of putSffig » lead pencH to thfe* tongue ■ to btL'ora writing, which is habitual’with many people. fs J one *ofr* the ©<Mit!e*“*fi<w which it is hard to V iftve anyrdrason, tuiless it began* in -Hhe ■wys •‘Nfcin pencils vert> poorer than how. hnd was continued by example to the next generation. A lead pencil should never be wet. It hardens the lead and ruins the pencil. This fact is known to newspaper men and stenographers. But nearly every one else does wet a pencil before using It. The fact was definitely settled by a newspaper clerk away down East Being of a mathematical turn of mind, he ascer tained by actual count that of 80 persons who came into his office to write an advertisement or a church notice, 49 wet a pencil in their mouths before using it. Now, this clerk aVays uses the best pencils, cherishing a good one with something of a pride a soldier feels in his gun or his- sword, and It hurts his feelings to have bis pencils spoiled. But politeness and business considerations require him to lend his pencil scores of times a day. And often, after it had been wet till it was hard and brittle and refused to fiaark, his feelings would overpower him. Finally he got some cheap pencils and sharpened them and kept them to lend. The first person who took up the Btock pencil was a drayman, whose breath smelt of onions and whisky. He held the point in his mouth and soaked it several minutes, while he was torturing himself in the effort to write an advertisement for a missing bulldog. Then a sweetlooking young lady came into the office , with kid gloves that buttoned half the length of her arm. Sh‘ picked up the came old pencil and pressed it to her dainty lips preparatory to writing an advertisement for a lost bracelet. The clerk would have stayed her hand, even at the risk of a box of the best pencils, but he was too late. And thus that pencil passed from mouth to mouth for a week. It was sucked by people' of all ranks and stations, and all degrees of cleanliness and uncleanliness. But ’twere well to forbear. Surely no one who reads this will ever aga’n wet a lead pencil.—Graphil-

u ..> -j. -at 3ak3r's Some persons, including a lew encyclopaedists, are inclined to think that the baker’s dozen originated when heavy fines were considered necessary to counterbalance light weights, and the bakers, in order to insure full weight, took the precaution to add an additional unit. Some have called ft the devil’s dozen, because thirteen was the number of witches who used to ride their broomsticks to the “Black Mass” of Satan. The baker’s great book in Astor Library has anotheir story of its origin: Jan Pieterson, of Amsterdam, was a good church man, but nevertheless he was afraid of being bewitched. Ob the last night of 1654 he sat in his bakeshop trying to keep out the eyil spirits by priming himself with a glass of good spirits. Sales had been brisk. There were no customers in the shop for the moment, and he sat back, meditating on the gains he would make on the morrow, when the fresh New Year’s cakes were put on sale. He was startled by a sudden rap. An ugly woman pushed the door open. “Give me a dozen New Year’s cookies,” she cried in a shrill voice. The shrillness of her voice did not mean anything to his slow Dutch mind. It only annoyed him. “Well, then, you needn’t speak so loud,” said Jan. “I’m not deaf.”

“A dozen!” she screamed. “Give me a dozen. Here are only twelve.” “Well, then, twelve is a dozea.” “One more! I want a dozen.” “Well, you will not get it.” The hag left the shop, but from that night Jan had trouole. The shop seemed to be bewitched. His cakes were stolen. Either his bread was so light that it soared up the chimney or so heavy that the supports of the oven gave way beneath the burden. His wife became deaf; his children went wild. Hlb trade took wings an settled In the shops of his riva Three times the old woman return t _. and each time was directed to the devil’s sactum. At last, in despair, the baker called upon Bt. Nicholas to assist him. The venerable patron of Dutch feasts delivered a lecture on charity, telling the trembling man to be more generous in the future. Then he vanished and in his place stood the hag, who repeated her demand for one more c&ke. Jan acceded, whereupon she exclaimed, “The spell Is broken; from this time one dozen is thirteen.” Taking from the counter a gingerbread effigy of St Nicholas, she made the subdued Dutchman lay his hand upon It and. swear to give more liberal measure in the future. Since that time thirteen has been called a baker’s dc,::en.

The strength or a grindstone appears from recent tests to vary widely with the degree of Its wetnejj or dryness, stones that are dry showing tensile strengths of from Tl 3 to 189 pounds per square inch, but after soaking over night breaking under stresses of so to 110 pounds per square inch. Hard facts do not always mike an impression on a soft-headed man. C swept touts food on corruption, but *> pure tool can look on canton urtthbttt‘bctag defiled.