The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-26
The Way in Which Mr.
and "Mrs." Originated.
How a Conductor Has Been
HoodOoed by Number Is.
Novel Method Of Producing Realistic
Rainb0ws on the Stage.

~. ---r
A gentleman OF antiquarian tastss has
explained To the GOssiper the origin vi
"Nlr." and Mrs " in "A way that IS inter
esting and undoubtedly authentic. In
earlier times. he says, the ordinary man
was simply William or John. lie h'l
only a Christian name without any SORT
az ,,handle' prefix xed 10 IL or surname
After a time this system OF nomenclature
became embarrassing and mixed SO that
it was found difficult To distinguish one
John or William from multltuue Oh
Others bearing the same name. 10 meet
tie difficulty thus presented nicknames
derived from his trade, his dwelling place
or from some personal pecuilarity weio
tackled onto his Christian name ana plain
John by this process became John Shlltn;
But even then there were no lnlsters'
In course of time some John smith ac-
c,,mulated more wealth than the bulk OF
his fellows-became, perhaps, landed
proprietor or an employer Of hired labor.
Then he began 10 be called In the Nor
man French of the day the MAESTRO Oh
this place or that of these workmen or OF
those In time the maistre, or
"maister" as IL soon became, got tackled
on before his name, and he became Maister
smith and his wife was Maistress Smltn.
Gradually the sense of possession was lost
SIGHT of, and the title was conferred upon
any kind Dy mere possession OF wealth.,
or holding some position of more or less
consideration and Importance,
Samuel Sharp is the name of con-
ductor on a local train running out oil
Ph iladelphia and there is not in this, or
for that matter, in any other country
firfner believer in the bad luck whlch Is
commonly associated with the number rs.
Nor is this to be wondered AT, IL the tale
he tells be true. Here is the story OF the
"hoo doc" thirteen AS il worked In his
case. His parents had 13 children, OF
whom he was the youngest, and none OF
them ever prospered AS the thirteenth
child however, Samuel has had more
troubles than any of his brothers and
sisters. After countless mishaps during
his school days he started in to earn his
living as "A newsboy on the ears when he
was i3 years of age One Friday, the 18th
day of the month, not long after he entered
the service, there was wreck on tine
road and he was laid up in hospital
with couple of broken ribs for l3 weeks.
Some years afterward his uncle, a
brakeman, died and left him $500, but
lust as he was about TO get married on
The money, the bank failed and he lost
ALL feeling, of course, more disappointed
than III IL had never been left To him.
Gradually no worked his way up and be-
came baggage master, and then ne ulu
marry Unwittingly, however, he Went
70 housekeeping at 1913 South Thirteenth
street ard his young wife died within the
year, leaving him broken hearted. Since
he has been conductor his train has run
over l3 men, and he hopes that he has
now reached the limit. lt Is an utter
impossibility to get him to punch the
.oxl iclr
when hard pressed he hands his punch TO
the passenger, with the request to do 1t
for him.
Regular theatre goers have often seen
stage moons and stage lightning and
listened TO the rumblings of stage thun-
ders but they have never yet beheld "A
stage rainbow except such as have been
prepared by the scene painter. In future,
however, there Is every reason TO believe
the rainbow will be an effective part of
some stage representations as "A very sim
pie way Of producing realistic ones has been
discovered. The apparatus consists OF an
ordinary box, having a semi-circular open
ing in front TO give the shape Of the rain
bow, within which are two candelabra
prism's mounted on supports, so that
they can be revolved by means of handles
fixed outside To work the apparatus "a
strong light is projected through the
prisms and through the opening, across
which strips of wire are fixed I'm order To
break up the rays and thence on TO IA
back drop scene. When the prisms arc
purncd in opposite directions il is asserted
that the most beautiful and vivid color
effects are produced.
The state Of Nevada has the distinction
of producing something better than prize
fights. IL Is "A species of wood known as
mountain mahogany, which when dry,
is as hard as lockwood, very fine grained
of a rich red color. and in weight very
heavy 1t has been used for boxes for
shafting, and in some instances for slides
and dies in quartz batteries. 1t burns
with blaze as long lasting as ordinary
wood, and it Is then found almost un-
changed in form converted 10 charcoal
that lasts twice as long as ordinary wood,
giving an intense heat, greater than coal
gives Another notable species of wood
having extraordinary durability, is said
10 be the quebarcho wood of Argentina
Posts that have been i'm the ground for
100 years i'm soil alternately soddcn by
tropical rains or parched by intense
heat are found to be in sound con.
ditIon.
Although not generally known, IL /.
still fact that Germany is the greatest
potato growing country in the world Tn,
crop of the four principal tubcr raising
countries of Europe i'm 1895 amounted e
6s, ss26, 900 tons, Of which "a, lSi, coo it'll,
more than 'half, was produced IN Ger
many; 2l,0O0,0O0 i'm France ! O6j. OO0 II
England and :, 5000 in Belgium. Fom
years ago the total production was les
than 10000, 600 tons for the same countries
The United States ranks aftcls England
IL Is not astonishing 90 see Germany n
the head OF the potato producing countriC
Of the world, for this precious tubcr !
not only employed for food. but enormou
quantitie. are required for industrial pur
poses for instance. for the distillng %
alcohol and the manufacture of starch
The total production Of potatoes on th
globe Is estimated at considerably more
that Is, about 9S V0, 600 tons.