The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-10

upon when tO lay the money. IheSe
 mats, three in number, last about one
 month before they must be renewed.
 Aside from them, the money placed on
 top of the showcase by careless GUS
 toners scratches the glass so that once
 a year new one must be provided to
 allow customers to see the goods in the
 showcase.
 Every one that ever travelled much on
 the elvated railroads must have noticed
 the wear caused by the passing of the
 coins over the little sill in front of the ticket sellers window, In many cases there is hollow in the wood as deep
 as an inch. When the elevated rail-
 roads first began these sills were made
 of hickory, and in some cases of oak,
 the toughest woods known in our own Northern forests. Within two years it
 was necessary to replace the wornout
 slabs with new ones,' and the railroad | people saw that an unusually hard
 wood would be necessary to stand the
 wear. Experiments were made until
 hard wood from South America, similar
 to the famous 'iron-h heart" was found. 1 Now, in a station as much used as the
 Cortlandt Street station of the Sixth
 Avenue road, the ticket sellers little
 cash counter lasts from five to six years before it needs to be renewd.
 Among those who suffer from the ef- 1 fleets of wear and tear of other peoples money are the street car conductors. An ordinary cloth pocket would not last out a month with all the dimes and dt9rters a Broadway conductor has to store about him every day Most of the men, therefore, have leather pock- cts made, or pockets of bed ticking and these last from two to three months.
 Among the surprisingly tough things we meet is iewelry, especially the nec- sarv jeWelry such as watch chains, wedding rings, etc. "The watch chain my father wore" is about as common as the first man up San Juan hill. Much depends on the construction of the chain, of course, and on the wear and tear to which it is subjected But an ordinarily heavy watch chain, with proper usage, ought to last from 25 to 35 years without showing too much sign of wear
 Wedding Rings.
 Wedding rings, of course, depend for :. their time of existence on their original weight and on the work done by the hand that wears them. A wonan's wedding ring will generally show less wear than the ring of her husband. particularly if he is a mechanic. A German bricklayer has a record for a wedding ring which he has not remov- ed from his finger in the 2S years of his marriage and which, despite his work he has managed to preserve as well as the day he was married. In order to protect the ring the man wore leather band over his left fourth finger when- ever at work.
 Gold pens vary in time of their use fitness. Much depends upon the hand writing of the owner of the pen A real estate agent near Wall street is said to have used a gold pen for | eighteen years and the pen, now own ed by a junior partner, is as good as ever.
 If there is anything that depends up- on circumstances, it is the life of shoes | The weight of man, the peculiaritles | of his gait, the nature of the pavement | upon which the shoes are used the care !, taken of the same, and, of tourse, the quality of the shoe itself when new, ai | enter into the figuring how long a shoe may last A dozen different shoe deal CTS were asked a question regarding the lifetime of a shoe and they an swered each with a different estimate The question was:
 If man of average weight, walking with an average step, taking proper 'are of his shoes, walks the paVements )f New York how many miles can be cover before he has worn off the heel 1r the sole of the shoe?"
 One of the dealers said that if the shoes were bought in his place he was sure that the man could walk LOGO niles and never think of his shoe soles. The average estimate for a s4 shoe on , man weighing ITO pounds, providing ,ther conditions were favorable, was '50 miles. One of the estimates ran as ow as 250 miles. { Unless one is especially observing, there are few things that trike the hurrying pedestrian less han the wear and tear in the things le sees in the streets. The wearing of he f1agstone with which this story be- tins Is but one instance. F1agstonea in ( he lower section of Broadway can best , Illustrate the wear of the hundreds of , thousands of feet that daily pass and ( epass along the thoroughfare. The .ranite sidewalks in the neghborhood f f Dey street are conscientiously cor . ugated to prevent slipping in icy weather. Once every second year stone nen may be seen chiseling deep fur ows into the stones. In two years, n two years, however, the furrows, measuring probably a quarter of an nch in depth. have been worn com letely smooth.
 Coal Hole Covers.
 Coal hole covers among the street ob- ects, have a particularly short life. On lark Row, in front of the practically mpty lot at No. 9, q coal hole cover ad to be replaced recently. Five years go it was a wrought iron plate, two eet square, It was worn down steadily ntil recently it began bending down with 3 spring whenever some one step ed on It. Originally the cover was hree e-quarters of an inch thick
 Horseshoes are among the familiar hings we see, and about which most eople have little idea as to their terms f usefulness. A heavy truck horse,