The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-02-02
CHOICE MISCELLANY
whnt,s In a Nnne9

what's In n Name2
Roebling. who built the brooklyn
bridge, has a street named after him t.
perpetuate the fame of his achieve.
ment. Alderman Holler, who made the
Williamsburg bridge celebration Il sue
cess, was thought worthy Of equal hon
ors. But the idea of Il "Hoiler street
conveyed suggestions moi consonanl
with %euphony, and the project wa.
voted down. Such is the handicap of j
name.
In the less fastidious time before the
creation of municipal art commission.
Holler might have had his name thus
embalmed along with Goerck and Jones
and Jacobus and Ryer and viele and
Crimmins. From the Battery to Cur
Hill road and from Featherbed lane I'd
the Bowery there is comprised a collec.
ton of street names more noteworthy
for their variety than their picturesque
ness.
How little q street name serves to re.
call to posterity the celebrity of the
present! OF the group of streets just
west of Broadway toward the old
Greenwich district - Mercer, Wooster,
Greene-how rarely does the pedestrian
remember that they bear the names Of
generals famous in the war Of the Rev
olution! AS for Sullivan street, a, pos
s1ble misrepresentation may be corrected
by the intimation that it was not named
after an ancestor of big Florrie'' or
Little Tim" General Sullivan's lau.
rels are pretty well faded nowadays.
The Eye on the Chinese Junk.
Few people know why Chinese junk
have an eye painted on the port side of
the bow. a Cantonese legend explains
the origin of that singular custom in a
way that is suggestive of Anglo-Saxon
humor.
A great Chinese mandarin who lived
centuries before the Christian era. find
ing himself in need Of Il navy. sent for
the royal boat builder and ordered him
to build a certain number of ships. SO
the builder drew up plans and present
ed them to the mandarin. But the
plans evidently did not suit his maies-
ty, for he flew into a violent IA and
ordered the boat builder from his pres
ence.
"Then how shall l build them. your
celestial highness.?" he pleaded.
Thereupon the mandarin drew off one
of his slippers and threw it at the boat
builder, who fed from the room. At
the door he turned for a moment Just
in time to catch the mandarin winking
at his prime minister.
The boat builder picked up the royal
| painted one eye on it's bow to represent
the royal masters wink.
Only Two birthdays In Sixteen Years
Not one person in many thousands
but who celebrates a birthday once
a year, and when this eagerly looked
for day comes but once in four years
it seems a long. long time, especially
with little folks. But how about a
birthday that comes only once in eight
years?
Miss Pauline Stone, who lives in
Seven Hills, was born Feb. 20. 1883.
and, although she will be sixteen years
of age next February. she has had
only two birthdays-in 1892 and 1896.
The year 1900 would have been a leap
year but for the fact that it was a
centennial year not Invisible by 400,
and therefore February had but TWEEN
ty-eight days, and Miss Stone had no
birthday. 1t is interesting to remem-
Der that since the beginning of the
Christian era only four centennial
years have been leap years. Next
February. however. will give the young
lady a birthday. and she is looking for
ward to the time with great interest,"
Owensboro (ky.) Inquirer.