Evening star., 1897-03-20
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crops per year. one of sage brush and the
other an equally valueIess crop of snow"
x
There many curious things in the
matter of education and particularly in
original studies of the languages" said one
of the professors of the Catholic Univer-
s!ty. TO a Star reporter. but one of the
most curious that now occurs to my mind
is that one of our best informed masters
of the Gaelic or Irish language was forced
to pursue his studies of the Gaelic in an
university in Berlin. Strange place you
will say for one to study the Irish lam
guage. and yet it is fact. The Gaelic is
one of the rarest of languages and stu
dents ot it meet with obstacles at almost
every point. simply for the reason that it
has always been the desire of England
to let the Irish language pass into oblivion
In none of the great universities of Eng
land can 1t be learned. for the reason that
II Is not taught. At the Catholic Univer-
sity Gaelic chair has been handsomely
endowed. ard II may come to pass in the
future the students of the world will have
to come here to study the Gaelic"
+ + y
The civil service commission has re-
Gently had the question of man and wife
in the departments under consideration"
suggested a gentleman who is connected
with that commission to Star reporter.
Though l don't speak by any authority.
l am convinced that when the commission
is reorganized some more definite rule OF
action will be taken. There are still
number of male clerks in the departments
whose wives are also clerks. 1 admit that
this does not occur as often as it did some
years ago. for the rules Of the civil service
commission have reduced it very consider
ably. but there are enough well-known
cases to cause the subject to be agitated.
In most cases the wife is In different
department from the husband, but in some
instances man and wife are in the same
department. The Secretary of the Treas
ury is a firm believer in civil service, but
he has indicated that he will look into
the matter Of man and wife question as
far as his department is concerned as soon
as the rush caused by the change of ad
ministration is over"
X * x
"a medical writer once insisted that the
bath had killed more people in this country
than did the bullets Of wars, and while
l would hardly like to go as far as that"
answered a prominent physician to the
question Of a Star reporter. II am not as
strong advocate Of baths as some ply
sicians are 1t Is all very nice to talk
about the hygienic advantages and value
of baths. but there is denying that TUT
baths very weakening to some consti-
tutions and especially dangerous to others.
The ordinary man or woman Is not
strong enough to indulge as frequently as
some do in tub baths l noticed in the
newspapers during the training of Corbett
ard Fftzsimmons that though they took
daily baths in the early part of their prep
aration for their contest they INDUCED
Only In shower baths. They found that
soaking themselves in tub did them more
harm than good They are. however not
the first prize fighters to discover this. for
Sullivan. Mitchell and host of others ex-
perienced tie same thing. A tub bath is
necessary If a person has become dirty and
wants to wash themselves. but all the
tonic aud exhilarating effects of a bath
are best secured by shower or sponge
bath. My judgment is that sponge ba !
is much more beneficial than a bath in any
other form. l am equally confident that
tub baths, if frequently indulged in, do
mere harm than good. The makers of
bath tubs seem to realize this also. for
there are very few bath tubs made any
mere which are long enough for a full
grown man or woman to soak their entire
body at the same time. Probably it is the
old-fashioned bath tub which caused the
remark quoted above. To parents 1 can
not refrain from saying that it is not fair
or humane to insist on soaking children in
a bath tub, when they would not dare to
soak themselves as often as they insist on
deluging their children. In warm weather
baths are refreshing to children as we'll as
grown persons. but in other seasons of the
year It is much safer to avoid very fire.
auert bathing. except, as / said before.
light sponge baths. Even the latter can
be overdoEe.
X X X
SHUTDOWN ministers. by which l mean
preachers who are engaged in departmental
or other work during the daytime and who
preach evenings and days when on leave
of absence explained gentleman who
attended a recent conference in Baltimore.
get but little or no consideration in our
religious conferences any more. and while
preachers do not like to talk out at meet
in, they have no hesitancy in speaking
plainly in private conversation. Ministers
have honorable profession. They spend
years preparing themselves for their du-
ties, have no other occupations employ
ment and seek no other. There is but lit
tie money in the ministry, after all. for
though few gifted fortunate men
draw financial prizes by 1t. the great body
OF them do not receive the wages received
by the average mechanic in the large cities.
1t is not strange, therefore, that they
should not like sundowners. They have no
jealousy toward workers In the vineyard
VINO feel they can give their talents to the
good work What they object to Is that
persons should compete with them when
they have other engagements until after
sundown. AS a minister at the conference
said to me. the sundown preacher is neither
fish. flesh. fowl. nor even good red her
ring
II
"One of the most curious experiences l
have met with In long time happened to
me last Monday" said a young bank off,
ciai to Star reporter yesterday II was
standing at my desk during business hours
when a woman came up and asked me il
L was notary public. She was rather a
nice-looking woman. In the neighborhood
of forty. l should think. the sort of wo.
man that one ordinarily describes as moth
eriy- When she was told that / was auaIt-
fled to administer oaths she informed me
that she wanted to swear off drinking
whisky for a year. Her request nearly
took my breath away. for she was not a
woman one would pick out as hard
drinker. but she told me that she was al
together too fond of whisky. and found
she was drinking 1t to excess. Her rela-
uves and frieIds were anxious that she
should swear of. and she had finally
agreed to do 50. When i drew up the
paper for her 1 included all other forms
OF intoxicating liquor. She objected TO that
at first. but / Urged her to do the thing
up right while she was about it. and She
ended up by doing Then she paid me
my legal fee and walked out, but when
she opened her purse / noticed that ii was
just full Of money. and the whole occur
l-