Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-06-25


Science and the mechanic arts have
their fads just like wimmen folks. a
few years ago celluoid came in with a
rush and was used for every conceivable
purpose. In the matter Of collars 10 near
ly annihllated laundries. Now it's rub
Der. You even hear Of bouncing babies.
which means, of course. that they have
caoutchouc pronounced like the way you
sneeze) in their systems. or suffer from
that afflicton known as rubber neck"
Long years ago we people up in Hanover
used to call the stuff gum" and when
we went 10 place our galoches on our feet
we spoke of putting on our gums By
and by rubber became more common and
high-falutin people used It for suspenders
(galluses) and for garters (elastics) and
as n bluff to decOy babies who drank milk
from bottles. Little did we dream
I'm those times that this remarkable tropi-
cal product would one day form a great
staple on the market and bob Up in q
thousand different forms. That great
friend Of undertakers md doctcrs-the
bicvcle-is largely responsible for the In
novation. When the dod-blastod two
wheeled things first came IN they had
rubber tires. which made the machines
move along as quietly as a man in his
hose (alias socks and convinced the
uninitiated that they caused you 10 fall
easily. BY and by rich people had rubber
tires put on their carriages. and now the
wealthy roll along so ncise'essly that
pedestrians think the occupants or the
vehicles fear they'll wake some or their
dead po-white relations.
Next. the inventors began protecting
with rubber horseshoes, so that the BOD
tailed beasts could be more elastic In their
gait and could prance around without
making too much noise. II | am not mis-
taken. these experiments have not proved
successful, though a Richmond lawyer
told me some months since That he hau
invented a rubber horseshoe which was
bound to make him rich. At that time
he talked Of l0-cent cigars and capita!
stock and howery beds of ease. in way
which made me envy him. Quite IRE
quently l meet him nowadays hooiing II
up our steepest hills when the thermome-
ter is 10 degrees in the shade, so con-
clude that things haven't gone entirely
his way. He has probably found that
rubber horseshoes do not bring good luck
like the old-fashioned kind.
Rubber neck is one OF the latest IN
ventions. For months and months usea
10 hear the theatrical people using TINS
expression, and somehow 1 suspected tho
term had reference TO a joke, but
couldn't quite grasp the point. one day'
as 1 was ambling down the street, saw
n crowd assembled around boy In gut
ter. The younester was hitting at 'ome-
thing with a stick and there was the
darndest squealing and squeaking L had
ever heard. barring hog-kilings.
Rats" said I to myself; III watch
tn Of bo
must have let 'em out a trap-great sport
I'll give him a few pointers how l used
10 kill 'em when boy"
Elbowing my way through the crowd, /
pushed TO the front. and TO my profound
indignation found the yOungster was
fakir selling whistles. He made the whis-
ties squeak like rats and used the stick
merely as a bluff People who had been
fooled stood around to see others make
monkeys of themselves.
Everybody was delighted because I had