Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1891-06-27

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1t has been mentioned that Miss Lati-
mer had scrap book. Now. one scrap
book differs from another scrap book as
the north star differs from an indistin-
gnishable atom in the Milky Way, but
any scrap book is or may be valuable
The man or woman who keeps scrap
book US it may be kept becomes danger
ous because rowerful. If knowledge
really be power little bits of knowledge
rescued from among the flotsam and jet
sam of the printing press and preserved in
fashion that enables the possessor to put
his finger upon them become like so
many dynamite cartridges stored away
for possible use and capable of most eff
fective explosion. 1t is not given to
everybody to realize this; but as for me
pray that mine enemy may never keep
scrap book. If he should l hope he
may never know how to keep it well.
Miss Latimer's scrap book, it may be
said. was nothing more than one of
those huge, misshapen volumes, into
which are pasted, without ORDER. and
often without reason, such '%craps'
(properly so called) as may chance to
strike the owners fancy at the moment
they are perceived. These books become
in time stored, as many mems minds are
stored. with miscellaneous, unassorted
collection of general misinformation, of
no possible use to the owner or to any of
the rest OF mankind. excepting on those
rare occasions when misinformation ex-
plodes in the hand of the holder and
skaters him in minute bits.
Even SO poor thing as one of these
gaudily bound, rattle-te-bang books,
however, may have its use. The name
of Allah. as the pious Mussulman re-
members. may chance to be inscribed on
any piece of paper that blows a-down the
wind. SO it happened that Miss Lati-
mer came into possession of q piece OF
paper without which a whole story
would have gone wrong. 1t came about
through a curious development of mod.
ern civilization. Partly also through
the economy Of modern publishers,
which impels them to print on both sides
of the same piece of paper.
Inasmuch as no human being has
time to read all that may be written
and printed in these later days on any
subject that may be of interest to him
or her a new industry has sprung up
within ten years. People read newspa-
pers for other people, sending to their
customers such clippings as may beaI
upon any given topic at so much pei
clipping. BY employing such an agency
the student may be reasonably sure OF
seeing all that is said in a thousand
newspapers on the subject that interests
him, whereas he could never search all
those thousand publications if he had
forty-eight hours of spare time every
day.
So it happened that Miss Latimer, af-
ter she had returned to her city home
and had taken up the particular line OF
study that interested her for the time,
sent an order to one of the bureaus
where such work is done, for all the
publications that might appear about
the cultivation of orchids.
To her presently then came various
clippings about orchids; reports Of hor-
ticulturists, alleged witticisms, descrip-
tions of collections of orchids, philosoph-
ical essays upon the luxury of millionaires
as exemplified by orchids of fabulous
price, and untold varieties Of comments.