Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1874-04-23

- Victor llugos 81.
PNECMATIC TUBES FOR CONVEYANCE OF
PACKAGES. = The London Times gives a
description OF the Atmospheric Tubes
now in use in that city to convey packa-
gcS and the mails. and which are prov
lug great success. y tube OF the same
Kind Is under construction i'll Washing
ton. ani the adoption OF tsuch means of
transit Tor all large cities is apparently
only question OF time. The length of
the tube l. just "A mile and three quarters; :;
II IS oi ilattened horseshoe section, five
feet wide, and four ami a-half high NJ
The centre, having a sectional area of
seventeen square feet. The straight por-
tons OF the line are formed OF a cast-iron
tube. the curved lengths being construc-
tel IN brick work, with i facing of cc-
ment. The gradients are caSl. t.t: two
chici are one IN iortv-fivc ami ulr ia SIX
q, some portions on the line beng on
Inc level, and the sh,rpcst carve i, that
near the holborn station, which j. ~ry-
entt feet radius. The tube between
tlolborn and The postoificc lacks one hum
I dfed aud two Yards nl mile. the grl-
dIents OF one in fifteen on the posloftice,
~ no wise prove lnlmlcal To the " ! r.
IN. ol the system. The wagons, or car
riage-, weigh twenty-five cwt., are ten
feet ionr inches in length, aud have Il
traverse contour conforming to that OF
the tube; they are, however, ot a slightly
/ smaller area than the tube its elf, the
difference about an inch all round
| being occupied by tiangc OF india.
rubber, which causes the carriers To lit
the tube exactly and 50 TO form uiston
| upon which ;hc air acts. For propelling
tie carriers, the machinery consists OF
steam engine having pair OF twenty-
four inch cylinders with twenty inch
stroke. This engine drives a fan twenty
, two feet six inches in diameter, and the
| two are gcarcd together in such man
ncr that one revolution of the former
gives Two of the latter. The trains are
drawn from The stations by exhaustion,
and are propelled to those points by pres.
sure. The working of the fan, however,
is not reversed to suit these constantly
VARYING conditions; it works coutinu-
ouslv, the alternate action of pressure
aud exhaustion being governed by
valves
Our COMMON SCHooLs.-The forthcoming
report of Supre ntendent johnson will indi-
Gale Il healthfu condition of the public
school system in this State. In several in
stances the district system has been aban-
doned and the town plan giving the to, rs
charge of the schools) adopted with H. ..j
satisfactory results. The number Of sch ,ol
houses erected has been as large as any
previous year, and the average cost of the
same larger than usual, the people having
| found out that good houses pay
The aggregate amount OF money expend
ed for schools was 81, l37 ,242; the estimat-
ed value of school property, 81 ,939, ,236 :;
during the summer 40 male teachers
were employed and 4,094 female. while
| during tue winter 1904 male and 1926
female teachers were employed.
The number of scholars reported in the
State in 1868, was 239, 1923, against 225, ,l19
1873; the return for 1873 appears to be the
smallest for the last decade. That there
has been decrease in the school popula-
ton Of Maine for the past ten years is un-
doubtedly true, but above figures cannot
be relied upon as correct, discrepancies
having Oeen found in many of the returns
from towns. The dimnuton has been
chiefly in rural portions and the villages,
while the Increase has been only In the
manufacturing centres and in Aroostook
county.
The whole number of towns making re-
turns OF free high schools is no, number
OF districts "a, total returns 1874. In sever
al towns two or more schools have been
held, making the number of different
schools $50; students in attendance, TO-
2S6; amount of money expended, SS3 ,524;
awarded by the State, S29,l35 A large
majority of the towns accepting the free
high school act. are towns of medium pop
ulation and wealth. Nearly three quarters
of the awards by the State to free high
schools were distributed to the country
towns. The figures give the best and
most convincing argument that the free
high school act should be continued
----->~>~>-
A CHINESE Contribution BOx.-Mr.
W. Simpson, in a paper on "Chinese Ar
chitecture," read before one of the En-.
glish societies, describes as follows the
Chinese method of raising money for the
building or repairing Of temples: Sin
the streets Of Pekin one day found
man in sort Of wooden sentry-box;
large nails had oecn driven into it, so
that their points projected through This
prevented the man from leaning against
the sides. and the only rest be had was
from sitting on board within. He was
= monk, and never seemed to sleep, for
he had string with which he, nigh and
day, sounded a large sonorous bell every
few minutes, as a sort of advertisement
for his purpose. This was that the be-
nevolent should come forward with mo-
new; each nail represented sum. When
any one paid tba. sum his name was
stuck mp on a piece Of paper, and the
nail was pulled out, making il more con-
portable for the hermit within. All the
nails represented the necessary amount
for the repair oil a temple which was close
behind. This is common proceeding
Tor raising the wind for such purposes.