Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-01-06
THE INEVITABLE.

IlE SkNON VI SANS
peneralized therefrom, is one OF peculiar
interest. Laws deduced from a careful
analysis OF these seeming skeletons, hg-
ures and nothing more, are, nevertheless,
considered sufficiently reliable as the
basis OF important business transactions.
Familiar examples of this are the thou
sand and one lucrative life n fire IN
surance enterprises that flourish every
where. What is merely contingent or
probable in summing up a few incidents
becomes a definite conclusion when a
larger number OF cases is considered.
Hence it seems that what are ordinarily
termed accidents may after all be but 50
many events in a system as definitely
planned as the revolution Of the seasons.
An eminent French statistieian once
said If the number Of men in the army
OF any nation were given him he could
announce directly the average weight
and hight Of its soldiers with q degree OF
accuracy absolutely mathematical. Re-
search had revealed to him certain
physical and other causes leading inevi-
tally to these results.
The writer remembers well the re-
mark OF a plain-talking and a~ustere, but
practical and shrewd, observer OF men
and things, a college professor Of emf
hence in bis department Of political
economy and logic. The old gentleman
appeared before . new class for the first
time. Several of the boys undertook to
annoy him in sundry ways best known to
those who have associated with or been
themselves college hoodlums. The Doctor,
before starting out upon the lecture Of
the hour, introduced himself very forci-
bly, to the class, by begging them not to
feel ashamed Of themselves for anything
in the way Of disorder or ungentlemanly
behavior that had taken place in the
lecture room that morning, ''for, said
he. 'in a long course OF teaching l have
discovered that there is bound to be a
certain number of fools in every class.
The number is sometimes larger, some
times smaller, according generally with
the size Of the class. Your class, young
gentlemen, is unusually large: hence /
am not surprised to find in it an unusu-
ally large number Of fools. You should
not be disturbed by this. however. 1t is
inevitable; and it may be Of advantage
to recognize the fact at once. We should
not shut our eyes to any wholesome
truth, however disagreeable it may
SEEM"
The shrewd student of statistics could
doubtless predict the average list Of
casualties resulting from the discharge of
firearms taken for empty in any COM
munity Of considerable size per annum.
In SO many years SO many per month or
per day, SO many in units and fractions,
found by division. The negroes in the
South have a saying that is a very whole
some one, if not altogether true: ga
gun can go off when it amt loaded.
And Sambo would to this day defend
himself against, or run away from, a
man pointing an empty gun at him with
the same spirit or a~lacrity as though he
knew il were loaded.
Horrid, distressing examples of acct.
dents, so called from trifing and making
a foolish TODD with runs and pistols
presumed to be unloaded, are of almost
daily occurrence. A melancholy affair
OF the sort occurred in Eureka night
before last, the circumstances Of which
were ~recounted in yesterdays SENTINEL.
A man was shot down in a gunsmith's
shop by a pistol in the hands of a heed
less boy, who had been repeatedly warned
by his employer against swapping pistols,
loaded or empty. Yet that the same
thing will be repeated seems to be
marked down in the history of events as
one Of the in~evitables. The warning
that follows each recurrence Of the fatal
practice seems also inevitable. That the
warning may accomplish its foreordained
purpose is the impulse in which this
notice originates. II the inevitable or
f~oreordination be not recognized, then
we may logically express the hope that
this editorial warning may have some
effect in REFRESHING the too frequent itch
for fooling with firearms, loaded Or
empty.