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334
[left column]
JOBS THAT HAVE
PECULIAR NAMES
Coyote Hole Drillers, Bis-
cuit Brakemen, Peelers,
Buckers, Swampers
Seekers after employment in Seattle
are sometimes steered up against some
peculiar jobs. It is all right for the ex-
perienced hand who has been "thru the
mill," but the youngester starting out
for a job at any old thing is sometimes
more or less puzzled bu the micellaneous
nomenclature of the employment office.
If he is wise he will get some old-timer
to explain it to him, but if not he is like-
ly to butt in directly and ask for some
job that he doesn't want at all--provided
he goes simply by the advertisements or
the placards pasted up in front of the
office of the man who is giving out the
jobe.
For the man who gives out jobs calls
things by their shortest names, speaks in
terms of the trades, and the technical
tone of some of these names is something
wonderful, not to say mistleading, to the
proletariat, or, perhaps, it would be bet-
ter to say, to the layman. Sam Houston
would probably have advised the jobless
man to "Be sure you know what the job
is before you go and ask for it."
Drilling Coyote Holes
The occupation of "boring drills for
coyote holes" may not be complicated
enough to disqualify the average man
who is looking for a job, but the name is
rather misleading to the layman. The
gentle reader of some of the advertise-
ments of the employment agents in the
daily papers might be led to believe from
the name of the job that some eccentric-
ally philanthropic farmer on the plains
had decided to carve out residences for
the coyotes who furnish nightly music,
whether it is wanted or not. The man
who drills the coyote hole is not doing
that kind of work, and his employer is
not a farmer at all, but usually a rail-
road man, and the work is not done on
the plains, as a general thing, but in the
hills, or at least where heavy grades have
to be cut. The name of the job comes,
however, from the character of the hole
which is bored--a T-shamed hole, similar
in outline to the dugout o the pest of the
plains. These holes are driven in straight,
like a tunnel, to be filled with powder
from 300 to 1,000 sacks, according to the
size of the hole and the nature of the
ground or rock which has to be removed.
The work is usually done on a railroad
grade, in blasting off the side of a hill
to prepare for the laying of a track. From
$5 to $8 a foot is paid to the drillers, ac-
cording to the relative difficulty of the
work.
Biscuit Brakeman and Peeler
Another job which looked something
like a lottery to the man who applied for
it was that of "biscuit brakeman and
peeler; must be sober and steady," ad-
vertised for by a Vancouver company.
The job looked like a cross between rail-
road and bakery work, and men with
experience in each of the lines confessed
themselves puzzled as to the prospective
duties of such a position. It was finally
decided that the job was a cookhouse
stunt and that either the boss wanted
the biscuits railrided to his hungry men,
or else that the workd "brakeman" should
have appeared as "bakerman." "Peeler"
might have referred to a man to remove
the cuticle from a sawlog or from a batch
of potatoes in the cookhouse; the latter
interpretation was put upon it by some
of the applicants for the position.
Left-Handed Knee Bolter
"Left-handed knee-bolters" may re-
joice that they have a profession the
name of which gives the rank outsider a
decidedly bum steer. Shingle weavers
however, will tell you that the knee-bolt-
er is the man who operates a saw that
shapes the blocks up ready for the saw
that cuts them into shingles--cutting
away the sap and the rough edges of the
clocks. The carriage on which the block
rests is porpelled across the saw by a
push of the operator's knee, while he
holds the block steady with his hand.
Those who use the left hand are styled
left-hand knee bolters.
Buckers and Doggers
A college education would be of only
indirect advantage to a man who was
after a job as a "bucker," for the bucking
that is done by the left half of the full-
back is not the sort that is in demand at
$3 per. Thes "buckers" who are sent
out by the employment agents have the
vary prosy occupation of cutting the log
up into lengths after the fallers have
felled the tree.
Then there are the positions as "doggers on
carriage" for which [$2.35] per day is paid,
[middle column]
The name of the occupation would hardly
suggest to the general public whether a
man was to work for a transfer comany
or not--carriage might suggest it, but
what is a "dogger"? "That's easy," says
the lumberman. "He's the fellow that
drives in the dogs." "Oh yes, drives in
the dogs--a sort of dog catcher. Not
for me--even at $2.35 per and a carriage
thrown in. No canines for mine." In real
truth, the "dogs" are driven in with a
sledge hammer or something similar, and
the process is not necessarily cruel, as
they are a kind of n iron picaroon at the
end of a chain and are driven into the
log to hold it on the carriage which car-
ries the log to the saw. The dogger rides
on, and not in, a carriage.
A shoddy mill man is paid only about
$1.50 per day, but the shoddy doesn't re-
fer to the kind of a man, but to the kind
of a mill. He works in a place where
they tear up last year's summer suits
and other discarded garments for use as
stuffing for mattresses.
Swamping Not Malarial Work
The man who works as a "swamper"
isn't necessarily in danger of malaria or
even of mosquito bite. He doesn't always
work in a swamp, altho that is the prob-
able derivation of the term. He is the
advance agent of the logger or the road
builder. He falls trees and cuts out some-
thing of a road to make room for the op-
erations of the men to follow. Notwith-
standing the fact that the ork is health-
ful and good exercise, generous employers
are paying as high as $2.50 per day and
over as a further inducement to those
whose talents lie in that line.
Flunkeys and Poets
Then there is the flunkey. His is a po-
sition of even more real dignity than the
name implies. He is the waiter or the
assistant cook in a logging camp or mill
cookhouse, and he gets $35 a month and
his board.
Occosionally there are no vacancies as
flunkeys, and at such times such a po-
sition as "poet to write song words,"
which is often advertised in the classified
columns might prove a life-saver. Com-
pensation for this sort of work is not al-
ways stated but the amount per foot or
yard or poound may be ascertained by
communicating with the publishers who
are usually located in New York or some
other city where the composer isn't.
There are other things which the seeker
after a job of "any old kind" might try,
but the above are probably amont the
least intelligible to the man who has
never worked at them in the most in-
telligeble to others.
---
CAKE TURNER
Press the Spring and the Griddle Cake
Is Reversed.
The housewife seldom experiences any
trouble in turning her griddle or batter
cakes, but to make the operation easier a
Pennsylvania man has invented the novel
cake turned shown in the illustration.
Turaing the handle to turn the cake is
not neccessary with this device. All that
is required is to press a spring after the
cake has been put on the lifter and the
[illustration of device with "May 2 1906" handwritten]
turning is done automatically. The cake
turner is made in two parts--the handle
secion and the lifter section. The latter
comprises the cake turner and the rod con-
necting it to the handle. At the end of
the rod is a beveled pinion which fits into
a sector pivoted to the side of the handle,
the sector being made into one piece with
a finger piece. Attached to the sector is a
coiled spring, which keeps the turner in
its normal position. After placing a batter
cake on the turner, the finger piece is
pressed, the latter moving the sector,
which in turn engages with the bevel gear
on the end of the rod. The sector being of
a predetermined size, a half revolution is
imparted to the turner. Releasing the
finger piece returns the turner to its nor-
mal position.
---
[right column]
PUZZLES FOR TELEGRAPHERS
"What a layman doesn't know about
telegraphy would fill an encyclopedia,"
said John L. McCague who was an
operator in the days of his boyhood.
"Now, Alex Carlto there, one of my
partnersk, doesn't know any more about
telegrapny than a cat, and I'll prove
it. Once I had him prepare a code for
use in our correspondence, both for
secrecy and to reduce telegraph
charges. When he handed it to me, I
found the word 'sheep,' and directly
opposite it the meaning, 'money re-
ceived and deed given.'
"'Look here, Carlton,' I said. 'The
operator who receives that 'sheep' will
get a regular b-r-r-r-r. He can't tell
whether it is sheep or cows, likely.
Don't you know that 'sheep' is a string
of fourteen dots, without a dash to re-
lieve the monotony? 'S' is three dots,
'h' is four dots, 'e' is one dot and 'p' is
five dots,'"
"That's nothing," said a telegrapher
at strike headquarters, when Mr. Mc-
Cague's story was repeated to him.
"If you want a string of dots forty-five
feet long, give 'em 'Mississippi,' The
'M' gives you two dashes to start with,
and then you get thirty dots in succes-
sion. The fellow who receives it can't
tell whether he is getting thirty dots
or fifty. He doesn't know whether it
is the Lord's prayer or the Declaration
of Independence." --Omaha Bee
---
DECEMBER 26, 1906
---
SEEING CARDS BY TELEPHONE
A Swindle That Is Said to Have
Had Many Victims
NEW YORK--The "telephone game"
is being worked in the boroughts of
Brooklyn and Queens. The game con-
sits in the operator betting some
cheerful "comeon" that he has a friend
a professor, who can read any card in
the pack over a telephone. The swin-
dle is carried out by means of a code,
every card in the pack being designated
by some common name of a man.
When it comes to deciding the bet the
operator simply calls up a confederate
on the telephone and he tells the card
selected. By way of example, take the
ten of diamonds, the code name for
which is "Marvin."
"Is Prof. Marvin there?" inquires the
operator. After some delay, "Prof.
Marvin," the confederate, begins a se-
ries of small talk over the phone
which finally winds up by the "Prof."
informing the dupe that the card he
holds in his hand is the ten of dia-
monds
The game is generally carried on in
saloons, tobacco stores, barber shops
and other such places. The operator
whisks into the place rubbing his
hands and by way of making an open-
ing among the crowd begins:
"Wonderful! Wonderful! Never saw
anything like it! Never!"
"What's eating you?" inquires the
cheerful comeon.
"Nothing, nothing." answers the op-
erator.
"Have something; cold day, Wonder-
ful, as I was remarking. He reads a
card over the telephon just as easily
as you can read that sign before your
eyes. Don't make any difference how
many miles away. He is over in Man-
hattan today. Just ask what card you
hold in your hand and in a minute he
has the answer.
With a few more remarks the opera-
tor has someone in the crowd betting
him from 50 cents to $20 that the feat
is impossible. The money is posted
very often a capper who has entered
the place beforehand being made the
stakeholder Then a pack of cards is
produced and the victim is asked to
pick out any card he likes. Of course
everybody in the place knows the card.
"Now call up your professor friend
and let's see him do this great feat."
demads the capper. The victim holds
say, the four of spades. The operator
pretends to look up the "professor's"
number in the telephone book, Then
he calls up his confederate. "Smith" is
the code name for the four of spades.
"Is Prof. Smith there?" and after
some delay the voice at the other end
finally announces that the professor is
at the telephone.
"Professor, I have a friend here who
is skeptical about your ability to read
cards through the phone. He wants
you to tell him what card he holds in
his hand."
According to those who have been
through the game, the "professor" is
reluctant to comply, but finally con-
sents to read, "just one card, just one."
Then, after a series of manipulations
in which the man holding the card is
told to hold it near the transmitter,
then toward the light and so back and
forth several times, the "professor" an-
nounces that the card is the four of
spades. The money is paid over and
the operator glides out of the place
in search of other victims.--Sun.
---
RIGHT PAGE
[left column]
COMMON ERRORS
AS TO MUSHROOMS
Popular Methods for Telling
Poisonous Kinds Found
Wanting
From the London Lancet.
The distinctions between edible and pois-
onous mushrooms are usually based on
empirical ground, with the result that
mistakes of a serious nature may, and
often do occur. The subject has recently
received the attention of Prof. Labesse,
who has described the characters where-
by edible and poisonous mushrooms are
distinguished in various localities. Many
popular tests for determining the whole-
someness or otherwise of a mushroom are
based on color, odor, taste and texture; on
the presence of rose colored lemeliae or a
milky juice; on the situation in which the
fungi grow, and on the action of the
mushrooms on various substances includ-
ing gold and silver coins, milk and onions.
Thus, according to one popular notion,
mushrooms having a blue, violet, [green?]
or red color are unfit for food, but [the?]
test would exclude many wholesome
fungi, including the green Russula and
the green Clytocybe. It has been said
that only mushrooms which do not change
color when cut are good to eat, but Lac-
tarius delicious, some species of Boletus,
and many other mushrooms which change
color are perfectly harmless while, on
the other hand, Amanita muscaria and
some other fungi which do not change
color when cut should be avoided.
Prof. Labesse points out that the pres-
ence of an agreeable odor is not an infal-
lible test of a good mushroom, as a spe-
cies of Amanita (l'Amanite phalloide) is
especially dangerous in spite of its
pleasant odor. There is a dictum among
certain amateur gatherers that a good
mushroom has a gateful taste. This test
is useful in many cases, but not in all--
e.g. l'amanite phalloide and la fausse
Oronge (Amanita muscaria) are scarcely
bitter but quite unfit for eating.
As regards to texture it is generally re-
garded that compact, brittle mushrooms
with a dry skin are edible but Prof.
Labesse considers this to be a mere pre-
judice, as the eating of certain species
of Russia would seriously indispose any-
one placing confidence in those charac-
ters. Mushrooms with rose colored
lameliae are usually considered to be
edible, but this is a false notion, some
species of Volvaria and other poisonous
fungi possessing this character. Mush-
rooms with a milky juice are regarded as
dangerous by some collectors, but this
rule must not be followed too literally
as many excellent members of the genus
Lactarius would thereby be excluded.
The situation in which mushrooms grow
is a very uncertain criterion of edibility.
Thus it would be dangerous to regard all
mushrooms growing in meadows, open
fields and roadsides as good, since many
suspected kinds grow in such places. On
the other hand, mushrooms growing in
coniferous woods and under trees gen-
erally have been condemned, but the suc-
culent Lactarius deliciousus grows in con-
iferous woods and the edible Phoilota
grows under poplars while species of hel-
vella and Hudrum which flourish in
shady woods, form a wholesome dish.
The blackening of a gold or silver coin
or ring does not prove a mushroom to be
poisonous; the blackening is generally
due to more or less decay in the mush-
room as fresh mushrooms, whether pois-
onous or not, fail to blacken these metals.
The curdling of milk by mushrooms is
another property which has nothing in
common with toxicity, the cause of the
curdling being attributable to the pres-
ence of an acid or a ferment. An old
custom consisted in dipping a white onion
or a clove of garlic into the cooking ves-
sel containing the mushrooms and noting
whether the latter turned brown or not.
The presumption that only noxious mush-
rooms are turned brown by this treat-
ment is not justifiable, since some non-
poisonous varieties do change color in
[continues at top of middle column]
---
23, 29, 30 [illegible, text cut off]
of Topeka, June 16, 30
Steamers connect at San Francisco with
Company's steamers for ports in Califor-
nia, Mexico and Humboldt Bay. For fur-
ther information obtain folder. Right is
reserved to change steamers or sailing
dates.
TICKET OFFICES--96 Government and
61 Wharf Street. R.P. Rithet & [and] Co.[company], Ltd.,
Agents
C. D. DUNANN, Gen. Pass. Agt.
San Francisco.
[This last clipping is loose in the scrapbook and
should have been photographed at the top of the right column
other side up. It has been transcribed there, too]
---
[middle column]
this way while some poisonous varieties
do not. It is a common belief thatslugs
and insects attack edible mushrooms, but
this is by no means universally true, as
the deadly Amanitas are attacked by
slugs while many wholesome fungi are
respected by these depredators.
The tests so far described are laregely
of a rule-of-thumb nature, but another
test which has received wide acceptance
depends upon the fact that many pois-
onous fungi are surrounded by a velum
universale, notable examples being the
intensely poisonous subgenera Volvaria
and Amanita and the puffballs. But, like
all other rules, this is open to exceptions
including the genus agaricus, to which
the common mushroom, A. campestris
belongs. Prof. Labesse considers that
there are no practical empirical means by
which amateurs may, with confidence, de-
cide whether an unknown fungus is good
to eat.
There is often a risk taken in eating
mushrooms, and those who do not wish
to incur the risk are reminded by Prof.
Labesse of the method adopted by
Gerard in 1850. He boiled the mushrooms
for some time in sald water, throw away
the water, and exposed the mushrooms
to the air. He fed his family for nearly
a month upon all kinds of poisonous
mushrooms treated in this way and found
them to be nutritious, tho less palatable
than mushrooms cooked in the ordinary
way. Prof. Labesse suggests that not
more than one mushroom in ten is pois-
onous, and that the best test consists in
rejecting those which have a ring at the
base of the stipe. Deadly mushrooms, as
a rule, posess a ring or annulus consist-
ing of the remains of the Velum partiale
which covers the young mushroom and
is fractured during growth. In order to
apply this test, the mushrooms must be
gathered with care.
Unfortunately in rejecting mushrooms
posessing this character some excellent
varieties are rejected in addition to the
commonest poisonous varieties. Ama-
teurs shoudl know the characters of
mushrooms which grow in their neighbor-
hood, restrict themselves to certain kinds
which they know to be edible and in cases
of doubt should abstain altogether.
---
Twist Drill Gauge
We illustrate herewith a new twist
drill gauge, the opposite sides being
shown in Figs. 1 and 2, manufactured by
T. F. Welch & Co., 65 Sudbury street
Boston, Mass. The tool is made of cast
steel, hardened. The holes, it is stated,
are gauged accuratey, and the principal
improvement embodied in this tool that
it combines a drill gauge with the tap
[illustration, Fig. 1--Twist Drill Gauge]
[illustration, verso of above, no caption]
drill sizes. This is accomplished by indi-
cating on the reverse side the tap drill sizes by
means of numbers. It is claimed that
this is a great advantage over the old
[folded paper in image is unreadable at fold but full text is transcribed from original ]
method of guessing the sizes required by
the different taps. The point is made
that the toold is well made and finished
and sold at a moderate price.
---
[right column]
335
[the back of the first part of this clipping
was mistakenly photographed for digitization.
the front of the clipping has text as follows
to the clipping break ---]
CIRCUIT-BREAKER
Automatic Arrangement for Shutting
off Lights in Windows, Etc.
An invention of more than ordinary in-
terest is an automatic circuit breaker
which shuts off window lights, display
lights, etc., at any time desired, and then
does away with the necessity of having a
man go and shut them off by hand. The
mechanical parts are attached to a swiitch-
board, the connecting electric wires pass-
ing through two holes in about the centre
---
of the board, one of the wires supplying
the electricity from an outside source and
the other furnishing it to the lights. The
ends of the wires are attached to two
spring plates about a foot apart, a pivoted
conductive bar joining the two plates. To
normally hold this connecting bar in posi-
tion to close the circuit is a pivoted catch,
this catch being suspended on wire rods
connecting with the mechanism of an
alarm clock. A second conductive bar is
placed beneath the upper one and at-
tached in the same way, the two being
[illustration of device]
connected by a bar. The alarm clock is
set for the hour at which the lights are
to be extinguished. When the alarm is
set in motion it pulls the rods connected
with the catch up far enough to release
the conductive bars. A strong spring then
acts to draw one end of the bars away
from the spring plates, breaking the cir-
cuit and shutting off the lights.
---
DEEPEST HOLE IN EARTH
Men of science are interested in all
very deep borings in the earth on ac-
count of the opportunity which they
offer for experiments on the internal
temperature of the globe.
Gas and oil wells sometimes attain a
great depth and after they have ceas-
ed to be useful in other ways are
turned to scientific account.
The very deepest hole that mand has
yet succeeded in making in the earth
is said to be near Rybnik in Silesia
where the boring through strata of
coal and rock has reached a depth of
about 6770 feet. The deepest boring
in this country is believed to be an
oil well at Pittsburg, which has reach-
ed a depth of 5,740 feet, but is to be
bored much deeper for the sake of the
information it may furnish to science.
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