The St. Johns herald., 1899-07-08
A MIGHTY HARD PROBLEM.
The One of Inventing q Bottle That
 Can't Be RehIIed.

''I read little interview not long ago." said a New Orleans grocer, with man who purported to give seme particulars concerning the much talked of nonrefllable bottle problem. He said, among other things, that there was a standing reward of $1O, 900 for a practical solution, and had to smile to note how fable. once set adrift, is continually vitalized by repetition. l happen to know something about the bottle question, and I can state posi- lively and authoritatively that there has never been a reward of $10, 900 or any other amount for such device.
 ''The impression probably originated with circular that was prepared years ago by a convention of northern distill- CTS 1t was designed for the informa- tion of inventors and stated briefly and clearly just what was essential to practical nonrefllable bottle what the working part should be made of. what tests it should be able to sustain, what it should cost in quantity, and so on. l doubt whether there is now a copy of that circular in existence, but it un- questionably gave rise to the story that the whisky men of the country were filled and had offered an enormous re- ward for the same.
 ''The Lord only knows how many lives have been wrecked by that yarn. Next to. perpetual motion it has been the great asylum feeder of the mechan- ical world. The problem looks easy enough on the surface and upward of 50 patents have been taken out on diff ferent devices, but none of them works under all conditions. The favorite scheme is a ball valve which would be closed automatically by pressure from above, but it is readily worked by a wire or an air pump.
 "At first the liquor men and makers of proprietary remedies that were largely counterfeited encouraged invest ors in the line. but after repeated fail ures they finally came to the conclusion that the thing couldn't be done and have given it up altogether. Neverthe- less the cranks still persevere, and every now and then one reads of new bot tie that works like a charm. But you never see them on the shelves, and l make bold to say you never will - New Orleans Times-Democrat.
 How to Quiet n Child.
 A little girl frequently fancied she saw bears and tigers whenever she hap pened to awake in the night Presuma- ply she dreamed of some danger, may be on account of having eaten too much for supper or having eaten the wrong kind of food. At any rate, she frequent ly awoke crying in the night, and in her fear interpreted the dim outlines of a dress or q cuEtain as a fearful beast that was about to attack her. The best thing to do is to deal tenderly with such fancies and remove the child as far as possible from the object that has caused her excitement
 Then. if you can do so without dis turbing the other children, light the lamp and let the light fall full on the thing that has given rise to her fear Be slow, and express your opinion first as kind of preliminary assumption that the bear may after ail be mamma s skirt or the curtain moving in the draft. and when this comforting probability is under stood follow up your advantage and de- clare it to be a. good joke that harm less piece of cloth should look like a fear ful animal Make the child smile at the incongruity of her fancy. and her laugh will cure the horror of the dream and dispel the nightmare as sunshine dis solves the miSt-Arena