Demoniac Bellefonte, Pa., June 27, 1890. AN OPENING ROSEBUD. What will it be? Tis a bud on a rose bush grewing, A tiny and tender thing, ; With its green, fringed ealyx showing The faintest tinge of a pink flash, flowing At kiss of the welcome spring. What will it be ? What will it be ? : With an exquisite grace and ‘bearing, In timid yet trustful sway, : On the slim eurvey stem ’tis sharing ; The balmy breath of the south wind, daring The gaze of the fervid day. What wifl it ‘be ? What will it be ? : 1 can catch but a doubtful gleaming, (So little the petals show), : Thro’ the scarce eleft sepals, seeming Like lightest bonds, of the bound heart's dreaming In foldings of flame ar snow. What will it be ? What will iit be ? In the day of its full tide splendor, A marvel of beauty fair, With its soft bonds riven, render The richest red of a warm heart, tender And sweet with an ineense rare ? What shall it be ? What will it be? In the time of its full displaying The secrets its petals hold Will it show, in sunshine swaying, ? The purest white of a rich heart, spraying Its sweets from a’bosom cold’ What will it be? To the bud on the rose bush blowing I whisper a tender line. And its close veiled petals, glowing. An answer send in a soft blush, knowing The wish in the whisper fine. What will it be ? — Gustavus Harkness in Philadelphia Ledger, RTARTA. HUNT FOR A MAN EATER. When you go forth to hunt the lion you have a bold and open enemy. In ninety-five cases out of a hundred he will charge you if you meddle with him. In x other five he may get rat- tled and run away. The lion eeldom prowls or sneaks. The tiger will of ten resort to measures unworthy of the wolf. One can always locate the lion at night, if he be full grown, by his voice. Fearing nothing on earth, hu- man or animal, he delights in locating himself. Hunters have now and then been stalked by a lion, but in every case it was curiosity more than hunger which prompted the beast. tiger stalks it is for blood. He is nev- er curious. We had been beating the jungles in the Bengolee district, to the west of Calcutta, for two weeks before any big game came our way. Our party was too large for a successful hunting party, being composed of over twenty officers, civil and military, who were out for a vacation, and the servants must have ‘numbered fifty. We had plenty to eat, drink and sm'oke, and now and then knocked over a wolf or hyena, but we could not expect to get within five miles | of anything worthy of a bullet with | such a camp as that. One day a na- tive came in with a request that some of us return with him to a village call- ed Dahur, about twenty-five miles to the nortwest. He said that an old ti- ger had taken up his headquerters near the village, and during the four weeks he had been there the beast had killed and devoured a man, two women, a girl and a boy. The natives had set traps, but he would not enter them. They had poisoned the carcasses of goats and calves, but he would not touch them. It had got so that at 4 o'clock in the evening every one enter- ed his house and made himself secure tor the night, while the tiger held pos- session of the village and carried ter- ror to every soul. Maj. Isham and myself got this news exclusively, and after a bit of Hanning we stole out of camp with our orses and arms, and followed the guide. It was about nine o'clock in the morning when we left, and as it was a cool day and we had a fairly good route, we pushed ahead at such a pace that at 3 iu the afternoon we were in Dahur. We found the village to consist of seventy-two huts or cabins, covering about two acres of open. On the northern edge of the village was a creek flowing toward the Ganges, sixty miles away, and beyond this creek was a fertile spot of 200 acres, which was devoted to crop raising. The creek was ‘bordered with a thick jungle about five rods in breadth, and it was at the cros- sing that the tiger had got in his dead- ly work. This creek could not be cross- -ed anywhere for miles, except by cut- ting a way through the jungle, and the inhabitants of the village were talking of moving away when they heard of our big hunting party. The first thing was to inquire about the tiger's peca- liarities as thus far observed by the people. No two tigers work exactly alike any more than two thieves do. Let two man eaters take up their quar- ters, each in the suburbs of a village twenty miles apart, ard they will not pursue the same tactics. No wild animal goes out to kill un. less hungry. In each instance where this tiger had seized a victim he had remained quiet for the next two nights. We could, therefore, figure pretty close- ly on his next appearance. We went down that evening and looked it over. It was dense enough to conceal a troop of elephante,and as the creek was full of water the beast would have no inducement to leave'shelter until hung- er drove him out. As for pushing our way into the jungle to meet him, the idea was too foolhardy to be enter- tained. Once a tiger becomes a man eater he develops new traits. No pow- wow raised by a thousand natives can scare him away, and he becomes twice as dangerous to approach as before. That night the head man caused sever- al large bonfires to be lighted, bells rang, old muskets fired off, and a great noise kept up for an hour. This was to inform the tiger that white men had arrived, and that a new deal was on hand. We had plenty of time the next day to look the field over and make our plans. The natives were sent off to the fields ta work, and we skirted the When the banks of the creek to the east until satisfiel that the beast had its lair in a mass of rock so overgrown and shelter- ed by jungle that it did not seem as if a rabbit could penetrate it. He doubt: less came and went by a path of his own a! the water's edge. The situa- tion was a good one to burn him out when the wind came right, but we did not want try that until our other plans failed. Fires were lighted again on the second night, and the racket maintain- ed for the first two hours after sundown was sufficient to scare any ordinary tiger out of the district. It was about 7 o'clock, and the major, the head man, two or three others and myself were sit- ting about the head man’s door smok- ing and talking, when an interesting event occurred. We were almost at the northern edge of the village, and the noise was all to the south of us. I sat in the door facing to the west. The others sat so that their faces were tow- ard the door. All of a sudden I caught sight of the tiger approaching us from the north. He walked up to within ten feet of the group and sat down and stared at us. I could see him in the reflection of a fire as plain as day, and | noted his unusual size and strength, and the fact that he had a white spot about the size of a silver dollar on his throat. There was a conversation going on in which I was not included, and I had been looking at the beast a full minute be- fore I was appealed to. Then I repled : “Gentlemen, make no move! The ti- ger is only ten feet away! By moving backward five feet [ can reach my gun. Should any of you attempt to spring up he will doubtless seize you.” The natives were struck dumb,but the major, fully realizing the situation, be- gan singing a song. I moved back- ward inch by inch, and the tigar re- mained quiet while I was in his range of vision. As soon as I got my rifle I rose to my feet and stepped to the door to deliver a shot, but the beast was no longer there. No one had heard or seen him move, but he had disap- peared. “Ie came to see if you sahibs were really here, or if we were deceiving him,” explained the head maa when he had recovered his power of speech. “He has seen you. He knows that you seek his life. It will now be be- tween you three, and you must look out or he will get the better of you.” Nothing further was heard from the beast that night, and next day we sent the people off to the fields again. After dinner we got a suit of clothes, and stuffed them with grass to represent a human figure—a man. We placed 1t in a kneeling position at the creek, with goured in hand, as if dipping up water, and at 3 o'clock all the people came in, and we took our stations in a tree which commanded the crossing. If the tiger appeared at the usual spot we had him at short range. We watched until the afternoon faded into darkness, but he did not appear. If he saw the figure at all he scented the trick. Then we fastened a goat to the tree, and took possession of a cabin a hundred feet away. From a window looking out to the north we had a fine show to drop the tiger if he appeared. But he did not appear. While all the village slept we stood watch, rifles on the cock ; but though the goat kept up a continual bleating for hours, she drew no other audience than a few jackals and hyenas. In the afternoon we had one ot the families vacate their hut and brought up the dummy and laid it in the sleep- ing corner. We then took possession of the next cabin, only about thirty feet away, and cut two openings in the wall to command the door of the first. The people went to their work as usual and returned at the usual time, and everybody was inside before the sun went down. What we hoped for was that the tiger would prowl through the village, trying each opening to effect an entrance, and we had left this door so that he could open it. We did not look for him before 9 o'clock, and were taking things easy at about 8 when we heard an uproar at the other end of the village. We two ran out, but were tou late. The tiger had appeared, burst in a door by flinging his weight against it, and had seized and carried off a boy about 8 years old. The villagers were frantic with grief when they learned of the fact, and the head man said to us, while the tears ran down his cheeks : “Ab, sahibs, but we may as well abandon our homes to-morrow. This is a wise and cunning tiger, and you can do nothing with him. If we do not gv away, he will eat us up.” We quieted the people as best we could, and the next day went out in person to make every hut secure, Every window opening was barred, and every door provided with a prop. It was characteristic of the simple mind- ed natives that, while they lived in mortal dread, more than halt the huts were so badly secured that the tiger could have entered. We had to wait again for the tiger to get hungry. As the crops could take care of themselves for a few days, we ordered that the villagers keep quizt and show them- selves as little as possible, and two nights and days were thus worn away, On the afternoon of the third day we killed a goat and dragged its bleeding body from the creek to the door of the hut wherein we had placed the dum- my, and at twilight the village was as quiet ag a gravyard. The major and I stood at openings about five feet apart, and at 10 o’clock we had got no alarm. He came oser to me to say that he was dying for a smoke, and to ask if I deemed it advisa: ble to light a cigar, when I heard a pas) pat! pat! outside, and cautioned im that the tiger was abroad. The cunning beast had not come by the circuit and struck into the upper or southern end of the village. terward ascertained, he had been prow- ling around for an hour, softly trying | every door in succession. Our openings { were on the south side. The cunning beast seemed to be posted as to this fact and lingered on the north side. We plainly heard him push at our door trail we had prepared, but had made a | As we af- i English-speaking - speak a word of our language. .and rear up and claw the bars of the window, and we hardly breathed for fear of frightening him away. There was a crevice under the door through which one could have shoved his hand, and the tiger got down and sniffed and snuffed at this opening for fully five minutes. Then he got up and remain- ed very quiet. He must have had the scent of the fresh blood only two rods away, but it was plain that he had his suspicions. We stood at the openings each one with his gun thrust out ready to fire, when the beast suddenly made up his mind ‘to act. With one bound he emerged from shelter and covered half the distance to the other cabin. At the second he went bang against the door, pushed itin, and was hidden from our sight before we had had a show to pall trigger. “Take hitn when he comes out!” whispered the major, and both of uy watched and waited. The beast no doubt expected to find a victim in the hut. He seized the dummy, gave it a shake, and the dis- covery he made broke him all up. In- stead of coming out with a bound he sought to play sneak, and was just clear of the opening, head down and tail dragging, when we fired and keel- ed him over. He proved to be an old tiger, having lost many of his teeth, but he was big and strong, and would tims but for our interference.—N. Y. Sun. Names of They Change With Other Fashions and Quite Often Too. It would not be at all surprising if, in the centuries to come, the students of the social life of the nineteenth century should classify this great comic century into longer or shorter periods according to the fashions of given names among wo- men. ‘Fashions in men’s names change somewhat, but not as women’s. John, Charles, George and William reign in 1890 as they did 1790. But the fashion in women’s names change every ten or fifteen years. Just what was the favor- ite woman’s name at the very opening of the century is hard to guess off hand, but the Listener may venture to say that the Nancy epoch was the first worthy of the word in the century. Among the octogenarian ladies of the Listener's acquaintance the name of Nancy seems to have ajvery prominent place. Furth- er on down the century came the fash- ion of double names—possibly an old fashion revived—and we find Martha Anus, Mary Janes and Ann Elizas in nearly every family. Perhaps this epoch would be best described as the Mary Jane epoch of our feminine no- menclature. It is a little hard to locate these things in years, but the Listener would say, at a guess, that the Lucy epoch began about the year 1835, and was closely followed by the Helen epoch, which left the name of the beautiful daughter of Leda scattered broadcast over the country. Helen came the most singular, unac- countable epoch of ali, the Ella epoch. The use of the name of Ella goes baek, as closely as the Listener can locate it, to about the year 1850, though there may have been earlier examples. ‘Where the name “Ella’’ came from is a mystery. The authorities put it down as a corruption of Eleanor, which in its turn was corrupted from Helen. It ap- pears to have no recognized place either in history or fiction, though evidently it was borrowed frow a fourth-rate popu- lar novel. It is, at any rate, without meaning, without association in the past, without any reason for existence at its beginning except that it pleased many people’s fancy. Now it no doubt has a recognized existence, since beauti- ful and good women have borne it, and, like all other names that women ever bore, it is sanctified with that other name of mother, The real Ella epoch did not set in as early as 1850; probably it was at its height about the year 1860. People thought it so pretty ; But it is sadly out of fashion now. There was an Ida epoch that came in somewhere along there, probably just after the Ella epoch, though the two names ran pretty closely together. The name of Ida is a good and ancient one, though most of the people who took it up doubtless thought that they had hit upon something quite new. Most of the Idas of the time about 1860 were named for a character in 2 popular story or for one another. But following the Ella and Ida period there came another girl name which attained a most extra- dinary rage ; the Edith epoch, indeed, survives almost to the present day. Be- tween 1865 and 1875 about half of the gil bubies were christened Edith, and the crop is ripening fast now, as a matter of course. Look at the high school cat- alogues and see how they bristle with Ediths. An ancient Saxon name, and a pretty one, disused for centuries and revived all at once—a happy revival if it had it not been overdone. Then came the Maud-and-Mabel epoch ; these names have to be hyphenated, because neither ever seemed able to stand up without the other. They were a great ragein their turn. The main crip of Mauds and Mabels will hardly mature before another five years, though the earlier sowings are ripe already. Since then we have had the Majorie revival— an exceedingly pretty name that, and now we arc threatened with a Gladys epoch. Here we have another name out of the story books. But fashions in names had much better be revivals of old, disused English names, like Gladys, Ethel, Edith, Barbara, then mere inven- tions and importations. And a great deal more depends upon the woman, anyway, than on the name.— Boston Transcript. —At present English is practically an unknown tongue at the Vatican. The Pope can neither speak it nor read it. Cardinal Rampoldi, the secretary of state, is in the same plight. So is Monsignor Mocenni, the under-secre- tary. Cardinal Simeoni, chief of the Propaganda, who has charge of all the countries, cannot . Mon- signor Jacobini is learning it. Of the Italian Cardinals only oue, Cardinal Mazella, can talk English, and he, it is worth nofgng, is a Jesuit. The general of the Jesuits, Father Anderledy, also speaks English. A Human Cyclone. The Worst Experience of a Physician in a Lunatic Asylum. It isn’t the pleasantest thing in the world to travel with a convict. It is still less agreeable to have as your com- panion du voyage a lunatic who is lia- ble to break out and be violent at any | moment. But I think the worst of all | is to have a collection of convict “lu- | neys’’ under your charge even for a short journey, for, mad as they are, most of them know that they are prisoners and enemies of society, and they couple, with this kaowledge, sll the recklessness which insanity brings. They are apt to be both dangerous and ugly. ‘We were transferring six prisoners of this variety from Utica to Auburn. There were eleven in the party, four keepers besides the doctor, a slender doubtless have made many more vic: Somewhat after the reign of | ! young fellow and something of a dude | in appearance, with his fine clothes and i gold-rimmed eye- glasses, which he pro- i nounced “glawses,”” but a good man for all that, braveas a lion and with mus- cles like steel springs on his athletic arms. It was hard to say who were the most nervous of the party—the mad- men, excited by their change of base; the enterprise, or the young doctor, ! keen and alert, on whose shoulders rest- ed the responsibility for safely deliver- ing his charges within the walls of the insane pavilion at Auburn. On the station platform at Utica one of the men, the most dangerous of all, broke loose and started to run away. Instantly all tour of the keepers jumped upon him, and, after a most tremendous struggle, threw him down and overpow- ered him, while the doctor, after sweep- . | ing the others with a lightning-like glance, and bidding them in a low tone of authority to stand perfectly still, whipped out a pocket case with a tiny i syringe in it and squirted a pacifying measure into the arm of the furious and foaming madman. In a moment or two he had become more tranquil. “Now, get up,” said the doctor, ‘‘and do not make us any more trouble.” The keepers relaxed their hold and the “luney’” sulienly obeyed. It was wonderful what effect the cool manner and the strong will of the little doctor | had upon these misshapen minds. It Iwas like oil on troubled waters. There was no further trouble until we reached Syracuse. The dangerous patient had been very quiet since his first out break suspiciously so the doc- tor thought, who asked him several times how he felt, if he felt all right, and so forth. In the cars he was be- tween his keeper and the window, and really had no chance for mischief. But as they were getting off the cars at Syra- cuse his opportunity came and he took and down on the station one; then he was off upon the other siGe, and run- ning like a deer along the raihoad track. The Chicago Limited was com- ing down the track at a fast pace, and | T expected that the locamotive would forever settle that troublesome patient, for it caught him in a narrow place where he could turn neither to the right nor left, but with all a madman’s cunning he lay down close to the rails just in the nick of time and was passed by unharmed. But what was that upon his heels—a streak of lightning? No, it was the | young doctor, and running like the hound that overtakes the deer. He es- caped the Limited by throwing himself flat against the fence, and then before the other had time to scramble up and be off again he was on him with furious energy. He caught the fellow by jthe scruff of the neck, gave him a twist and sent him spinning like a peg top crash against the fence. Then he had him down, and was jumping on the prostrate body until the fellow howled for mercy. Cruel? Brutal? Well, perhaps it was, but I who had seen the whole business, and knew how quickly the madman would stick a knife in him if he got the chance, I could not blame him for rash measures, A moment later the fellow was again in thehands of a keeper ; the morphine was applied once more, and the doctor was serenely asking how he felt. “That is the most terrible task of any that I have to do,” the doctor said. “In transferring ‘luneys’ I am always possessed by the expectation that one of them will break loose and kill some- body. It is not for myself that I fear, but for some harmless and unsuspecting passenger. I would rather carry a load of dynamite on the cars than half a doz- en of those fellows —New York Herald. Pepper on Strawberries. “Pepper on your strawberries?’ said a dusky waiter at Dooner’s Hotel, in Philadelphia, yesterday. “What!” exclaimed the astonished guest, trying to think what day it was, lest there might be some reason for playing a joke on him. ¢No, thank vou. What do you mean by that ?”’ “Well, boss,” said the other, ‘all gen- | tlemen now takes pepper on strawber- ries. Just try one.” The guest did as directed and to his surprise found it delightful, and soon sprinkled the whole saucer w'th the condiment. “Do you now call for salt, mustard and vinegar ?”’ said the guest, “I want to be up to the times.” “No, sah, take ’em jist that way, you'll find ’em elegant.”’ The guest investigated and soon found that a gentleman from the Orange Free State in South Africa was stop- ping at the hotel recently and insisted on treating his berries with pepper. This set the fashion which is rapidly coming into favor. Crise SWEET CAKEs.-—Put a tea- ! spoonful of carbonate of soda to one pound of flour, rub in six ounces of but- ter and eight ounces of castor sugar. Beat up a large eggs, mix it with the four, and add as much milk as will make a stiff dough. Roll out very thin and cut into round cakes, putting a slice of citron or a blanched almond on the top of each. Bake in a very quick "oven till of a light brown. If stored when quite cold in a dry place and covered with confectioners’ paper these cakes will eat as crisp after several weeks as when first baked. the keepers, knowing well the perils of it like a flash. With a quick blow hel knocked. the keeper off the car platform ! Pruning Peach Trees. The mistake of entting out the inside of peach trees is noted as quite a general one by the California Fruit Grower, whichadvises the following plan for pro- that a peach tree should have at its best: When the tree is planted, three to five branches should be started twelve to eichteen inches from the ground. There should be radiated at intervals sufficient branches to form a symmetrical head. The side branches which are formed should be cut back near the base of the main branches, but the new growth should be shortened in from one third to one-half each year. Care should be taken that such branches as cross or are liable to split off are remov- ed in their incipient stage. If the trees are properly trained, cutting, other than what can be done with the pruning shears, will nct be necessary. Extra strong shoots should be shortened in the most, for if allowed to grow at will they | will detract from the symmetry of the tree and vigorof their follows. Peach trees should be shortened back from the outside in and from the top down, at the ! same time doing such thinning as is necessary. Leave the inside alone when it is once in shape. Low heads are pre- ferable to high ones for several reasons. They shade the roots and main trunk and make it easier to prune and gather the fruit. In shortening back the branches care should be taken to leave a leaf bud next to the cut, as a fruit bud left at that point will produce an inferior fruit and a stub will be left. This an- nual cutting in of the fruit-producing growth reduces the number of fruits materially and the entire vigor of the tree is thrown into the remaining fruit, which naturally grows to larger size and better flavor. The foliage of the tree has much to do with the quality of the flavor If large, handsome, rich foliage is produced, the fruits are much more apt to be of fine quality. Worry Not Work Kills. The Rev. D. Ball on Fast Living— “@rit and Get Up.” The Rev. Wayland D. Ball, of Balti- more, Md., last Sunday evening preach- ed on the topic, “Worry, Not Work Kills.” Hesaid in part: “We are living in a fast age, and we Americans are, on the whole, the fastest people of the age. A special train the other day covered the distance between New York and Washington in a little over 4 hours. The speed of this train may be taken as the type of the fastness of our living as a people. We carry stop watches and calculate seconds and quarter seconds as our fathers counted days and hours, “No wonder our social and intellect- ual lives abound in so many fatel col- lisions and wrecks in view of the tre- mendous pace we go. Itis more than interesting to live in these times—it is positively frightful. We are a weary peo- plefcareworn folk. Husbands are peevish and gray ; wives discouraged and wrin- kied at an age when the bioom of yoath should be still on them. We find our selves at the noon of our lives in the midst of experiences that belong to the eventide. Butwe pay a dreadful price for these premature experiences, for the wisdom of years involves its decrepi- tude. We see scores of physical and mental monstrosities in the shape of men’s heads on boy's shoulders. “We have no longer any time to be children. * * ¥* God’s time, we forget, 1s the only true and safe time. We be- grudge Him as much as our theughts. Every moment given to his service we regard as so much time and advantage lost. “Grit and get up,” say we, ‘and not piety, wins in these times.” ¢“We havn’t sense enough to stop wor- rying. and thus losing by worrying strength we need for our work. The canker of anxiety is eating us up. God offers to carry all of our cares. Let him have them, then. This does not mean thatif we have doneall wecan it is not demanded of us to worry about the issue of our iabors. We have strength enough to work, but no giant is there that can stand out against worry.” Let Teachers Discuss It. The average handwriting of our peo- pleis bad ; worse, probably, than that of any other nation. Itis either erabbed and illegible or of a mechanical charac- ter, in which all irdividuality is lost; and poor instruction is chiefly responsi- ble for the evil. Instead of improving upon nature, our haphazard method per- verts it, with the result that boys and girls who might write well if properly taught, go through life cursed with a bad chirography. How could it be otherwise, when their teachers set them the example in that respect ? The run of our teachers write a poor hand, without grace, beauty, or distinc- tion. When it is legible, it is apt to be vulgar and commonplace. It gives readers of their letters an unfavorable conception of their characters, education and breeding ; and a letter is often the first introduction of an individual, and from it the recipient forms his first and most fixed impression of the quality of the sander. ; Penmanship, therefore, should be a de- partment of instruction in the public schools upon which the greatest care should be bestowed. It is moreimportant there than algebra, geometry and three- quarters of the other branches by which the board of education sets so much store. A first-rate writing master is more essential than a great mathemati- cian, and he deserves better pay. He is harder to get than a high-flown, new- fangled Professor of Pedagogy. The English are good penmen, as their ordinary commercial letters show, and even the writing of very many En- glish mechanics is clear and dignified. The Irish areeven better writers,and the Ger- man mercantile hand is quite admirable But with us the rule is the other way. Usually the letteris a scrawl, or the chirography is of the copy-book kind, cheap and poor, and mechanical in ap- pearance, Yet there is no reason why Americans should not be as good writers as other people, if they were scientifically in- structed in youtk. An accomplishment of great value and of practical assistance to success in life is neglected as some- thing of minor concern, | | TR Hot Surimers Long Ago. A German writer, dealing with cer- tain prognestications of grear summer heat, goes back for precedents. In 627, hesays, the springs were dried up, and ducing the evenly balanced, rounded haed | men fainted with the heat. In 870 it was impossible to work in theopen fields, In the year 993 the nuts on the trees were ‘roasted’ as if in a baker's oven. In 1000 the river: in France dried up. and the stench from the dead fish and other matter brought a pestilenes into: the land. The heat in the year 1014 dried up the rivers and the brooks in Alsace-Lorraine. The Rhine was dried up in the year 1132. In the year 1152 the heat was so great that eggs could be cooked in the sand. x In 1227 itis recorded that many men and animals came by their death through the intense heat. In the year 1303 the waters of the Rhine and the Danube were partially dried up, and people pass- ed overon foot, The crops were burned up in the year 1394, and’ in 1538 the Seine and the Loire were as dry land. In 1556 a great drought swept through Europe. In 1614 in France and even in Switzerland tha brooks and the ditches were dried up. Not less hot were the vears 1646, 1679 and 1701. In the year 1715 from the month of March till Oec- tober not a drop ot rain fell; the tem- perature roze to 88 degs. Reaumur, and in favored places the fruit trees blos- omed a second time. Extraordinarily hot were the years 1724, 1746, 1756 and 1811. The summer of 1815 was so hot (the thermometer standing at 40 degs. Reaumur)that the places of amusement had to be closed.—ZLondon News. mt ——— Plucking and Shearing Geese. American Agrieulturist. A curious case came before an En- glish court for adjudication recently. A poulterer was charged with cruelty to forty-eight live geese by plucking them of their feathers, and the owner was charged with procuring the commission of the offense. The proceedings were taken by the Society fur the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A witness swore that “after the geese were plucked their skins turned a purple color, and they walked about with their backs up and shrank when touched.” The practice was shown by defend- ants to be very prevalent, and the soci- ety asked for a nominal fineto put a stop to it. The defendants said it was the custom of the district to pluck the feathers every six wesks, and if they were stopped from doing so many peo- ple would discontinue keeping geese, as much more money was realized by the sale of feathers than by the geese. The court imposed a fine of eighteen shillings upon the defendants, and expressed the hope that it would be a warning to oth- er people. Plucking live geese and ducks prevails all over the United States. There is a species of large water-fowl whose habitat in winter is the open lakes of the interior, und their feathers are so firmiy set that they cin not be plucked. Shearing is resorted to, and many housewives have beds made of the feathers, which almost equal those of elder down, as the stiff, troublesome quills are absent. Shearing geese and ducks could be made to supersede pluck- ing. Early Training. If a child attending school brings home with him any ill-chosen or forms of manner, it will be dropped as easily asit was acquired if his parents are watchful, and his home surroundings are of a gentle and cultured charac ter. The mother who iz careful with her children at home in sll these matters wlll never bave to appear shocked by the voice of her little “Johnny” scream- ing out—4“I haint never done it, you nasty old thing,” or by seeing ‘Mamie’ slap her little visitor in the face. It is thought by some that all the graces of civilization are inherited, and, being improved upon, are transmitted to the next generation. Without going to this extreme we may beheve that the child of well bred parents will be born with a tendency toward all that is re- fined and cultivated, but that this alone is not to be depended upon. Good ex- ample and ceaseless care are both es- sential. Russian Military Discipline. A German was boasting in the pres- ence of some Russians about the obe- dience and discipline of the German army, citing numerous instances from the war between France and Germany. “Gentlemen,” replied one ot the Rus- sians, “what you say about the disci- pline in the German army amounts to nothing at all when compared with what occurs continually in the Russian army. But I will merely recite one in- stance of what occurred at the beginning of the reign of Czar Nicholas, when the discipline in the Russian army was com- paratively lax. At that time, before the telegraph was discovered, the Rus- sians used signal stations, which were a few miles apart. The soldier made a signal which was repeated by the sol- dier at the next station, and thus the news was conveyed thousands of miles. “One day a soldier at a station near St. Petersburg did not see the signal in time, and dreading the punishment that awaited him for negligence, deliberate- ly hanged himself on the signal tower. The soldier at the next post mistook this for a signal so, he deliberately and promptly hanged himself also. In con- sequence of the discipline which prevails in the Russian army, next day it was discovered that all the soldiers at the signal towers from St. Petersburg to Warsaw had hanged themselves on their signal towers. Of course, a much stricter discipline prevails at present, and—" “That will do.” replied the German; “I giveit up.”’—7Texas Sift- ings. RUINED BY Too Quick COOKING — Too much haste is the cause of much bad cooking, according to a commenta- tor on modern cookery. The majority of cooks bake brown bread and baked beans, for instance, in from one to two hours under a hot fire. The Boston cooks give from ten to twelve hours of baking to their beans and brown bread, and have the satisfaction of hearing that in no other city or country can such “delicious beans” and “lovely bread’ be found. SANE — “Gm ew
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers