Morning journal and courier., 1892-11-12


| ite harmony with 1t.
''The summer and the winter here
| Midway a truce are holding,
| A soft, consenting atmosphere
| Their tents OF peace enfolding."
81 lean my heart against the day
| To feel its bland caressing;
| will not let 1t pass away
Before it leaves its blessing
t'The mystery of the untried days
i close my eyes from reading;
| His Will be done whose darkest ways
To light and life are leading"
| LESS drear the winter night shall be
| 1fmemory cheer and hearten
| Its heavy hours with thoughts of thee,
Sweet summer of Saint Martini"
| AN UNPATENTED sCRAP.BooK.
| Who has not often, in the hurried sur
| vey of the days quota of the newspapers,
caught glimpse of some article with an
| attractive title and sentences that invite to
careful resdinga
1t may be upon some theme of general
Importance concerning which you desire
enlightenment; or an elaborate critical re-
| view of book that has taken the reading
world by storm; new poem by your ia
vorite author; possibly bit of valuable
information relating to household econo-
mics; powerful editorial demolishing the
party to which you do not belong; the
latest triumph of mechanical invention; the
latest fancies in fashions and needlework,
or even the newest plan for inducing chill
dren to walk with their toes turned out
and husbands to walk circumspectly on
the straight and narrow homeward path
as soon as Office hours are over. What
ever 1t may be, the scissors are produced,
the article cut out and added to the mass
of clippings which, when the long antici-
pated, ever retreating day of leisure
comes, are to be read and sorted; these to
be cast into the burnipg-those to be
transferred to the scrap book. So the
piles of clippings grow. They crowd the
drawers and pigeon holes of the desk, they
split out the envelopes in which they have
been placed at an attempt at classification,
the work of reducing and disposing of
them becomes more pressing and dis
couraging.
1t is all very we'll to suggest that the ex-
cerpt should be gummed, without delay,
into that very convenient invention, the
"Msrk Twain" If you follow that plan,
you will coon find that much space in the
scrap book has been given to articles that
had only passing value. The sentimental
poem that chimed in with your mood last |
month, now rings with false note; the |
directions for fessting ten people on one |
dollar dinner have been tried and found |
wanting; the reflective essay, that seemed |
so very wise and profund. now appears |
to be dreary rubbish, h,-and there they are,
all gummed fast, with no way of getting |
rid of them unless you cut out whole |
leaf which may hold, with the rubbish. |
something of real value.
Evidently there must be some study of |
material, and some system of classification,
before collection of clippings will bs of
much use to the clipper. Even the scrap
books-whether of the self-sticking variety |
or requiring paste, patience, and prolonged |
pressing to insure satisfactory results
even when they are filed, they should be
completely indexed so that the item needed
may be readily found.
One very good plan for making such |
stores of information available is to have
collection of boxes, nearly of uniform size,
arranged alphabetically according to topics
which are plainly written on the ends of
the boxes. The boxes are placed upon a
set of shelves, labelled ends outward, and
each cutting is laid in the appropriate re-
ceptacle as soon as it is read. Whatever is
needed is then very easily found.
envelope system, but one can
see to what appalling proportions it might
grow, boxes being added to boxes and
shelves to shelves, unless some plan of
inspection and Encouragement is rigor- |
ously adhered to. All this takes time, and |
Time is the one thing that knows the ee-
cret of perpetual, accelerated motion. Life |
is feeting and there are few duties that |
are more important than the preservation
of newspaper clippings.
An original plan which has been tested |
sufficiently to prove its value is this: Take,
as the recipes say, one good sized, strongly |
h0r md han fNp x,os hov hak
use. 1t may bear the unalluring title,
"Patent Office Report, 1885," or
Message and Accompanying Documents,
1851" but that does not matter if the |
pages are clean and the binding in good |
condition. Take, also, paper of pins,
price cents, and your clipping outfit is
complete. No paste is needed and no press
ing. You simply cut out the article you
have read and think you want to keep, or
until you get time to read it, and you
skewer it to leaf of the book with pin
at each end. If the article is long one
do not cut the columns apart, but fold 1t to
the size of the page, and pin it so that
when the book is open the folds will not
fly out. When you wish to refer to it it is
an easy matter to take out a pin or two
and unfold it. Very short cuttings require
only one pin to keep them in place. A
Simple BOrU OIL CldSslucdtlOu lb useI ul: attl-
cles upon kindred subjects being placed on
adjoining pages, you know in what part of
the book to look for them, and so save
time and temper.
When clipping has remained in this
book for awhile you are able to decide
upon its merits. If it seems to have per-
manent value, unpin it and transfer it tc
the safer keeping of the scrap book; if
you decide that it is not worth keeping,
unpin, drop it in the scrap basket and put
another clipping on probation in its place.
The old Patent Office Report thus becomes
sort of clearinghouse for newspaper
clippings, and by this simple system of
exchange each one eventually reaches its
appropriate place.
1t is lamentable that this ingenious idea
cannot stand in another relation to the
patent Office, that of popular and re-
munerative "patented process" But since
there can be no patent granted on the very
ancient device of pinning things, nothing
remains for the inventor but to bestow it
freely upon the world at large, believing
| that whole generations of clippers shall
yet rise up and call her blessed.
Hrr