Oklahoma State Register. (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 4, 1908 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
OKLAHOMA STATE REGISTER.
y
■
V
w
CHINESE I'KiEON WHISTLES—BY I)K. BERTIIOLD
EAl'FEIi 1\ THE SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN.
Traditions imbibed in school through
education and by reading, are apt to
sway our lives and our thoughts, and
to influence strongly our judgment of
other peoples. An almost fixed stand-
ard of attributes involuntarily arises
in our minds when the names of
French, Spaniards, Negroes, Indians,
strike our ears, and it is often hard to
see why such and such an adjective
expressing such and such a quality
became inevitably linked in our
thoughts with the names of certain
nations. Thus, we are wont to Bpeak
of the Chinese as sober practical and
prosaic people, and to view them
throughout in that light, immensely
rational they are (this cannot be gain-
said), secular, and ■worldly-minded,
bestowing all their efforts on useful
temporal affairs; but nevertheless
these people are by no means lacking
in purely emotional matters of great
attractiveness. It is needless to turn
tubes; thin sticks for making those of
the small ones; hard bamboo for the
large tubes themselves, and a soft
kind for the smaler ones. The separ-
ate pieces are fastened together by
means of fish-glue which is applied
with an iron nail. A razor-like knife
is used for splitting the bamboo sticks
and chisel to break the harder pieces.
For the general work a dozen spatu-
las are repuired and awls are used for
drilling the small mouthpieces. There
is also a whetstone for grinding the
implements, the same as employed in
other industries and by professional
knife-grinders, and a saw with a
slightly curved blade for cutting the
gourds. The smallest whistles are of
course the most ditlicult to produce.
One workman is said to be able to
turn out about three specimens a day,
which shows that the work requires
some time and skill.
The explanation of the practice of
to their poetry and art, in which they this quaint custom which the Chinese
are at their best, regarded from this
viewpoint; even in affairs of minor
importance their souls reveal to us
traits of poetical quality of no small
degree.
As early as the eleventh century
one of their greatest poets sang:
"Upon the -bridge the livelong day
I stand and watch the goldfish play."
The domestication of the goldfish, the
first species of which reached England
only in 1691, and of the wonderful
paradise fish as well, is justly as-
cribed to the Chinese; and it is re-
markable to notice that their attempts
in this direction and the amazing re-
sults achieved were not prompted by
any utilitarian views they had in mind
as neither fish is of any practical ad-
vantage. On the contrary, their skill-
ful breeding, so eagerly pursued, is
due solely and exclusively to the
aesthetic tendency of the Chinese in
their art of living, and to their Highly
cultivated sense of beauty, which de-
lights in the bright coloration of the
skin of these fishes, the graceful form
of their bodies, and the restless mo-
tion of their long fins. This is the
more worthy of note, as the ofily fish
among us which has been placed
within the range of domestication, the
carp, is granted this privilege merely
from its prosy connection with the
kitchen.
While the most Darwinian experi-
ments to which Chinese breeders have
subjected the goldfish, and their un-
bounded admiration of this little crea-
ture in its hundred and one forms and
variations, illustrate well the intimate
relation of the people to the element
water, their friendly associations with
the world of birds are no less close
and sympathetic. The lover of birds
does not permanently confine his pet
in its prison-cage, but he takes it out
with him on his walks, carrying it on
a stick, to which one of its feet is fast-
ened by means of a thread long
enough to allow it ample freedom of
motion. Where the shade of some
stately tree bids him welcome, he
makes a halt, and permits the bird to
perch and swing on a supple twig,
watching it for hours.
One of the most curious expressions
of emotional life is the application of
whistles to a flock of pigeons. These
whistles, very light, weighing hardly
a few grammes, are attached to the
tails of young pigeons soon after their
birth, by means of a fine copper wire,
so that when the birds fly the wind
blowing through the whistles sets
them vibrating, and thus produces an
open air concert, for the instruments
in one and the same flock are all tun-
ed differently. On a serene day in
Pekin, where these instruments are
manufactured with great cleverness
ftnd ingenuity, it is pos-sible to enjoy
this aerial music while sitting in one's
room.
There are two distinct types of
whistles—those consisting of bamboo
tubes placed side by side, and a type
based on the principle cf tubes attach-
ed to a gourd body or wind-chest.
They are lacquered in yellow, brown,
red and black, to protect the material
from the destructive influences of the
atmosphere. The tube whistles have
either two, three or five tubes. In
some specimens the five tubes are
made of ox-horn instead of bamboo.
The gourd-whistles are furnished with
a mouthpiece and small apertures to
the numebr of twot three, six, ten,
and even thirteen. Certain among
them have, besides, a number of bam-
boo tubes, some on the principal
mouthpiece, some arranged around it.
These varities are distinguished by
different names. Thus, a whistle with
one mutbpiece and ten tubes is called
"the eleven-eyed one".
As to the materials and implements
used in themanufacture of pigeon-
whiBtles. there are small gourds that
serve for the bodies; halves of large
gourds (a particular species imported
from Shantung to Peking for this in-
dustry) from which stoppers are made
that fit into them; and four kinds of
bamboo—cylindrical pieces of a large
specieB that grows in the south, for
making the mouthpieces of the large
offer is- not very satisfactory. Accord-
ing to them, these whistles are intend-
ed to keep the flock together, and to
protect the pigeons from attacks of
birds of prey. There seems, however,
little reason to believe that a hungry
hawk could be inducej by this in-
nocent music to keep aloof from sat-
isfying his appetite; and this doubt-
less savors of an after-thought which
came up along after the introduction
of its usage, through the attempt to
give a rational and practical interpre-
tation of something that has no ra-
tional origin whatever; for it is not
the pigeon that profits from this prac-
tice, but merely the human ear.
which feasts on the wind-blown tunee,
and derives aesthetic pleasure from
this music. And here again, it seems
to be a purely artistic and emotional
tendency that has given rise to a
unique industry and custom applied to
nature-life.
TO THE INVINCIBLE REPUBLIC
Bv William Wats
(Written for the twenty-fifth anniver- The man of Yorktown and of Valle
gary celebration of the Now York ' Forge.
World.) iOr he of tragic doom, thy later born—
America! I havnever breathed thy lie 01'the short plain nor:l that thrilled
air, j the world
Have never touched thy soil nor heard And freed the bondman—let it not be
CAN GET DRUNK ON WATER,.
Liquor Not the Only Intoxicant, Says
an Expert on Inebriates.
Water intoxication, induced by too
copious use of water externally or in
ternally, was pointed out in Chicago
by Dr. I,. D. Mason, vice president of
the American Society for the Study of
Inebrity, aicohol and drug neurosis,
as being as dangerous as over-indul-
gence in alcohol.
Dr. Mason, who is a delegate to the
American Medical Association conven-
tion, delivered an address on "Why
Men Drink." He declared patent medi-
cine drunkenness almost as prevalent
as the generally recognized forms.
"I have a friend who is a victim of
aquamania," he said. "He spends
hours in a bathtub and drinks so much
water that he has reduced the solids
of his body and worked serious injury
to himself. Many men and women
drink too much water and are victims
of that form of intoxication.
"We are all creatures of habit, and
our best men and women are suscepti-
ble to habit. Thousands are victims
of patent medicine drunkenness. One
temperance lecturer of my acquain-
tance drinks so much of this stuff that
he is constantly under the influence of
this drug or intoxicant. Most of these
patent medicines are 75 per cent cheap
whisky.
"This really is a serious question
for temperance societies. When they
secure a pledge of abstinence from a
man or woman they should also ex-
act a pledge against the use of patent
medicines.
"Tea and coffee drinkers also gen-
erally are intemperate. They keep
themselves constanly under the influ-
ence of these stimulants, to the injury
of their sight and other senses. Cigars
are a narcotic, and men who pride
themselves on abstinence from liquor
carry one in their mouths all day, or a
pipe when they go to bed. Sanitariums
are springing up everywhere, and
there is never a paucity of patients."
STATE BANK (JI'ABANTY" LAW
BE BE TO STAY S\YS BLAKE
the speed
And thunder of thy cities—vet would I
Salute thco from afar—not chiefly
awed
Ily wide domain, mere breadth of gov-
erned dust, .
Nor measuring thy greatness and thy
power
Only by numbers: rather seeing thee
As mountainous heave of spirit, emo-
tion huge,
Enormous hate and anger boundless
love,
And most unkrown, unfathomable
depth
Of energy divine.
In peace today
Thou sit'st between thy oceans; but
when fate
Was at thy making, and endowed thy
soul
With many gifts and costly, she forgot
To mix with these a genius for repose.
Wherefore a sting is ever in thy blood,
And in thy marrow a sublime unrest.
And thus thou keepest hot the forge
of life
Where man is still reshapen and re-
made
With fire and clangor.
And as thou art vast,
So are the perils vast that evermore
In thy house are bred; nor least of
these
That fait and fell Delilah, Luxury,
That shears the hero's strength away,
and brings
Palsy on nations. Flee her loveliness,
For in the end her kisses are a sword.
Strong sons hast thou begotteq, na-
tures rich
in scorn of riches, greatly simple
minds.
No land in all the world hath memo-
ries
Of noble children; let it not be said
That if the peerless and the stainless
one,
it id
That if today these radiant ones re-
turned
They would behold thee changed be-
yond all thought
From that austerity wherein thy youth
Was nurtured, those large habitudes
of soul.
But who are we, to counsel thee or
warn,
In this old England whence thy fath-
ers sailed?
Here, too, hath Mammon many thrones,
and here
Are palaces of slot.1 and towers of
pride.
Best to forget them! Round me is the
wealth,
The untainted wealth, of English fields
and all
The passion and sweet trouble of the
spring
Is in the air; and the remembrance
comes
That not alone for stem and blade, for
flower
Ard leaf, but for man also, there are
times
Of mighty vernal movement, seasons
when
Life casts away the body of this death,
And a great surge of youth breaks on
the world.
Then are the primal fountains clam-
orously
Unsealed; and then, perchance, are
dead things born
Not unforetold by deep parturient
pangs
But the light minds that heed no aug-
uries,
Untaught by all that heretofore hath
been,
Taking their ease on the blind verge of
fate,
See nothing, and hear nothing, till the
hour
Of the vast advent that makes all
things new.
HONEYMOON IN A BOX CAB
A New York Couple Arrested in Chic-
ago, Didn't Have Money to Travel
Chicago—M. J. Bender of New York
and a woman who says she is his wife
who was attired in the garb of a man
were arrested here today. They were
discovered in a box car on the tracks
of the Lake Shore & Michigan South-
ern railway by employees.
The woman had cut off her hair and
had severed braid in one of the pock-
ets of her coat. W.hen questioned by
the police, Bender said they were mar-
ried in New York, May 18, and were
on their honeymoon trip to South Da-
kota, where they expect to establish
their home. He said they had no mon-
ey and were compelled to resort to the
box car for transporation. He said
they left New York on the night of
their wedding. The couple will be
hel l pending an investigation.
CREEK INDIAN POET DROWNS.
While Crossing a Stream, Alexander
Posey's Boat Capsized.
A.N (TENT SB BINE DISCOVERED.
Belies of linined Temple Shed New
Light on History of Early Tribes.
in his address before the twenfth
annual session of the Oklahoma Bank-
ers Association at Sulphur. President
E. L. Blake of Clackwell declared that
the Oklahoma law guaranteeing bank
deposits has come to stay.
"Your officers have been placed In a
very difficult and delicate position,"
said President Blake, "that of repre-
senting and acting for the entire as-
sociation when that body could not
agree with reference to the guarantee
law. The anomaly was presented of
some of our state barkers ciamoring
for the law and others decrying it,
and the national banks were diveded
in a similar manner."
Judge John Casteel delivered the ad-
dress of welcome.
An address was delivered during the
afternoon by William B. Hidgely of
Kansas City, former comptroller of
the currency, on national banking and
proposed legislation affecting national
banks.
Los Angeles Examiner.
Avalon—The cloud of mystery which
has veiled the early inhabitants of the
Channel islands ever since the com-
ing of Cabrillo and Father Torque-
mrvla, his historian, more than 300
years ago. has been lifted a little by a
recent dicover.v made on this island.
Paintings which, if a Rosetta stone
for their reading can be found, will lay
bare much of the altogether unknown
life of the Canoe tribesmen, and pos-
sibly of the Klnnlpars, as well, have
been noted on huge rocks at one side
of the supposed tempi*..
What these paintings mean no white
man can say. They have no kinship
with the sign writing of the mair.lijid
Indians, and students of ethnology
who have seen them can trace them to
nothing but some of the trib s which
inhabit (he islands of the far No-th.
the Aleutian chain and those volcanic,
thinly habited cones .which dot the
ncrthern sea along the Siberian coast.
All these discoveries mean mm h to
the completed chain of the study of
the prehistoric* inhabitants of America,
for, while the Indians of Catalina, San
Clemc-ite, Sari Nicholas, Santa Rosa
and other of the Channel inlands were
small factors In the Indian life of the
new world, they have always consti-
tuted a baffling mystery to students of
the first inhabitants of the continent.
The Lucky Quarter.
Is the one you pay out for a box of
Dr. King's New Life Pills. They bring
you the health that's more precious
than jewels. Try them for headache,
biliousness, constipation and malaria.
If they disappoint you th eprlce will
be cheerfully refunded at C. R. Ren-
fro's drug store.
Alexander Posey, editor of the In-
dian Journal at Eufaura, Indian dialect
writer and poet, author of the "Fus
Fixico letters" and for many years
government interpreter, was drowned
the North Canadian river near
Wells, Ok. With a lawyer named Howe
he left Wells to go to the country to
buy land. They hired two negroes to
row them across the swollen Btream.
The boat capsized. Howe and one ne-
gro swam ashore. The other negro
was drowned immediately. Posey
drifted down stream and caught on
some overhanging branches He clung
there two hours and then a rescue
party threw him a rope. He tried to
grasp it hut was too exhausted and
sank. His body has not been found.
Posey was a halfblood Creek. He
was 35 years old and left a widow and
two children. Several years ago he
began to write "Fus Fixico letters,"
Indian dialect stories of a satirical
nature on political subjects. They
brought him much fame. He was a
member of the Creek council for sev-
eral years and a confidientiai govern-
ment agent. His Indian Journal has
been widely quoted.
Posey selected an s.tiotment for him-
self and children at Bald Hill, one of
the picturesque places in the Creek na-
tion. He chose it because it suited
his poetic nature and not for the land
value. In the last year he has been
engaged in buying and selling land.
While in the government service he
succeeded in getting more valuable in-
formation from the Snake Indians
thfjn any man who have ever been sent
anions' them. Posey was offered a big
price to write his "Fus Fixico Letters"
weekly and have them copyrighted,
but he rejected the offer because he
believed literature was above money
and said he would not try to force his
pen when the mood was not on him.
STRICT WEIGHING LAW.
The governor has signed senate bill
No. 205, creating the office of county
or public \\;eigher vhleh law maki . it
imperative that a'.l weighing of cotton
grain of all kinds, livestock, hay, cot-
ton seed, coal, wood, broom corn, and
all other farm products be weighed by
the public weigher, and provid'ng a
penalty fir any private weigher so do-
ing except in voting precincts hi whic'i
the public weigher has no deputies,
and except producer*' associations,
maintaining cctton yards, etc.
The sheriff is made ex-officio scale
Inspector, and Is given a fee of o-e
dollar for each scale inspected.
The public weigher is allowed to
charge a fee of ten cents for each load
or draft of above conimodit:es weighed
by him or hie deputies. •
The emergency is attached to the
bill, and same is now law.
CMIKWT
VERY Clothcraft gar-
ment sold carries with
it a written guarantee
signed by the makers.
It guarantees the
garment to be all wool,
to fit correctly, and to
hold its shape until
worn out.
If it won't do all this it will be replaced
by a new garment. There is satisfaction for
everybody in buying clothes under Cloth-
craft conditions.
$10.00 to $25.00
ED C. PETERSEN
S WEARING E N
!■■■■■■■ HUB IIHI11I
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■IB
VERY LOW
Round Trip Rates by the
Made on Cloudy Daya ai <
1 ^CgaLlVCS M when the bud ehlnen.
OppositePostoffice, Guthrie. Oklahoma
For the
♦++H
I I I I 1 I I I I H-+++
i: Patterson
Furniture
wboi^,. p,a|n >Bd Arti8tlc j;
■•Mi Furniture,
Carpets, Etc. !
Hmbaimer t E Harrison A n e
\ ] and Funeral Director*. Guthrie.
• • Residence Phone 184. Pbena 6
■m'Mfntiiti in
Our Newest Peach
JEFF DAVIS of ARKANSAS
5000 TREES FREE Si™....... ..
nome owners woo
are boms improvers. Are you one—do you know ten
more? Write for full particulars and our new CAT-
ALOG of general nursery stock Thirty-flve years
of success mean satisfyinc thousands year after
year. We can satisfy you. Write to-day.
Clingman Nursery & Orchard Co., Ltd.
Box 13
KEITHVILLE, LA.
U. C. V.
Reunion
BIRMINGHAM,ALA.
ME 9-11
SPECIAL TRAIN SERVICE
For particulars see nearest agent or
write J. S. McNALLY, D. P. A.
Oklahoma City, Okla.
5-14. 21,
iiissuihhsh::::
the
Weinberger Transfer Co.
TRANSFER AND STORAGE
Will (Jo your work promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.
DRUGS
That are not pure are dear
at an price.
We sell onl the best of
everything in our line.
Try Lillie's Drug Store next
time.
E B, LILLIE & Co-
Established April 22nd 1889.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Golobie, John. Oklahoma State Register. (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 4, 1908, newspaper, June 4, 1908; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc112600/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.