The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-10
LEE OF COMMON THINGS
MOST LIABLE TO
 BREAK

P"vement--U Usefulness of Gold Pen E
 About Jewclry.
 At the corner of Frankfort street and
 Park Row, the site of the Pulitzer
 building. ther is a fagsUone which
 measures eight inches in thickness.
 Eighteen years ago when the stone was hrst put there, it's depth measured d
 twelve inches, and thereby hangs an in
 teresting tale-a few instances of the length of the lives of the thousand and
 one familiar objects of usefulness which
 we see daily.
 Beginning with objects seen at home,
 a man in Brooklyn was walking i through his kitchen of an afternoon ! when his foot went throug the floor. 1 Examination showed that in spots the 1 floor was worn to thickness not more
 than three -eighths of an inch. The | floor was ripped up and new one sub
 stituted, and it was found that even | in places where the wear and tear Cf l feet could not act, and where only the | scrubbing brush had regularly done it's work, the flooring was worn from the original three-quarter inch down to half inch. The floor had been laid 25
 years, the blanks having been white pine, During the entire 25 years the floor had not been covered, so that whatever wear there was came directly
 on the blanks themselves.
 In a house, in Brooklyn also, a very superior grade of carpet seems to have
 established a record Tn 1882 a family of sroWn-up persons came to this count try from abroad and bought a house al ready furnished. A very excellent grade of carpet was included on the parlor floor, the owner admitting that the same was then five years old
 Since then the carpet has been used steadily, receiving no more care than might be expected of family of sane habits, A year ago, when. according to the usual spring fousecleaning habit of the mistress, the carpet cleaner was sent for. he advised that the carpet be secured lying where 1t was, as it would likely fall apart if taken up and beaten. Securing was, therefore, resorted to, and the carpet with it's silver jubilee behind it, goes on smashing records while in appearance it's surface looks as perfect as it must have the day it was bought
 Old Soup Ladle.
 In that same household. where there | rages a pardonable craze for all that is old and antique, there is silver soup lade more than 150 years old. The la dle, so far as the present owners can 1 tell, has been steadily in use during all | that time At present it has been poll ished and secured till it's walls are so thin that, if it were tried the bowl might be indented with a finger nail. {, There must be older soup ladies than this one, many of them, but for a con- tinued record of usefulness it would seem hard to break the one established by the housemate of the grim old car pet.
 It seems odd at first sight but az a rule those household things that are the most apt to break. owing to acci- dent, are the ones that will live the longest with thep roper care-ehina and glass, for instance Unlike metallic ob- iects, neither china nor glass is polished with gritty substance, which would tend to wear it down in time. A soft cloth and a few soapsuds are all that is required to keep them bright, and, as is
  fay as good as it ever was.
 Similarly, mirrors and looking glasses seem destined to last forever, barring accident There seems practically no age limit to a mirror upon which the quicksilver has been properly fastened.
 Leaving the household objects behind, similarly extraordinary length of life { s found among implements and instru- ( nents used by mechanics and men in lines A barber in a down. own skyscraper has razor which he lses regularly and has used regularly l Or the last 25 years. The blade of the { 1nife has been worn by honing and ;trappine until it Is no deeper than the width of lead pencil For regular shaving the razor has become useless, : nut for trimming around the edges of { he hair for getting into hooks and cor i lers, it's thinness makes it handler than { ,ver, and the old knife plays it's part I laily, the same as ever, in the career of { ts owner. (
 Not long ago a carpenter advertised I or hammer which he had lost. He Y lad used the hammer for nearly twenty I ears and had grown used to it and I lated to part with it. as if it were an i'd friend The man said hat the ham I ner was practically as good as the day i was bought, the face nf the tool hav- IT ng been tempered to just that point where it seemed to resist successfully II wear of the heads of iron nails. Or l i inarily the life of 8 hammer used by | ] arpenters Is about five years. Over in Roseland, N. J., there is rec II I'd of a farmer who used to scythe for a ? years, the blade oC the instrument | f eng ground down no thicker than an | rdinary table knife. The scythe is said V o cut as well as the day it was first 1 r sed and the old farmer has suspic- t 1n that if the venerable blade breaks 1t -ill be an omen of his own approaching f nd. r Among the edged tools to which own q rs become attached, and which often r each remarkable ages are scissors. f he late Charles A. Dana had pair of fl cissors which he used for 22 years in | h Il his work. The blades were not much T 'orn as it was only at rare intervals h nat the owner realized that they need II q sharpening. The end of the scissors n anne when Eugene Field saw them and eeged them for his collection of edged ! f