Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-11-24
HE THERMOMETER.
pYH.

back room of Maggin's Retreat.
|"Muggins, make me q claret
punch.'
Hot, eh?" growlsd q voice
from the shadowy depths of the
little apartment. "Your're like
the rest Of 'em. msjor--you never
|traveied, and you don't know
what heat is."
beg pardon, com modore,
didn't see you when I came out
LET the glare Of the sun. You've
been in India and China, and all
|over the world, and ought to be
|sn authority. What'Il you take?"
YES snarled the commodore,
somewhat mollinsd, however, by
|fhe invitation, ~ should say /
ought. Why-but 1t makes my
teeth chatter with cold to hear
tou fellows talk about this being
bot NuRgins, bring me q hot
Mandy with some red pepper in
Hijck, before Ifreese to death"
won. expostulated the major
|neekly, II didn't mean any Of
|snse, commodore. / only meant
hat II Was very warm for this city.
served at Fort Yuma for several
miner months myself. some
psrs ago, and you may have
bsrd that II can be pretty warm
3n thers. But, of course, that
\ nothing compared with your
irience 1t Bungslungatraloo
Pre-. Let me see, I believe
said that the thermometer, on
occasion"
'Thermomstsr, sir" broke in
p commodore, as he quietly
tptied the remnants Of the ma
s ice into his boiling tipple.
We had no thermometers in
hngalungatraloogapo We bad
give them up. The mercury
bed TO lift the ordinary ones
5lsar OF their nails and soar aloft
nth them into the blue frma-
1ent OF heaven. Then We bought
be tubes longer and longer, till
Ne had 10 use ladders to nee how
he temperature stood. The last
pne We got Was so high that we
,nt Q man in . hut on the top OF
&, and got news BY telephone for
) time, but there was everlasting
snow on the summit OF that ther-
momster. and the very day that
The mercury burst through the
(op the poo. fellow on watch was
kozen 10 death. When his wife
heard Of it We had TO place her
yemains in q bucket
"How was thatp" asked the
nympsthstio msjor.
"Wsll, you sss, she was melted
= isars," replied the commodore,
srlacently.
ssAtya hot, that, I confess,
khs major, "but truth COM
III me to add that ss an ice-
al ID to . furnace, 20 is Bun
nngatraloogapore to Fori
INA. Why, commodore, We
kpk our thermomstsr packed in
=, andyet Il never registered less
than 400 degrees for weeks ct q
kme. 1 invented . contrivance
hysslf which. though ingenious
nlnugh, failed Of its purpose. ]
"a . baggy suit made all in one
bee aud after / got into thil
lsrk naked il was filled up with
ouwdsred Joe; then | got into 4
wing cylinder made OF 6ns
f.. and was shsken up after the
nsnner OF a frozen absinthe.. Bul
1sas no use Before / had re-
Nd i've minutes | found my
q In q hot bath, and FIVE min
! 6es later the heat OF my BODY
"a melted the wires, and / diop
ia out parboiled."
! s "That's all right" rsid th,
cemmodore calmly, "but when
!, think Of your experience and
compare it with my own, it posi-
tiysly gives me . chill. ! remem
her that, when on one particular
" hot night. / took to the roo
81 my bamboo bungalow to see
1t last / could save myself fron
being overdons when the cooklnI
process was ended. My skin VIA
burned to crisp, but there wa
still O little grease left under it
had been on my back about tw
minutes, when j beard a lou
dripping on the Aoor below.
knew IN q moment that ! w
melting away, and il / had not ,
once got down and caught myse
In q bucket I should not now /
here To tell the tale"
=" Yes, it must have been prett
n about then" said the majt
tctively; "but / forgot to ad
Z arfew hours after We hs
sks1 the thsrmomstsr in ice v