LOST BALLS.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1657, 17 February 1883, Page 4

LOST BALLS.

Tub guosjtion what becpjncs ,o t f the pips has rtfv'cY'ySt Weii- "aiisw^aV but it! is by,,uo 1X100,113 the most difficult question :^\Wtcmtid\lqaskc ! d. 'The pin' is « On) bf 10 tha'taoaV 1 thWd pf all objects, and' its form fits ifc for 'dasily concealing 'itsejf. In fact, there arc various hypotheses which -mifcht' b'c suggested, any one bf •which would, furnish a l'csonabjy satisfactory explanation of what becomes 0 i ? ina. a ,X' 111 m S>V° difficult ia, the, •TjSoVtioa wii'jS; btcombsroftiio l<wt ■There is here a mystery that seeihs '"'almost iiwciutalilp. and which Ims ( hfyherto i utterly bafll&l the most tireless ''and earnest explorer. < ' There aro in this' country according to ' f 'tho last' I 'census, about 8/250,000 small boyjs. Of these fully one-half play 1 ball, '""and if we a«Hunie'thut every 'ball playjer ' ' loses ono bull' anriually, our small 'boys • 'lose an aggregate quantity of 4,12.1,000 "''balls 'cv«ry 'year. To these miibfc be * !'-added! '-added the 'croquet balls lost by giiK and '' the lawn tennis ;ind base balls lost |>y ** ''ybitng men and young woincu. \y o shall ceiUmly be within the tn.uk it we "assume that fully 1,000,000 belonging to tV ttfieo latter classes arc annually lost. ' 1 ' Thiio w c find • that the number oi balls lost m the United States every year is at least live millions. Of these the number of balls that arc found after having been once thoroughly lost is \ cry small. Them are no absolutely trustworthy jjlatisfe as to this blanch of the subject, but careful en<iuiiios nude m <lill"i"nt parts of the countiy wan ant the belief that nob moie tlian lii.'Jballs aie found m the eouise of ot any one ) cai . This number is !,o small that ifc may be pi actually disiegaidcd, '■ «i»d we. are 'justified in saying th.it the five millions of balls annually lost are lost totally^ and forever. The manner in which lost balls become lost; is familiar to us oil. A ball is thrown or stiuck, and ap patently falls to the giound ; tho eager seaioher hastens to the pLieo wheic it disappeared, and hunts for it oft his kness. It cannot be found. If it- apparently fell in a giassy ppot the scaicher imagines that it is fiomuwhere' concealed uudoi 1 the grass, but in the absence of gr.i.ss he can liame no theoiy to explain ils ilisvppuaiancc. Jialls has c fallen into small paved eourfcyaids wheie theie w.is Jiot the slightest ' object to concc.il them-ehe-s, but no amount of iearchinij h.^ been rew aided by then' u-eovoiy, and balls disappear on giavellcd loads oi h.ud clay ball giounds an certainly as they -would weie they tossed into a field of grass or oats. Aitows shot afc a target ai-e temporal ily lost whenever they miss the target, but they aie always found again without any •houble. Tho maible ie\nesents a ball in shape and is much smaller, but it is veiy seldom that a boy loses a maible. On the other hand a ball that tails— oi appaicutly falls— amid high glass, and that ought, one would think, to be found by cutting away the gra^, is never found in any cituimstances. In a field near Weat ibiahit:i Ohio, of less than an acre in extent, and coveted with high glass, no less than 427 balls, by actual count, \\e\o lost between the '20 th June and the the 1 lth of August last. On the 12th of of AugUot the field wuc cirefullj mowed and not a bull v> as found although the cutuiasb and the bared ground avoic benched with the utmost eaie. It is estimated that about 100,000 lulls pel .mmmi accidentally uo thiough the dining room window, and aic confiscated by indignant housewives. These balls <uc iie\oi "in again, but it is open to an.voiie to allege that they are bmncd, oi othei u .m< d< stun ed by those by whom they .lie confiscated. Also it is safe to s.iy that viOObO.) balls pel annum aie stolen— oi, ifth.it ijtooseveie a word, taken possession of— bj the- old gentleman living next door to the ball-giound, and h.u m\r an e\>vj;"< t.iteil lo\e ot quiet and ot unbio'.en windows. Ihe.se balls may also be de-tioyed a» .1 matter oi cithci M,ngeuecor piccaution. A very bm.ill miinberol bills, say one or U\o thousand, ai' 1 eaviu-d oil and wonicd by <logi, lint an enoimoiH majoiity of tile 5,000,000 of lost balls disappeai witliout lenung ns tin, >,lijhtc-t clue to their final di stnution II tlicsc lialU H.iiain on the surface of the c.uth, then oui globe is steadily glowing in si/e. I \iin-iiltlis of: them aie hollow rubber balls 1 , and m that .shape occupy twenty times the loom that the law nibbci' of which they aic made orginallv occupied. Of coiu&c, the solid balls- --.ueli as the base-balls andcio()iietballs—occupy no moie space as balls, than was occupied by the material? of ■ulneh they aie made ; but thc^c foim, as been sud, not moie than one-fifth of the total number of losi, balls. If 4,000,000 i übber lulls should be placed on the surface of the caith and corned with mould and fallen le.ues, they would be sufficient to l, use the continent of North America one inch above the oidinary height. Now it this is w hat l rally takes place eVeiy ycai, it follows the Noith America is steadily crinwjiig. A like giowth is piobably" taking pl.u'e alloNcr Kurojje, and w hfievcr )>,i})^ ,uo m use. Thus the •w hole eaitli is growing ; by its nici eased glow tli it of(( is mcieascd lesistancv 1 to the cthei of sjiacc : it^> speed in its oibit is theieby less' lied, and ns the ccntii]»ct.il ioice e\eite 1 by the sun incieaset. in piopoition to flic lessening ot the wnth's speed, if, follow s that the annual loss- of !, 000,000 the mbher balls is actually liasfonm^ the day when the iMith will i,dl into the sun. As .;n cac.ipe lioiiilhi-. fi l nble i.ite it h. is been suggested that 10->t balls piss out ot the spheie ol this earth's nil Motion and levolvu foi ever lound the sun. 'I'his is a beautiful theoiy, and it obtains some Mippoi b from the fact that although Sir losac New ton diseo\eied that apples fall to the eai th, he made no disco\eiyof a like nature in icgard to balls. Still the theory lacks confirmation, and until further dihcovciios aie made, we must leluctantly admit that we do not know what becomes of lost balls. — Ftuiu the i\V«' York 'Jnbune.

I'iik .S\ v i, C'noyri nn 1 -;.— A loiter received by the Suez m.ul gives tho following pat ticuhu i of the agitation in bkyo, which a later edible messauro reports to be in «a f.iir way to .settlement : — Peace is htill far from being lestoied in Skye. The Inverness "police .uithoiities being tluoatenod with .u-ned resistance if they cmloiivouioil to het\e the wuts of the Oouit .Sessions on tho crofters, who hud refused to pay Uww rents applied to tho Government lov n force of military. Tiiis bciu'4 refused them, they then applied to tli« police authorities of scveva.l laige towns — e.g., Glasgow, l J tiis"lc j y, Giokiiouk, and Dundee— fov the ' loan of consuabks to strengtben their 'fore: for cai lying out of this object. In £^U tlieao case 1 ? tftey mefc Avith refusals also, but at Abcideen they met with a favointyblo iospon.se. However, the cvprdifcion has not yet been despatched , and it his hoped a compromise may yet ' be effected. It 'is not pretended even by the crofteis themselves, that their offer ■ is a fair one, but' they are simply resolved to pay no more, nor their two years' arrea'i s of lent, be they right or , -wrong, and they say they have fastened .their scythes to poles to resist any force which may bo sent against them. , The ,' 'difliculty may bo smoothed over for' a ' time, but it will never be settled, for the ' crofters have now made it abundantly plain that what they are aiming at is 1 "no rent." At Clytlv Caithness, things 1 ' are nearly as bad, and language of tho ''' true' Gal Way typo is being used. It is evident, too, from the signs' i to • be, per- ' celvetl in various quarters, ' that' the leaven is working thiougliout the High''latidej wheYe tlie ■ Jahcl ' 'question is • hoeom'mg ) ,moy& add; ijiore ifa biirn«, iidng'ono; nud.lriuhjemiastiriea #re, actively ./>ieDgftgodiii^ work, at whiph^thqy ju'd now -$jnfror Hftii4)i p h< * MPrw^Wp