A wasteful loss of fish life occurs by the sacrifice of millions
of little fishes that are left to gasp out their lives on the
meadows and grain-fields all over the great State of Montana
owing to the irrigation ditches. To prevent this waste a
paddle-wheel is installed at the head of a ditch to frighten
back and prevent the fish from entering the intake. A law
requiring this to be done is now in force in that State.
How many silly souls are warned away from danger-points in life by wise
devices both divine and human!
(3430)
Julius Cæsar was at one time the idol of the Roman army. The
ancient eternal city was at his feet. His foot was on the neck
of his enemies and his word was sufficient to hurry his rival,
Pompey, to an ignominious grave. The treasures of the world,
power, dominion and wealth were at his command. Yet he had not
the time as he went forward to the senate chamber on the Ides of
March to read the letter handed him that warned him of the plot
against his life.
Men are mercifully given time to live. But they are too busy to
get ready to live, and too busy to heed the warnings that, if
heeded, would save and prolong their lives.
(3431)
* * * * *
On an island off the Connecticut coast there stands, says
_Harper’s Weekly_, a huge revolving platform whereon are
placed eight large megaphones, each measuring some seventeen
feet and having a mouth seven feet in diameter.
These horns are intended to cry warning to vessels at
every point of the compass, the power being furnished by a
steam-whistle. Their cry has been heard a distance of twenty
miles, and when the wind is favorable it will carry nearly twice
as far.
The instruments utter their warnings every fifteen seconds, each
megaphone giving out its cry in turn, so that the warning notes
make their way out over the water in every direction. There is
a combination of short and long blasts for each point of the
compass, so that mariners may know exactly whence the sound
proceeds.
At Diamond Shoals, off Cape Hatteras, that graveyard of the
Atlantic, where, by reason of the shifty character of the
soil, it has been found impracticable to erect a lighthouse,
the Federal Government has installed a contrivance held down
by “mushroom” anchors. This instrument consists of two big
megaphones, with a diaphragm vibrated by electricity. The
machine is operated by clockwork, and, once wound up, shouts for
many months without the necessity of any attention on the part
of attendants. In calm weather the shout of this instrument is
audible for a distance of twenty-five miles.
To be useful these warning voices must be heeded. So is it with moral
warnings, of which the world is full.
(3432)