Speed and Novell

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has gone from the twilight zone into the outer darkness. Ralph Mayhew was another gamble. Mayhew was a clerk in the advertis- ing department of Harper's.
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Modern Ways and Means of "Getting There" Include Pullman Car AutoAirplanes, Home-Mad- e mobiles, Motor Scooters and Even a Wild Moose.

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month the centenary of the humble beginning of the passenger-carryin- g rail road on earth' was t observed with great eclat at Darlington. England. The centennial celebration included a series of tableaux illustrative of the marvelous development of railroading since the year 1820, when eight men formed a' company to construct a railway from Darlington to Stockto, a distance of 25 miles. George Stephenson was appointed engineer. The railroad occupied five years In construction and was opened for traffic on September 27, 1825. A vry fair idea of what that first passenger train looked like can be gathered from the photograph across the bottom of this page. The total length of the locomotive, tender and coaches combined. Just about equals the length of a modern locomotive and tender. The photograph, by the way, is of the first American passenger railroad train, which is now on permanent exhibition in the New York Central terminal at New York City. A hundred years ago the projected

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railroad train wa considered the most wonderful and fearful thing that man ever could conceive of. Men discussed the proposed speed of 18 miles an .hour as something- that shouldn't be allowed by law. Speed of the 1920 brand was unknown In those days. When that first railroad was opened for passenger service a man had to be employed to run ahead of the locomotive waving a red flag as & warning to pedestrians that the train was coming. So much for 1825. Passenger travel today Is somewhat different. as shown by the other photographs on this page. Speed Is the main consideration; apeed plus novelty.- - And as there is no novelty In traveling by rail at 60 miles an hour, the passenger service has been extended to other lanes of travel. Commercial airplanes fitted up like the interior of a Pullman car have gone into the passenger carrying trade on regular organized schedules. An experimental service was opened a few weeks ago for the accommodation of New York capitalists who have summer homes 75 miles or so distant from Wall street. In the effort to reduce the time required for traveling from place to place the airplane is now being used flights. One pasfor senger plane has been put in service from Cairo to Cape Town, a distance of 5206 miles. Fifteen passen- long-distan-

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gers can be carried with ease on this journey through the air and the plane is capable of negotiating the entire distance at the rate of 100 miles an hour. In the quest for speed and novelty there are some who are not willing to wait for airplane and automobile manufacturers to develop something new. Harry Habig, for instance, a boy who is attending the first year class at the Ohio Mechanics' institute, is one of them. It took him awhole year to build the --

miniature automobile, a photograph of which is reproduced here. He built It for his own use from parts of an old motorcycle, a discarded bicycle and a few cast-obits of machinery which he rebuilt into his roadster. When the automobile was finished and ready to make its first run Harry predicted that he would go at 30 miles an hour. As a matter of fact the vehicle went better than 40 miles an hour. The youthful inventor says he substitutes a chain drive that afterpresent for the belt drive he will double the speed.

The unique little racer has a six-fowheel base. It is equipped with a motor taken from the motorcycle and contains a double ignition system. The springs were and bent by the boy himself. The racer weighs less, than 1000 pounds and travels 43 miles on a measured gallon of gasoline. Miss Margaret E. Dunlap of Philadelphia is not an inventor, but she is nevertheless finding plenty of speed novelty in the motor-drive- n scooter on which she has been traveling

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HARD TIME TO EKE OUT LIVELIHOOD

Many Shops Are Forced to Carry Sidelines Of All Books Sold, About 40 Per Cent Are for Use in Schools. In United States There Are 3000 Stores. 28. There is have on the shelves of his library., A for undue pride in man like Mr. Aldrich was always rethat one Do ok. per ceiving suitably Inscribed copies of ' capita is sold annually In this books from authors and publishers, country. That is not a ' particu- and when he found in the bookstore larly high average, and such as it Is, a book he wanted he would go home it is considerably lowered by a little and get one of his complimentary delving. For one learns almost Immecopies and bring it dorfl' and trade it diately that the books sold here, in for the book he wanted. 40 per cent, are schoolbooks, which Bookselling is a Yes. are given away to the pupils in the people go in for the love of it,business not foj public schools of states that follow the money to be made. that policy. There was a bookstore in Evans-villThen one learns that there are a few years ago. The proexactly 3000 bookstores in the United prietorInd., one day that he sent States, and among them, so publish- his wife bragged to Florida every winter. ers say. one only is able to live on "How do you do it?" asked the sales of books alone. Boston is the ownerof Evansville department best book town in the country. More store, who the had a book department. books are sold there in proportion to "I carry wallparer as a side line," the population than in any other city said the bookstore man. in America, but not a few of the And the middle west is the secon bookstores there live their stationery business and expect to go through ond best book section in the country. is the best city. New England the process of bankruptcy, dissolution Boston and reorganization about once every is the best section. New York is the second best book selling city of the three years. Thomas Bailey Aldrich used to be country In proportion to the populaone of the most regular customers' of tion, and the east side is the best book buying part of New York. They a certain Boston bookstore. Mr. Aid- - buy serious books on the east side, rich had made a good deal of money philosophy, essays, history, biography by writing and had married a good that sort of thing. The rest of deal more. He lived in a fine house and town buys the and had a big library, and spent a not theBooks are like music in New York. inconsiderable part of his time in this "Do you like classical music?" the bookstore, sitting on the counter and Boston girl asked. talking to the proprietor about new "No," said the New York girl, "I books that were published. Some of prefer classy music." the new books Mr. Aldrich read as he After books get out of New England sat on the counter, while the proprie- they a narrow strip down the tor of the store sold a box of paper coast follow to Washington. No books are and envelopes to a cash customer. sold south of Washington, publishers Two or three times every month Mr. say, not meaning, of course, to be Aldrich was likely to find among the taken literally. Going Xest books follow the line Hew books one that he wanted to 1

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of the conditions under which they do business and they are going to try to make book publishing less of a gamble and more of a business. Since advertising was invented they have confined their publicity to the only people they don't need to reach, that the outer darkness. Ralph Mayhew was another gamble. Is to say, their advertising has been Mayhew was a clerk in the advertiswritten exclusively for the people ing department of Harper's. Several who buy books anyway. They are now years ago he conceived the idea of going to get under way a general writing some jingles for children and "Buy- - Books" campaign, intended not inserting in the book with the jingles to advertise any particular publisher two or three phonograph records of or group of publishers or any parthe jingles set to music. He called ticular book or kind of book, but only the idea "The Bubble Book" and to create a larger book buying public talked about It so much that his fel- in this country. There Is an idea that if book buylow clerks sidestepped him at luncheon and other convivial times. After ing can be brought up in America to six or seven years of continual harp- the ratio that it holds in the Scandiing on "The Bubble Book" one of the navian countries, which is about three men higher up in Harper's said it times the ratio here, writing as well would be a good thing to print an as publishing will be more lucrative. edition of 1500 copies of the book, so Writers as well as publishers wants that the other men in the office could to be more certain of having a pubget a rest. "The Bubble Book" is now lic to do business with, and if this in its eleventh edition and the sales book buying public can be secured or

The result was that, as a sporting proposition, they traded. The house-tha- t traded W. E. Norris for Thomas Hardy has made large sums frdm Hardy's books, while W. E. Norris has gone from the twilight zone into

BOOKWORMS SO FEW THAT DEALERS FIND

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around Newport this season. Many of these automobile scooters are being made now and they promise to become as popular as the bicycle was 20 years ago. speed And talking about novelty, some mention should be made of Albert St. John, a New Brunswick guide, who recently had the queerest' ride of his life. St. John and a companion were rowing across one of the big lakes in the New Brunswick hunting district when a huge moose plunged into the water ahead of their

of the lakes to St. Paul. They spread out thinly over the middle west and get down to Kansas City. From there they jump to Denver and from Denver, hesitating at Salt Lake City, to California. The bookstore that supports itself on books alone is in San Francisco, Cal. There are three bookstores in Indianapolis, and a few years ago they got together 'to find out what their sales were. They discovered of 1 per cent, of the that two-thirpopulation of Indianapolis were book buyers. , From all of which it is evident that book publishing in this country is almost as much a gamble as a business, and this despite the fact that British authors who want to make money are always anxious to get into the American market. ' This is because of the difference in population of the two countries. England buys twice as many books per capita as America, taking the average sales of books of all kinds the year through, but America eats up a popular author. Hence, with the greater population of this country to draw on, if a British author can write a popular novel his iortune is made when he gets it pub lished on this side of the water. But there are other points of view from which book publishing is quite as much a gamble as a business. Some 30 years ago two eminent book, publishers were talking at luncheon about the young authors they had on their lists from whose books they expected to make fortunes, while the writers made reputations. One of them had Thomas Hardy, while the other had W. E. Norris, and each ds

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this year are estimated at 1,500,000 Mayhew, drawing many thousands a year in royalties, continues meekly and humbly at his desk in the advertising department of Harper's. Margaret Hill McCarter, the first woman to make a speech at a national political convention, wrote a thin, small book called "The Peace of the Solomon Valley," which ran into many editions and many thousands of copies. After the book was published the editor of an extremely popular magazine wrote to her substantially as follows: "Why don't you send us some of your delightful writings? We are sure you can do other things equally as good as 'The Peace of the Solomon Valley,' and it would give us great pleasure to present them to the readers of this magazine, besides which we pay well." Mrs. McCarter replied substantially: "You were the first publishers to whom I sent The Peace of Solomon Valley.' It came back by return mail." thought the other had the winner. The publishers have taken thought copies.

JM&fZ-- - Sf. tfo7T2 JFx'c? boat and started to swim across the lake. The guides set after him and the moose in his efforts to outdistance them became excited and got to splashing around in a circle in the middle of the lake. When near enough, St. John leaped on to the back of the big animal and stuck there' despite the desperate efforts of

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of Roumanla folk a good lesson recently when she entered an antique shop. She picked up an amber statuette and asked the price. "One hundred and twenty pounds," was the reply. "That's too much for me." said the queen, and her daughter. Princess Elizabeth, who was with the queen, added: "They must think we are

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the moose to unseat him. The other guide snapped the picture of St. The John's ride reproduced here. guide, it may be added, clung to the moose's back until it had carried him off. across the lake. Then he dropped The moose disappeared among the trees on the lake front, too frightened to seek vengeance on the man who had clared to ride on its back.

POPULAR

People in Mainland Homes, Some in Distant Cities, Talk Daily With ' Friends on Island.

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Catallna's wireless telephone the first in the world, is proving a conspicuous success, just as nearly a score of years ago the way for business achievement in the operation of the commercial wireless telegraph was pioneered on the Magic ' isle. People in their homes on the mainland some in distant cities talk daily by telephone to friends in the latter's- - homes in Catalina. precisely as if the conversation were conveyed by wire a matter of a few city blocks. Even the novelty of the thing is wearing off and people are beginning alcreated, the publishers think the ready to take as a matter of course writers will not have to do their work the fact that the electric impulses with one eye on the movies. between telephones are flashed by At any rate, book publishers, book wireless across an arm of the Pacific writers, book jobbers and book sell- ocean. ers are going to get together to try Catalina subscriber's telephone the experiment. The publishers have is The connected by wire with the Catasubscribed of 1 per cent, lina exchange and the mainland subof their gross business for a year, the scriber's instrument is linked by wire jobbers of 1 per cent, with a mainland exchange. But beof their gross and the retailers tween Catalina and mainland ex1 per cent, of of their gross to changes is a gap bridged only by up a fund to educate the waves from electrical machinery that make American people to buy books, and represents the" last word of accomcampaign is now being planned. plishment in the fascinating field fo the two-fift-

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science. To date, nearly 10,000 wireless longdistance telephone messages have been handled at Avalon an average of more than BOO a day. Long distance calls exceed by more than 25 times the volume of local calls there, a condition which telephone officials say exists in no other exchange in America. The island is at the height of its summer season and is crowded with visitors who, by the wireless hello route, are busily keeping; in

touch with friends and relatives in many parts of the country. The experience of 1902, when wireless telegraph first linked Catalina and the mainland, is vividly recalled. S. W. Lily, who was the first wireless operator on Catalina, states that the antennae were first placed on White's point, but were soon removed to tho highest point above Sugar Loaf, as it was the belief then that aerials should be above the noises of the lower air currents." It is interesting to know that the aerials of the telephone stations are planted practically at sea level. "Voices" that occasionally came across channel to the wireless telegraph sets gave birth to the idea that a wirleess telephone system could be made a success.

Hair XJscd for Messages. Wouldn't it be nelpful If one could tell at a glance whether the fair feminine person who has caught the eye is a maiden willing to wed, a widow who is Inconsolable, or one who Is willing to be consoled? They have it arranged that way in Japan. The Japanese women have certain ways of arranging the hair to indicate their state and feelings and. as they do not wear hats, all who run may read. Girls who would wed arrange the hair in front in the form of a fan or butterfly, and Adorn It with silver or colored ornaments. Widows who are loking for second husbands fasten their hair at the back of the head by means of tortoise-she- ll pins, and widows who are resolved to remain faithful to their departed spouses cut their hair short and wear no ornaments la it.