Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-03-23

| ssrts of comforting, however. will be
necessary to lash it into shape to make
it mutually agreeable. AS for the bill
which is designed to stop the issue OF
| passes until the amendment goes into
effect, the assembly railroad committee
actually throttled it the other day-a
majority reporting against any such
bill. This majority was made UP Of
members who live a long ways off. and
| they had no reason to give for oppo-
sition. OF course the real reason was
that they objected to surrender their
passes. The issue will no doubt be
kicked about until the end of the ses-
sion, when the party leaders will have
conference in Madison and remind the
solons Of the party pledge and order
/ legislation to meet the same
Lawmakers Watch Electric Wonders.
At nearly every session it is the GUS
tom to take the Legislature in carriages
to visit the university. This year there
was the usual inspection in all depart
ments of the university. number of
professors are sandwiched in to inform
and interest the legislators, and for this
delicate work the pure scholastics are
side tracked and matter-of-fact pro-
fessors like Henry Of the farm school,
Alderman Schlicter, Professor Olson of
the Scandinavian department, and
Storm Bull are utilized. The agricul-
tural school and the engineering rooms
interest the visitors most, some of
whom have never seen a college be-
fore.
In q darkened room a professor In
| physics, who Is natural wizard, per-
formed experiments for the solons and
exhibited the kaleidoscope, that marvel
| Gus machine which reflects action and
motion. One of the most popular views
he threw on the screen was skirt
| dance. In the electrical room crowd
watched balls and cylinders on a fiat
table. They whirled with a rapidity of
| thousands of revolutions a minute with
| absolutely no power in sight. 1t seemed
like magic. The table was four inches
thick but underneath this was COM
bined magnetism and electric current,
| and in response the balls whirled like
mad.
A machine that always impresses Wis
| itors is in the mechanical engineering
rooms. 1t is designed to show the need
OF accuracy in fitting the parts of ma
chinery. Two great steel surface plates
| are pressed together and the line of
| junction held to the light. 1t appears
as one unbroken piece, so perfect Is the
| joining. Then human hair is laid be-
tween the plates. Notwithstanding the
enormous weight, the hair keeps the
plates apart, and a thin line of light
shows the gap Of separation. That
| hair was not more than two or three
thousandths of an inch thick; but it
was matter, and science knows that
matter is indestructible.
Blind Musicians Delight the Insane.
/ took an evening at the Mendoza asy-
lum the other night, the occasion being
concert by the orchestra from the
blind asylum at GAINESVILLE. 1t was a
company of fifteen, including a blind
girl, Anna Bradt of Oshkosh, who sang
better than many a church soloist un-
der pay. The boys sat on the platform
of the new hall, which was crowded
with $50 people. inmates, attendants
and visitors. The patients were as quiet
as any church congregation. Some
times there is "fit' or frenzy to break
the good order, but there was none that
night. 1t is the rule to have the exer-
sionate, pathetic music too long drawn
out excites the patients. They enjoyed
| the music wonderfully, laughed heart
| lily at the funny songs and applauded
everything.
The blind boys are not all blind. Very
| few people are "stone blind" Most can
| tell day from night. Some can see OBJ
| jects near their feet or in certain line
80 lott n,,1 npt It'll
| ing an instrumental solo got too near
| the footlights and stepped off. We all
| expected a catastrophe. But he knew
what was happening, put his foot out
and was soon Ginning back to the stage
as lively as a boy who could see.
One of the GAINESVILLE musicians par
ticipated. He was a tall boy with fine
face, of Whitewater son of whom
any one might feel proud A pretty girl
from the western part of the state
captured the young fellow and went
| floating about the, hall on his shoulder
as proud as a sprig of royalty, while
everybody marvelled,i
Sang Love Songs.
The music by the orchestra was un-
questionably very good. The boys have
good deal of time to practice together.
They sang and the lovelsongs that told
of "Nelly's blue eyes,N and all that sort
OF thing were especially sad, because
! they themselves can never know the
| beauty that lies in womans eyes. In
fact, at these blind schools love mat
ters are kept in the background, the
theory being that 1t is better If the mat
rimonal fever never strikes these UNI
fortunates. This is not so~ much
through dread of heredity. for there
Is very little descent of the ahliction,
but blind women are helpless as moth
ers. and the problem Of livelihood for
the blind is a difficult one at best.
/ Thn nlnsininns nlnln n tnllt. ~ the