PERMANENCE. I wrote her name upon a rose spread its petals to the dawn; But at the evening's troubled close I came, and 10l the rose was gone. I carved her name upon a tree, The stately forest's pride and mine, "Live there, sweet name! Long lease to thee!" That night the tempest slew the pine. I cut her name deep in a rock That crowned the beetling mountain-side, Alas! there came an earthquake shock, And plunged the bowlder in the tide. Then I perceived that outward frame Could no sure stead to lore impart, And last of all I wrote her name Warm on the tablets of my heart. —[James Buckham, in Frank Leslie's. TEE LOST KOOHFLOWEH. I looked up from my beetles. The night was warm. A little black girl crossed the dusty main street of the village just in front of my hut, carrying in her hand what seemed to me in the gloaming the largest blossom I had ever observed since my arrival in Africa. That was a blossom. It looked like an orchid, pale cream-color in hue, and very fantastic and bizarre in shape; but what specially attracted my attention at first sight was its peculiar shining and glisteniug effect, like luminous paiut, which made it glow in the gray dusk with a sort of phos phorescent light such as one observes in tropical seas on calm summer evenings. To a naturalist, of course, such a vision as that was simply irresistible. "Hullo, there, little girl!' I cried out in Fautee, which I had learned by that time to speak pretty fluently, "let me look at your flower, will you? Where on earth did you get it?" But instead of answering me civilly, the scared little savage, alarmed at my white face, set up a wild howl of terror and amazement and bolted off down the street as fast as her small bandy legs would carry her. Well, science is science. I wasn't to be balked of a unique specimen for my great collection by a trick like that. So, fling ing away my cigarette and darting out of my hut I gave chase incontinently, and rushed full pelt down the main street of Tulamba, helter-skelter in pursuit of my ten-year-old. But I reckoned without ny host. Chil dren 011 the Gaboon beat the record for the quartermile. I was quite pumped out and panting for breath before I ran that gil l to earth at last, by her mother's door at the fur end of the village. A dozen or more of the natives loitering about on their backs in the dust of the street, had joined the hue and cry with great gusto by that time. They didn't know, to be sure, what the fuss was about, but given a white man—bestower of money—rushing in mad pursuit, and a poor little fright ened black girl scampering away for dear life at the top of her speed, in abject bodi ly terror, and you may confidently reckon on the chivalry of the Gaboon to range itself automatically 011 the side of the stronger, and to drive the unhappy small child hopelessly into a very bad corner. When at last I got up with the object of' my quest she was so alarmed and blown with her headlong career that I felt thor oughly ashamed of myself. Even the pur suit of science, I will frankly admit, hard ly justified me in so chivying that fright- j ened little mortal, the strong, through the street of Tulamba. However, a bright, English sixpence, a red silk pocket baud- I kerchief and the promise of a box of Eu ropean sweets from the old, half-caste Portuguese trader's 9hop in the village, soon restored her confidence. Unhappily it did not restore that broken and drag gled orchid. In her headlong flight the child had crumpled it hopelessly up in her hand and distorted it almost beyond the possibility of scientific recognition. All I could make out with certainty was that the orchid belonged to a new and hitherto undescribed species; that it was large and luminous and extremely beautiful, and that if only I could succeed in securing a plant of it my name was made as a scienti fic explorer. The natives crowded around with dis interested advice and eyed the torn and draggled blossom curiously. "It's a moonflower," they said in their own di alect. "Very rare. Hard to get. Comes from the deep shades of tho great for est." "How did you come by it, my child?" I asked coaxingly of my sobbing little ten-year-old. "My father brought it in,"the child answered with a burst. "He gave it me a week ago. He was out in the country of the dwarfs doing trade. lie went for ivory and he brought this back to me." "Boys," I cried to the natives who had crowded round looking on, "do you know where it lives? 1 want to get one. A good English rifle to any man in Tu lamba who guides me to the spot where I can pick a wild moonflower!" The men shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders dubiously. "Oh, no," they all answered, like su pers at the theatre, with one accord. • 'Too far! Too dangerous!" "Why dangerous?" I cried, laughing. "The moonflowers won't bite you. Who says danger in picking a flower?" My head guide and hunter stood out from the crowd, and looked across at me awe struck. "Oh, excellency," he said, in a hushed and frightened voice, "the] moon flower is very scarce; it grows only in the dark forest of the inner land where the Ngina dwells. No man dare pick it for fear of the Ngina." "Oho!"said I. "Is that so, my friend? Then I'm not astonished." For Ngina, as no doubt you're already aware, is the native West African narao for the gor illa. Well, I took home the poor draggled blossom to my hut, dissected it carefully and made what scientific study was pos sible of its unhappy remains in their much ta tered condition, But for the next ten days, as you can readily believe, I could think and talk and dream of nothing but moon flowers. You can't think what a fascination it exerts on a naturalist ex plorer's mind—a new orchid like that, as big round as a dessert plate and marked by so extraordinary and hitherto unknown a peculiarity in plants as phos phorescence. For the moon flower was phosphorescent. Of this I had not the shadow of a doubt. It s petals gave out by night a faint and dreamy luminous ness, which must haveshined like a moon indeed in the flense dark shade of a tropi cal African forest. The more I inquired of the natives I about the new plant the more was my l curiosity piqued to possess one. I longed to firing a root of the marvellous bloom to Europe. For the natives all spoke of it with a certain hushed awe or supersti tious respect. "It is the Ngina's flower," they said; "It grows in the dark places—the gardens of Ngina. If any man breaks one oIT that is very bad luck; the Ngina will surely overtake and destroy him." This superstitious awe only inflamed my desire to possess a root. The natives' stories showed the moon flower to be a most unique species. I gathered from what they told me that the blossom had a very long spur or sac, containing honey at its base in great quantities ; that it was fertilized and rifled by a huge evening moth, whose proboscis was exactly adap ted in length to the spur and its nectary; that it was creamy white in order to at tract the insects' eyes in the gray shades of dusk; and that, for the self same rea son, its petals were endowed with the strange quality of phosphorescence, till now unknown in the vegetable kingdom; while it exhaled by night a delicious perfume, strong enough to be perceived at some twenty yards distance. So great a prize to a man of my tastes was simply irresistible. I made up my mind that, come what might, I must, could j and would possess a tuber of the moon flower. One fortnight sufficed for me to make my final plans. Heavy bribes overcame I the scruples of the negroes. The prom ise of a good rifle induced the finaer of the first specimen to take service with rae as a guide. Fully equipped for a week's march, and well attended with followers all armed to the teeth, I made my start at last for the home of the moonflower. To cut a long story short, wc went for three days into the primeval shade of the great equatorial African forest. Dense roofs of foliage shut out the light of day; underfoot the ground was encumbered with thick, tropical brushwood. We crept along cautiously, hacking our way at times among the brake with our cut lasses and crawling at others through the deep tangle of the underbrush on all fours like monkeys. During all those three days wc never caught sight of a single moon flower. They were growing very rare nowadays, my guide explained in most voluble Fantee. When he was a mere boy his father found dozens of them, but now, why you must go miles and miles through the depths of the forest and never so much as light on a speci men. At last, about noon on the fourth day out, we came upon a torrent rushing with great velocity among huge bowlders and sending up the spray of its boiling rapids into the trees of the neighborhood. I sat down to rest, meaning to mix the water from the cool, fresh stream with a spoonful or two of cognac from the flask in my pocket. As I drank it I tossed back my head and looked up. Some thing on one of the trees hard by attract ed my eyes strangely. A parasite stood out boldly from a fork of the branches, bearing a long, lithe spray of huge, luminous flowers, as big as dessert plates. My heart gave a bound. The prize was within signt. I pointed my finger in silence to the treo. All the negroes with one voice raised a loud shout of triumph. Their words rent the air: "The moon flower I The moon flower!" I felt myself for a moment a perfect Stanley or DuChaillu. I had discovered the most marvellous and beautiful orchid known to science. I laid down my rifle, and mounting on the back of one of my porters was swingj ing myself up to the lowest branch of the tree, where my new treasure shone | resplendent in its own dim phosphor escence. I couldn't have trusted any I , hand but my own to pick or egg out that | ?lorious tuber. I meant to cut it bodily rom the bark as it stood and bear it back in triumph in my own arms to Tu lamba. I had climbed the tree cautiously and was standing almost within grasp of the prizo, when a sudden shout among my followers below startled and discom posed me. I looked down and hesitated. My brain reeled and sickened. A strange sight met my eyes. My porters, one and all, had taken to their feet down the bed of the stream at the very top of their speed, and were making a mo9t unani mous and inexplicable stampede toward the direction of Tulamba. For a moment I couldn't imagine what had happened to disconcert them; then, casting my glance casually toward the spot where I had flung down my rifle, I became aware at once of the cause of this commotion. Their retreat was well timed. By the moss-clad boulders which filled the bed of the torrent somebody, with a big, black face and huge grinning ; teeth, was standing erect, looking up at [ me and laughing. I had never seen the [ somebody's awful featuros before, but I j had no need, for all that, to ask myself his name. I paused face to face with a a live male gorilla. For a moment or two the creature gazed up at me and grinned. Then he raised my rifle in his arms; held it clum sily before him, and to my intense sur prise, taking a very bad aim, or rather pointing it aimlessly in tho air, pulled both triggers with one hand and dis charged the two barrels at me with one pull simultaneously. The bullets whizzed past me soino ten yards off. They knocked off the twigs beyond my precious moon flower. I don't deny that I was astonished. I won't deny that I was frightened. To tell the truth I was never in such a hide ous funk before in all my life. I trem bled like a jelly—my protoplasm curdled. I don't suppose the creature intended to fire or had the slightest idea in his dim mind what firing meant. No doubt he was only playing with the un known object out of pure monkey curi osity. He must have been almost as much terrified at the result as I was. But j no matter for that; it was awkward to I find one's self face to face with a gorilla, alone and without one's rifle—so awk ward that for a minute or two I just gave myself up for lost entirely. The gorilla, however, after his first flush of surprise was over, did not, as I half hoped, lling down the noisy gun and make headlong for the remotest depths of the forest. On the contrary, he stood and looked at it for a few seconds in blank dismay. He frowned with his scowling eyebrows ; he gnashed his great teeth in rage; he roared like a waterfall. ! Then he seized the rifle deliberately in his | great hairy hands, bent the barrel almost! double as readily as a man would bend a i bit of common lead gaspipe, and flung it away angrily among the moss clad bowlders. After that he looked up and grinned once more diabolically, showing his great canine teeth in the most grew some fashion. Well, I don't deny, as I say, that I was in a state of blue flunk at the creature's gigantic and almost supernatural powers. But still, the moon flower was at stake and I wouldn't desert it. I was so hori i' bly frightened that I don't believe wife or child or fatherland or freedom would have induced me to stay one moment alone in such dire extremities. But when it comes to orchids 1 Well, I say no more than that I am above all things a scientific explorer; each of us has his weakness, and mine is a flower. That touches my heart. For that alone can I be wrought up to the utmost pitch of daring conceivable or possible for me. So I looked at the huge brute, and I looked at the moonflower. Slowly and cautiously, gazing down all the time as I 1 went to watch the creature's face, I crept along the branch, took my knife from my pocket, and began to loosen the bark all around the spot where the glorious parasite was all a-growing and a-blow ing. Tho gorilla, from below, stood watching me and roaring. His roar seemed like an invitation to come down and fight. I never in my lifo heard any thing so awfully humun in its deep bass roll. It reminded me of the lowest notes of the stage villain in the Italian operas, magnified, so to speak, two hundred diameters. Presently, as I went on cutting away the bark, as if for dear life, and loosen ing the precious tuber, my gorilla, who still remained motionless by his mossclad boulder, left off his roaring and appeared to grow interested in the process of the operation. A change came o'er the spirit of his dream. He looked up and won dered, with vague brute cunousity, not unmixed with a certain srtange air of low cunning and intelligence. The longer I went on the closer and the more attentively did the gorilla take stock of all my acts and movements. At lost I had iinished and held my specimen in my hands entire. The next question now was what to do with it. I walked slowly and cautiously along the branch of the tree. The gorilla, with his eyes now fixed curiously on the moon flower, put forth one hairly leg in front of another, and grinning with a sort of diabolical, brutish good humor, walked step for step on the ground just as I cautiously beneath me. I came to the end of the bough, and ' reached the point where interlacing branches enabled me to get on to an other tree. I did so somewhat clumsily, for I was handicapped by the moon flower. Then I lost my balance, and clinging still to my moonflower in my last chance for life, lowered myself i slowly hand over hand to the ground I in front of him. With ft frightful roar the creature sprang upon me, and made a wild grab at my precious moonflower. That was more than scientific human nature could stand. I turned and fled, carrying my specimen with me. But my pursuer was too quick. He caught me up in a mo ment. His scowling black faoe was ghastly to behold; his huge white teeth gleamed fierce and hideous, his brawny, thick hands could have crushed me to a jelly. I panted and paused. My heart fluttered fast, then stood still within me. There was a second's suspense. At its end, to my infinite horror, lie seized—not me—oh, no; not me —I might have put up with that—but the priceless moon flower. I was helpless to defend myself—help less to secure or safeguard my treasure. He took it from me with a grin. I could see through those sunken cyos what was passing in the creature's dim and brutal brain. He was saying to himself, like men of his own low grade of cunning:— "If that tuber was worth so much pains to him to get it mu9t be worth just {is much to me to keep. So by your leave, my friend, if you'll excuse me, I'll take it." I stood appalled and gazed at him. I The brute snatched that unique specimen of a dying or almost extinct genus in his sw&rth, hairy hands—those clumsy great | hands of his—raised it bodily to his mouth, crushing and tearing the beauti- , ful petals in his coarse grab as he went— ate it slowly through, tuber, stem, spray, 1 blossom—and swallowed it conscien tiously, with a hideous grimace, to the very last morsel. I had but one grain of t consolation or revenge. It was clear tho taste was exceedingly nasty. Then he looked in my face and burst I into a loud, discordant laugh. That 1 laugh was hideous. 7 "Aha!" it said, in effect. "So that's ■ all you've got, my fine fellow, after all, for all your pains, and care, and trouble 1" i I shut my eyes and waited. My turn 1 would come next. He would rend me in 1 hi 9 rage for the nastiness of the taste, r I stood still and shuddered. But, alas, - he meant only to eat the moonflower. 1 When I' opened my eyes again tho brute had turned his back without one t word of apology, and was walking oil a4 a leisurely pace in contemptuous triumph. 3 shrugging his shoulders as he went, ana 1 chuckling low to himself in his vulgar r dog in the manger joy and malignancy. I It was four days before I straggled 1 alone, half dead, into Tulamba. I never come across another of those orchids. , And that is why at Kew they have still no moonflower.—[New York Herald. The Shot Tower Invented in a ' Dream. A mechanic at Bristol, England, had a queer dream. Watts was his name, and ! he was by trade a shotmaker. The mak- I I ing of the little leaden pellets was then a ' 1 slow, laborious and, consequently, cost- ' ly process. Watts had to take great j bars of lead and pound them out into ' sheets of a thickness about equal to the 1 diameter of the shot he desired to make. Then he cut the sheets into little cubes, which he placed into a revolving barrel or box and rolled until the edges wore off from the constant friction and the little cubes became spheroids. Watts had often racked his brain trying to de- I vise a bettor scheme, but in vain. Fin ally, after an evening spent with some jolly companions at the alehouse he went home and turned into bed. He soon fell j into a deep slumber, but the liquor evi dently did not agree with him, for he \ had a bad dream. He thought he was | out again with the "boys." They were all trying to find their way home when it began to rain shot. Beautiful globules , of lead, polished and shining, fell in a | torrent and compelled him and his bib- I ulous companions to draw their heavy | limbs to a place of shelter. In the morn- . ing, when Watts arose, he remembered the dream. He thought about it all day, and wondered what shape molten lead j wauld take in falling a distance through ' the air. At last, when he could rest no I longer, he carried a lndleful of the hot ' metal tip into the steeple of the church I of St. Mary, of Hedclise, and dropped it : into the moat below. Descending, he 1 took from the bottom of the shallow pool ; several handfuls of perfect shot, far sup- I erior to any he had ever seen. Watts' fortune was made, for lie had conceived the idea of a shot tower, which has ever since been the only means employed in the manufacture of the death dealing lit tle missiles so much used in war and sport.—[New York Dispatch. Ape Cashiers. The ape is in great request among Sia mese merchants as a cashier in their counting-houses. Vast quantities of base coin obtain circulation in Siam, and the faculty of discrimination between good money and bad would appear to be possessed by these gifted monkeys in such an extraordinary degree of develop ment that no human being, however care fully trained, can compete with him. They put the coin in their mouth, im mediately spitting it out if bad. TT is rep rtcd that there are 8,000 Jap anese in this country, of whom 2,000 , have been baptized by missionaries in | their own land, or since they came to the I United States. THE THIRSTY LEECH. AN OLD-TIME AID TO BLOOD LETTING. An Industry that is Now but the Shadow of What It Once Was. According to the psalmist "The daughters of the horse-leech cry con tinually, 'Give, give." According to the natural history neither the horse leech nor his daughters do anything of the sort, the appetite of this variety of the once popular worm being quite easily satis fied. Neither has it tho blood-sucking tastes of the ordinary leech, for it is well established that it will not attack man, while it is equally well known that the leech of the medical world will. It is doubtful whether it ever attaches itself to horses or other animals, and it is con tent to make a meal off another worm, which it does by swallowing it whole after the fashion of that other worm, the snake. The horse-leech, it is true, is big and looks fierce, but, as in the case of the big black ant and the little red one, it is the little one that is to be avoided. Lastly, although this objection may be considered hypercritical, the horse-leech never had any daughters, all of its child ren being bi-sexed, true hermaphrodites. Possibly what the erudite translators of the Ola Testament set down in Saxon as the horse-leech was not the horse-leech at all in the original ; or perhaps what was meant was the leech which is gather ed by horses. In tho great leech ponds and streams of Europe and Asia a big haul of the worm used to be made by driving horses in the infected localities. The little bloodsuckers would then fasten themselves to the poor animal's legs and body, from which, when the worms were saturated, tho gutherers would pick them off. Leoches have to be gathered with a little more care, the sources of supply having become much more limited than they were fifty years ago, They former ly inhabited in great numbers the marshes and streams of most countries of Europe, but now they are successfully cultivated only in France and Hungary, although they come from Turkey, wallachia, Rus sia, Egypt and Algeria. The best leeches were long supposed to come from Swe den. but the supplies have run short. Paris is now tho center of the European export trade, many of the leeches that come from there being labeled as Swe dish. Prior to 1889 there was no regular im port trade of leeches into this country, the supply boing kept up by sea captains who occasionally brought them over in small numbers on private speculation. Leechers were, therefore, obliged to de pend largely on the native leech for draw ing blood, the native species being in considerable demand during the early j part of the present century. It was found that there were many American species, its habitat being quite widely distributed, | but the best came from Eastern Pennsyl- I vania, especially Berks and Bucks couu i ties. The European species is generally I conceded to be superior to the American, but during the earlier period of impor tation the prices charged for the Europ ean blood-sucker was so high that tne American leech held its ground for a time. Gradually, however, prices fell, until now, although the European leech is still a trifle more expensive than the native, its cost is so slight that it is al most universally employed, excepting in special cases, and in a few localities where tho American leech is preferred. No American leeches, it is believed, are now used in any American city except Philadelphia, where they are still in slight demand. In fact, the latter city appears to have held to the old custom of leeching more than any other Amer ican city of which there is any inform ation. Now, perhaps, scarcely more than 1,000 American leeches are used in a year, although more than that number are sold to the druggist, tho supply coming from one person who collects them in the Pennsylvania counties mentioned and in the ponds about Trenton, N. J. Up to 1878 New York was the only port that was in the leech-import busi ness, but in that year New Orleans also began their importation, while San Fran cisco has long been the the third irnport- I or. In San Francisco the business is in the hands of a French woman Madame Patural. They are imported during most of the yoar, but only to, a slight ex tent in summer, as they are easily killed by an excess of heat. In June, July and ' August the mortality in the East soine ! times roaches as high as 25 per cent. They are brought here packed in swamp earth in air ana water-tight wooden cases, holding 1,500 leeches each. These cases are made rather light, and aro about twenty-one inches long, fifteen inches wide, and thirteen inches high. In shipping leeches from place to place in this country the same cases aro used for sending large quantities, and tight wood en pails for smaller numbers, the pack ing of swamp earth being also employed. American leeches, on the contrary, are kept beat in water, in earthern or glass iars in a cool place. In the case of very iurge quantities storage ponds are em ployed, the principal boing on Long Is laud, between Winfield and Nowtown. Though but slightly used now, there are few people who do not know that the leech Is used as a blood-letting machine, its use dating back to Galen, and the process by which it fills itself with blood being graphically described by naturalists who llveu contemporaneously with Pliny and Herodotus. Cupping and leeching were the curative methods employed in all febrilo disorders, and indeod for al most any ill. They were applied to any part of the skin, as well as to the mouth and other available inlets. When the distinct locality was to be attacked the leech was applied in a thimble or leech glass, the latter being a small tube with a slightly contracted opening, and some times provided with a glass piston for pushing master leech on. In the case of brain fever or concussion of the brain the leeches were simply laid on by the doctor, sometimes as many as two dozen hanging on at the same time. So prominent a part of the doctor's practice, indeed, was this application of leeches that the doc tor himself was often called "a leech" or a "learned leech" as by any other title. —[Ban Francisco Chronicle. The "Ocean Graveyard." Sable Island, which lies 200 miles to the west of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is lit tle known save to shipwrecked mar iners. So many sailors have been cast away there that it has gained the name of the "ocean graveyard." The island is used as a beacon station on which tho Canadian government maintains two lighthouses and stores of provisions to be used in case of shipwrecks. As there is no communication between Sable Isl and and the mainland except by means of chnnce vessels, it lins often happened that shipwrecked seamen have been kept on it for a long time without being able to make their condition known. The Dominion government now proposes to overcome this difficulty by establishing a rogular Bystem of pigeon post between the island and Halifax. A homery is to be established at the latter place, and an occasional assignment of trained birds is to be dispatched to the former, which will be available as messengers in any special emergency. It is stated that the Canadian government is importing tho carrier pigeons from Belgium.--(Brook lyn Citizen. THE WRECKING TRAIN. Something About the Outfit Carried in Its Cars. Accidents will happen occasionally on the best managed railroads, and some times bad wrecks happen, the cuuse of which frequently is a mystery, and the tracks are blockaded for hours. For every minute the track remains blocked money and time are lost, and passenger and freight traffic is interrupted. So the railroads are always prepared, and with in thirty minutes after a wreck has hap pened a wrecking train is on the way with a trained crew of men, and if the telegram announcing the wreck says that passengers or employees are in jured the wrecking train comes uloug with its physicians, bandages and cots. A wrecking train is about the homeliest thing owned by a railroad company, but when they are needed they are needed badly. The wrecking cars are kopt at the end of a division, and are directly under the control of the superintendent of that division. Tho wrecking train is com posed of three cars and a powerful loco - motive, and all the cars are fitted with air brakes. The first car is what is known as the truck car. The body of the car is very low, and upon it are car ried two extra pairs of trucks, rails, cross ties and spikes, for sometimes the track is torn up in a wreck. The second car is the wrecking ear. It is built of the heaviest timber, and is mounted on two pairs of small, heavy trucks. Half of the car is covered over and the other half is a mere platform, but arising from the centre is a powerful derrick with a 28-foot boom, with this powerful con trivance trucks, curs and locomotives are swung about. The covered portion of the car resembles inside the store-room of a ship, as there are so many cables hanging around. In one ond of the car are two closets, one containing the food for the crew. The locker is always well tilled, for there is no telling when the wrecking train may bo called into service. The other closet or locker contains medicines, bandages, and a portable telegraph out tit, with several coils of wire. If the wreck is a bad one the instrument is brought into use. An operator is picked up at the first station along the road, and when the scene of the accident is reached the wires are set and a telegraph office is established. The car carries ropo of every size and kind up to three incnes in diameter, hydraulic jacks for raising en gines and cars, levors, pulleys and der rick tackle of all kinds. On the Louis ville aud Nashville first division wreck ing cars there are carried 300 feet of manila three-inch rope for putting en gines on the track, 300 feet of two-inch full line for pulling purposes, 275 feet lf-inch rope for the derrick, two sixty foot sections of three-inch switch rope for pulling on cars, 240 feet rope for the same purpose, and 230 feet of three-inch rope for putting on trucks, and 500 feet for guy lines. The next car is the "block car," containing short blocks of wood of every size for block ing up cars and locomotives. At every wreck cars are generally tumbled about in confusion, and the wrecking crew begin on these. The shattered ones are pushed off the track, and those left in a little better condi tion are put on the track and drawn away. After this is done there is one or more disabled engines. The heavy cables on the wrecking are attached to the disabled locomotive, and a live one at the other end of the rope generally by hard work pulls the disabled loco motive back on the track. When the track is clear the wrecking train picks up all the iron and trucks and comes back to town.—[Courier-Journal. A New Trick of Sharpers. A now scheme to victimize retail jew elerA has been devised in New York. A young man enters a jewelry store and after pushing his elbow through the show case began to apologize to the owner for the alleged accident and argues that the glass must have been very thin. When he professes the utmost sorrow for the occurrence the jeweler demands reim bursement for his loss, but the man claims he has no money with which to pay. As he speaks the victim notices a S2O bill peeping from the stranger's pocket, and in an instant has snatched it and is handing the man sl7 in change, saying as he does so that he has deducted $8 for the damage. The swindler appears satisfied and leaves the store with a sorrowful ex pression on his countenance. Presently the jeweler takes another look at his cash, and then discovers that tho bill he has taken wjis one of $2 raised to S2O. This gamo was recently successfully operated, and when arrostcd the swind ler claimed that ho had committed no crime, as the bill had beon taken from his pocket.—[Jewelers, Weekly. Coronets of Nobility. French <?ounts have nine equal pearls in their coronets. The British baron is entitled to a coronet of four big pearls. Tho English viscount has a coronet of seven poarls of even size. The earTs coronet shows five small pearls and four strawberry leaves. The English marquis is entitled to three strawberry leaves and two large poarls. French marquises bear three strawberry leaves and two clusters of three small pearls. Freuch viscounts are entitled to a coronet containing three large pearls and two smaller osne. French barons are not entitled to a coronet, but to what is called a tortil, a circlet of gold having a necklace of tiny pearls three times around it. The Ger man prince's coronet is very peculiar, with its graceful curvos of pearls—its ermine circled—and the globe aud cross, indicative of an imperial grant. It is used in all countries on the Continent, with or without the interior velvet cap, and is allowed only to descendants of sovereign families or members of the higher house of Parliament.—[New York Star. Curious Dental Deformity. A curious dental deformity has been noticed among the natives of the Admi ralty and Hermit Isles. In them tho upper incisors (i. e., the four front teeth in the upper gum) project almost hori zontally and to such degrees ns to extend beyond the lips when the mouth is closed. Moreover, the breadth of one of these teeth is often equal to its visible length; one instance being mentioned where a tooth was three-quarters of an inch broad by nearly two-thirds of an inch of visible length. As it is the fashion of these savage? to blacken their teeth, the sight is not a protty one—[The Ledger. THE JOKER'S BUDGET. JESTS AND TARNS BY FUNNY HEN OF THE PRESS. Easily Remedied—Original Packages L—A Sensitive Ear—A Family Mat ter, Etc., Etc. THE BUTCHER WOOB. "My heart is yours," he did profess; "I'm in an awful stew. Liver die, I care not 'less You give me promise true. "I'd steak my very life on you, And when I'm kept away I'll send a tenderloin or two, Professing love for aye. "What answer you beeforo I go? Meat I your favor well?" She said, "I love, you suet so," And on his shoulder fell. —[La Monte Waldron. EABILY REMEDIED. "Look here, Davis," exclaimed the manager of the dime museum, aghast, "you have made a mistake. It wasn't an Esquimau girl I wanted for this de partment. It was a Circassian girl." "That's all right, Colonel," replied the traveling agent. "Ulga," he said, turn ing to the dusky beauty, "go wash your face and friz your hair."—[Chicago Tri bune. ORIOINAL PACKAGES. "What is this 'original package' busi ness?" she asked. "What does it mean? Well," he began explaining, "we'll say you are 120 pounds of honey in a silk and gold and diamond-mounted case." "Yes." "Well, so long as you are in the orig inal wrapper," he continued, wrapping his arms about her, "you " "I see now," she interrupted, "but I can't understand how you are the orig inal wrapper."-—[Philadelphia Times. A FAMILY MATTER. Humorist—l guess I'll have to give up my position as funny man on your paper. Editor—Why, what's the matter? Humorist—Well, my wife won't have any more jokes about her side of the fam ily ; my mother-in-law is with us now, so I can't mention her; my daughter gets mad when I write about her beaux and her little brother, and the hired girl says she'll strike if I drag her into print again. So you see there's nothing left for me to write about. NO ALIASES. His Honor—H'm, drunk and disorder ly, eh? What's your name? "Pat, sorr." "Your full name?" "Shure and 'tis Pat whin Oi am full or whin Oi am sober just the same." "Thirty days."—[Puck. THE POLITE FRENCHMAN. When General Moreau was in the United States, he was at once the victim of a rather droll misunderstanding. He wa9 present at a concert where a piece was sung by the choir, with the refrain: "To-morrow, to-morrow." Having & very imperfect knowledge of English, he fancied it to bo a cantata givon in his honor, and thought he dis tinguished the words: "To Moreau, to Moreau." Each time the refrain was repeated he rose to his feet and gracefully Dowed on all sides, to the great astonishment of the audience, who did not know what to make of it.—[Le Figaro. COULDN'T ESCAPE. "Have you boarded long at this house?" inquired the n<fw boarder of the sour, de jected man sitting next to him. "About ten years." "I don't see how you can stand it. Why haven't you left long ago?" "No other place to go to," said the other dismally. "The landlady's my wife."—[Chicago Tribune. TIIEY SHOULD RE SUPPLIED. "Jones is a pretty good sort of a chap," said McWatty to a friend, "but he'll never amount to much. He never knows when to stop talking." "That's so," repliedMcWatty's friend, who is a railroad man; "his conversation lacks terminal facilities."—[New York World. AND END THE OAME. Mr. Spudaway —What! Has your Uncle Iliram failed in business? Mrs. Spudaway—Broken up entirely. That's what he snys in his letter. "How fortunate our little Hi has a mid dle name I When you write next to Uncle Lowe tell him his namesake, H. Lowe Spudaway, is the smartest boy in his class and as good as he is smart." "But what if Uncle Lowe fails, too?" Innocent little Hi Lowe (from his cor ner) — Call me Jack and the game, papa. —[Burlington Free Prcs9. TOO SUGGESTIVE. Mis 3 Ue Pretty—Let's form a secret society. Miss DePink—Let's. Just like the Odd Fcllo\s and Bed Men. Call it the Auoient Order of—of—King's Daughters. Miss De Blonde—Or the Ancient Order of Dianas. Miss De Young—Or the Ancient Order of American Miss Oldmaid—Oh, don't let's call it ancient order of anything.—[New York Weekly. HOW IT HAPPENED. "Wonderful thing happened in our neighborhood last eveniug. A police man killed a mad dog at the first fire." "You don't say so?" "Perhaps I should explain that the policeman was shooting at a peddler."— [Terrc Haute Express. MIND-READINO. Dinguss—Hello, Shadboltl llow are you? By the way, Shad, have you seen that big alligator down at Bhadbolt (cutting him short) —No, Dinguss, I haven't seen it, but I know what it was going to lead me to. Alliga tors have hides, their hides make nice leather, the leather is made up into pockctbooks, and pocketbooks hold money. I haven't a cent to spare this time. Good morning, Dinguss.—[Chi cago Tribune. WEATHER INDICATIONS. Tramp (to buxom farmer's wife, stand ing on the porch and looking up at the sky)— How's the weather this morning, ma'am? Farmer's Wife (turning suddenly and catching up a pail of "suds")— Clear 1 And the tramp clears.—[Burlington Free Press. A HEAD LIKE A TACK. "Oh, John," exclaimed Mrs. Cumso, "I know how to make a hundred dollars just as easily!" "How?" "Why, down at Mine. Robe's there's a lovely Paris dress marked down from five hundred dollars to four hundred."—[San Francisco Wasp. AT THE MENAGERIE. "That's the porcupine, isn't it? What an ugly-looking creature 1" "Yes. It isn't what you would call an attractive animal. Still it has a great many fine points about it."—[Echo ac Paris. nE DID NOT GO. "No," said she. "I—l can be only a sister to you." "Vory well," said he, "I must be going I I had expected a different answer, but —well, good-night!" "George," she faltered, as he started out into the night. "George! " "What is it? " he asked, crossly. "Aren't you going to kiss your sister good-night? " A PIOUS HOPE. "You must be as quiet as possible to night, Johnny," said his mother, "for we are to have the minister for supper." "Have him for supper, eh? Well, I hope he'll taste good."—[Ashland Press. A SLIGHT MISTAKE. Wickwire—ls Mudge really going to marry that girl? Why, ho is as poor as a church mouse, and she hasn't a cent to her name. Yabsley—You are wrong there. Her front name is Rose.—[Terre Haute Ex press. A JEALOUS LOVE. He—l love the very ground you tread on. She—Then you can't have me. I want to be loved for myself alone.—[New York World. MOST LIKELY. Wife—What do you suppose baby is thinking about? The Brute—l s'posehe's thinking what to cry about to-night.—[Life. THEY ARE ENGAGED. Cornelius Lovell—Don't address me as Mr. Lovell, Maude; it is so formal, you kuow. Call me Cornelius. Miss Maude—l'd call you Corn if— if "If what, darling?" "If I thought you'd pop." Mr. Lovell is now engaged. A SENSITIVE EAR. It is remarkable to what an extent re finement may be carried. There is in this city a young man who eats crushed violets and wears azure neckties every time lie feels an attack of the blues ap proaching. The other evening he awoke in the middle of the night, and rousing his room-mate said: "This is simply agonizing." "What is the matter?" "Those two mosquitoes that are sing ing in the room." ''Well, what do you care as long as they don't bite you?" "They are not singing in harmony."— [Washington Post. IIER ESTIMATE OF DAMAGES. "Had an accident here this morning?" queried the breuthless reporter as a matronly lady appeared at the door in response to his violent ringing. "Yes, we did. You see, the next house come right up to our 9, and the man painting it asked to come through our house ana crawl out the scuttle on to its roof. Well, I let him. When he crossed the garret he fell through the floor." "Hurt him much?" "Yes, I guess so. But he didn't stop with the garret; he fell through the next floor, tore a hole through the carpet, knocked the plaster off the ceiling, and, oh, he has just made an awful muss!"— [Texas Siftings. IN 'rnE AGGREGATE. Clara—llow do you like my friend? Fanny—He is a horrid creature. la he married ? "No; he is not married." "How happy is the lot of the woman who did not get him for a husband."— [Texas Siftings. AN ARGUMENT. "They say that the rates are too high," saia he, "That I charge at my seaside hotel; Yet there isn't a reason that I can see Why I shouldn't be paid very well. "For a broker gets all he can honestly make, And a man placed as I am should feel That he's fully entitled commission to take On each big matrimonial deal." —[Washington Post. AT AN AFTERNOON TEA. Mrs. Chatty—Oh, yes, I have been there, and I can assure you that most of tho people in the tropics sleep during the afternoon. Mrs. Weary (yawning)- -What an aw ful amount of senseless gabble they must escape.—[Texas Sittings. A TENDER-HEARTED GIRL. Old Million—My dear Miss Young thing, if you'd only marry me I could die happy. Miss Youngthing—Why, Mr. Million, if you were dying I'd marry you in a min ute.—[New York Weekly. A OOOD APPETITE SECURED. Blinks (at the ferry)— Hello, Jinks, where you been? Jinks—Been spending a couple of weeks in the country. Got board on a farm for $8 a week. Blinks—You don't say so. How do you feel? Jinks—Hungry as a bear.—[New York Weekly. Whaling Off Norway. Whales oil Norway are harpooned with an instrument of peculiar construc tion. It consists of a shank, into which two barbs fold; these spring out and sit fast in the animal's flush when a strain coiues on the line attached to the har poon. The harpoon is fired from a can non mounted on a swivel carried in tho f bow of the steamer. The head of the harpoon carries an explosive shell, which is fired by the breuking of a glass tube filled with sulphuric acid, and the tube is broken the moment the animal strains the line attached to the harpoon, in its dash to escape after being struck. The line attached consists of a length of chain next the harpoon, and then a stout cable, and the two urc connected by an accumulator spring, which breaks the first strain of the animal's dash. Us ually the explosion of the shell is im mediately fatal, but it does happen occa sionally that the explosion of the shell fails to strike a vital part, and in that case the wliule is apt to show fight. The steamers employed arc vessels built of iron, about sixty to a hundred tons register, with engines of twenty-live to forty horse power nominal. Such a ves sel, with its sails backed and engines working full speed astern,, and with a long length of cable dragging through tho water, presents a very powerful ob struction, but yet monster whales often provo powerful enough to move tho steamer with considerable speed.—Chi cago Herald
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers