The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-08-02
The Mystery Of Matches,


: Mstehes are undoubtedly useful.
They are afi evidence and accompani-
ment of civilization. Ths savage knows
nothing of matches. He has to depend
upon the tedious process of rubbing q
stick against dry piece of board when
he wants to kindle fire or to light the
gas, and very inconvenient he must find
ft when he hears burglar in the night
and wants to light candle and go
down stairs to search for him. And yet
it is by no means certain that we are
any better and happier for the inven-
ton of matches. :, .ea s-,3.
Think for o moment of the danger
that always turks in matches; how chill
dren Set themselves and valuable things
on fire with matches; and how rats try
experiments with matches which they
have stolen and dragged into their
holes. Such dangers We're unheard Of
in the days of the flint and steel and
tindef-box. No child could start an
undesirable fire With flint and steel, for
in order to use those implements sue
cessfully the intellect of grown man,
together with long experience and great
command of temper, was necessary.
As for the rats, they scorned flint and
steel as articles maliciously designed
for the purpose of injuring the teeth.
In those happy days it was possible for
q school-teaeher to enforce discipline
among small boys without the risk of
setting them of fire by unintentionally
striking the matches which nowadays
are found in every small boys pocket.
As to the influence of matches in pro-
noting the habit of smoking there can
be only one opinion. Not one-haf of
the amount Of tobacco which is now
daily consumed would be consumed
were it not for the fact that the smoker
always has matches in his pocket. There
would be comparatively little smoking
were it necessary for the smoker to sit
down in some quiet place and devote
half an hour to a struggle with flint and
steel every time he might wish to light
a cigar. --.--...... ,-.-...z.,
It is one of the Objectionable features
of matches that they are enveloped in
mystery. Few people have considered
this subject seriously, for had they
really given their minds to it, the in
soluable nature of the mystery of
matches would have bred in them q
wholesome hatred of the battling little
splinters of sulphur-capped wood. Yet
there is more than one mystery in con-
nection with matches, and there is no
prospect that the mysterious element in
matches will ever be eliminated.
There are in the United States say
twenty millions of people every one of
whom uses, on an average, twenty
matches daily. This will seem by no
means a large estimate when we re-
member that the woman who lights
fires, lamps, candles or gas always uses
at least three matches before she can
get one to burn, and that the habitual
Smoker rarely uses less than forty
matches per day. A match usually
does its work and is extinguished by the
| time half of it is consumed, and OF
course the unconsumed half is thrown
| away. 1t is estimated that these half
| consumed matches would, if evenly
| spread out over the surface of the earth,
| cover the United States to the depth of
| one inch. Obviously they do nothing
of the sort, and the question therefore
| arises, what becomes of them? The
mystery of the disappearance of pins is
as nothing to this. Pins are more or
less sharp and can easily work their
way beneath the surface of the earth, or
in many other ways successfully conceal
themselves; but matches are large, blunt
and clumsy; they can not readily escape
notice, and they are so light that they
do not easily sink out of sight in the
| grass or elsewhere. There is no rational
| hypothesis which will explain the utter
| disappearance of millions of fhalf-burned
matches annually, and we can only as.
sumo that there is something in the ma
ture of the match which enables it to
vanish at will. .--.r
This hypothesis is sustained by the
mysterious and utterly inexplicable way
in which matches disappear from the
match-safes in which they are placed
No matter how carefully the housewife
may go from room to room apportion
ing to each its due supply of matches
and placing them where no rat or othel
irresponsible animal can reach them
the matches will not remain where they
are placed. A few days later the mar
of the house, busy in his room up
stairs, wants match with which TO ligh
his evening cigar. He looks in the
match-safe in his room, and finds II
empty. He goes from one room intt
another, and in each an empty match
safe mocks him. He descends to the
first floor, and still his search fol
matches is fruitless, and it is not unit
he penetrates to the kitchen that he Ii
able to find match-safe containing, a
the most, three matches. If he meets
his wife during or soon after his searci
for matches, he naturally informs he
that there is not match in the house
and begs her to see that this state o
things does not occur again. Of course
she sends for more matches, and fill
every match-safe to overhowing, but
three days later they are as empty a:
before.
Now it has been established hundred
of times by unimpeachable testimon.
that no human hand is concerned in tn
disappearance of matches from match
safes The man of the house is alway
prepared to make affidavit that he ha
scarcely touched them, and has used a
the utmost say three matches out of tn
hundreds which his wife has distributes
through the house, the children main
tain that they have never touched
match, and the wife is perfectly wei
convinced that she mas used even fewe
matches than her husband has used
The conclusion that matches have secre
and apparently supernatural ways o
disappearing is Irresistible. Clearl
there is something uncanny in thi
mystery of matches, and when we hav
once grasped the fact of its existence
it cannot fail to influence our feelin
and conduct toward them.-Harpe7'
Bazar.
On Call.