Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-03-02
DID you SEE THAT oMeLET7
More Than Hundred Miles Long by
Fifty Miles Wide.

He was old and shaggy. His hair
was long and his beard tangled. His
eyes were bleareC and his nose had
| been tinged by the suns of many sum-
mers, says the N. Y. Recorder. Even
his clothes were rusty.
Dead broke, he wandered throu oh
the streets wondering where he could
sneak the next free lunch. NV king
| dom for a scheme" he cried, and there
upon pondered.
AT last, after profound silence, he
started from his seat, cried Il have it,"
and disappeared in the direction of the
market-house.
"Canst thou inform ME, " he inquired
of an open-faced, wholesale dealer in
produce, show many eggs are con-
sumed in this metropolis each day?
Verify, would know for specific pur-
pose"
The dealer, after consideration. re-
piled that, as near as he could estimate
1t 5000, 900 eggs we're devoured each
and every twenty-four hours in New
York.
THANK thee" said the schemer,
that is what | wish to know"
Then he took faded memorandum
book and stub of a pencil from his
pocket and silently figured.
Hast thou ever considered what 81
000,00 eggs a day means, my friend ?"
he asked.
The dealer made no reply.
suppose, my friend, that one hen
had to lay all those eggs; she would no
longer be spring chicken when she
finished her contract. would she? If
that hen were to undertake to supply
the city every day, dost thou know
how many she would have to lay
every minute to get through in time
to begin anew the next day? Just p
0S3 1-2.
stop and consider it, friend-2, 0S3
-! An evident impossibility! A
well-regulated hen produces on an
average about ninety eggs a year
Therefore, if one hen had TO Law them
all, it would take her about thirty
eight thousand eight hundred and
eighty-nine years, and when she fin
ished she wouldn't be fit for even
lunch-counter sandwich, would she,
friend?
Now, friend. let us put joking aside.
This daily supply cannot be obtained
from less than 100000 hens. Let US
imagine that all these hens should
come to New York to supply the de-
mand, and should march down Broad
way in files ten deep, rooster leading
each file and keeping them three feet
apart. how long dc you think it would
take the procession to pass the city
hall, if one file passed each seconde
just one hundred days, if they marched
sn hours day, or sixteen and two
thirds days if they didn't stop to rest.
And, friend, if they became squatters
on city ground, each taking square
foot for n nest, they would cover sixty
six blocks, each 800 feet square. And
every morning, when the eggs were
| collected, if they we're placed side by
side, they would spread over 1889
square feet. If those same hens
marched away in single file, the head
of the procession would be H. $50 miles
away by the time the last hen fell into
line.
Il tell you, friend, this is great
problem-greater than thou imaginest.
Thou knowest that an omelet made of
! two eggs is about i've inches long by
two inches wide. Suppose, just for an
instant, those 5000 900 eggs were made
into one immense omelet. How big
dost thou think it would be-"
The dealer shook his head
Just lis 1-2 miles long and AZ 12-
miles wide and methinks it would
taste well. | will admit, friend, that
it would taste only too well to me just
now. 1t gives me an appetite to think
OF it,
But we must 90 further, friend.
Three million eggs a day means 1885,
| 100000 i year. Placed end to end
they would make circle around the
earth and double row from New
York 10 China. Now, the average of
mans life is AZ years and if he saw
all the eggs that came to New York
during that time he would have seen
-
The dealer led h N to a restaurant,
where he ordered him an omelet of six
eggs, filled with ham and fled before
more figures could be evolved by the