Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-03
sPOKEs FROM THE HUB.
A Railways Benevolent Scheme Re-
garding the Extraction of Cinders.

"cR1sIs" MADEIRA FOR yELLY-oUAINT ANEcpoTH
OF COL. THOMAS scorT-BosroN's APPETITE
FOR THINGS sCIENTuIc--wHY LOVERS FEAR TO
DO THEIR TRUSTING ON THE CHARLES.
Special Correspondence of THE EVENING srm.
BosToN, August I, 1889.
1t is reported that New England railway is
about to adopt new idea not less original in
its conception than humane in the object it is
intended to accomplish. The notion is simply
that every conductor in the employ of the road
shall acquire, through as many lessons from
hrst-rate oculist as may be necessary, a knowl-
edge of the best process for extracting cinder
from the eye. The amount of real misery
arising from this cause on passenger trains in
the course of year is positively incalculable.
Think how many people there are who endure
hours Of torture thus occssioned before they
can get to the end of their journey and take
measures for obtaining relief Is there single
person that reads this letter who has not been
through at least one experience of the sort?
But now something is to be done, on this road
at least, to mitigate the pangs of the cinder-
cursed unfortunate. In future, it is said, the
passenger thus sadly afflicted will be able to
appeal with confidence to the conductor, who
will say in reply: IF you please, sir,"-or
'madam'-"iook down moment"
REMOVING THE CINpER.
Whereupon the impromptu patient will have
the lid of his eve turned quickly inside out by
means Of a leadpencil and delicate grasp upon
the lashes, and the ticket-punch expert will
cast an investigating glance over the exposed
conjunctiva membrane through a small but
powerful magnifying glass. Having ascer-
tanned the precise location of the cinder he
will deftly remove it with the corner of his
handkerchief or with the moistened end of a
toothpick. If the obstruction is particularly OBJ
stinate, and the victim will experience relief
the intensity Of which only those who have en-
dured such torments can appreciate. To the
flying to apply benefcent ministrations Of the
kind to the people whose bodily safety while
travelling is intrusted to his care.
THE cINDER THAT MAKES TROUBLE
is almost invariably caught in the little folds
beneath the upper lid of the eye. Unless SO
detained any foreign substance is at once
.'winked out" nature having constructed the
organ apparently with view to accomplishing
this object. A sharp jagged thing like a
minute scrap of burned coal, however, Is apt
to lodge in the folds aforesaid, and then there
is distress at once-even the most microscopic
bit of calcined carbon occasioning immediate
and violent inhammation-the only cure for
which is the removal of the disturbing cause.
In big factories there is usually one man who
is a skilled amateur in this art, and any en-
ploye who gets something in his eye goes to
him for help. As rule such assistance is well
rendered, for the matter is simple enough when
once understood.
SHE USED IT FOR JELLY.
The most disguised householder in the mod
ern Athens just at present is a Beacon-street
gentleman whose family in the summer time
reside at Nahant-that ..sice of cold roast
Boston," as the exclusive watering place in
question has been appropriately called. The
other day, upon returning to his seashore villa
from his daily avocation in the city, he re-
marked to his wife with some alarm that. hav-
ing had occasion to visit his town house for the
purpose of assuring himself that everything
was safe, he had sought in vain for six bottles
of priceless old MADEIRA which were slowed
away in a email cupboard by themselves for safe
keeping. :,
shelf" inquired the lady.
Eyes, indeed; that was the place."
I'm sorry. my DEAR" said she, 'but the fact
is that used those six bottles to make jelly
with just before we came away. 1t was un-
commonly good jelly, too, though Of course l
regret it very much if have taken any wine
that You desired particularly to keep. But, in
deed, there was none other handy"
"Could you not find some for your jelly that
was worth less than 81 900 bottle?" asked the
husband, with groan.
"A thousand collars pottle! why, What
can you mean?'
'.Simply that cannot replace those six bot
ties at that or any other price. They were my
especial treasure, never intended to be drunk,
save, possibly, as events in lifetime. 1t was
a brag of mine to say that had that quantity
of real old Madeira in my house; now it is
gone, and for jelly. Ye gods!'
ut was remarkably good jelly" was all the
poor woman could think Of saying by way of
apology.
SCARCITY OF OLD MADEIRA.
And it is no wonder that the gentleman Of
Beacon street was distressed How many bot
ties of old Madeira do you supposed there are
at present in these United States? About 100
perhaps, and connoisseurs in wine can tell you
who owns pretty nearly every quart of it..
Years ago a dreadful bug attacked the vines
and exterminated them. The insect was sub
dued at length and slips of the same varieties
were planted; but, alas! the new grape pro-
duced a different juice. The Madeira of to-day
comes from the same island and the same
grape, but it is no more like the original than
chalk is like cheese. Hence the enormous
value possessed by the small remnant of the
ancient product. 1t cannot be said that there
is any quotation in the market for it. Simply,
it is not for sale. The few bottles of it that
still exist are owned by persons in well-to-do
circumstances, who do not care to sell it at any
price.
HE MADE IT LAST HIS LIFE TIME.
A generation ago there was an old gentleman
in Philadelphia who had the good fortune to
possess half pipe Of this precious wine-prob-
ably the largest amount owned at that time by
any individual living, for even then its value
had grown to be fabulous. He figured it up
that the supply would last him, if he used one
pint at dinner daily, precisely so many years,
months, and days. So, like a mariner in dis
tress for water, he placed himself on an allow
ance of that much per diem, never on any &C
count to be exceeded. Life was not worth liv-
ing, he said, without Madeira at dinner and
when his little stock should come to an end it
was his intention to die with as little delay as
possible. And so, curiously enough, he did,
within twenty -four hours of the time when the
last small bottle of the "Crisis" vintage was
wiped out
COL. sCoTT's WINE.
The late Thos. Scott of Pennsylvania railway
fame, with no notion Of offending in any man.
ner, bought in, at price no one else could
afford to pay, the stock Of old Madeira which
had been the especial pride and joy of a dis
tinguished Philadelphia, at that time recently
deceased. Nor, so far, was Col. Scott guilty Of
any breach of the proprieties. But it seems
that, having occasion to give large ball at his
house soon afterward, he thought it would be
the proper thing to open the precious nectar
from bug-destroyed vines by wholesale on the
festive occasion, in order that every one might
have as much Of it as he wanted to drink.
GUEST WHO FELT INsULTED.
It was in the midst OF the festivities while