Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-09

"Behold how great a matter little
| fire kindleth.'' For while matches
| have been made in Heaven from the
beginning OF Time, they have been
made on earth only for one century.
Their centennial anniversary was last
Thursday, marking the date when the
first box of practical matches, on
April Z, 1927, was sold by John
Walker, chemist, Of Stockton-on.Tees
England. He got one shilling Tor oO
matches, paid in coin OF the realm by
John Dixon. His trade In the mex
two years amounted to $50 boxes; then
in 1883 matches began to be made
commercially in factories.
Behold. how great q matter a little
match kindleth! Last week one OF
them, tossed by a careless boy upon
Sasoline.covered water Of lake, set
FIRE to the gas and burned up most
modern hydroplane, with which Pinedo
had sailed over the course OF Christie
pher Columbus and over much OF
South America and thence up into
the country where aviation was first
developed within our own generation.
y y y n
Contrast that act of the juvenile
cigarette smoker with the dilemma OF
the British invaders when they looted
the White House in 1914. They had
full possession, and joyously dragged
the treasures of the presidential man.
sion into one room. where they piled
precious rugs and draperies and furni'
ture into one great infiammable heap,
There was no fire in the building for
hours before the occupants had fed.
They could not light their cigarettes
and toss the burning matches into the
pile of goods. They must wait while
a soldier was sent across the street
to fetch live Goals.
How far civilization has Travelled
since that bonfire is demonstrated al.
most daily, when cigarettes are freely
lighted and the used and still flaming
matches are thrown out of the win
dows upon the awning below, and the
occupants of the house flee before the
stairs are burned awayi Or perchance
the automobilist stops in the forest
long enough to spread a lunch-and
conflagration--all with one match
Matches mark the development of
civilization. The art of being a good
scout is to start something with just
one match.
known as a "Lucifer match" apd the
name may have traced it's origin to
st. James statement of the tongue,
land it is set on fire of Hell" Yet
the use of fire is the first mark of the
rise of man out OF the state of the
beasts of the field. No other animal
but man knows how to call fire to
do it's bidding. Through all known
ages and in all parts OF the world,
man has looked with awe and super
stition upon FIRE. Some have wor-
SHIPPED il; others have used it in
their worship of the Sun-god, the
father of all fire. The Aztecs burned
continuous fire upon their pyramid or
Quetzelcoatl for each cycle OF 81 years,
then quenched 1t in token of the end
OF that epoch, and when IL was I'M
mediately relighted by the friction Of
wood upon wood, they rejoiced in the
assurance that time would go on an
other So years.
How wide is the expanse between
modern conveniences made possible by
the use of matches cannot be compre-
hended without recalling the hardships
of our colonial pioneers who were
forced to guard their embers, and in
case their fires went out were obliged
to go to neighbors, perhaps miles
away, TO fetch live Goals. The art of
rubbing sticks or striking flint and
finder sparks was known to savages
all over the world. but was tedious and
almost impossible for the whites to
practice.
"
Can we imagine the crudeness of
methods of producing fire in the days
of Roman and Greek glory? What
methods were in use by which lamps
were lighted and fires for cooking and
warming were produced in the time
of Christ? Or back centuries farther,
when affairs were erected and prophets
prayed for fire to fall from Heaven
to consume their sacrifices?
Nevertheless. experts declare that
the idea that making fire by rubbing
sticks together is difficult Is erro-
nsous Mrm Walter Housh of the
United States National Museum