The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-04-07

Edinburg. In Bristol a red Leghorn
umbrella appeared in 1880, and created
a great sensation, and the present trade
between the two places may be &C
counted for by this circumstance.
Horace Walpole tells how DIR. Shebbure
(who was prosecuted for seditious writ
ings in 1859, "stood in the pillory,
having q footman holding an umbrella
to keep off the rain" For permitting
this indulgence to malefactor Beard
mann, the Under Sheriff, was punished.
Many amusing anecdotes are related
the umbrella and its use,
some Of which are worth repeating. A
Scotch paper, referring to the introduc-
tion of umbrellas, saws: "When um-
brellas were first marched into Blair
gownie they were sported only by the
minister and the laird, and were looked
upon by the common class of people as
a perfect phenomenon. One day Daniel
M went to Colonel Mcpherson at
House. When about to re-
turn q shower came up, and the Colonel
politely offered him the loan of an UNI
brella, which he gladly accepted, and
Daniel, with his head two orthree inch
es higher than usual, marched off. Not
long after he had left, however, the
Colonel again saw Daniel posting to-
ward him with all possible haste, still
o o'ertopped by his cotton canopy, which
he held out saluting him with "Hae,
hae, Kornil, thiss'll never do; there's
nae door in all my house that'll tax
it in; my very barn door winna' tax it
in"
An anecdote is related in the "His-
tory of Sanford and Merton" of q picnic
party in India, when a huge Bengal
tiger put in an appearance, but was
frightened away by lady, who opened
an umbrella in the face OF the brute.
In the campaign of 1898 General
Bournonville, who was sent, with four
Commissioners, by the National Con-
vention to the camp of the Prince of
Saxe-Coburg, was detained as q prison
er, with his companions, and confined
in the Fortress of Olmutz. In this
situation, he made desperate attempt
to regain his liberty. Having procured
an umbrella, he leaped with it from a
window sixty feet above the ground,
but, being very heavy man. it did
not prove sufficient to let him down in
safety. He struck against an opposite
wall, fell into q ditch, and broke his leg,
and, worse than all, was carried back
to prison.
An amusing story is told of Rowland
II ill. One evening he was preaching
when g shower came up and his chapel
was speedily filled with devotees.
With that peculiar sarcastic intonation
which none could assume so success
fully as himself, he quietly remarked:
My brethren, p! have often heard
that religion can be made a cloak. but
thsc s, M frat Siny, vvhsAh
knew it could be converted into an um-
brella."
The earliest English umbrellas were
made of oiled silk, and were very clum-
sy and difficult to open when wet, while
the sticks and furniture were heavy and
inconvenient. Umbrellas came into
general use about 1775. The transition
to the present portable form is due
partly to the substitution of silk and
gingham for the heavy and troublesome
oiled silk, which admitted of the ribs
and frames being made much lighter,
and also to the many ingenious mechan-
ical improvements in the frame work,
chiefly by French and English manu-
facturers. Specimens of umbrellas
made in 1915 weighed three pounds
and eight and one-half ounces, and the
ribs were thirty-one and one-half
inches long. The ribs were for
merly of whalebone, and were cum
bersome and had but little elastici-
ty. Tho introduction Of steel in place
of whalebone was the most important
improvement made. The tips are now
made in one piece with the ribs, instead
of being made of bone, japanned metal,
and other material, and fashioned out.
With but few exceptions, the inventors
have not realized the cost of their
patents. Great opposition was
encountered from the trade and
public to steel ribs. For a long
time umbrellas were only covered
with two materials-silk and cotton.
Several materials were tried with sue
cess until fabric called alpaca, made
of the wool of Chilian and Peruvian
sheep, was manufactured. The ribs
are usually eight in number, although
six, seven, nine, ten, twelve and six
teen are frequently made. The para
gon ribs were patented about 1850.
These Ere the sheet-steel rolled into a
semi-elliptical shape, making the least
weight of any material with the great
est strength. Sticks for umbrellas are
made from planks sawed into strips
and then turned and bent or carved.
Maple is largely used for the purpose.
The better class are made of roots,
such as bamboo, pimento, dogwood,
myrtle, or orange. The handles are
maze of wood, ivory, bone, horn, tor
toise shell, etc. Umbrellas were intro.
duced into the United States in the latter
part of the eighteenth century. Their
manufacture began about the year
1900. and is mostly confined to New
York, Boston and Philadelphia. The
manufacture of silk for umbrellas is 9
special branch of manufacture abou,
Lyons, France.
The parachute commonly in use i.
nothing more or less than q huge um
brella, presenting a surface of sufficient
dimensions to experience from the all
a resistance equal to the weight of de-
scent in moving at a velocity not ex
ceeding that which a person can sus
tain without danger of injury. 1t j.
made of silk or cotton. To the outel
edge cords are fastened of about the
same length as the diameter of the ma
chine-twenty-four to twenty-eigh,
feet. A center cord is attached to the
apex, and meets the cord from the
margin, acting in part as the stock o.
the umbrella The machine is thu!
kept expanded during descent. The
car is fastened to the center cord, anl
the whole attached to the balance in
such manner that it may be readily
and quickly detached, either by cutting
a string or pulling q trigger. In the
East it appears to have been employed
by vaulters to enable them to jumy
safely from great heights. In 1873 M
c. Normand demonstrated the utility
of the parachute by letting himsel
down from the windows of a higf
house in Lyons. His idea was that j
might be made q sort of fire escape
Boston Herald.
To grow radishes, select light
rich sofia deep, moist one is the best, j
you can get it-spade it deeply withou
manure and Immediately thereafter
while the soil is moist and fresh, SOW
| the seed thickly broadcast; rake it in