1888 



gL^aki^gS in b:Ee cuLtuilE. 



lO'J 



thing would be a bad precedent, the reporter 

 suggested, in a loud whisper, that he prob- 

 ably meant *•' vice-precedent." Now, this is 

 a small matter indeed, and perhaps you 

 think there is not any thing funny about it ; 

 but it set rae going again until the tears ran 

 down my cheeks, and 1 fairly suffered. I 

 did not dare to look at that reporter any 

 more during the convention. To add 

 to my troubles, the president here called on 

 me to stand up, open the question-box, and 

 answer the questions. 



Well, now, I tell you, dear friends, it is a 

 good thing to get to laughing once in a while 

 until you shake all of the bad feelings and 

 muddy waters out of you. There were quite 

 a few present who had before, perhaps, felt 

 a little edgewise toward me about some 

 things in the past, and I am sorry to confess 

 that I felt a good deal the same toward them. 

 But the fun we had that evening washed it 

 all out as effectually as we used to wash the 

 marks from our slates with clean pure snow- 

 in winter time, away l)ack in childhood. 



At this present monu'ut, God knows that 

 I have nothing but love and goodwill toward 

 every friend there ; and this love and good 

 will, r believe, overflowed a little, and has 

 taken in some wlio were not there. T hope 

 the memory of that convention will give me 

 grace to be milder in my replies, and kinder 

 in my editorial work iii the future. And if 

 it shall transpire that God has given me the 

 faculty for helping to make conventions 

 pleasant and interesting, I shall rejoice in 

 that faculty as a gift from him; and if it 

 shall also tianspire that more of these broth- 

 ers will go to conventions because of the 

 knowledge that I shall be there to help make 

 it pleasant. I will try not to mind tlie ex- 

 pense ; for, as in our text, wliat shall it 

 profit a man, even though he do get to be 

 well off" by staying at home, and attending to 

 business, even though lie gain the whole vxnicl, 

 in fact, if it be true that, by so doing, he 

 holds aloof fi-om his fellnw-men, and misses 

 the opportunities of iTelping others, and. at 

 the same time, helping himself V Yesterday 

 I went up to the dentist's to have my teeth 

 fixed. When done, I asked him if our "family 

 was owing him any thing. lie said lie be- 

 lieved not. and added, " Mr. Koot. I know 

 how hard you try to keep things paid up, and 

 to owe no man anything. Well, I too liave 

 been trying, and tn/inn hard, to owe nothing 

 to anyl)ody,except'good will ; and I want to 

 owe all mankind a hearty good will as long 

 as 1 live." 



Owe no man any thing:, but to love one another.— 

 Romans 13:8. 



Now, dear friends, if attending conven- 

 tions helps us in the line of the above little 

 text, we have almost no bumiess staying at 

 home when they are held in our vicinity— 

 that is, when we are reasonably able to af- 

 ford the expense. Sliall we not come to a 

 standstill, and ask the ([uestion. '• What are 

 we living for?"' and lin.illy, '' What doth it 

 profit a man?" as in the language of our 

 text. More than one man has discovered, at 

 the close of his life, that riches have little to 

 do, comparatively, with making a man hap- 

 py ; and when we come to die, millions of 

 money will not purchase the peace of God. 



dim 6wN Jinnm^ 



COXDUCTED BY ERXEST K. KOOT. 



salt; its value as a lubricant in 

 facilitating the removal of wax 

 sheets from rolls and 

 dipping-boards. 

 OON after the receipt of the card 

 from M. M. Baldridge, which we 

 -gj published on page 9i4. Dec. 15, stat- 

 ing the value of salt in founda- 

 tion - working, I told the foreman 

 of the wax department to give the thing a 

 most thorough test in more ways than one. 

 This he immediately set about to do. All 

 those who have made foundation are aware 

 that, in order to get the best results, the 

 sheets of wax. before being run into the 

 rolls, should be drawn from shallow tin 

 vats of warm water in order to give the 

 sheets the proper temperature. In times 

 past we have used in said vats only clear 

 water. 



Our first experiment with the salt was to 

 add a little of it in the vats of water referi-ed 

 to, in about the proportion of a quart of salt 

 to five gallons of water. The rolls were 

 then thoroughly drenched in briny water — 

 no starch or other lubricant being used. 

 Tpon trial the sheets went through the rolls 

 with little if any sticking. It soon became 

 evident that the brine alone was not suf- 

 ficient. As prescribed in friend Baldridge's 

 letter, we then mixed a little of the brine in 

 the starch paste, in the proportion of 1 of 

 the former to 20 of the latter. In connection 

 therewith the brine water was used in the 

 shallow vats as before. Foundation was 

 then rolled out with little if any trouble 

 from the sticking, and the results were high- 

 ly satisfactory indeed. There is not only 

 much less trouble in picking the first end of 

 the sheet off the rolls, but a much larger 

 quantity of foundation can be turned out in 

 the same time. Said our Mr. Kimball, on 

 the first day's trial, as I watched the nice 

 sheets peel off the rolls with so little trouble, 

 " See here ; we have run off as much foun- 

 dation so far this forenoon as we did all day 

 yesterday. How is that for salt ? " It was 

 then. I think. 11 A. >i., and on the day pre- 

 vious no brine had been used. It seemed to 

 me hardly possible that it could do this right 

 along: but the foreman assures me tliat, 

 since that time, with the salt he has averaged 

 about as well. 



SALT FOR THE DIPPING-BOARDS. 



Mr. Baldridge also mentioned the ease 

 with which sheets could be removed from 

 the dipping-boards when the latter were 

 soaked with ])rine Avater. We have care- 

 fully tested the matter, and find it just as 

 friend B. states. We now keep the "sheeters," 

 or dipping-boards, when not in use. soaked 

 continually in brine water. Without the 

 addition oi' the salt in the water, the boards 

 would roughen and become totally unfit for 

 use. 



TO WHO?I DOES THE CREDIT BELONG ? 



Mr. Baldridge, in the card referred to in 

 this article, does not claim to have originated 

 the idea, but says he got it from a friend. 



