Bachelor Brie-a-Brac. Have ycra over looked loco a bachelor's room In the gloaming twixt dinner and pipe, While he lies on the lonnge in a poetio gloom, And the fruit of bli fanoy 1 ripe t The Angelos-belli, with their nrasloal clang, Are appealing in Tain to hli eart Tia the inmmons to prayer, but he don't care a bang The goda that he worships are here. " In hi chamber the trophiei of battle are stored i He reckons hli eoara by the aoorej The mammas he enraptured, the daughters he bored, The mittens, and heartaches galore. There are cushions of satin, and filigreed mats, With monograms, ever bis own; There are mouchoir -oases, embroidered cravats, And frills for his jars of cologne; There's a tiny slipper he captnred by chance From the qneen of the ballet stars; , Its triumphs are over, a truce to romance It is sacred to Club House cigars. Love-letters are lashed to a broken fan With a ribbon of faded blue, From Marie, who married the wrong, wrong man, And is now a mother or two. 8ome tresses of hair, from raven to gold; Handfuls of nameless curie; He may have forgotten the sweethearts of old, But they're warranted, all of them, girls I There's a perfumed glove, a fragment of lace, And the fringe of a silken sash; Six photographs of a sad, sweet face The spoils of his latest mash; There's a flowing girdle of cardinal red, That is coiled like the canning asp Oh sonnet unwritten! Oh poem unsaid! It is clasped with a golden clasp. Of such Is the bachelor's brio-a-brac; Need 1 tell you what it is for? It's his pride as he lies with his heart on the rack, Lazily waiting for war. Prom the waters beneath to the heavens above, My baoholor hero has found la the wide, wide world there is nothing but love, And there's more than enough to go round. A Woman's Energy. In Eizabeth street, not far from Broome, New York, stands a dingy, old fashioned bouse, managed by an Eng lish woman npon the stereotyped Eng lish lodging-house principle. Tb is house is owned by, and has for years been the residence of, a woman whose career pos sesses some extraordinary features, who CDmmecced with nothing and amassed a fortune of $1,000,000 by real estate op erations, and at seventy years of age is intending to finish her career in the world by writing a treatise on religion and soience. More than fifty years ago a yonng girl in an interior oonnty in that State walked thirty mile to engage the vacant prinoipalship of a village academy. Although not competent to pass an examination for the vaoanoy, the trustees were struck by the indom itable plack of the yonng rnstio, and kindly promised her the situation if she would prepare herself to pass an exam ination within the two months' vacation between the spring and fall terms. The girl went home, shut herself up in a little garret room, lived on bread and water, quarreled with her mother about the housework, and applied herself night and day to arithmetic, geography and grammar. Bat when sturdy little Louisiana St. John reported for exam ination, at the expiration of the two months, she answered every question triumphantly, and entered upon her du ties as the prinoipal of a village acad emy. For more than twenty years Miss St. John pursued the career of a peda gogue, amassing money dollar by dol lar, and investing her savings with cir cumspection, until she thought herself financially strong enough to abandon the schoolma'am's desk and remove to New York. At first her operations in real estate were small and tentative, the Englishwoman, then young and active, acting as her agent But sncoessful ac cumulation engenders confidence, and the year 1S73, memorable for its finan cial crisis, found the adventurous school ma'am operating on a large scale in Western land, St. Louis city lots, etc, and exercising from her little parlor in Elizabeth street a potent influence on the market. Her habits are peculiar and methodical. Rising with the sun, she lays out the business of the day with mathematical preoision before break fast, and issues her instructions to her trusted lieutenants, giving minute di rections as to the conduct of each enter prise, and holding each subordinate to a military accountability. Altboughjsev enty years old and suffering from dropsy, not six months ago this indomitable old lady journeyed unattended to St. Louis, and there, week after week, while the bridge across the river was in progress, looked after the interests of a large property likely to be affected by that en terprise. Beset with sharpers and in terested parties of all sorts, her woman's insight rapidly sifts out the false from the true, and protects her million alike from the speculative enterprises of the visionary and from the bubble compa nies of the professional financier. She will tell you, nevertheless, with a sigh, in a moment of confidence, that her whole life has been a failure, and her splendid fortune only a trouble to her for these many years; that she would give her million for a toddling little granddaughter, but, in the absence of the granddaughter, means to leave it to found any institution that shall in some way benefit humanity. A military man, pitching into an op ponent, exclaimed: 'Why, his pword was never drawn but once, and that was in a raffle.' Cotton Fluor. The following, Irom an exhaustive pa per on the natural history of cotton, was read before the Boston Society of Nat oral History by Henry O. Kittredge, whose able reports on wool at the Cen -. tennial exhibition will be remembered: The cotton fiber is a hollow, elongated cylinder, the walla of wbioh are of the purest and thinnest cellulose, filled with a sap or protoplasm, more or less glu tinous, which in the state of maturation becomes dense by the dissipation of the volatile parts, causing the filament to assume a spiral convolution. During the process of ripening the fiber col lapses, presenting the appearance of a fiat ribbon with thickened margins. In proportion to the abundance of the dry glutine and the amount of twist in the fiber, so its strength and pliability, two of the chief values for manufacturing purposes. The glutinous composition gives what is called the 'body' to the cotton, which is more copious in rioh cotton as is grown on rich land, which aooounts for the superiority in strength of such cot ton over that grown on poor soil. The direction of the twist in the fiber is va riable, and not always complete, there being quarter, half, three-quarter, full turns. Tne number of sinuations to an inoh differs according to the nature of the cotton, but seldom exceeding 150; nor are they uniform throughout the fiber. The largest number of twists to the inoh that ever came under my observation was 160, including half turns. I am inclined to the opinion that the fineness and softness of cotton' are dependent greatly upon relative humidity of the atmosphere. The fineness of the fibers averages not far from 1,000 diameters to the inoh. The chemical analysis of the seed and fiber demonstrates the existence of potash, lime and magnesia as the prin cipal constituents in various combina tions. The moBt satisfactory analysis which I have seen is this: For the ash of the seed, sixty per cent, phosphate of lime, thirty per cent, phosphate of pot ash and ten per cent, of other sub stances. For the ash of the fiber, thirty three and one-third per cent, phosphate of potash, sixteen and two-thirds per cent, phosphate of lime, twelve and one half per cent, phosphoric! aoid, and thirt-Aseven and one-half per cent, magnesia and other elements. A bale of lint cotton of 400 pounds, thoroughly incinerated, woald yield about four pounds of ash, half of which is made up of phosphates cf potash and lime. The seed from which this lint is taken, etuos 800 pounds, reduced to an qss would yield about fifty pounds, over half of which is composed of phosphates of lime and potash, the lime preponder ating. Tnese conBtitu -nts, as found in the seed, are who ly, or nearly so, from the hull, the kernel famishing but little. It is well known that the natural color of cotton is white, reddish or yellow; but the composition of these colors has never been satisfactorily explained, any more than it is thought they are allied with 'some pectine and resinous substances which can be removed by treatment with diluted alkaline solutions. ' . - For the most favorable results the plant requires a uniform temperature, a singular adjustment of heat and mois ture, a peculiar equilibrium in the cli matic relations between the mountains and the sea, abundant rains during the planting season, frequent and gentle showers while flowering and fruiting, and a rainless period at maturation and gathering. It is one of the least ex haustive of any known crop plants; that is, if the stalk and the seed are retained to the soil and nothing but the lint taken from it. It is said that an average crop of wheat (ten bushels) takes from an acre of land about thirty-two pounds of vegetable food, such as potash, lime, magnesia and nitrogen; while of these elements the cotton plant removes in lint only two and three-quarter pounds per acre, presuming 450 pounds of seed cotton to the acre. The Climate of Leadville. A traveler in Colorado gives this in sight into the weather at Leadville, the town whiob has so marvelonsly sprung np: This Rocky mouutain weather is a puzzle to every one from the East. The days at this season are usually as warm as can be comfortably endured; but ev ery night it freezes hard. Our first morning duty was always to break tl:e ice in our water-bucket with an axe, for no lighter instrument would answer. In the midst of any of these sunny days, which are almost as warm as they are having in New York at this season, a black cloud may suddenly blow np from the mountains and shower down snow for an hour and then pass off as sudden ly, leaving the cfternoon as hot as ever. With such vicissitudes of weather in twenty-four hours it is not strange that all kinds of colds are prevalent and pneumonia very fatal. I should judge that every third person that one meets on the main stteet has his throat swath ed. A Leadville swell no longer consid ers himself completely dressed until his attire is set off by a strip of brilliant flannel aronnd his neck. It is the fre quency of these severe and often fatal colds together with the numerous cases of lead poisoing among the smelters, which have given to Leadville its repu tation for nn healthiness. I cannot dis cover deaths from other causes are especially common there, unless it may be from overdoses of bad whisky. There has been discovered near Bowles- Owing to the numerous checks which burg, West Virginia, belonging to Sen- the British government has put npon ator H. G. Davis, on Cheat river, a the importation of live cattle from this large body of pnre and solid ice, formed country, as it conflicts with the busi last winter. Hundreds of people are ness of their butchers, New York mar daily visiting the epot to view the curi- ketmen have revived the trade of send obity. The same thing is remembered ing dressed beef, new inventions having to have occurred in 1800, when it was obviated the difficulty of keeping the regarded as very curious. meat fresh, The Art of Bouquet Making It seems an easy thing to make a bou quet as one looks over the garden and sees the beautiful flowers. But after all it is a difficult matter and one sometimes forgets that flowers have their affinities and preferences, as well as the human race. Above all give them room and not crowd them. When flowers are massed neavily together all lose their beauty. I saw an arrangement of flowers yesterday where two lovely day lilies that would have been beautiful if grouped alone in a slender vase with a few ferns or green spires, but whose effect was ruined by being put in the center of a mass of lark spurs and common garden flowers. The common flowers only looked the more oommon in contrast with the lilies, and the lilies looked as though caught in very coarse company. For vases and bouquets of any sort there should be plenty of white for the foundation. When stemless flowers are used, like a tuberose or a single gera nium, stems can be made by putting the ends inside of straws and then wiring it in: when arranged in the bouquet the straw cannot be seen, but the flowers can be kept fresh by absorbing the water. A pretty arrangement is to take a spike of scarlet gladiolus, with its brilliant coloring, arrange it with feathery grass es aud gleams of white feverfew here and there, and you will have a lovely spot of coloring for some dark comer. Again, petunias and morning glories are difficult to combine with any flower, but give them a wide-mouthed vase and a few leaves and they are positively grace ful. All lilies I think are prettiest if no other flowers are mixed with them. For small vases a very good way is to clip them off and put them in carelessly as they come, then they will look natural; too much arrangement often spoils the looks of a vase of flowers. For either hand or vase bouquets do not put too many colors together. Tom Jackson's Queer Pet. Tom Jackson, of this city, says the Virginia (Nev.) Enterprise, has a train ed horned toad wbioh is quite a curiosi ty. It is as tame as a kitten and in a quiet way is fall of fun. Mrs. Jaokson has trained the little fellow to stand erect upon his hind feet, to stand on his head, steadying himself with his fore paws; to turn over on his back and sham dead and to do qnite a number of similar tricks. Tom says he thinks she will soon have the toad trained to play the jews harp quite as well as the average Piute musician. The toad is fed on flies and similar insects, but is also very fond of milk, which it drinks from a spoon. Although always called the horned-toad or horned-frog in this country, the little beast is a lizard. Naturalists called it an iguanian lizard of the genus p?irynos oma. Our mountaineers, who are often qnite as close obseivers of every living thing met with in the wilds as any nat uralist, speak of a thing characteristic of the horned-toad that we have never seen mentioned by any of the scientists. It is that when the female is teased by a dog it ejects two small streams or slender threads of blood at least a red liquid resembling blood. The liquid is spurted to the distance of nearly two feet and with considerable force. The liquid is evidently provided the little animal as a means of defense against foxes, wolves and trnh animals, and whatever may be its nature it renders a dog very uncom fortable in the region of the stomach. One dose of it satisfies his curiosity. A Woman's Advice. Make home a home, and make it one in every sense of the word. My hus band is a great smoker; he loves to play cards, dominoes and chess; he is at per fect liberty to smoke in any ioom in the house, and I am always ready and will ing to join him in the different games. I endeavor in every way to be not only a helpmate, but a companion to him, and the result has been that I have and en joy his society; he prefers spending his evenings at home with me to seeking other society. I cannot understand why women will run the riBk of losing their husbands' society and love merely for the sake of gratifying an over-fastidious taste. If they do not like tobacco, did they object to bis using it during the days of courtship? And if they ob jected then and failed, why did they marry? If men will not give up such habits at the solicitation of their sweet he irts, it is not likely they will be per suaded out of them by their wives; there fore I think it unwise for a woman to risk her happiness by quarreling with her husband over a venial fault, the ex istence and extent of which she knew and perfectly understood before she took upon herself the duties of a wife. A Kevada Story. At Omaha a disgusting exhibition is in progress in the shape of a rooster, whioh although having nis head out off, still lives. His head was out off in Kan sas four months ago, and the rooster ran under a house, whence in a day or two he was taken out alive, having refused to die. The present proprietor hearing of it bought it for $50, and he says he has refused $7,0C0 for it. He claims he is making a mint of money out of it The bird is fed in the throat and takes nour ishment rapidly; is in fat condition, and stands up and walks around at leisure. Surgeons explain it by saying that the head was cut off at the base of the brain near the end of the spinal column, which was not broken. The head is prepared in alcohol. Canse of the Coolness Between Russia and Germany. After keeping the whole diplomatic world of Europe in one continuous flut ter for more than a month, the origin of the cold wave whioh suddenly struck the Basso-German alliance, blighted its cordiality, and prevented the Bassian emperor from being present at his un ole's golden wedding, has at last been found out. A certain Major Von Lieg nitz, attached to the German legation at St. Petersburg as its military member, had some time ago the great misfortune to have, not only his money, but also his papers stolen from him. The thief was caught and the money was prompt ly restored by the police, but the papers were sent on a trip through the secret bureaus of the Russian administration, and here some disagreeable discoveries were made. The major's criticism was very free and not so very kind in its tone. This, however, could properly be considered and treated as merely a per sonal affair. But the papers also show ed that the German government kept itself posted about everything military in Russia with a minuteness which look ed very much like an actual preparation, and whioh in a striking manner reminded the Russian government of the startling familiarity which the Prussian staff de veloped in 1870-71 with all French mat ters. The result was that Major Von Leignitz immediately returned to Ber lin, though without his papers, and a few weeks afterward the French ambas sador, Gen. Chaney, was invited to in spect one of the new seaports at Kron stadt, while the German ambassador was left out in the cold. Some Interesting Facto. The air we breathe contains five grains of water to each cubic foot of its bulk. The potatoes and turnips which are boil ed for our dinner, have, in their raw state, the one 75 per cent., the other 90 per cent, of water. If a man weigh ing ten stone were squeezed flat in a hydraulic press, seven and a half stone of water would run out, and only two and a half of dry residue remain. A man is, chemically speaking, forty-five pounds of carbon and nitrogen diffused through five and a half pailf uls of water. In plants we find water thus mingling no less wonderfully. A sunflower evap orates one and a quarter pints of water a day, and a cabbage about the same quantity. A wheat plant exhales, in 172 days, about 100,000 grains of water. An acre of growing wheat, on this calcula tion, draws and passes out about ten tons of water per day. The sap of plants is the medium through which this mass of fluid is conveyed. It forms a delicate pump, np through which the watery particles run with the rapidity of a swift stream. By the action of the sap, various properties may be commnnioated to the growing plant timber in France, for instance, dyed by various colors being mixed with water, and poured over the roots of the tree. Dahlias are also col ored by a similar process. A Jieeded Improvement. Some of the Western cities, notably Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Chicago, which have been for years hopelessly begrimed by the burning of soft coal, are delighted with the proposed plan of washing the smoke, so that when passing fiom the chimney it will not, it is said, soil a white handkerchief. They fear that this is almost too good to be true, but they are encouraged to believe that the present nuisance of thick, black, perpetual smoke can at least be greatly abated. Cincinnati has long been nearly as bad as Pittsburg, and Chios go has been steadily growing from bad to worse. St. Louis, Louisville and other cities where manufactures are increas ing are suffering from continually fall ing soot, and the method of getting rid of it will, if successfully adopted, be a material blessing. No one who has not lived in Pittsburg or Cincinnati can have any idea of the detestableness of the smoke, which shuts out the sky, de stroys the purity of the air, soils build ings, clothes, people, snd renders life burdensome. When those towns are purified their best friends will hardly know them. The advantage will be in calculable. Poor Girls. The poorest girls in the world are those who have never been taught to work. There are thousands of them. Bicb parents have petted them ; they have been taught to despise labor, and depend upon others for living, and are perfectly helpless. If misfortune comes npon their friends, as it often does.their case is hopeless. The most forlorn and miserable wo men upon earth belong to this class. It belongs to parents to protect their daugh ters from this deplorable condition. They do them a great wrong if they neg lect it Every daughter ought to be taught to earn her own living. The rioh as well as the poor require training. The wheel of fortune rolls swiftly round; the rich are very likely to become poor, and the poor rich. Skilled to labor is no disadvantage to the rich, and is in dispensable to the poor. Well-to-do parents must educate their children to work. No reform is more imperative than this. A pair of sparrow-hawks entered the barn of R. W. Garritt, a farmer of the town of Ballston, Md., last spring, and usurped the nesting place of a pair of doves in which they inenbated and rear ed their young till near maturity, when the farmer seized the young hawks, three in number, which he is raising as mousers. They are as tame as young chickens, and their voracious appetites make them as efficient as a oat in de stroying mice. It is easier to forget a favor than an injury, FOB THE FARMER'S HOUSEHOLD. Greea Pens ftnd Oata for Cows. Fodder-oorn is almost universally raised to feed cows while on short pas ture in the fall, and is so valuable an addition to their food that every dairy man should raise about one-eighth of an acre of it for each cow kept; but it should also be remembered that cows require a variety. It is not good econ omy to depend one kind of green food, and especially one containing so little albuminoid matter as fodder-corn. Clover and a mixture of meadow grasses may be relied npon alone, but corn should always be fed with some more nitrogenous food. It does very well with half pasture, fer the grasses will supply the albuminoid matter. There are other green crops that should be raised to be fed with corn; and we know of none better than peas and oats, sown together one third oats and two-thirds peas three bushels of the mixed seed per acre, with drill. On land in good condition a large crop may be raised, having a value second to no other. Peas and oats are equal to olover, and may be raised on a great variety of soils a most important consideration. We have raised twelve tons of this green food to the acre, and this would feed twenty-four cows ten days without any other food. The pea is rich in caseine just what is required to make milk and the oat is also rioh in the elements of milk. These two crops grow well to gether, for the oats hold the peas up and prevent them from lying too fiat on the ground. They mature so near together that they are both ready to cnt at the same time. Bat the crop should always be cut when the pea pod is full and the grain in the milk. It is then very suc culent and palatable, and will produce as much milk as any food we know of, aside from a large variety of pasture grasses in their most succulent state. If the dairyman has green fodder-corn also let him feed the corn, peas and oats to gether. He need never fear giving too much variety at once. In an old pas ture cows find from twenty to fifty varie ties of grass, to be eaten at the same time. This is what gives such fine flavor to the milkers on old pastures; it gath ers and concentrates the aroma of all these plants, and it must have a more delicious flavor than that made from one kind of food, such as corn or rye, or even red clover, alone. Italian Bees. All who have tried them agree to the superiority of the Italian bee over the common blacks. To say that they are not is like saying that a short-horn is nowise superior to the lean, long Texas scrub; or that Essex or Berkshire swine are no better than the long, lank hazel splitter, with infinite noses. I have only space in this artiole to mention some of their superior qualities. They possess longer tongues, hence can gather honey from flowers whioh are useless to the black bee; they are more active and will collect more honey; they work earlier and later, both in the day and season; they are far better to protect their hives against robbers; they are almost proof against the bee moth; the queens are more prolific; the queen is more readily found . I would rather undertake to find three Italian queens than one black. It is frequently necessary to find the qneen in a hive, and this advantage alone is of vast importance. The bees are more disposed to adhere to the comb. Anoth er sufficient ground alone, is that the bees are far more amiable; if they are treated kindly they can be handled near ly any time without smoke. Domestic Notes. To prevent pib paste from soaking the liquid contained in the filling of the pie, glaze the under crust with a beaten egg. Fecit Canning. Put a pint of warm water in a basin, and lay in a flaunel folded several thicknesses, being careful that the flannel is larger than the bot tom of the dish. Place your empty jar on the flannel, and pour in yoi fruit boiling hot A large number of cans can be filled without changing the water, with no danger of breaking. This simple method saves much time and trouble. Based Ego Plant. Cut it into slices three-fourths of an inch thick and lay in salt water for an hour or more. Wipe the pieces dry and dip into beaten egg, then into bread crumbs or cracker dust; have the fat hot in your pan, just enough to prevent sticking and put them into the oven until done. This will be found a better way than frying, and they are very light and delicious. Season to the taste before cooking. Iok Cream Without a Freezer. Beat the yelks of eight eggs very light, and add thereto four cups sugar and stir well Add to this, little by little, one quart rioh milk that has been heated al most to boiling, beating all the while, then put in the whites of eight eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Then boil the mixture in a pail set inside another con taining hot water. Boil about fifteen minutes, or until it is as thick as a boil ed custard, stirring steadily meanwhile. Pour into a bowl to cool. When qnite cold, beat into it three pints of rich sweet cream and five teaspoonfuls of vanilla, or sneh other flavoring as you prefer. Put it into a pail having a close fitting cover and pack in pounded ice and salt rook salt, not the oommon kind. When packed, before putting the ioe on top of the cover, beat the custard as you would batter, for five minutes steady; then put on the cover, put the ioe and salt over it and cover the whole with a thick mat, blanket or carpet, and let it stand for an hour. Do not let the salt get inside, or it will spoil the cream. Carefully uncover and scrape from the bottom and sides of the pail the thick coating of frozen custard, making every particle clear, beat again hard until the custard is a smooth, half congealed paste. Do this thoroughly. Pat on the cover, ioe, salt and blanket, and leave it for five or six hours, replen ish the ioe and Bait if necessary. 4
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers