West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-01-30
1T WAS AN ACCIDENT"
Careless Mishaps That Might
Have Been Avoided.

Perhaps il was an accident bpt IL
does not follow that the accident is ex-
cuNahlc. a man comes hastily along
th' sidewalk. looking neither To the
right nor left. and pushes YOU into the
gutter, or hits YOU in the eve with his
umbrella; ii is possible that ne T., civil
enough To say: Excuse me. sir;" and
1t would be considered uHcirl for Won
to reply: Il wish that YOU would bo "a
little more careful Another tumble.
down stairs and breaks his lcg. expect
my great deal of sympathy from hi.
friends, while il hc hal only put ON,
foot before the other with proper DELHI
Grafton the accident would not have
happened Another fall, from prrci-
pice and is killed If ne had kcpt af a
reasonable distance from the edo, hi.
HE would not have been sacrificed
Another gets his hand caught i'm n cir
Culdr saw and loses his arm: if ne had
been careful the calamity would have
been avoided. These are familiar illus
tfalon9 OF what comes OF hccdlcSSnc,s.
y railway train strikes another M full
speed; both are demolished and many
ilves are lost; II Is reported a am "acci-
dental collision, but IL is an accident
that might have been prevented. The
walls OF building fall and bury a certain
number OF people i'm the ruins: il is said
- be an accident, but if the clihcc had
been properly constructed the wall
would not have given away A house
takes fire and burns 10 the ground. and
II lt Is not the work Of am inccndial.v. II
Is announced in the paper, "a, an "acci-
dental connagratiOu, wherein. if tIe
iluc5 had been "a, they should be-. or fine
box Of matches had not been cypO,eJ T.,
the rats, or the smoker had not cmUt'eI
his pipe into the straw, the insurance
company would not have been called
to mako the loss good A powder mill
accidentally blows up. am accident that
would never De likely 10 happen if the
Workmcn did not become careless and
no intruder was ever allowed ON the
premises All these things are acci-
dents, ina 'much as they were uucy-
pecled and unforeseen, but not in the
sense of being without an efficient
cause. and i'm most cases the autcrcdcut
cause WAS prcYcntahIc and somebody.
therefore. j. cSpOu-ihlc.
There arc phenomena mature which
are spoken of AS accidental. such gstbc
neouS -pringing No OF n ucy order Of
trees over "a surface from which another
sort had been removed. the appearance
OF new cOlOrs iu flowers. thc four
leavcd clover, hybrids mon-tro-itice.
and so ON: hUt whether We ar. able to
| detect II or not wc are certain that ry-
erything IN nature is ~ubscryicut to law:
there are no accidents M that r,yiou.
There was time when the movement,
oil the wind were supposed 90 Boz ca-
prlciou-: while the direction iu which it
viii blow ON the morrow f. NOW pro
dicted with a fair degree OF certainty.
The dcluge of rain. the long and with
crlug drought, The striking of the ihuu-
dcrboIt the malarial pc,tilonce bon thc
atmosphere. in former davs, were af-
lrlbuicd 10 chance, or pcrhap- io thc
Interference Of malign spirits. Wchlve
risen Co higher conception of what ia
going ON around us
AN nature i- butari. unknown 10 fblo.
All chance, direction, which thou cun.t not
There is a law which determine oven
The turning up of dice; and DO has been
ascoriaincd by experiment that. wIcr
two friends throw d.c. together fDr ga
certain number Of times the avvroV4fr
result viii Doc ahOu. tho same Yu both
sides The drawing of lots is more for
tuIt9u-. and come nearer tbo common
notion of chance or pure accident thau
anything else.
Great discoveries and inventions arc
sometimes attributed 10 accident New
ton happened to see am apple ialI from
tree, and this revealed the law of
graviation G8IilcO observed hauo-
ing lamp swinging in the chauccl of p
church. and 500 discovered The principle
Of the pendulum Waite saw the Gd of
the tca-kctilc rise and FAN. and The
sIcam-cnpinc followcd but thousands of
people had seen apples f8I aud lamps
swing and lid rise, without amy result
III is intelligence which transform. those
accidents into causes Once m awhile
@ discovery i- made by what may prom
crly Doe called au accident. a- boo tho in-
stance of the nNparmcuta'i-' who. in
trying to bleach hI- ubberaurou-.
found ont that Che substance itself Wa-
changed in character by tbo action of
tho power to which It was exposed
This result was accidental beyond aiI
question
Success iu lfe is often attributed ~
. chance. fortune seems tD favor one man
moro than another; the variation u
stocks which makes one person rich,