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,
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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