mail matter distributed was 5,329,521,475. The number of errors made in handling this vast quantity of matter was only 1,260,443. The number of pieces handled for each error committed were 4,228, thus making the percentage of correct distribution 99.98. All employees are required to attest their skill by frequent examinations, and for this purpose much of the leisure time of each is devoted to studying the mail schemes of the various States attaching to the division in which he is employed—John M. Bishop, Magazine of American History.
(315)
CARE OF GOD, THE
There are winter times with blight and
cold and fruitlessness and storm for us all;
times when we do not see that the wonder-workings
of the divine care are on us. But
they are on us, definitely, "all the days."
The sun was not only bringing the earth
around all winter to a time when spring
should break forth; but the coal you burned
to expel the winter's cold that same sun had
caused to grow in ancient ages in its original
vegetation; the wood that enclosed the comforts
of your home and shut out the driving
storm, that sun had caused to grow in recent
years; day by day all the winter through the
sun sent light to cheer your rooms while
snows lay deep and winds were wild; and
day by day the sun purified the air and sterilized
germs of disease, and so made it
possible for you to baffle sickness and nurse
your loved one back to health. The sun was
working for your good all the time. Even
so our Lord is ever working in us and in our
lives to will and to do of his good pleasure.—Monday
Club, "Sermons on the International
Sunday-school Lessons for 1904."
(316)
CARE-FREE
The Baroness Burdette-Coutts inherited
from her grandfather, of the Coutts Bank,
a fortune of about $20,000,000. She managed
it ably, but devoted it to great works
of charity during her long and busy life.
Not long before her death she said:
"I seem to be living in a transitional age. Every one is in such a hurry nowadays, and I don't ever remember being in a hurry. The weather never depresses me. I don't mind noise and rather enjoy the rush of the motor-busses past Holly Lodge. I don't myself know what nerves are, and yet I've had to send Tip, my fox-terrier, to a rest-*cure." (Text.)
(317)
Carefulness—See Headwork.
Careless Work—See Anyhow, The Land of.
CARELESSNESS
Down in the fire-room of a big steamer
that was lying at the wharf in New York,
a young man was told to do a certain piece
of work in connection with the pumps.
There were two pumps close together in the
room—one for feeding the boiler and the
other to use in case the ship should take
fire. This latter one was capable of throwing
a volume of water as large as a man's
body. The young man, who had been employed
on the ship for three years, and who,
when he concentrated his attention on it,
knew all that was necessary concerning the
work in hand, went to the wrong pump and
removed the cap from the fire-pump. In a
moment he discovered his error, but the
force of the water was so great that he
could not replace the cap on the pump.
Without a word he ran to the deck, left the
steamer, and took the cars for his home in
another State. Before the accident was discovered
the water had filled the hold of the
vessel, and in spite of every effort the vessel
sank, and many thousands of dollars of
damage was done.—Louis Albert Banks.
(318)
See Ignorance.
CARELESSNESS, COST OF
The city of Butte, Montana, is built over
a mine which has been on fire for seventeen
years, not blazing out, but smoldering
quietly, every effort being made to keep out
the air, without which it can not spread very
rapidly.
As to the origin of this fire the story is that a miner named Henshaw left his candle burning on a pine beam in the mine when he finished work one day seventeen years ago.
"Goin' to leave the glim there, Bill?" his partner queried.
"Sure; what's the difference?"
"Oh, nothin', only there'll be nobody round here for quite a while and I was just thinkin' that if a fire started it might spread."
"Well, we'll take chances; let's go!" was the glum response.
They went out, but the fire didn't. A set of timbers caught and the flames spread quickly.
Since that time thousands of men have been engaged in fighting this fire without complete success, for it still burns, and a fortune has been expended in the conflict.
