Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-05-30
AS YOU LIKE IT
Some Stray Leaves From a Reporters
 Note Book.

NOIG bOOk.
 Tn one of the local schools during the past week, the children were re- quired to write an essay on a we'll known poet, whose works are favor ites with numerous people, especially with those of his own nationality. The poets genius was somewhat mar red by his fondness for the tempting glass. In reading the essay of one of the pupils the teacher was rather as- tonished to see written in large, bold hand, that the poet was | ''con- firmed bum." He did not like such plain opinion, while the pupil must not have liked to mince matters.
 
 I have kept close eye upon the pa pers the past few days expecting to see another infammable epistle from Harry Garter expressing his sublime contempt for the man who dared to hint at misconduct among the men under his command, but not line has appeared from Harry's trenchant pen, although the papers have told of one of his soldier boys being taken into custody for punching a brother in arms and calling him ''scab." And what makes Harry's silence all the more mysterious is the fact that it ap- pears nobody asked him to state wheth- CT or not there was any truth in the slanderous imputation upon "an or ganization that has held an honored place in Waterbury for fifty years and over" But the thing didn't amount to much anyway. What was it but lit tie bout between two soldiers, and peo- pie accustomed to army life wouldn' t give it more than a passing notice.
 An invention which promises to do away with much vexation is now being tried on large scale in Chicago. It IS already satisfactorily at work in a dozen cities with "a population of 25,- GOO and over, and it's promoters are cer- tain of it's complete success in the largest cities. It is the automatiE secret service girlless telephone. By means of the automatic switchboard the telephone girls at the central sta tions are absolutely done away with. When number is wanted you simply turn a small dial, like that which oper ates the combination of vault, to the numerals which make up the required number, in their consecutive order. Then you press a button which rings the call bell on the other telephone. and the connection is complete. The whole operation is automatic and all most Instantaneous; no one can break in and interrupt or overhear a conver- sation; and a person speaking cannot be cut off before he has finished.
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 Gossip plays an important part in this world Of man. When it is remem- bered that ones neighbors are subject of ninety per cent of human talk, it is most important factor in human de- velopment. Advertisers should avail themselves of this information. But a very small per cent of men and wo- men read books or talk of books. They do read the papers pecially those parts of the papers which portray hu- man weakness, folly, sin, wretched- ness and crime. Their conversation is laden with what their neighbors do, what they say and what they wear. They talk of things near to them, and of what they see with their own eyes. That advertisers fortune is made who can make his goods Or himself subject of human gossip. He should sell wares of such merit, or at such price as to set tongues wagging. Such form of publicity is one of the most valuable ones extant. It does not cost much and it's returns are big.
 Tn the course Of a lecture at the conference of musicians in Dublin, Ire land, some interesting particulars and some astonishing statistics were given relative to the amount of work ac- complished blythe brain and nerves in piano playing. A pianist in view of the present state of pianoforte playing has to cultivate the eye to see about 1,5OO signs a minute, the fingers to make about 2,00o movements and the brain to receive and understand separ- ately the 1,50O signs while it issues 2,O00 orders. Tn playing Webers ''Moto Perpetuo" pianist has to read 4,541 notes in little under four min utes. This is about nineteen per sec ond; but the eye can receive only about ten consecutive impressions per second, so that it is evident that in very rapid music player does not see every note singly, but in groups, prob ably bar or more at one vision. In RChopin's "Etude in E Minor Gin the second seO the speed of reading is still greater since it is necessary to read 3,950 signs in two minutes and a half, which is equivalent to about 26 notes per second.
 '@Do you see that man across the way" remarked G. A. R. veteran to 1 a reporter, pointing at David Altman as he passed through Exchange place, apparently unmindful of his surround ings. ''That man," he continued, was almost a giant when first saw him with him comrades during the hottest days of the struggle between the north 1 and the south, and every time I see ! him I wish it were in my power to do 1 something for him. He was one of the | bravest men that left this state to dc battle for the Union and many time 1 during the past ten or fifteen years came near getting into trouble over him when I saw youngsters annoy him | in the street. That's Dave Altman, a man who has a war record, which
 should entitle him to the respect of