Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31

He didn't seem to enter into the PROPOSE
ton with great enthusiasm. but he did
promise that the meat should be delivered
to the address named at the times stipu-
lated.
Several customers were growing impatient
as this dialogue was in progress, and as
the meat man turned to them he gave
vent to his feelings.
1T is well enough now and then to call
on the butcher and all the other dealers to
is no reason why they should be called on
to fulfill the charitable obligation of people
of large means" he remarked. 1T has be-
come very common for ladies of large
means to go to all the dealers in the mar
ket from whom they purchase and ask
them to send supplies to poor people who
have been called to their attention.
THE plan operates this way: The ladies'
are called upon in their churches or So
cieties for assistance for some poor FAM
lily and they express sympathy and say
they will see that relief is rendered. Then
they go to the dealers and ask them to
fulfill that obligation. Up to certain de-
gree the dealers generally do not mind
responding in this way But why should
not people who want to dispense charity
and who get credit for their charitable
work order supplies to these poor families
and pay for them? AS it is they ask US
10 send supplies and then they walk away
with happy smiles on their faces as if they
mad performed noble deeds"
he then lapSed into silence as he sliced
OF thick steak for his next customer
x x X x
In an East Washington Sunday school a
variety of juveniles were being questioned
by the teacher as to their knowledge Of
Weil-known Bible characters.
Now, Willie Smith, you may tell me
what you know about Nebuchadnezzar,"
said the teacher
He was de man wot Gated green grass
like cow" piped little Willie.
Tommy Brown, who was Abraham"
why, replied Tommy, a frowsy-headed
boy OF ten, he wuz de man wot freed the
colored ladies and gentlemen from slav-
cry"
X X x x x
During the recent heavy snowfalls much
sympathy was expressed for the birds in
and about Washington, as their feeding
grounds were covered by a white mantle,
as a result of ''the noiseless work of the
sky as the poet has prettily expressed it.
veteran policeman who is a keen OBJ
server of men, birds, animals and events,
remarked. when he heard that arrange
ments were being made to feed the birds:
ITS an i'll wind that blows nobody good.
While our song birds and sparrows are
growing thin because of the lack of food,
there are other birds that are growing fat
and sleek because of the same conditions
L uedll the hawks, ana nave seen several
or them since the snow began to fly in our
parks. They pounce upon the hunger
weakened sparrows or other birds, and
feast to their hearts content. l understand
the hawks in the surrounding counties of
Maryland and Virginia have had a series
of feasts on birds and rabbits, and those
that came to Washington in search of
victims certainly did not get left
X X x X
''In the issue of December 81" said a.
local physician, you copied an article from
a Chicago paper relative to the case of a
man who had both hands amputated, and
who could not rest until the amputated
hands had been taken from the jar of alco-
hol and the fingers properly Strengthened
out
LAS one who has not only lost leg. but
as surgeon who has amputated quite a
number of limbs, will you let me say that
this elaborate statement is only one of the
many which appear in the papers from time
to time.
Those ignorant of anatomy and phys
iology may think there is something very
mysterious and uncanny about such state
ments There is but just little grain of
truth in them, and the explanation is so
simple as to cause one to wonder that it
does not readily occur to any thinking
person.
If We could dissect or remove from the
human body the nerves Tor nervous system)
intact. we should have a ghoStly white
fac smile of the body, and from the spinal
cord We would see the white strings run
ming out TO the farthest extremities, the
threads growing finer and finer until they
are almost invisible. Each one of these
threads has an Office to perform. A nerve
of sensation runs out to the tip of the
finger. and there it terminates in the skin
Prick it, and the intelligence travels back
to the spinal cord that certain spot on
the finger has been pricked. and instantly
the nerve of action which also runs out
there, tells the muscles to pull that finger
away from that which has hurt.
Now, If that little nerve is pricked any
where between its origin and the end of the
finger. 1t tells the same story. 1t is just as
though you talked to friend in the tele-
phone, supposing him to be in Philadelphia,
The Inflammation of an amputated limb
causes the nerves to be irritated and each
one tells its own story. If the fingers are
clinched in amputation the patient will feel
those fingers clinched as long as he lives
There is no more relation or connection be-
tween the stump of an amputated limb and
the part cut off than there is between the
stump of tree and the shingles of a house
The irritation sometimes starts the i'm
aginatlon of the patient to work, and he
tells of cramped fingers. but when irritation
ceases he could not tell you whether they
are cramped or straight.
My leg hung over the edge of the table
when amputated, and to this day, when
standing, 1 try to move 1t out of the way
of people passing behind me- for it seems to
be sticking out back of me. though each
year it seems shorter and less sensitive