The National tribune., 1911-02-23

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
~ HOMAS A. Edison, the inventor,
who has just passed his Gath
birthday, is one of those for
tunate persons who finds play in his
work. Someone has said: There is
work that is work and play that is
play: there is play that is work and
work that is play. And in only one
of these lies happiness" Mr.. Edison
still keeps himself busy with some kind
of work for about Is hours day, and
SAYS he is merely having a good time.
Those things connected with his bust
ness which were irksome to him he
gave up doing several years ago, and
now only works at what pleaseS him.
His health is excellent, and he says he
expects to remain well so long as he
keeps at work. Agreeable work never
hurt anyone" says Mr.. Edison, with
which we all agree. Since his inyen-
ton of the photograph, the Wizard of
Menlo Park as he is sometimes called.
has necessarily, been compelled to lis
ten to a great deal of music, and tho,
at first, one tune sounded much the
same another to him. he has now
become well acquainted with the works
of the various composers, and much
interested in music as a science. In
what he calls his spare time Mr..
Edison devotes himself to scientific
study of the old and new masters,
and says he has made discovery
that most of the composers, except
Beethoven, are plagiarists, taking old
themes and working them over. This,
in a general way, is undoubtedly true
of music as it is of everything else.
The thing that hath been, it is that
which shall be; and that which is done
is that which shall be done; and there
is no new thing under the SUM-" saith
the Preacher many thousand years ago.
However. so long as the old themes
can be worked over for us as satisfac-
torily as the composers have done, and
are still doing, we have no cause for
complaint, and Mr.. Edison's discovery
will not detract one bit from the de-
light experienced in listening to some
of these so-called plagiaristS. The pic
ture of our foremost inventor develop
ing himself along esthetic lines is an
interesting one.
AIRS Roberta G. Hill, of Brooklyn,
I'VE is the first woman smuggler to
go to Jail. Mrs. Hill, whose two
marriages have brought her information
a notoriety, returned from Europe re-
Gently with a handsome sable coat and
other articles valued at some $4,000.
She foolishly tried to get these thru
the Custom House without declaring
them. was discovered, tried, and SEN
fenced to several days in the TOmbs.
The rule was laid down last Autumn
that the next smuggler should not only
be fined, but sentenced to prison, and
Mrs. Hill, unfortunately, happened to
be the very next person caught red
handed in the act Her lawyer tried
to save her from her fate by saying
that she had been beguiled by Paris
ian furrier into buying the coat for
which she paid $1,000 down; that an
on her before leaving Paris had not
tended to clarity her brain. and that
her fault was simply an act of vanity
and lack of judgment. But this did
not melt the heart of United States At
torney Wise a bit Judge Martin was
inclined at first to think prison SEN
tence rather severe, since the lady had
"onIy yielded to temptation" which is
all anyone does, for that matter when
the crime of murder or any other great
crime is committed. In spite of her
tears. Mrs. Hill had to pay the penalty
demanded by law. and it is to be hoped
that the example made of her will
prove sufficient to break up the custom,
since filming alone does not seem suffi-
cient to do so. Besides her imprison-
ment, Mrs Hill was fined $4,000, and
lost her coat into the bargain.
THERE was time when the name
of Rothschild was synonym for
= almost fabulous wealth, when this
famous family of bankers, the init
mates of Kinks and other potentates,
were the richest in the world and a.
tremendous power, but that was before
Carnegie Rockefeller and some other
of our multi-millionaires appeared on
the scene. The head of the Austrian
branch of this Jewish house, Baron Sal
anon Albert Rothschild, has just pass
ed away at the age of 81. leaving a
fortune of some $500, 1000. 900. Carnegie
has given away nearly that amount.
n ALBUM is too big a subject for
n most of us. and is but little IN
derstood even by the scientists.
II is chiefly found in Bohemia, tho re-
Gently it has been discovered in Ameri-
ca and other parts of the world The
Austrian Government does not allow the
ore to be taken out of the country. and
the product Is extracted under Govern
ment supervision. At present one pays
SIS for about enough radium to cover
q pins head. Radium throws out
EnarTelous heat and will split up things
hitherto supposed to be nonspIitta BILE,
setting loose in the process a tremen-
dous energy which the scientists hope
some day TO put to practical use. All
sorts of things are claimed by radium;
that il Will restore youth, cure disease
etc: but so far nothing of this sort has
been satisfactorily proved. Its great ex-
pense has limited experiment and inves-
tigation. Madam Curie, the noted
Frenchwoman, who might well be cali
ed Madam Radium,' has lately sue
ceeded in reducing this substance to
state OF purity. She has been working
at this isolation for years. She went
over tons and tons OF rock, called pitch
blende, in which radium is contained,
laboriously separating from il those
portions which showed radio-actiyity.
She worked over these portions until
she got an impure radium bromide, and
then. by electricity, broke UP the bro
mide. achieving her final triumph.
when, at last, in the bottom of her little
glass vessel glowed g bright metal
which she knew was radium In its pur-
tty.
TINE long hatpin has scratched one
poor man out of existence The
first actual death from its sharp
point has been recorded. A retired sea
Captain, well known on the New Eng
land coast, was riding is crowded troll
ley car in Boston the other day. when
woman, turning her head suddenly,
jabbed the poor man in the cheek with
her projecting hatpin. His cheek began
TO swell, and the upshot of IL was that
he died soon after of blood poisoning
He was CT years Of age. The other