The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-29
Some CurioS and Oddities.

James" said the English gold leaf
manufacturer, I'VE are bout of Bibles.
Go downtown and buy six dozen"
James in due course returned with
the Bibles in a handcart. They were
taken from him by three men, their
covers We're torn off and the pages were
trimmed with sharp knives down to q
certain small size. Then these little re-
duced papers were sewed together into
a multitude of small books.
The small books were distributed
among the hands and in them the
between every two Biblical leaves a
leaf of gold.
1T seems irreverent. not to say sac
religious. l know" said the head of the
firm, but we Railways do SO. We have
done so for generations. Gold leaf is
Railways put on the market in little
books made Of Bibles.
Why? I'll tell you why. Gold leaf
must be packed between printed i'm
stead of plain pages. for the reason
that it would slip out of plain pages,
which are too smooth for il, whereas
the indentations made by the types on
the printed pages are just sufficient to
hold the leaf i'm place firmly. That's
why printed pages are used.
There was strong inner movement.
believe in Bulgaria that when the
time came TO choose its prince. the
proper man for the high position was
not some scion of an ancient royal
house, but child Of that Wondrous
new continent where men seem to be
modelled after "A fashion more daring
and more picturesque than in our old
world countries. But just before the
cad of the war, poor McGahan was re-
moved from this and all other worldly
things. He fell i'll. was taken TO a hos
pital in Constantinople, knowing that
he was going to die; and there, in sight
raF
throne-and in the city of moral and
physical loathsomeness, this child of
far-off Ohio died.
He was one of the intimates of
SkobeIeff; indeed. the men were so at
tached to each other that Skobeleff
should share his tent with him: and
McGahan was in the tent of Skobeleff
the night after the disastrous assault
on Plevna. SkObeleff was, said Nc
Gahan, wonderful picture of the hor-
rors and terrOrs of war. His face was
black with powder. his uniform was in
rags and his sword was twisted like
a corkscreW- It is evident from this
description that Skobeleff took part
with his own hand in some of the work
of the day.
There was a sequel. by the way. to
this picture. | am not quite sure wheth-
er McGahan published it; but he told ii
to me- Skobeleff was always a dandy
even in leading a charge he was dressed
with dandical precision. In the middle
OF the night McGahan was woke up,
and he saw SlSobeIeff dressing himself
with great care, putting on new uni
form, and even perfUming his hair and
clothes. And then came another trans
formation; Skobeleff. his elaborate tot
let finished, sat down on his bed and
burst into a shower OF tears and a
tempest of SobS. thinking over all his
poor men who had been so vainly sac
rificed in the attempt to gain the fort
ress.
This tradition of Skobeleff still sur
wives in the Russian army. In one of
the battles in Manchuria General
Count Keller acted Just as if he had
been a son OF SkObelen. Like Skobe-
left. he put on a conspicuous white uni
form; like Sl<obeleff. he covered the
uniform with all his medals; like Sto-
belief, he was everywhere at the head
Of his troops so as to encourage them
to fight the more bravely. Keller. how
ever wanted the luck of Skobeleff. with
the result that he was killed. and that
with his death came the defeat of his
troops. There is always this danger
in leaving too much TO the individual
Bravery and example of a general.
OF course. If Keller had been fighting
in the old times, It is possible that he
would have been spared by a chivalrous
enemy. There is story of Napoleon
seeing Wellington through a field glass
just before the great fight at Wa terloo
and of "A sharpshoOter suggesting tc
him that he could pick off the great
and dreaded English general. lid 81
help to decide the battle. This reply
generally attributed to- Napoleon Us that
poor sharpshooter was sent in disgrace