The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-11-07
Current Notes.

Current oLSS,
How the hundredth part Of a second
! is measured is told in the Washington
Post. 1t says, "The chronograph, as
its name implies, is a time-writer. With
out it the division of time into the hun
dredth part of a second-a division SO
small that the mind a hardly appre-
| ciate it-would be impossible. 1t is a
revolving cylinder, bearing a fountain
pen ats ched to a magnet. AS the pend
ulum of the clock swings its seconds 1t
| sends the electric current to the mag
net. The latter gives a nervous click,
and the pen marks a small but distinct
break on the paper. These breaks dis
tinguish the seconds, and the space be-
tween them is measured by fine di-
visions on q slip of steel. A second in
time, measured by space, is about as
long as this -"
In the five years 187l-75 the death
rate in England fell perceptibly, aver
aging % per thousand; in the next five
years Q876-8O it fell to POS; and in the
year 1881 it fell to 1879; in 1882 1t stood
at only 1876; and in the autumnal quar-
ter of last year to only 1876 per thou.
sand of the population of England.
For the whole of last year the death
rate in England was 1915, and if the
great towns be excluded, TT per thou
sand. Thus, for a dozen years past,
the rate of mortality has been steadily
and greatly on the decrease, and when
the cumulative influence of sanitary
work is considered, it may fairly be ex-
pected that the decline of the death
rate is far from having reached its
limits.
The New York Sun thinks we are
living in a go-ahead age. and instances
the changes in bar-room styles. Twelve
years ago tho floor "a sanded, pictures
of Flora Temple, Peytona and Fashion
hung upon the walls, chairs and tables
were wooden and primitive, the ceiling
was dingy, chandeliers were rusty and
fy-tracked, chopped pigs feet were
served a. lunch, and whisky and brandy
were poured from the bottle. Now all
is changed. The bar-rooms are hooks
of luxury. Turkish rugs cover the
floor, expensive paintings adorn the
walls, handicapped tables and richly
upholstered chairs await occupants,
ceilings are frescoed and exquisite
ly succeed, blue enameling reines
bronzed chandeliers, choice salmon is
the staple feature in free lunches, and
liquors are poured from delicate ocean
tiers of cut glass.
An editor, desiring to be .orcible in
speech without being profane, made
use of the expression of mot caring q
tinker's maledIction." General Butler,
to whom the matter referred, pleasant
~ explains that there is no profanity in
the original expression of "not caring a
tinker's dam" He says: I'm the oldsr
time, when travelling tinkers went
about the country mending holes in tin
kettles and pans, he frequently found
one that was ragged and rusty, so that
the s~oldering-iron would not take. and
he was obliged TO fill it up with q mass
of solder. To keep that solder en-
masse over the hole while in the melt
ed state, he was accustomed to take
some crumbs of bread and moisten
them and make a little ridge around
the hole with the moistened bread
to hold the solder in its place as he
melted it In. This was what was called
a 'tinker's dam, which he brushed away
after he had finished, as it was utterly
useless. So that u Pilgrim fathers
used the words not worth a thinkers
DAM never dreaming that they wer'
p~rofane."