Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1901-03-07
WHAT MODERN SAlLORSFEAR
Not wlads and Seas, but an Expio-
sion Which ScuttIcs the ship.


sion which ScuttIcs the ship.
Boiler explosions are the terror Of
the seafaring man." said an old time
deep water captain. Such a thing is
bad enough on dry land, but imagine a
catastrophe of that kind at sea. In
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it
means the absolute wiping out of the
craft itself and every soul on board.
The average landsman would be
greatly shocked in looking over the
maritime records to see how many YES
sells disappear each year and leave
absolutely no clew to their fate. They
run well up to the hundred mark, and
such a mystery is not to be explained
away by storms. a Chinese typhoon
may swoOp down like lightning out Of
a clear sky and tear ship to pieces,
but some floating wreckage is sure to
tell the tale. a boiler explosion, on the
contrary, will blow hole as big as a
of the hull, and the stricken vessel
simply goes down like shot. There
is no time 10 unfasten boat from the
davits or cut loose spar.
in the opinion of seamen, that is
the story of at least 80 per cent of the
heard of again. Luckily the modern
system of marine boiler inspection
is extremely strict and thorough, but II
is impossible to absolutely prevent
carelessness and fraud, and often
enough. no doubt. the fault lies with
the engineer.
There is an old story of drunken
Scotchman who mistook the Their
mOmeter for the steam gage and 'cuss-
ed out the stokers because he couldn't
get the pressure above so. That yarn
will hardly hold water, but I've seen
cases almost as bad. | am glad to say,
however. that during the past 10 years
there has been steady diminutiOn of
the number of vessels which 'mys-
tcriously disappear That is due, be.
yond all question, to the increased
stringeGcy of boiler inspection and the
greater strictncss of examinations be,
fore Il license is issued to engineers
Nevertheless there is still considerable
room for Improvement in both
branches. New Orleans Times-Demo
crat
Pie In New Engiand is served in
many queer ways, especially the king
of all pies, the royal mince. Not long
ago there appeared sign in the station
Of staid, crooked aud correct Boston-a
sign bearing the strange device, Hot
Aince Pie and Ice Cream"
This is mild combination compared
with one that was served in this city
at midnight supper. A Welsh rab-
bit was being mace, and there were
some who did not care to eat it on
crackers; no toast In the house, for IL
was the fires evening out. A mince
pie was found lurking in the ice chest
and pressed into service. The rabbit
was spread over the pie, and both van
ished in a short time Those who ate
are still afraid in the dark. for they
can Imagine that the same things are
coming for them again as came during
their dreams Of that wild, weird night.
y local minister tells pie story on
himsC II that is q "cOrker." He is a
delicate man. and his wife was down
on pie for him and vetoed it for fami-
~ use. once he went to a convention
in Pittsheld, and a dinner was served
at which there were seven kinds of
pie The minister took little Of
each. please" and never enjoyed him
self so much in hts life.-Baltimore
American.