Of the 122 honor puiulsin iUo gram- ; mar schools of Cliicago only twenty five were hoys. The girls of the re- , quired degree of scholarship necessary to obtain this distinction outnumbered the boys in the ratio of nearly four to one. A madstone is advertised for sale in a recent issue of a scientific paper. The advertiser oilers to prove its effi cacy to any prospective purchaser. Whether the advertiser or the pur chaser is to undergo a bile from a mad dog, in order to prove the merits of the stone 3, is not stated. It has been discovered that an net of tho Colorado Legislature in regard to negotiable instruments repealed the statute establishing as holidays the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Pay, Christmas, Xew Year's, Washington's Birthday and Memorial Day, leaving only Arbor Pay and the Saturday half holidays as legal holidays. The average cost of an oii well at Snmmerland, Cal., all complete, is about s'-'OO. The running expenses ore $lO per month for each well. An ordinary well will yield four barrels per day, or 120 barrels per month. One hundred and twenty barrels are worth $125, leaving a balance of sllO each month on a $?>00 investment. - here is more oil in California than in Pennsylvania. Keeper's Weekly says: A new law in Massachusetts makes the possession of the skin or feathers of any birds which is protected by the laws of that State punishable by tho same penalty as is imposed for killing tho birds. This seems to mean that the guileless maid v.-ho buys her feathers cf a milli aer runs as much risk of lino or im prisonment as the hard-hearted man with a-gun who goes out and pots the I bird. In a State where a schoolmas ter is less comprehensively abroad Mian iu Massachusetts this law might make trouble, but the presumption is that in the Bay State every s> nuolgirl is ornithologist enough to know which birds are protected citizens, aud which rre aliens and safe to wear. The os tensible purpose of the new law is to preserve the birds which eat the bugs which feed on the crops of Massaeliu- j but the promoters of the law are uot likely to grieve if it goes beyond that and discourages the wearing of feathers in hats altogether. This is certainly an ago of hurry and bustle, and things are now don e "while you wait," which formerly were : subject to greater deliberation. Mary Shaw, a wealthy widow of Indiana, re. lates the Detroit Free Press, is right up to the times, too, and when she called on n lawyer of Shelbyville and announced that she wanted to get mar ried before she went home, she cre ated some surprise, especially in view of the fact that she had no idea of who (he wanted to marry. She was a good slicnt, however, and the lawyer sallied out in search of a groom. He found one in Ihe person of William Dounard, a gardener, who was willing to "with all his worldly goods endow" t hewidow, especially as she would bring a for tune of $'30,000 into the partnership, while he had not a cent to his name. After a brief examination, tho widow pronounced the lawyer's choice satis factory, and a minister was sent for, who soon made the pair one. Then, leaving a substantial check in the law yer's hands for his promptitude ill the case, she left for her home with her new-found lord and master. She is sixty-five years old aud Dounard only thirty-eight. Belief work for the poor of San Francisco, undertaken iu the early spring, and recently completed, had some novel and interesting features. In the first plane the money used came from public contributions and not through an appropriation, no pre cedent being established for future worriment, and no political favor be ing bought. Theu the expenditure of the money was watched over by a com mittee of citizens, chosen because of their business ability. This commit tee, to give aid without encouraging pauperism, distributed the money for labor honestly done, paying ouly cur rent wages. In engaging labor it avoided the politicians, being guided largely by the advice of the Associa ted Charities, the Salvation Army and the police. Its purpose also was to make the labor of permanent bene fit to the general public, thus render ing some substantial return for the money contributed. The work done was in the construction of a needed aud substantial boulevard, and the en t ire amount contributed was expended in this line, the administration officers serving without compensation. Sev eral hundreds of deserving men with dependent families receivod aid with no loss of self-respect. Romo time wo shall know wiiy Our sunniest mornings change to noons of And why our steps nro shadowed so l>y pain: And why we often lie On couches" sown with thorns of care and doubt. And why our lives are thieklv hedged about With bars that put our loftiest plans to rout. Rome time wo shall know whv Our dearest hopes are swept so swift away, And why our brightest flowers llrst decay; Why song is lost iu sigh. Why clasping lingers slip so soon apart Estrangement, space und death rend heart from heart, Until from deepest depths the teardrops start. V\? \,zV i\ 4 s." 4\ - <>' \y V \ '<t vt § The Dwarf's $ Little Brother. {p A (lint's AllVEX'Tl'llE IX A lUIIXICAX TOWN. 3^ V-' L>V "' 5 .f..AT.'.L' f I —T ISS STANLEY V/Y) ,:\ Lif was a pink-auil 's/ltl'Tid ,vhite Eli s lish T / gt \l\ girl, very tall -A \\ ull 8 11 p o ' y- 1 w Mexican J 7 ( ''V J* '. •'• "Hi their EjPE >-- - - carriages if they had a block to go, used to look upon her with amaze ment as she tramped down their steep streets with a line, swinging, heel- ♦ and-toe gait. She was picking her way one day ! among the vendors in the 2>laza, stop- j piug once in a while to give some ! whining beggar or tattered monstrosity | a centavo, when she felt her skirt pulled. Looking, she saw a tiny hand | held out, and a childish voice piped i the usual formula for alms. The little j creature was no taller than a child of i four. But the face! It was old and \ withered. The eyes were sunken and j so old! Miss Stanley pulled back the j rebozo—the hair was gray, "A dwarf," she thought, with a lit- | tie feeling of repulsion. "How old are j you?" "Fifty-four," piped up the wee ! thing. Then, true to her sex, "The i priest will tell you fifty-eight, but I i am not; I am only fifty-four." She said her name was Rosita. Bosila, it appeared, did nearly any- j thing for a living, begging preferably, j although that is a somewhat over- ! crowded profession in Mexico. Some- j times she sold chickens or vegetables on a commission. She had another source of incomh, being pensioner on the bounty of a young man—a centavo a week—but she confessed sadly he made her jump for the coin, and if he held his arm out straight she might jump in vain, she could not reach it. "The brute!" said Miss Stanley. Hosita did not know the meaning, but she looked up, pleased. That was good, the English lady was taking an interest in her, for the expletive sounded profane, and profanity from a feminine source indicated strong emo tion, which she construed favorably. The poor in Mexico are always hun gry, and Miss Stanley, knowing this j failing, took Rosita to a little one room restaurant. The menu was cou -11 ne(l strictly to Mexican dishes. Miss Stanley noticed that Rosita put half her dinner to one side, wrapping | the carne and frijoles in tortillas. 1 When she came to a dulce of some tropic fruit, boiled in a syrup of cane J sugar, lier little wrinkled eyes looked ! wistful. "How can I take some to my little; brother?" she asked. Miss Stanley asked another ques tion: "Is this food you have put away for your brother?" "Yes," answered Rosita, in her squeaky voice, "I take all the care of ! him. A\ e are alone, and I work for i him. He is locked in the room now, ' see," and she held up the massive key j peculiar to Mexican doors. "Why is he locked in?" asked Miss Stanley, as she directed the mozo to j put the dinner in a couple of ollas for j Rosita to take to her brother. "He has combats with the children in the street, and 1 am afraid someone will get hurt," she answered. Miss Stanley watched her trot away, laden with the dinner for her brother. So little and so old, unlike many dwarfs not bulky—indeed, pitifully thiu. It was not until she reached her home that Miss Stanley remem bered she had not asked how old the "little brother" was. She often met Rosita after that, sometimes in the Jardin, where the ! roses nodded overhead, and violets bloomed underfoot, and tho band played softly and sweetly, as Mexican bauds do. Rosita would dart from the circling stream of pelado into the inner circle, where the quality walked under the trees or sat 011 the iron benches. Miss Stanley could seldom resist the little, dirty,'badly worked square of drawn-work held out by the tiny hand. Constance Stanley had 110 father or mother, and, living with a brothei who was endeavoring to effect the drainage of "the richest silver mine in the world," she wandered un checked through the crowded, narrow streets of the old town with a young oriada her only safeguard. She had often longed to explore a dark street that plunged downward from the paved and civilized one. It was damp and murky. A staircase of stone, with crumbling adobe walls, two and three stories high. Across the street's narrow width fluttered strings of washing. The women, with their red petticoats and blue rebozos, made bright blots of color. The men loafed about, lean and ragged. It reminded her of Naples. The doorways swarmed SOME TIME. Some time we all shall knew Each other, aye, as we ourselves nro known; And see how out of darkness light has grown. Ami He—who loves us so— Despite our wilfulness and blind com plaint- Will show us how His kind and calm re straint Can mold a human soul into a saint. Rotno time our eyes shall see The silver lining to the darkest cloud, While silvery echoes follow thunder loud. Some time our hearts shall be Content, forgetting all our restless mood. And knowing everything has worked for good— i The bow, and when, and why be under stood. —Lillian Gray. with babies and dogs—poverty march ing always side by side with those in nocents. Down she went. The street made ian abrupt turn. At the corner she was startled by seeing, protruding from a hole cut in a squalid doorway, several long, black lingers. They were with drawn, and she saw, as she passed the door, two blood-shot eyes peering out like beast's eyes. "Xiua, niuita! the good mother of . God sent you, and see what gain will be yours!" Turning, Miss Stanley be | held Rosita at her heel. She had a i plate to sell—a coarse, ironstone I china plate, chipped and cracked, j There was a look of intense agony 011 I her old face, and her wee hands shook j as she drew her treasure forth from I under her rebozo. The plate was im : possible, and Constance, breaking that fact very gently to the little dwarf, was astonished to see tho tears gather and fall over her shriveled cheeks. . "For two days, senorita, I have not I dared unlock that door," and she : nodded toward tho mean portal where the eyes had shone ami the fingers j protruded restlessly. " 'Little brother 1 ; lias nothing to eat, except the few 1 tortillas the poor around here could give, and many of these go hungry from the sun's coming up uutil the I sun's going down." 1 Constance sent her servant and 1 Rosita to the plaza for some cooked j ! food, and, while she waited, she talked i in the doorways with Pepita and Lola and Juaua. They told her how Rosita worked and starved for her brother. "How old is he?" asked Constance. "Quieu sabe?" they said. "Is lie a child or is lie big enough to work for her?" she asked, impa tiently. "Ah! he is graudote, but also ho is loco, un maniatico. See, that is Jose now who glares from the hole in the door." Miss Stanley listened to them with that rapt attention we all give to tales of the mad. He dug deep holes in the earth floor, burrowing like an animal, sometimes he escaped in that way and I then there was fear in the narrow I street, and tho police, after a bloody light, would drag him shrieking back to the one poor room Rosita called home. She had always put food J through the door for him before veu j turing to open it. Once, for a long time, he had not j menaced the peace of the street. That 1 was when he killed the sereuo. A po- I ! iceman hail jeered him as he peered , from the hole in the door, much as j people tease a hyena snarling in a cage. The mad have memories, for Jose, one night when tho moon was big, crept softly about the dark room, and, find ing the key Rosita's small cunning had hidden, opened tho door, crept i again softly up the street to an adobe | doorway where was sleeping a sereno, j his head 011 his knees. Tho police ( have a day and night shift, but one cannot expect a madman to know | everything. So it was an iunocent ! man who had his neck wrung as the cook does a chicken's. They could only guess what then happened. There were only tho pulsing stars looking silently down and tho great, calm moon. However, it was evident he must have dragged and worried and and f eased that poor piece of clay for God knows how far or long. They found him asleep by the dead sereno, and, although too polite in the "Laud of the Noonday Sun" to manacle or chain, they took the precaution to tie with stout maguey rope Jose's slumbering bulk before six of the largest policemen would venture to carry him to tho carcel. Jose's kind of people are treated with deference in Mexico. So, after sometime, the man was sent back for the dwarf to feed and care for, and Bosita's face took on more wrinkles each day. By the time Rosita returned with the food, Constance, who understood Spanish very well, had heard much of tho "little brother." She declined to look through the peep-hole at him ravening over his dinner like a wild beast. Followed by Rosita's wordy gratitude, she climbed to the top of the street and there met Mr. Dysart. Mr. Dysart had but lately risen from the following letter: Dear Mollle: Tell father I am looking after the mining business in great shape. Mexico is rather jolly. I went to tho Gov ernor's ball lust night. Only one English girl there, Miss Stanley, awful pretty girl. I knew her brother, Dick Stanley, at Trinity. NVon a cup at the three-mile. He's a pretty good sort. Tell Dob if 110 can get that liwr-colorod dog of Oglethorpe for eight guineas to buy her. Look out for Tobin's foot. Don't let the old duffer from the Clauenrty stables fool with it. Tell all tho "old foil;" that Master Tony sent them love and wishin" them a good pratie crop. Love to dad und yourself. To*x. J After Tony Dysart had evolved this characteristic missive from his insides, i he went out for a swallow of fresh air ' and to relieve himself of the strain of ! composition by a long walk. Constance was very lovely at the dance, in a faint-green brocade, with a quantity of creamy old lace. Some crimson poppies were twisted round her ivory shoulders. One or two more of the flaming flowers shone from her pale-gold hair. Mr. Dysart completely lost his head over her; as he had a lot of possessions in Ireland, among them ; a rich father and an ancient and hon orable ancestry, lie could afford to do so. lie was thinking of lier as she had looked the night before, when sud denly she appeared, with her servant, coming up from a street dark and deep, like a well, for already it was getting dusk. On the strength of being at college with her brother, he began with true manly irascibility to take her to task for lier imprudence. But Miss Con stance tightened up lier soft, haughty mouth and, giving him the rear curve of a tweed shoulder to study, led him a chase home. Tho house the brother and sister occupied had been Honor Lopez's, but was presented to Dick, together with a mine worth millions, several black-eyed girls, and what other trifling property Don Felipe owned. However, Dick con tinued to pay the rent regularly and gazed on the girls from afar. The hanging-lamp was lighted in the zaguan; and when theinozo unchained the great double doors, a flood of melody and fragrance rushed out to greet them from the birds and flowers in the dim patio. Dick, in a smoking-1 jacket, lounged out from the sala to insist that Tony, old boy, should take tea with them. Which he did. That was the lirst difference be tween the brother and sister. Dick adored Tony, and every night they pumped out the mine or rode to hounds over the eala floor. But Constance detested him, and, con trary to her usual reticence, said so. She tramped around the disreputable and filthy streets twice as much as be fore, for she knew it annoyed him. Sometimes she would see him follow ing, and she resented his espionage. "Why don't you like Tony?" Dick would ask. "You know my theory, Connie, that a sporty man like Dysart makes the best husband." "Oh, Dick! who is talking about husbands? I think that a man who is utterly doggy aud horsey and takes Browning to l>e authority 011 pink-eye or glanders is a very poor companion. To quote your 'dear Tony,' 'we don't trot in tho same class!'" Dick gave a contemptuous snort. This was 0110 day at luncheon, and Constance, instead of the good cry sho pined lor, took a walk. Sho had not seou Rosita for some time, and she turned her steps toward what Dr. Dysart called "thosecut-throat dens." She had never seen the street so de serted. All were taking a siesta, even the dogs. As she reached the sharp corner, sho heard a thin little shriek full of appeal. She recognized Rosita's voice, and ran with her criada at her side into the low, open doorway she had before so shudderingly avoided. There, snapping his teeth and roll ing his bloodshot eyes, was Rosita's "little brother" tied with strong ropes to an iron pin in the wall—but his arms were free, and he stood there, a giant in size. He had secured the key and had almost pulled the staple from the wall, but Rosita was clinging to his arm and calling for help. To and fro lie swung her as a wolf might a rabbit. He had the key in liis black, cruel hands and he brought it down on her up-turned face. Then again, as Con stance rushed forward with a scream, the key fell with a crunch on the little, old, gray head. At that moment the pin gave way, for adobe walls are not strong. Con stance turned with lier hands thrown out wildly. Over Rosita's body the madman tripped with a crash to the earth floor; just he fell, lie caught Constance's gown in his grasp. She tell with him, and, falling, knew the room had filled with a clattering crowd, and that Tony Dysart, smooth-shaven and blonde, loomed above all. Constance, with the help of her criada, got out in the street, where sho listened, with beating heart, to the cries, curses, and scuffling going 011 inside. There was one dominating, awful groan—then a sinister silence. A moment of sickening uncertainty for that unemotional young English woman, and Tony Dysart, panting, his clothes torn, and blood-stains on his face and hands. He walked firmly enough, to give Constance a helping arm up the stairs. He said Rosita was dead, and he thought the "little brother" would die also, for, while he was struggling with liiw, a policeman had crept up and struck him over the head with a heavy iron bar. "Here we are at the Casa Stanley," she said, as they stopped before the carved doors. "Come in. Dick will want to see you. He can thank you better than I." "No one can thank me like you," Tony replied. "And I must go to the hotel. This arm of miue pains a little. No, not broken," he answered, trying to smile, "but'little brother'wrenched it a trifle." Constance, however, would not ac cept his easy assurance that it was all right. "You must come in, Dick will want you." "Do you want rae, though?" She did not answer that; but, an she let the knocker fall, turned with tears in her eyes. "Will you come, Tony?" "I will come," he insisted, "if you want me." The big doors swung open. "I want yon," she said, slowly. And the doors clanged behind them. —Edith Wagner, in the Argonaut. COOD ROADS NOTES. Synonymous Terms. We clip from Dun's Review the fol lowing: "St. Louis—Business has improved in all lines this week two to fifteen per cent. Groceries are in the back ground, but promise improvement soon with better roads." Memphis—Since the waters reeede4 and country roads have improved, trade and collections have been better." Moral—Good roads and good busi ness are synonymous terms.—L. A. W. Bulletin. A Farmer's Views. The farmers' real taxes are not those which lie pays into the town treasury, but the most burdensome tax is the unnecessary expense which lie must meet wherever lie docs his work at a disadvantage. If ho insists 011 cut (hig grass with u scythe where a mow ing machine could bo used, he is taxing himself by as much as the in creased labor, but it doesn't seem like taxes because it isn't called by that name. If lie goes twice to town instead of once with a given load, his tax in very materially increased, but in spite of this, lie too often objects to paying out the dollar that might bring liim two in another way. In view of these tacts, it is refreshing to receive a letter from a farmer, who says that lie be lieves in the extensive building of permanent highways for the reason that such means of communication would decrease the farmers' taxes rather than increase them.—L. A. W. Bulletin. Good Itoartß timl ISrontl Tires; The movement in favor of good roads which has at last really begun to agi tate rural communities all over the country involves many contributory issues of considerable importance. For instance, associations which Lave un dertaken tho task of improving the country roads are generally advising farmers to make use of broad tires upon their wagon-wheels, instead of the narrow tires which cut and rut a soft road so deeply. It is not easy to induce the farmers to follow this advice, because it im plies and requires at the outset the re pairing of the road. Broad-tired wagons could make little or no progress over some of the muddy and rough roads which are too often found not far from the busiest mid most thriving cities. Narrow wheels cut tlieir way through more easily, but only at the cost of exhausting the horses which draw the wagon, and of still further injuring the road as a thoroughfare. If the highway could but be im- ! proved sufficiently to bear the heavy tires, the wheels would act like a minia ture road-roller, arid assist in keeping the road in good condition instead of tearing it to pieces. As an immediate result, access to markets would be made much more easy, draught animals would gain in efficiency and length of service, and it would be possible to transport larger loads with greater ease and conveni ence than is the case at present. The farmers and the rural commu nities. which they control hesitate to take the first step because of the im mediate expense involved. It ought not to be hard to convince so intelli gent a portion of the community that real economy, both of labor and money, would be gained by improved road beds and tho use of broader tires.— The Youth's Companion. Avoca, la., is making some extensive road improvements. A Road Improvement Association has been organized at Lima, O. The Legislature of Massachusetts has appropriated SBOO,OOO to be used in road building in various parts of the State. Good roads throughout this Common wealth are absolutely necessary. lam for the Good Roads bill and all that it means, and will be until it becomes a law. —Representative Ebenezer Adams, of Pennsylvania. Bad roads caused the death of E. E. Brown, at Deposit, N. Y., recently. Mr. Brown was driving a heavy wagon through the streets of that town when the wagon caught in a rut throwing him to the ground, and the wheel passed over liis head, injuring him so severely that he died in a few hours. Convict labor in road building is be ing employed in Duval County, Flor ida, and in North Carolina. In the latter case twenty-one and a half cents per day per head is said to cover the cost of food, clothes, medical atten dance and guards, compared with twenty-eight cents per day for main- 1 taining the same prisoners in jail. Growing Crystals. A method of growing crystals of unusual lustre and transparency has been described to the French Academy by P. de Wateville. The small crys tal is mounted in such a manner that it can be continuously rotated several times in a second while growing in the saturated solution. Alum crystals grown in this way at fifty degrees suc cessively lose tlieir dodecahedron and cube faces, and at laxi Lave only those of the octahedron. Especially line re sults were obtained with potassium , and •ammonia alums, copper sulphate and sodium chlorate. A Rabbit Club. The people of Wolf Valley, Texas, I have organized a rabbit club. The club pays one cent for each cottontail ; scalp, and two and one-half cents for j each jack rabbit. The organization of I this club is a necessity. Rabbits have : ruined all fruit trees this winter which | were not protected by oak bushes. If ' something is not done to destroy these pests the fpjmers will suffer great loss. VICTIM OF ANOTHER'S WEDDING. Hice Thrown at a Wedded Pair Led to a New ltulo on a Itailroad. This is the story of a grain of rice. ■ It was small, unattractive and un cooked, and was one of a shower that was thrown after a newly wedded | couple in the railroad station at Wil mington, Del., when they boarded a . train bound for New York last week. | The bridesmaids and ushers fol -1 lowed the newly-iuade husband and wife to the station, secreting on the ! way the usual bags of rice and old : shoes to throw after the unsuspecting ; couple. The bride and bridegroom j took their seats in the Pullman car, j and talked to the group of friends un- ! til the signal for the starting of the i I train was given. Then the bridesmaids | and ushers hurried to the platform, ; | and as the train moved slowly out of 1 j the station the fun began. Rice fairly rained over the car. It ' i fell 011 the roof in a shower; it peeked I in through the open window upon the 1 young couple, and it fell into the en- j gine-room 011 the engineer. Just as I the train moved away an extra hurri- j cane fell on the platform of the car ! : where the brakenmn stood. Of course every one laughed. But j the brakemau got several grains of the j lice in his ears. He shook them out ! ! as lie supposed, and thought 110 more about the matter until next day, when j he noticed a sharp pain in his right : ear. It became so keen towards night : 1 that he decided to go to a doctor next j day. ! The doctor tried ail sorts of simple , j remedies to discover the cause. No one thought of the rice. The ear waa syringed and washed repeatedly, but ! the pain and throbbing became most intense, and the doctor directed the j I patient to consult an ear specialist. The specialist decided that a foreign j substance had lodged in the ear. Ho ' syringed it with tfatcr and then with ! 1 oil. Ho probed into the ear canal 1 | with little hooks of various sizes and ! ! shapes. All the time the brakemau was suffering more and more. Ho could not sleep at night, and thought ■ jbe would go mad. He said that some j insect was in his ear. He could hear j it buzzing all the time. Then the | specialist called in another doctor, and j they held a consultation. They decided i to use a pair of forceps on the brake- j man's ear. Ho said they could do ( anything they liked with him; any- 1 thing to stop the pain and buzzing, j ►So tliey got a pair of the finest sort of j forceps bent about to suit the delicate ?ar canal, and they reached gently into I that ear and felt about until they found 1 small, hard substance. It was drawn 3iit softly and carefully. It was a grain Df lice. It had swelled slightly in the ear-prison. The brakemau was mad. He went l o Trainmaster Frank Carlisle, of the i Maryland Division of the P., AY. and I B. Railroad, and made a complaint ! igainst the practice of rice-throwing. | The trainmaster issued an order to the I trainmen giving them special instruc- J i sions to prevent rice-throwing within I the station. A celebrated specialist of this city j said to a World representative: "The 1 3ar is one of the most delicate of or gans. Foreign substances often lodge j :liere; insects frequently get in the I ;ar, and children are very much ad- | lieted to putting peas, in fact any- j :hing they handle, into their ears. ! The tendency of such substances is to ■ swell, and this causes intense pain j md sometimes suppuration. The j isual method is to syringe the ear out. ' This brings out the substance as a j rule; but in obstinate cases we use i ail. If it still resists, small steel ! l hooks are used. "There is a slight bend in the ear ?anal which makes it difficult to reach ! my object that has passed a certain point. Ido not myself approve of ; ising forceps. They are apt to push ; die object further in and sometimes j injure the ear drum. "The pain begins when the sub- j stance swells. Home times the pain is j excruciating. I should imagine that | 1 grain of rice would have grown soft- | er, but it evidently did not do so in ! this case. When an insect gets in | the ear we hold a sponge saturated j with chloroform against the opening, j This kills the insect, and we then ' syringe it out."—New York World. j ' Volcano aw a Weather Prophet. Scientists have recently been inves- i tigating the belief, now many centuries I old, that the volcano of Stromboli is a weather prophet. For two thousand years the inhabitants of the Lipari Isl ands, between Sicily and Calabria, and ! the mariners on the adjacent waters I have looked to the burning mountain for advance information regarding wind j and weather. By day the gigantic | plume of vapor by its shape foretold j the coming wind; and by night the j glare of the subterranean fires striking 1 upward on the clouds gave warning of \ storms that were brewing. Dr. Ber- i gert, the distinguished scientist, who lias been studying the volcano, accepts j and explains the popular belief. He j says that if moist masses of air blow over Stromboli its plume of vapor will > be greater and will thus foretell rain. In the night this larger cloud will re flect a greater amount of light. Thus the belief that Stromboli was a prophet is justified by modern science. A Cleanly German Custom. ' Many persons of fastidious tastes probably ere this have been shocked i by the habit of bakers and their help and salespeople of handling loaves of bread with their unwashed hands. To avoid this in future a baker in Han i over, Siemens byname, has now dis ; covered a simple method. As the loaf issues from the baking oven it is in olosed in a jacket of paper, tied at I both ends. The paper may now be , soiled, but the bread inside is only j handled at tableoronbeingpurchased. This simple contrivance to do away | with what really is a very ancient nui sance finds universal favor in Germany. CAKE AND POETRY. 1 | What art thou, Life? A fleeing day "of change, A trembling (lawn on a wide-reaching, restless sea? A fervid noon—Eve's shadow, dim and j strange? I (Oh, that reminds me. I must bake some cake for tea.) Thy morn is beautiful, oh Life! (I ought -- ! -to glance into the cook-book, so to innko j (juito sure. "Three eggs—a cup of cream," ju3t as I j thought.) With all its dreams, so high, so true so pure! Grand istliy full, sweet noontide, ("'sift the flour i And stir it in." I'm glad the oven's hot ! r and nice.) j Wlion lofty purpose arms the soul with power. ("Itaisins and currants, one cup each, with spice.") j Night, and tho day's fulfillment! Oh, how fair, I How wondrous is this mystery! ("Then add about A tonspoonful of lemon flavoring"—there! Now, while it bakes, I'll write my poem out.)— Madeline 8. Bridges, in Ladies' Home Jour PITH AND POINT. "Stark is a bicycle crank, isn't he?" j"I shottld say he was. When it rains he stays home and runs his cyclo meter."—Cleveland I'laiu Dealer. I The difference between the astrono mer and the chorus girl is that one J studies the stars and the other under j them—Philadelphia Record. | First Bicycle Girl—"Oh, yes; I often fall off', but I always laud on my I feet." Second Ditto—-"X think yon ! said you were from Chicago."—Boston { Transcript. | "These lake excursions seem so lone i some." "Lonesome? Why, lam with you." "Yes, I know, but I J couldn't bring my wheel along."—Chi ; cago Record. Fuddy—"l understand that Wigley spends most of his evenings here at your house?" Duddy—"l had an im pression that it was my evenings that | he spends here."—Boston Transcript. 1 There's tho bicyelo faeo ami the bleyclo back, I With its queer, uititudiuous curve; I And the bicycle tongue, in the middle hung, I Aud the scorcher's bicycle nerve. —Queensland Wheel. ' Watts—"Getting a little rest out your way since the piano girl took to j the wheel, aren't you?" Potts—"Naw. | Her bicycle suit is louder than than the piano was."—lndianapolis Jour ; ual. j "What mado you quit the club, Billy?" "Reason enough, I can tell you. I worked five years to he elected Treasurer and then they insisted on putting in a cash register."—Detroit ! Free Press. | Barrow—"That's a dandy wheel | you have there, old man. I'll take u little spin on it some day. By the way, what kind of a wheel do yon think I ought to ride?" Marrow—"One of your own."—Brooklyn Life, j "I told her I was afraid to kiss her 1 while we were on the tandem for fear jwe would both fall off." "What did j she say?" "She said she hoped I j didn't call myself an experienced j wheelman."—Chicago Record. | Gent (solicitously)—" Sir, I have here some indestructible pieplates." Mr. Hull Bedroome (grimly)—" Well, : you have come to the right house to | sell them. That's the sort of pies j Mrs. Skinner gives us."—Puck. Mrs. Eastiake—"You visited Venice while you were in Europe, I hear, j Mrs. Trotter?" Mrs. Trotter—"Yes, J indeed, and we were rowed about by j one of the chandeliers for which that | city is noted."—Harper's Bazar. Fuddy—"They say you have a lik ; ing for Miss Spontel." Duddy— j "Nonsense! The woman is insuppor table." Fuddy—"That's just it. You won't have to support her. She's got enough for two."—Boston Transcript. Gohang—"l think I'll do quite a little shooting this summer. I wonder what the close season is?" Buckshot | —"Well, in your case, old man, I I fancy if you applied to the legislature, J they'd throw the whole year open to j you."—Truth. First White Chilli. | The first child of English parents j born in America was Virginia Dare, | the daughter of Ananias Dare and Eleanor White, members of one of the ' bauds of colonists sent out to the newly-discovered country by Sir Wal ter Raleigh. I AThis event took placo on August 18, 1587, and, appropriately enough, one I of the counties on Roanoke Islands is called Dare County. While Virginia I was the first English subject born in ! the then distnnt land, a number of col onists had settled in America two years previously; but they returned to Eng. | land in 158 G. 1 In order to commemorate this oettle ment, a memorial hns just been erected on the site of old Fort Raleigh, on Roanoke Island. This memorial hears an inscription stating that: "On this site, in August, 1585, the colonists Hent from England by Sir Walter Raleigh built the,fort called the New ! Fort, in Virginia." It was peculiarly appropriate that the first child born in America should be ehristened in the name of the State which owed its own title to the desire to pay a courtly compliment to the Virgin Queen of England. President's Mansion Not Whitewashed. Colonel T. A. Bingham, Superinten dent of Public Buildings and Grounds at Washington, in answer to an Agri culturist subscriber's inquiry as to how tho whitewash was made that was used on the White HoUBe years ago, says that not within the recollection oi the office has the exterior of the Execu tive Mansion been whitewashed. White lead and linseed oil is used when painting the mansion.—Ameri can Agriculturist.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers