Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-16

/ that We're applied to the shells by some,
| but none of them ever hardened any eggs
\ for thoroughly burying them IN
| the ground. Two weeks may be enough.
| but three weeks is much better. Very often
burying an egg in that way preserved 1t,
though preservation was secondary to
hardening the she'll"
* X x X
ut is old saying that our foresight Is
not good our hindsight," explained
well-known citizen to a Star reporter, "and
the illustrations of 1t are so many that 1t
would be useless to recount them, even If
it were possible to do so. This saying was
very thoroughly impressed on me a few
weeks since, during visit to factory
which Is engaged in manufacturing fountain
pens. The ordinary person can have but a
slight idea of the enormous quantity Of
fountain pens that are sold. There are
dozens of makes, all of them more or less
good and many of them almost perfect
They can be found in every stationery and
many other sto1 es in almost every city in
the world. There are more Of them lost
than worn out, for it is surprising how long
any of the fountain pens of popular makes
hold out Once men women get into the
habit of using a fountain pen they rarely
ever give 1t up. Now it happens that l in
vented the first fountain pen which was
practical as far as the use of it was con-
cerned. This was in 1850 Prior to that
there was fountain pen known as Prices
fOttdu pen OIl the Dul II "OThtu
rather unsatisfactory. / took my inven-
ton to the leading patent lawyer in Wash
lngton then and asked his advice about
getting patent for it. He gave me no en-
coura cement in the matter; indeed, he dis
! couraged me. From him I went to patent
agency which did a patent business eX-
clusively. 1 knew the manager personally
and 1 regarded him as a man of excellent
judgment. He conceded with the patent
lawyer 1 had consulted. He convinced me-
though somewhat against my judgment
that the people at large did not want a
fountain pen. He argued that as pens were
so cheap people would not spend the amount
of money which was necessary to buy a
fountain pen. Gutta percha known to-
day had not been invented then, and but
little was even known of India rubber, for
MIR. Goodyear was here then, busy with his
| experiments, on which he secured his rub
Der patents afterward Mr.. Goodyear him
| self did not enthuse on a fountain pen. and
thought with the others that the world did
not want any relief from the ordinary steel
! pen which then had just supplanted the
quill pen. OF course, 1 dropped the matter
and turned my attention to mining, for the
discovery of gold in California was at that
time the sensation of the day. But if l ever
strike on another invention, in view of my
experience in this, ], will only consult a
patent lawyer in regard to a patent, and
not for any advice in the matter of its use
or value
* * X
THE first thing a man ought to learn in
trying to become barber" said follower
of the tonsorial art, sis the careful han
ding of his razor so that he will not cut
a customer. 1 never saw good barber in
my life who couldn't move razor quickly
| and safely from any part of a mans face
or neck at the first sign of bad move
ment by the man. Take, for instance,
man who is about to sneeze in the chair,
and the desire comes upon him so suddenly
he has no time to make a warning move
ment to the barber. Well. a good barber
would have his razor off that mans face
before the movement of the man in the
chair had hardly begun. A great many
men are careless in moving themselves in
chair and but for the carefulness of a
barber these men would often cause them
selves to be cut. A customer frequently
opens his mouth to talk just at the wrong
time and does many other careless things
l will always remember one case of trouble
L was saved by being cautious. l had
a shop near the old Star building and one
day man knew walked in to get shaved
He had queer look in his face and eyes
| When l began shaving him he moved I'M
easily in his chair and suddenly jumped
up from his reclining position and made
a grab for my razor. I removed it in time.
A few minutes later he asked me to let
him look at the razor. 1 told him that it
was all right and refused to let him have
his brains out in the presence of three
friends who were in cab with him. Now,
suppose he had succeeded in getting nv
razor and had cut his throat in my chair?
L was the only barber in the shop at the
time and there was not another soul in
the room. 1t might have cost me hundreds
OF dollars to prove my innocence, and even
then l might have been misjudged The
fellow had made up his mind to kill him
self and tried to get my razor for the
purpose. Another time 1 was shaving
drunken man He had gone partly to sleep
while l was shaving 1t seems that he
was dreaming and imagined something,
At any rate, he Sprang suddenly out of
the chair l was shaving his neck at the
time and could almost have sworn that
L had cut his neck When / looked there
was not scratch, and this was due to
my rapid movement in jerking the razor
away
X X X X
Senator Plat of Connecticut ia renre-
sented as having had lots of quiet fun a
few nights ago out of a new and mex
perienced reporter. The senator received
the card of the reporter at his hotel and
ordered the young man shown to his rooms
The young fellow, who had just begun
newspaper work, asked Senator PIatt ALI
about his opposition to the appointment of
Col. William Corey Sanger as assistant
secretary of war Senator Platt's great
dignity occasionally unbends to the hum
orous side of things, and he at once saw
a chance for some fun. OF course the re-
porter had idea he was talking to Sena-
tor Platt of New York. The Connecticut
senator proceeded to give the reporter an
interview that almost took away the breath
OF the young man. The interview loudly
sang the praises of Sanger and pictured
him as being the only man on earth for
the position.
After about ten minutes the reporter
timidly asked, why, haven't you changed
your opinion in this matter ?" Senator
Platt then explained who he was, while the
young man sat in state of confusion.
Smythe-'I wonder what idiot original ed
the phrase, There's no accounting for
taste j"
Tompkins-''Why?"
Smythe-.fRecause TIA lika IN oa+ ot h,,~.