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Job Printing
At The Prospector Office
AN ARCHITECTURAL PUZZLE!
Curious Problem of the Trembling Fil
ler at Rheime.
The “trembling pillar” at Bheiins
presents a curious problem to archi
tects. The Church of St. Nicaise is
surrounded with pillars constructed
to prevent the walls from straining.
At the entrance of the church is a
bell tower. On one of the bells in
this tower the phenomenon of the
trembling pillar depends. When
this bell is rung or even touched
the top of this pillar sways.
It goes and returns about seven
inches on each side, although the
base of the pillar is immovable, and
the stones are so firmly cemented
that it seems like a solid piece of
stone.
One authority, after a careful
study of this peculiarity in explana
tion of which no satisfactory solu
tion is offered, states that what is
most singular about the pillar is
that, although the four bells are
about the same distance from the
trembling pillar, only one of them
has any effect upon it. The others
may be rung singly or all together
without moving it.
In 1775 a little window was made
in the roof of the church opposite
the pillar. A board was placed on
top of the pillar and on it were put
two glasses of water. Then the bell
was rung. Immediately the pillar
began' to sway, and at the fifth
stroke of the bell the two glasses
were thrown <*ff.
The ringing of this bell has no
| effect on the pillars between the
“phenomenal” one and the tower,
nor on any of the others. But for
merly it was the first pillar which
swayed, then it became immovable,
and some years ago the one next to
it became the eccentric one.—Har
per’s Weekly.
Tom Corwin’s Education.
The father of Tom Corwin, the
famous Kentucky statesman, ora
tor and wit, felt that he was too
poor to make a scholar of more
than one child of his large family,
and so the elder brother, Matthias,
was kept at school and Thomas
placed at hard work on the farm.
The breaking of a leg proved a
happy incident in the life of the
boy, as the enforced confinement
gave him time for devotion to his
beloved books, and he committed
a Latin grammar to memory. Upon
his recovery he again importuned
his father to send him to school
and, meeting a refusal, deliberately
broke his leg a second time that ho
might have leisure to study. His
heroic determination to learn re
sulted in •his being placed in the
same institution attended bv his
brother, where his natural ability
and great industry gathered a thor
ough knowledge of the best English
literature and a fair acquaintance
with the Latin classics.
Why Ho Was Glad.
Uncle llastus was employed on a
farm in Virginia where there was a
pi'ize bull that became so ferocious
that the owner was compelled to
send for a veterinary surgeon and
have his horns cut off. Uncle Ras
tus viewed the proceeding with evi
dent satisfaction from a safe place
in the stable, and when the sharp
horns had been rendered harmless
ho rushed up and seized the veteri
narian’s hand.
• “I’s eert’ly glad, doctah,” he
gratefully exclaimed, “dat yo’ hab
done gone an’ cut offen dat bull’s
ho’ns!”
“You are, are you?” jestingly re
plied the veterinarian. “Why are
you so glad about it ?”
“It am jes’ dis way, doctah,” ex
plained Rastus with considerable
feeling. “I’s too old to climb trees,
an’ I’s too young to die.”—Phila
delphia Telegraph.
Long Drawn Out Dinners.
If you think that you are unable
to stand a dinner which lasts for
three or four hours because of the
frightful boredom of it all, keep
iway from China. For there at a
fashionable dinner you might be
called upon to remain at the "table
anywhere from twenty to thirty
hours. For they do have dinners
there that sometimes reach that
length. Slate dinners have been
known to begin at noon of one day
and last until evening of the nest.
Foreign envoys bring back tales of
sitting sometimes thirty hours at a
stretch and being served with 140
different courses and 150 different
dishes. Chicago Tribune.
An Economical Lasc.
A Scotchman wishing to know
his fate at once telegraphed a pro
posal of marriage to the lady of his
choice. After spending the entire
day at the telegraph office he was
finally rewarded late in the evening
by ah affirmative answer. “If I
were you/ suggested the operator,
when he delivered the message, “I’d
think twice before I’d marry a girl
that kept me waiting all day for an
answer.” “Na, na,” retorted the
Scot. “The lass who waits for the
night rates is the las* for me.”
A FLIGHT TO MARS.
Ganawindt Plannad to Maka tha Trip
In a Skyrocket Car.
Probably the wildest idea that
ever found its way into a man’s
brain was a trip to Mars in a sky
rocket. Herr Ganswindt, a rich
German manufacturer, was in 1899
confident that he could perform
the feat and was so enthusiastic
over the scheme that he wrote a
book of his plans and dedicated it
to Emperor William.
The vessel in which Herr Gans
windt contemplated making the
trip was to be in the shape of a
cartridge, which was to attain its
first momentum by being shot from
a huge cannon. This, he figured,
would carry it nearly to the outer
limits of the earth’s atmosphere,
and from then on it would be driven
forward by a succession of explo
sions in its rear compartment.
To accomplish these explosions
the thick wall of the car was to be
bored through from end to end and
the spaces filled with nitroglycerin
cartridges, which could be slipped
into place and discharged at the
will of the driver. Herr Ganswindt
stated that by this means the direc
tion as well as the speed of the pro
jectile could be controlled.
To keep himself from being crush
ed or shaken to pieces by the start
and later explosions he designed
the shell so that its base would have
double partitions.
Between these there were to be
water, a known concussion breaker,
and powerful spiral springs. His
compartment was to be heavily pad
ded and hung with straps in such a
way that he would be able to sus
pend himself in its interior.
The head of the car was to be
fitted with a powerful telescope, and
various other scientific instruments,
carefully stored, were to be taken
along.
After the atmosphere was once
passed the daring explorer believed
that he could travel at almost limit
less speed and that the 47,000,000
miles could be covered in the course
of forty-two hours. All the pro
visions necessary would be a little
water and a few packages of com
pressed food tablets. The required
oxygen was to be manufactured
when needed by the use of certain
chemical powders.
The scheme stirred up a great
deal of interest at the time, and
Ganswindt was determined to un
dertake the expedition and even
went so far as to get a contract on
the building of the vessel, but at
last the entreaties of his wife and
children conquered, and he reluc
tantly abandoned his adventurous
dream.—New York Mail.
Thought He Knew Him.
A laborer was engaged in the
grounds of an asylum and received
instructions to pay no attention
whatever to the remarks of the pa
tients.
Some little time after he com
menced to work the governor of the
asylum, a well known doctor, look
ing at the progress of the work,
mildly suggested one alteration.
The workman dug steadily on and
never lifted his head.
The doctor raised his voice, but
the man, without answering, went
on digging energetically. The doc
tor threatened, stormed and finally
thundered out:
“Do you know who I am?”
The laborer straightened his back,
looked at him a minute and, shak
ing his head, sorrowfully exclaimed:
“Poor chap! I am sorry for ye,”
and went on calmly with his work.
—London Express.
His Reward.
A story is told of a nobleman
whom his barber left half shaved
and in a great hurry. His lordship
thought the man was mad and sent
to inquire after him. He returned
in person and thus explained him
self: “I was not mad, my lord, but
the sight of that heap of guineas on
your dressing table and the remem
brance of my starving family so af
fected ine that if had stayed another
minute I should have cut your
throat.” “1 am glad you didn’t do
that,” said his lordship gently. “And
by all means take the guineas. 1
won them at the gambling table and
should doubtless have lost them
there.”
Absentminded.
La Fontaine, the famous fable
poet, was a most absentminded man.
Meeting one day in a saloon a young
man; he was so favorably impressed
by his conversation that he express
ed his admiration for him in the
most flattering terms. “But he is
your own son!” exclaimed a guest
in astonishment. “Is it so?” replied
the poet. “Then I am the more de
lighted to make his acquaintance.”
Armless and Harmless.'
She—I wonder why this Venus of
Milo was ever declared to be a model
woman ?
He—I guess it was because she
couldn’t go through her husband’!
pockets.—Baltimore American.
A. M. Dieringer
Valdez Transfer
Company
General Trucking and Freight*
ing to all interior points
LIVERY and FEED STABLE
STORAGE
Teaming of all kinds'
Positively no coal delivered
onless paid for in advance
PROFESSIONAL
Dr. H. COCKERILLE
Graduate of National University
Washington^D. C."
DENTIST
Phone 92 m IZFeurteenfy ears' in
Office in Whaling building^j^ VALDEZ
Next to cable office
DR. GERMAN
Phone ,9 THE DENTIST
OfPce rooms over Owl Drug store. Office hours
9 a. m.. to 6 p. m., 7 p, m.. to 9 p. m. Sundays
by appointment AJ1 work guaranteed
i; C. E. BUNNELL
;; ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
] J Offices Wall Street
i ► Phone 31 VALDEZ
ii E. E. RITCHIE
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JI PHONE 136 Valdez, Alaska
♦
MINING ENGINEER
f. butterworth;
Civil Engineer and
U. S. Deputy Land and
Mineral Surveyor,
Blue Printing Kes. Phone. IBS'
L. W. STORM. E. M.
Valdez. Alaska i
Reports on Mines
Patent Surveys
General Mining Engineering
Phone No. >03
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The Assayer
Assaying and Ore Testing
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VALDEZ, ALASKA
CAMP VALDEZ No. 10
Meet every Tuesday evening at 8 o’-clock Id
Eagle Hall. All members are requested to
nd. S. McNIECE. Arctic Chief
VALDEZ LODGE NO. 6,1.;0/0. F.
Meets every Monday at 8'p. m. in
ODD FELLOWS HALL
Visiting Brothers especially invited
Wm-Thomas, n. «. P. S. Hunt, p. a., Sec
Valdes Lodge
No 168.
Free and Accepted Masons
ivctuiai v/uuiuiuuivawvuii n vuukawuj •«
each month in McKinley Hall Visitors always
welcomes
James H. Patterson,,W. M
0. C- Revnoleis. Sec