In Germany there is an educational institution for teaching the technique of butchering and packing. Only 8} percent, of the value of our exports last year was carried by Ameri can vessels. Of the value of our im ports 15.7 per cent, was carried by American vessels. Miss Mary C. Collins, the well known missionary to the Sioux, thinks that the term "hobo," as generally applied to the Weary Waggles tribe, is of Indian origin, and instances several cases of its use amongst the aborigi nals, amongst whom her missionary labors have been directed. In accordance with a law recently enacted in the Argentine Republic, un married men between twenty and eighty years of age are obliged to pay a special annual tax; and if any un married person of either sex refuses an offer of marriage without being able to give a valid reason, the penalty is SSOO. What next! exclaims the New York Observer. A proposition is now made, apparently in sober earnest, to utilize the cataracts of the Nile for electric light and power purposes. The power that these cataracts, which are more properly rapids, would supply, how ever, would be much less than the available head furnished at Niagara Falls. A trolley lino down the Nile Would truly be an odd consummation. The wealthiest Nation in the world is the United States, declares William George Jordan in the Ladies' Home Journal. The census of 1890 shows the true valuation, or fair selling price, of the real and personal prop erty of the country to be $65,037,091,- 197. It is an increase of over forty nine per cent, on the valuation of the previous decade, and is about six times the value of the money of the entire world. The mind cannot grasp the meaning of such figures without graphic illustration. This amount in gold dollars would load 123,570 carts, each carrying a ton. If 2000 gold dollars were piled one on the other they would form a stack three feet high. Make similar piles close together till a wall of gold one mile long and worth $230,- 400,000 is formed. Increase this wall to twenty-eight aud a quarter miles and the amount would represent our National wealth. Placed side by side the coins would form a carpet of gold covering five square miles. J. C. Merry weather, the well-known manufacturer of fire apparatus iu Loudon, makes a most useful sugges tion ou the subject of the protection of churches from fire. After referring to the dangers of fire in such build ings from defects in the heating and lighting apparatus, he proposes that each church tower should be fitted with a tank or tanks, kept full of ■water by means of a pump aud hose or fixed pipe, the pump to take supply from a well or other available source. From the tank he suggests a pipe being carried into the church, with hydrants aud hose iu convenient positions. The water tanks would then enable powerful jets to be brought to bear im mediately an outbreak of fire was dis covered. The cost of the arrangement would be small, and doubtless the de etruction of many sacred buildings by fire would be prevented. Canterbury Cathedral has been saved three times by its own fire apparatus, and the recent fire at St. George's, Hanover Square, proves that ©►'en in London there is considerable risk of fire in places of worship. "With the progress of ci\'ilization one pursuit after another seems to be ele vated to the distinction of an "art" or even of a "science." Perhaps the latest claimant for such rank is the cunning of cookery. Dr. Pilcher, of the United States Army, remarks that the rendering food savory cud di gestablo and serving it in a tempting manner, is a study worthy the atten tion of a higher grade of talent than is ordinarily devoted to it. "Recent ex periments by Edward Atkinson ha\*e shown," he says, "that the art of cookery is still iu its infancy." Who ehall presume to say that ho (or more likely she) who cooks a thing well is not a benefactor to humanity? observes the New York Observer. Bad cook ing may have had nothing to do with original sin, but there is no telling IIOAV much of unoriginal later iniquity is to be laid to the account of a soggy bit of pastry or of an impossible beef steak. So long as average humanity lacks sufficient moral courage to de cline a fuvorite disli set before it, even when the viands are wretchedly prepared, it will be urgently incum bent upon all chefs or Bridgets to put more of skill, science and religion (if they have any) into the service of the dining room. IN THE DISMAL SWAMP. THERE IS NO HEALTHIER SPOT IN THE WORLD, SAYS A SCIENTIST. Tle Water of the Color uixl Consistency of Coffee, Wltlv it 111 Effect*—Plenty of Snake*, But They Won't Bite—The A Scenery 1* Spectacle to A*tonitsh. "The public at large has a very erroneous idea of the Dismal Swamp," said Professor William Palmer, chief taxidermist of the Smithsoniau Insti tution, who has just returned from a trip through the swamp, to a Washing ton Post reporter. | "The idea seems to bo that the swamp is a low, marshy waste, with an unhealthy, fever-breeding atmosphere | —a place one enters at the peril of his ! life, both from the foul air and from j the sting of snakes. In point of fact j there is not a healthier place in the world than the Dismal Swamp. There are no unhealthy or even unpleasant I odors. Swamp, as generally known, are wastes poorly drained and ren ! dered unhealthy by the rotten vegeta j tion which is deposited in the damp ! depressions. In the Dismal Swamp | the drainage is perfect. The soil is sandy and the water percolates through the sand, making the most approved system of drainage. The water in the ditches themselves is not unpleasant to the taste. It is dark in color and rather thick, much of the consistency I of coffee, yet Ave drank the water dur ing our entire stay, and suffered no ill effects. In fact, Ave greAv to like it, and I for one found it much more palatable than our Potomac water. "There is very little land; one might almost say there is no laud at all. The soil, as I have said, is of ! sand, and from this grows a vegetation of considerable size and of great density. This sand is a feAv inches I beloAV the surface of the water, and the Avoody vegetation, growing and falling I during generations, has gradually j formed a layer of wood and leaves which rises, a feAv inches above the Avater in some portions. In the dry season this built-up layer is of suffi cient stability to permit it being used in the great lumber industries. "Lake Drummond itself is nothing more than a depression in the swamp. It is oblong in shape, being about three and a half miles long by three miles wide, and in no place is it deeper than thirteen feet. The lake is inval uable for transporting the lumber, and ; is now being used as a feeder for the | ship canal being built to connect i Elizabeth City with Portsmouth. I "This av ill not drain the swamp; the | swamp wiil ne\'er be drained; it wonld- Ibe of little use if it was. Some efforts were made to drain the great area, but ! the scheme only succeeded in lowering I the water in places ten miles from the i boundaries of the lake. The soil thus disclosed is very sandy, and although it is being cultivated to some extent, it is not sufficiently valuable to render | such a scheme financially profitable. "The great commercial value of the I swamp is its inexhaustible supply of j timber. The region is covered to such an extent with a thick growth that one finds the SAvamp dark on the brightest I days. The trees are of enormous size, and Ave find some cypress stumps j Avhich measured fourteen feet in diame ter. As these stumps had been cut off' years and years ago, one can only imagine what the size must have been before the stumps were worn down by ' the Avater. Ditches have been dug Avhich traverse the swamp in all direc ! tion,, and by these ditches the lumber men transport their logs l to £ Lake Drummond, and from there through an outlet to'Albemarle Sound. The lumber industry is by no means in its ; infancy there. Over a hundred years ago some of the same ditches Avhich ' are now in use to-day were dug. George Washington controlled heavy interests in the lumber industry, aud when he died he left £20,000 worth of stock in the several companies. His wonderful engineering ability was exercised here for many years, and one of the princi pal waterAvays in use to-day Avas com menced and finished under his super vision aud from plans formulated by him. "These waterways are extremely narrow, and their great age is evident from the great mass of moss overhang ing the artificial banks. On this moss and among the branches on the banks | are to be seen enormous numbers of : snakes, with which the region is in fested. The snakes are not poisonous and are harmless. Still feAv persons care to see snakes all the time. The snakes are of the species knoAvn as the King snake, like this one," and Mr. Palmer dreAV from a box a snake about six feet long and of the circumference of an ordinary inkwell. The snake immediately coiled itself tightly around Mr. Palmer's arms, and the bright sun brought into view all the beauty of the firm, black scales, riuged Avith white. The darker scales were beau -1 tiful in the iridescent rainbow color ing, aud Mr. Palmer explained how the rings and head easily showed it to ; be a harmless snake. I "Although the snakes are every where to be seen," continued Mr. Palmer, "they are not pests. No snake is a pest, and a person should never kill a snake wantonly. They are of incalculable value for the unceasing war which they wage against mice and vermin. Every barn in the country has a blacksnake, and every farmer will tell you that it is worth its weight in gold for the good it does during the year. The pests of the swamp region are the mosquitoes and flies, which are uncomfortably numerous during this season of the year. Mos quitoes are bad enough, but they can be borne. The flies, however, are murderous in their intent. They go i forth in swarms, and woe betide the 1 person or animal on whom they settle, j Too small to be kept out by netting | they penetrate every portion of one's ; clothing, and the only relief is by jumping into the water. "To return to our original subjeot," said Mr. Palmer, in conclusion, '''tlie sight which was viewed by the tirst man who entered the Dismal Swamp byway of Lake Drummond must have been one of the most beautiful which i nature has shown to man. As is evi dent from the stumps to be found cir cling the lake, the entire lake was lined with a forest of enormous and beautiful cypresses, eight, ten and fourteen feet in diameter. The branches intermingled in an impene trable mass, aud, covered with tropi cal moss and foliage, the scene in'all I its silent grandeur was the most stu | pendous spectacles of God's nature I can possibly imagine." A Hard-Worked Emperor. The Emperor of China is one of the hardest-worked men in the world, and, according to a curious custom that I have never heard explained, he turns day into night. Some of the most important events in his daily programme takes place after midnight, and he frequently receives visitors by appointment at three or four o'clock in the morning. When Li Hung Chang returned to Pekin from his tour around the world the Emperor received him and heard his reports between four and live a. m. He has often received ambassadors at similar hours. The Emperor's work day begins at one p. in. He first sees the members of the Privy Council, then he devotes an hour or two to the consideration of their reports aud recommendations, and then he receives the members of j the official boards, Viceroys, Governors j and other officials who have come to j Pekin to be present or to pay tribute or receive instructions. He sits upon 1 a throne upon a raised platform. They i kneel before him with their foreheads touching the floor until he commands them to lift their eyes. They are kept in this posture so long that the old men always pad their knees with cushions. The Emperor dines about sunset and lias the third meal of the day at midnight. Sometimes he re tires as early as one or two o'clock a. m.. but he is often at work until day light.—Chicago Record. Finding a Thief. A clever story is related of young Lord Waterford, whose engagement to Lord Lausdowne's daughter has just | been announced. It seems that a burglar entered his house at Curragh- I more, in Ireland, was disturbed in his robbery and pursued by the owner, who followed him to a shabby public house a few miles off. There he I found only several men drinking, one of whom he knew to be a robber, shielded, as is the usual fashion in I Ireland, by his friends and associates. With ready Irish wit, Lord Waterford asked that he might touch each man's heart. So simple a request could not j be refused to a popular landlord, and, j finding that one man's heart beat vio- ; lently, he recognized him as the man ; who had been running away, and ( handed him over to the justice. The I Beresford readiness of resource aud i courage in a moment of difficulty is thus evidently to be found in the new generation as well as in the old. A Persian Supp rati tion. The overland telegraph line, which oouuects England with her great In dian empire, passes through Persia, j aud has recently been subjected to an interruption of a quite serious char acter, due to the fanaticism of the populace. It seems that there has been a terrible drought, which the subjects of the Shah, instead of at tributing to Providence, ascribed, on the contrary, to the telegraph poles, and, above nil, to the posts and signs of the survey department of the com pany. Accordingly all the obnoxious poles, wires and survey signs were destroyed by a priest-led mob. Strangely enough, heavy rain fell im mediately afterward, and now, in spite of the severest punishment in flicted by the Teheran Government upon the ringleaders, the masses of the population throughout Persia are firmly convinced that telegraph and survey posts are productive of drought. Buried the Wrong Corpse. Fairplay describes the following a a true story: Lately an English family had the misfortune to lose an aged aunt, who died in St. Petersburg. Ar rangements were most carefully made aud directions sent that the body should be forwarded to England to be interred in the family vault. In due time a magnificent coffin arrived, and before it was lowered to its last resting place it was opened for inspection. Much to the dismay of the family, in stead of finding the features and frail form of their beloved aunt the corpse of a Russian officer, clothed in military garments and decorated with ribbons and medals, was disclosed to view. A frantic telegram was dispatched to the Russian capital, to which the following was reoeived: "Lady buried yesterday with military honors. Please keep the General." """■ A Conscience That Pricked. Five years ago a man named Voigt stole a ride on a railroad in Colorado. .Recently he became a Christian, and was smitten with remorse to such an extent that he sent a written confes sion to the company inclosing $1.56, being his fare at the rate of three cents a mile, with interest added. As a matter of fact the fare at that time was four cents a mile, and the com pany has Rent the man a demand for fifty-two cents in addition. Koynl Farmer*. A subject in which the Queen is really well versed is that of farming. The Prince Consort was quite a prac tical farmer, and devoted much time to the royal farm at Windsor and else where, interesting himself in particu lar in the breeding of cattle, and the Queen learned a good deal from him. i The Duke of York is at present paying I attention to the same subject. V- 1 Killing; Sijiiash Inserts. Dissolve one-fourth pound of salt peter in water. Make a small ditch about the hills of cucumbers, squashes or pumpkins while the vines are small and pour in this solution of saltpeter. It will keep off striped squash bugs and kill the squash or fiatiron bug which eats the viues. Making Iloiven Eat Slowly. Many horses, especially if fed grain, eat it much too fast to get the most good from it. A good way to compel slow eating is to mix with the grain a few clean pebbles, that will oblige the horse to gather his food slowly. A still better way is to grind the grain and mix the meal with three times its bulk of cut hay, or twice its bulk of straw. Trimming KOXPR. When any plant in the flower garden begins to produce seeds freely it usually inclines to stop flowering. Plants such as roses, which we desire to have flower as long as possible, should therefore not be permitted to fruit. All faded roses should be at once cut away. Even those which are known as everbloomers are benefited by this practice. Indeed, the reason that these roses have this lengthened period of flowering is that they show a natural indisposition to make growth. Roses flower only at the end of a youngbranch; when the faded flowers are cut away the buds in the leaf axils push into growth, and it is from this second starting of young branches that the flowers come.—Mehau's Monthly. Maintaining the Dairy. A writer in the Dakota Farmer gives this advice: 1. Select the best cows in your herd, or that you can buy, to keep, and dis pose of the others. 2. The best cow for the dairy is the one that produces the greatest amount of butter fat in a year (for food con sumed) when being rightly fed. 3. To renew or increase your herd raise the heifer calves from your best cows. 4. Test your cows by weighing the milk of each cow for a year and test ing it occasionally with the Bahcock milk tester, and know how much but ter fat each one does produce. 5. Use the best dairy-bred sire you can get; one, if possible, that has a line of ancestors that have been first class dairy animals. 6. Keep a record of the time when the cows were bred and have 110 guess "work about the time of calving. 7. It is neither profitable nor neces sary for a cow to go dry mor6 than four to six weeks. 8. The udder should receive prompt attention* An obstacle may removed from the teat the first hour that might baffle science later. 9. After separating the calf from its mother, feed the natural milk as soon as drawn for a week or ten days. A Homemade Cloil Crueller. The clod crusher shown in the cut is useful both for crushing lumpy soil and for rolling and smoothing the land at the same time. Three logs, as even W 'V*. USEFUL CLOD CRUSHER. in size anil as round and true as possi ble, are fastened inside a framework by round spikes driven through the sidepieces into the logs so that the lat ter can turn freely. Where the large, carefully-made land roller is not at hand, this quickly-made substitute will serve a very good purpose. It can ho weighted if necessary.—Ameri can Agriculturist. Spontaneous CombuHtinn of Hay. Whether or not hay ignites spon taneously has never been determined. Usually the tire has originated where considerable quantities of clover hay have been stored. In nearly every case the stacks or buildings were en tirely consumed, so it was impossible to determine the origin of the tire. At the Pennsylvania experiment station j barns in 1895, fire was seen drop ping from the ceiling of the.cow stable. | Investigation proved that the lire was confined to a mow of hay 18x23 aud about 23 feot high. The drafts were stopped and thefop of the mowkeptcov ered with wet blankets. Openings were | made in the sides of the barn and all the liny, about 30 tons, was pitched ■ out While removing this the entire I centre of the mow was smoldering and ! ready to hurst into flames when ex posed to the air. Fortunately a hy i drant was near at hand and the top j was kept constantly saturated and the barn thus saved. All the centre of j the mow was thoroughly packed, hot | and smoking. The high temperature of the hay made it decidedly uncom | fortahle for those who were removing the smoldering fodder. The holes burned through the mow floor were over near the middle of the stable and not near the walls. It is evident that the fire could not have been either accidental or incendiary. The hay was second growth clover and timothy, mostly clover, and when har vested was thought to be in unusually tine condition. The fact that if was very compact gave color to the theory that the combustion was spontaneous. Examinations of the hay, after being thrown out of the barn, showed that a large proportion of it was so thor oughly charred that it would crumble when handled. Some of it had not been subjected to so great a heat and was only brown in color, but was wholly unfit for stock. For several days previous to the fire, ' a peculiar odor had been noticed j about the barn, and examination | seemed to indicate that the rowen was heating, but there was 110 indication of fire. This odor soon became so strong that it was compared by some to that of burning grain. While posi- i tive proof as to4lie origin of this fire may be lacking, the circumstances are such that it is safe to consider it spon taneous.—Orange Judd Farmer. To Control Chicken-Eating Hog*. A chicken catcher in a herd of hogs is a most exasperating and expensive. One such will socn transform a whole herd into ravenous chicken eaters. BLIND ron noas. Being troubled in this way I tried the following: A leather blind wide enough to cover both eyes and long enough to come down well over the face was cut from an old boot leg. The chicken thief was then caught, and pulling the ears forward, the top corners of the blind were fastened to tliem by means of pinchers and rings, such as are put in the snouts of pigs to prevent rooting. This blind will ; not prevent the hog from seeing his legitimate food, but does prevent him seeing chickens unless they are under his very nose, and then, if he attempts pursuit, the chances are that he brings his nose in violent contact with the fence or some other obstruction. A few such lessons and he concludes that he is no longer partial to chicken. A month of 1 'leather specs" cured our j most ravenous thief, and by blinding ; only the ring leaders the whole herd 1 was soon as docile as well behaved porkers should be.— r New England Homestead. Poultry Notes. When you do not want them to breed do not let the hens and roosters | run together. The laying of unusually large eggs is a proof that the hens are in an over fat condition. Feed the cockerels for flesh, hone and muscle. Feed the pullets for your next winter's layers. The nest egg, if not china, should he marked so that it will not get into a lot sent to market. The Plymouth Rock attains maturity earlier than the Wyandotte, but the latter is a more persistent layer. It must be a poor soil indeed in which the scratching biddies will not And some reward for their labor. Those who think thirteen an un- ! lucky number can get the hens to : spread over tifteen eggs for a sitting. I If the hens are slow to wean the chicks take them away, as they crowd the young ones at night when contined in a box. As soon as the cockerels begin to crow separate them from tho pullets. They will thrive better, and besides, they require different feed. If the young chicks are confined in barren yards give them plenty of cab bage, lettuce or grass from the lawn. -They will relish it for a change. Don't let the chicks roost with the old fowls until at least three months old. Their breastbones are tender and will become crooked if permitted to sit on the roost. If young broods are cooped for the first month it gives tho chick two chances to reach maturity where it would have but one if running about while young and tender. Sunshine is the best medicine for poultry as well as men. If the house is dark and gloomy, the fowls will stay | out of it even in the worst weather. Nothing likes sunshine more than i poultry. Cholera among chickens is a disease which is a result of the poor conditions which surround them. With good food, fresh, pure water, daily clean quarters and a good range, it seldom gets a foothold. Lice sap the blood from the chickens, and cause restlessness of nights; and 1 on mornings fowls come from the j roosts feverish and thirsty. They drink too much, and sit around and soon get indigeston. They take cold easily when their systems are so im- ! paired, and the cold, if let alone, runs into roup. POPULAR SCIENCE. A homeopathic pharmacopoeia is to [ be issued in Berlin. A means of renewing the filament in ;.electrio light burners lias been discov ered. ! Charles H. Lamson, at Rigby Park, near Portland, Md., made a successful j ascension with a kite to the height of 100 feet. A doctor reports that immediate re | lief from the effects of ivy poisoning was noted in a patient who was bathed in a solution of sodium hyposulphite. The Gathman system of firing high ; explosives has been found impractical, as no result can be gained from the discharge of an explosive just outside of a ship. j M. Moissan and Professor Dewar j have succeeded in the liquefaction of rtuorin gas. This gas, as is well known, has hitherto resisted all efforts to reduce it to a liquid state. The Carlsberg fund for scientific purposes has offered about ? 10. 00!) to J the Danish scientific expedition to the ! east coast of Greenland, for the pur j pose of making a chart of the coast northward to Angmagsalik. Cheap electrical power is distributed ,to private houses a distance of thirty miles from the central station at St. Etienne, near Lyons, France. Two dollars a month is the charge for suffi cient power to drive a loom. One per cent, of alcohol in water ! will kill a gold fish in one hour and thirty minutes; twenty per cent, will kill him instantly. The experiment may lead to the use of chemicals in the commercial pursuit of the larger fishes. A German statistician has calculated that of every 1000 persons 100 reach the age of 75, 38 the age oi 85, and only 2 reach 95. In the seventeenth century the average duration of life was only 13 years; in the eighteenth, 20; in this century it is 36. The present activity of Vesuvius has been much exaggerated, the volcano j being merely in what is known to sci | entists as a condition of "mild erup tion." The main crater shows no | signs of activity, and the openings ] from which the lava issues are rela tively small and situated at the base of the mountain. A Polish chemist is said to have in vented an anaesthetic which volatizes rapidly upon exposure to the air, ren dering the persons near unconscious • for a long time. It is calculated that in warfare a bomb exploded in the | midst of the enemy would have the effect of putting the entire body to sleep. A pellet of the substance broken under a man's nose put him to sleep for four hours. Insanity in Animals. Insanity in tlio human subject is supposed by some to have no analogue in the lower animals, says Popular Science News. Yet many causes, ac cording to Dr. Snelison, will lead to the permanent loss of self-control. Cattle driven from the country through a crowded town will often work them selves into a frenzy. Horses have j gone mad on the battlefield. At j Balaklava an Arabian horse turned on j its attendant as he was drawing water, seized him in his mouth, threw him j down, and, kneeling on him, attacked him like an infuriated dog. He bit off another soldier's finger. An in i stance is related of a docile horse sud denly going mad on a hot day. Everything that came in its way it Beized in its teeth and shook as a terrier does n rat. It raided the pig sties and threw the inmates one after another in the air, trampling on the bodies as they fell. Afterward it al most killed its own master, after maiming for life the furrier who was called in. This must have been a case of insanity, the cause of which is often to be found in congenital mal formations of the bones of the head. A scientist of authority even goes so far as to prove by what appears to be I incontestable evidence that cats, | dogs and monkeys have been observed | to bave delusions very similar to those I of insane people. Daring Soldiers. ! During the Peninsular War two Eng lish soldiers were standing together, when their attention was suddenly ar rested by a bombshell thrown near them from the enemy's camp. This was a moment to show "cool courage." One, therefore, knocked the ashes from his pipe, refilled it, and ex ! claimed: "Jack, I bet thee a ration that I light my pipe at that fuse," pointing at the same time to the shell, the fuse of which was evidently far spent. | "Done," cried the other; "I bet thee." The challenger accordingly walked | up to the shell, lighted his pipe, and j then deliberately stamped his foot | upon the fuse to extinguish it. His ' comrade, who was close at his elbow, burst into an amazing fit of passion, blaming him by all the skints in the calendar—not for winning the wager, but for putting out the fuse before he had lighted his own pipe.—London Telegraph. __ Unearthing a Lost City. ! The Kalaa of the Beni Hamad, which | in the eleventh century was a town of 80,000 inhabitants, the capital of the Barbary States, Morocco, Algiers and Tunis, and had long completely disap peared, has been rediscovered by M. Blanche!, a French archieologißt. i Among the buildings brought to light are a mosque sixty-five by fifty-five | motors in area, covered with green | enamel and containing pink marble i columns, a palace, a publio fountain and tower, which even in its present condition is nearly fifty feet high. These buildings date from 1007 and are the oldest Moslem monuments in Al -1 geria. WORDS OF WISDOM. Who sings in grief procures relief. Ho loves thee well who makes thee weep. That which is lightly gained is little valued. A woman that marries for a home pays big rent. Some of our happiest moments are spent in air castles. Yon can very often count your friends by your dollars. Only those can sing in the dark who have a light in the heart. A man's idea of a perfect woman is one who thinks ho is perfect. There is no jewel in the world so valuable as a chaste and virtuous woman. Even in traveling in a thorny path it may not be necessary to step on all the thorns. He who seeks after what is impossi ble, ought in justice to be denied what is possible. Marrying a man to reform him is equal to putting your fingers into a fire to put it out. When two souls have but a single thought, they should stop spooning and get married. A man's cynicism is bounded on the north by his vanity and on the south by his digestion. When you say "I don't care," try to see that your tone of voice doesn't in dicate that you do. It is always a mystery to a woman why her husband doesn't seem to pity old bachelors more. Life is like a nutmeg grater. You linve to rub up against the rough side of it to accomplish anything. Every woman has an idea that she can judge a man by looking straight in his eyes—but can she?— The South- West. Perils of Orchid Hunting. English florists and flower lovers are (n a great state of mind over an orchid recently exhibited by Sander, the St. Albans grower. Its scientific name is the Cattleya lleineckiana, which to the initiative mind, says the New York Times, is not very promising, but the flower itself is described as a vision of beauty and delight. The wings of its seagull-like blossom are white as snow, while the body portion is of gold and rermilion, eight inches across. It is the largest and most beautiful Cattleya ever known to the civilized world, and it would take 1000 guineas to buy it. Arnold, the famous orchid collector, sent it to Englaud just before he lost his life while hunting for further sim ilar treasures. Arnold was the man who, while traveling in Venezuela, made the acquaintance of a young fellow who appeared to be roving for pleasure. Arnold traveled with him for some distance, but a few chance words in a wayside inn made Arnold aware that the supposed pleasure seek er was really another orchid collector bent on the same errand as himself, and using every means to supplant him. At once Arnold drew his revolver, and there and then gave his acquaintance the option of either lighting a duel with him or retiring from the field. The latter course was chosen. Ar nold's death soon afterward, under cir cumstances which have never yet been cleared up, is by no means a solitary example of the perils of orchid hunt ing, and though in the more civilized districts the work is . comparatively easy, there are still countries in which au orchid seeker may be said to carry his life in his hands. A Cat That (iocs Cycling. Chicago boasts of a feline cyclist. He is Dixie Norton, of 4011 Drexel Boulevard, and as his mistress, Mrs. Leland Norton, spins down the boule vard lie stands ereot in a fanciful In diftn basket that hangs from the handle bar, and watches the sights with all the eagerness of a happy child at a carnival. ''How did Dixie learn to ride? Why," said Mrs. Norton, "ho was al ways crazy to go out, and one evening last summer I picked up his basket and held him at arm's length while I rode around the block. After that he used to perch on my shoulder, but as his avoirdupois increased, I was obliged to swing him from the handle bar." The query, "Dixie, darling, do you want to go to ride?" is sufficient to send Dixie bounding with delighted squeals headforemost into his basket, where be wriggles and twists until "heads are up," when he sets up a piteous howl. When taken from the wheel his vocalization is something terrific, and he frantically clutches and claws everything in reach. Mrs. Norton believes he is equal to a hun dred mile run, and some day a gold century bar may rest on the snow white breast of Dixie Norton.—New York Commercial Advertiser. Remarkable Glacier Eruption. A remarkable glacier eruption oo cm-red during the early part of the present year in the south of Iceland. A postman was crossing the sands ot Sakeitarn when he heard sounds pro ceeding from a glacier two miles in front of him and saw large masses ol ices being hurled up into the air from the glacier. This was followed by a flood, which began descending to the sands below. He promptly fled, and when be returned, about a week later, he saw a belt of iee waves extending from the glacier to the sea, a distance of at le/"N) twenty-five miles. The average breadth of this belt was about four miles. The height varied from seventy to ninety feet. On the othei side of the ice field were newly formed torrents which sprang from the glaciers. No one was injured by the glacier eruption, which, it is thought, may have some connection with the severe earthquakes of last summer.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers