it in the waste basket. She paused a moment in the parlor. There, on the scene of her recent social success, she was softened. Her anger melted away, and curiosity led her to son Bellefonte, Pa., THE OLD TIN DINNER-HORN. 0. | open the paper, probably the iampoon - of some envious person who had boldly tacked it on her door. As she ran her eyes over the page the text began to When the blossom’s on the tater and the tas- | crow confused, and she could scarcely sel’s on the corn, ee An’ the ripenin’ tomaytesses a biushin’ like the morn; read it. She was able, however, to learn from it that her household goods When the pole bean’s young an’ tender an’ the | were for sale, having been seized by ingen an’ the beet, : An’ the cowcumber an’ cabbage’s ’bout big enough to eat; : ’ When the yaller leg spring chicken, fried in t butter “to a turn,” the sheriff, - “John I" she impulsively called, and hen she remembered that be had gone An’ corn pone’s hot an’ buttermilk’s jest emp- | Over the mouatains to gurvey a tract of tied from the churn, ns Oh, it’s then I love the music of the tootin’ din- ner horn, land. She sank on the sofa and tried to think. Her lips were drawn and When the blossom’s on the tater and the tas | her teeth showed their tips as she re- sel’s on the corn. called the shadow that had been on When the scorchin’ sun of summer pours his brow growing blackszr daily, and down a feller’s back, the paper in her hand made clear the An' him »-workin® fit to kill a-pillin’ up the canse oft. She lifted the legal native stack With the dusty sweat-a-pourin’ down his face | ana read it carefully. ? mark of genuineuess, and advertised into his eyes, La An’ the thresher keeps a-buzzin’ like a pantry { full of flies; It bore every or sale all the personal property of Whenlhe feels about as holler as the everlastin’ | John Patterson. To the bill was an- siy vexed a partial list of the articles seiz- ’ . Then he gets a sens 0’ goneness nothing else can satisfy ed. Dragging herself to the hall door Like the appetizin’ music of the tootin’ dinner | osha oalled a servant. orn When the blossom’s on the tater and the tas- sel’s on the corn. Milk and honey, ham an’ eggs and, biscuits hot and light, ; Buckwheat cakes an’ tree merlasses a mighty luscious sight, An’ roast spar rib an’ sweet pataters baked with sassidge meat, “Who put this paper on the door, Mar. aret ?"’ “The sheriff, ma'am ; and he wouldn’t mind me tellin’ him not to.” “That is all, Margaret.” The servant went back to the kitch- en and Mrs. Patterson hastened to her But buttermilk and g.rding sass is mighty | .oo pn. Sitting down at her desk, she hard to beat; An’ when a feller's empty from his buzzum to | Wrote a letter to John and enclosed the his boots, : a There's a sight of hallylooyer in the satisfyin’ t: handbill. Two or three days before the time appointed for the sale she re- foots . " : Of the wimmen folks a-blowin’ on the old tin | ceived a note from John, who promis- dinner, horn, sels on the corn. a — Edwin S, Hopkins, in Judge. SALLIE PATTERSON. A True Story of Actual Life. BY A. L. KINKEAD. When the blossom’s on the tater an’ the tas’ 2 fix up everything when he came She showed the note to the sheriff and was surprised when he did not heed it. A mob invaded her parlor, surged into her dining room and stormed through her bed chambers. — while the auctioneer clamored, talking as if he had consulted a dictionary for — adjectives with which to descritie the All the From a peak in the Alleghenies, ene | articles under his hammer. The bidders can see the town of Harburg, built | were eager and prices ran high. Be- upon a hill, and almost surrounded by | fore her eyes her furniture was sold a river that is famous in song. In the [and taken away from Mrs. Patterson, days when a canal connected these | whose only remark to each buyer was: with a railroad which crossed the “Be careful of that. Mr. Patterson mountains, Harburg was a place of | wiil come back soon and fix everything; importance. . Of its gay society Sallie Donnelly then I shall want that back.” No one Jaughed at her, but when was the belle, She was tall and slen- | the sale was over and ail her house- der. Her bright eyes, rich complex- | hold goods, save the necessary things 100, ready wit and graceful manners | exempt by law for the debtor, were made her the most attractive young | carried off by the purchasers, she was woman of the town. Her teeth were | no longer Mrs. Patterson to the resi- very white, and she, being a brunette, | dents of Harburg. They spoke of her used them in smile and laugh with very | as Sallie Patterson, but neither envi- startling effect. ously nor admiringly, as they had once One evening at a ball, John Patter- | done of Sallie Dovnelly. She, ignorant son was introduced to her. He was a | of the loss of her position in society, civil engineer, stationed at Harburg, | wrote a full account of the sale to her and he was handsome, and his ability | husband. Among other things she to master a difficult problem in mathe- | said : matics was wonderful ; but he could no “I know just who bought everything, more have figured to a nicety on an [and I asked them not to injure any- estimate of a woman than he could | thing, so we could have our furniture have told what the moon's back is and china back when you returned and made of. Like all men of his kind, he | settled the debt.” fell in love without calculation. Salllie In a few weeks, thé sheriff came Donnelly simply bewitched him. He | again, and sold the house in which she loved her with such devotion that his | still lived. Then she was dispossessed wooing was irresistible, aad to the as- | and her scanty furniture set out on the tonishment of the gossips of Harburg, | street. She was an outcast. Her it was soon announced that John and | father and mother were dead, and she Sallie were engaged had no relatives to whom she could Gossips would not believe she would | appeal for aid. Going to a hotel, she marry him. Sallie Donnelly had led | asked for shelter until Mr, Patterson society to regard her as a person with- | came back, but it was refused her; and out a heart, and no one thought her se- ! as for those who had once courted her, rious in engaging herseif to John Pat- | they made excuses : terson. However, they were soon mar- “She is crazy. It would not he safe ried and moved into a brick house at | to house her.” the foot of Main street. From his When night fell, a man, who was porch John could see the packets come | reputed brutal and coarse, swore at the on the canal and the trains go out on | people of Harburg—cursed them for the railroad. In his residence, cailed | their inhumanity. Alone he went to by the people of Harburg “the big | thesidwalk where Sallie’s furniture sat, brick,” Sallie entertained lavishly. Her | and carried it on his shoulder to a little receptions were the grandest Harburg | house on some lots of his. had seen, and she was courted by everybody. “Stay here, Mrs. Patterson, till your Her extravagance was | husband comes back,” he said, when freely commented upon, but herresonr- | he had put things to rights. ces were suppossed to be great, for She thanked him and took posses- John Patterson was believed to be | sion of the low, two-roomed house. Her rich. landlord never called upon her for rent Some happy years passed, and then | while the years passed, as she waited come a cloud upon John Patterson’s | for John’s return. His house was big, his wife | her fire curled up to the sky, and the brow. The smoke from beautiful, and he was seemingly suc- | soot seemed to settle on her face, for it cessful in his business, but the voices | grew darker until it was almost black. that sounded in his dwelling were | Her teeth shone more brightly than alien. He wished that children of hig, | t hey d d in the days of her social emi- born in his house, shouted in its halls, uence and her eyes lost none of their frolicked in its parlors and gladdened | brilliance. the feast in its dining room. It would A crook came in her hack, yet her have made him laugh to see a child of | heart was not bowed down, for it was his break a piece of the china that all { held up by hope. Her abiding faith in the housewives in Harburg coveted. | John’s promise to fix everything when But his wish was not gratified, and the | he got back, and her treasuring of the cloud on his brow grew blacker. note, which was evidence of it, led peo- And in the shadow on his brow | ple to say she was crazy. In no other came a wrinkle, but bis wife heeded | way did she manifest symptons of in- neither wrinkle nor cloud. She was |s anity. She was harmless and wan- engrossed with the preparations for a | dered about alone, chattering to her- reception that was to be magnificent. | self. None, except, perhaps, now and At midnight she lay awake designing | then an impish child, annoyed her. her toilet, which she meant should be | The community pitied her and in an a marvel. She asked her husband to apologetic way provided for her; even draw a curve for the drapery of the | allowed her to attend the church in skirt of her dress, and he obligingly | which she once rented a pew. made one of sharp declivity., She thanked him, but did not use it. “It is too precipitous,’ she said. “Perhaps not, he replied. It was not, if considered a prophecy, | 0 that is startling. Like the “presto” of a Although living alone, she preserved | the purity of her English. Her words were distinctly. enunciater, but her voice gradually became hoarse. Her nce shapely hands became crooked ! for there is a swiftness in law process | and soiled in gathering cozl and wood. . The coarse man who was her land- magician, it works its changes sudden- | lord was offered a fair price for all his ly. lots one day, but he refused to sell the A week or more after her reception lo Mrs. Patterson was returning some ne on which Sallie's little house stood. “Sallie believes I'll leave her there calls. She learned that her reception | till her husband turns up, and I don't bad been a great success ; it had taught | mean to drive her out.” Harburg society the value of flowers in house decoration, was pronounced a miracle. From list- The would-be buyer said rather As for her toilet, it | scornfully : “I hope you're not looking for John €ning to such flattery, Mrs. Patterson | Patterson to return ?” returned home with radiant face and “I'm not, but his wife is, and she sparkling eves. She alighted from her | can wait for him right where she is.” carriage nimbly as a bird, and looking After awhile McDonough sold the at the steps, ran up them likea yonng | lots east of the one on which her house girl. When she grasped the door | stood to the county authorities, who knob she noticed a handbill tacked on | pnichased them for the site of the new ' the panel. Angrily she tore it down, | jail. He did not think it nceessary to and without looking at it, crumpled it | tell her of the sale, and the first knowl- in her hand to throw it on |edge she had of il was fro the break- the pavement. Then her sense of neat- | ing of the ground for the foundations ness prevailed npon her to take the [ofthe jail. She was frightened, and sheet of paper into the house to throw ' yet could not believe that Bill would | | { | | i | i | break his word to her. “Never fear, Mrs. Patterson,” he said, kindly, wheu she came to him for information. “I said you could stay in that house until John came back ; by you cau!” “0, Mr. McDonough I" she exclaim- ed. I tempted you to swear. It was wrong of me to come. I am so sorry.” As she stood before him she was al- most a caricature of a woman. Her dress was torn, her face was dirty, but her gentle rebuke went to his heart and made him very uneasy. Lifting a bony hand, upon which glistened her wedding ring, worn to a thin strip of gold, she pushed her disordered hair from her face, and looked in mute sup- plication fo him not to repeat the pro- fanity. For a moment his eyes rested upon her, saw the leaden face, noted the supplicating air, commented upon the figure that age had not robbed of grace, dwelt for a second on the torn dress, fantastic with its patches of va- rious colors, and paused upon the feet, shod with shoes which a maa had once worn and thrown into the street. Then he smiled. “I am sorry I done it, Mrs. Patter- terson.” “I am glad you are, Mr. McDon- ough ; and I hope you will not swear again.” ? “I wont, Mrs. Patterson.” Pleased with his promise, and be- lieving he would keep it, as he had the other one he had made to her, she went back to her home to watch with- out fear the building of the jail. One day, seized with an idea, he went to Sallie's house and knocked on the door. She invited him to come 1n, but he declined to enter. “I only came to ask, if I send you some new clothes, you would wear them, Mrs. Patterson 2?’ “I would, Mr. McDonough, if vou will allow John to pay for them when he comes back.” This was not the reply he had hoped for. It had dawned upon him that if he improved Sallie's surroundings she would become her owr self again, and then he could ask her to marry him, without creating a sensation among the gossips of Harburgh. At onetime in his life he had not cared what was said of him, so long as he kept ont of the clutches of the law ; but now he de- sired to appear decorous, in an endeav- or to link himsel; with respectability by making Sallie his wife. She was gentle, kind and refined, despite the the many years of her poverty, and with her as a companion in his old age might be fall of happiness. The wish might be slow in forming in him. It was born of his loneliness and for a long time was not formulated in his mind, but suddenly it made itself clear and immediately he actedin a diplo- matic manner to accomplish its fulfill- ment. He was not taken aback, how- ever, by her wish to have the benefits he meant to confer upon her charged to John. . “I've long been intendin’ to tell you, Mrs. Pattison, that I owe John money, and as he doesn’t come to settle, I'll spend it upou you.” i “How long have you known that you owed my husband money 2” Sal- lie asked rather sharply. Bill began to feel uncomfortable over the lie he was telling, but he de- termined to maintain it. “Ever since he went away, but there was no settlement, as I said, and I don’t know how much it is.” “I suppose therent IT owe you has reduced it very much,” Sallie said with dignity. “Some, but there's enough owin’ to him yet to make you comfortable--buy you new clothes and furniture. I'll fix up the house as I ought to do, bein’ your landlord.” “What woke your conscience?” ask- ed Sallie who was skeptical of his hon- esty. He was ready with an answer. “You did by rebukin' me tor swear- in’ that day. My conscience has been hurtin’ me ever since, and I have quit swearin’ |” Sallie clasped her hands and ex- claimed : “I am glad, so glad! John never swore !" Bill delayed to learn what repairs the house needed, and then left, saying be would send the carpenters the next day. Harburg was astonished when Sal- lie appeared on the street in a new dress of the latest cut. It was on a Sun- day and she went to church, as'usual, happily conscious that all eyes were fastened upon her when she passed through the crowd of loungers who were waiting outside for the ringing of the second bell. In her repaired and furnished house she took great pleasure, and kept it in good order. Pride in personal appear- ance led her to stand many minutes before the mirror every day, looking for traces of her former beauty. Her hair was as black as ever, her eyes were sitill brilliant, but her lips would curl and expose her teeth. Only by effort could she make her lips meet— left to themselves they separated. Society began to marvel and praise Bill for his humanity in rescuing the poor woman from insanity. He was modest, accepted the flattery with be- coming hawility, and waited for the the time when he could tell her the the wish of his heart. When that time came he trembllingly put on his best suit of clothes and called upon Mrs. Patterson. Ina few words he asked her to marry him. She looked at him in pity. “I could, Mr. McDonough, if | were not still young and looking for John to return. He has not been gone long, and will soon be back.” “Well I can wait,” said Bill, and went away heavy hearted. That day he journeyed westward. He soon got on the track of John Pat- terson, and traced him to the end. It was a sad story, ending with suicide, and when Bill stood on the grave oi the man for whom a hopeful woman was waiting patiently, his eyes filled with tears and choked him. And be Buscar TE AE TE Er thr wn or again asking her to be his wife. He died before she did, and made pro- vision for her in his will, but her grati- tude to him did not win her from the memory of John. Stinging Letters to Quay and Dela- mater. A Republican Offers to Pay Expenses if Quay Will Sue for Libel. Mr. Rudolph Blankenburg, well known as a prominent Republican of Philadelphia, has sent the following letters to Quay and Delamater. QUAY OFFERED FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, PHILADELPHIA, Pa., August 5.— Hon. Matthew S. Quay—Dear Sir: The charges of embezzlement while State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, brought against you by the New York World, Evening Post, Nation, Puck and other papers of responsibility, have so far met neithet reply or denial at your hands. It is and has been very irritating to many earnest Republicans to have you ignore these grave accusations, made most poir.ted and emphatic in last week’s Pnck, which undoubtedly you have seen. You are there depicted in a felon’s garh, plainly called a felon, holding the whip and compelling the respectable leaders of the “Grand Old Party” to march at the command of a felon over- seer. As you perhaps shun suit for libel against any or all of your accusers on account of the great expense therein in- volved, it has been suggested by some of those Republicans who are indirectly smarting under these accusations, to raise a fund of sufficient amount to in- stitute and push suits for civil and erim- inal libel against your open accusers. Please let me know if this plan of vin- dicating your honor as Chairman of the Republican National Committee and United States Senator meets with your approval, and oblige yours, respectfully, RupoLPH BLANKENBURG. A CHALLENGE TO VINDICATE HIS HONOR. Senator Delamater called down the storm upon his own head by visiting Mr. Blankenburg at the latter’s office to ask his support. The visit was made in the course of Senator Delamater’s calls upon all the old members of the Committee cf the One Hundred. It is said that in none of these calls has the Senator attempted to make answer to the charges, contenting himself with making a general denial of the whole story. The letter of Mr. Blankenburg is as follows : PHILADELPHIA, August 5, 1890.— Hon. George W. Delamater —Dear Sir: Absence from my office when you call- ed last week prevented my giving you personally the reasons why I cannot sup- port and vote for you for Governor of Pennsylvania, and I now do in writing. You were openly and directly charg- ed in April last by ex-Senator Emery, a reputable and responsible citizens with’one of the gravest crimes against our free institutions—¢purchasing your election and bribing citizens to vote for you,” ete.—and you were challenged by Mr. Emery to bring an action at law against him so he could set his proof be- fore the people oath bound. Had you been charged with embez- zling money, robbing a widow or or- phan, you would as an innocent man not have allowed one day to pass before bringing suit for civil and criminal li- bel against your accuser; yet here, charged with a crime much more seri- ous and far-reaching in its consequences you have rested silent for months, whether because you have no defense, or do not consider the charge of ‘brib- ing voters and purchasing your elec- tion’ a serious ene, I know not. Crimes against individuals, such as larceny, embezzlement, forgery, are in- significant compared with crimes aoainst the sacred rights of citizensh#p and the elective franchise, which is the bulwark and foundation of our liberties. Lot every thoughtful man, partisan though he may be, pause, reflect, and take to beart the earnest call made upon you in April last by one of the leading Repub- lican papers of the country, the Phila- delphia Press, to meet the charges against you fully and completely. Had you the right appreciation of the gravity of the accusation against you you would not have let four months elapse without even as much as a mnr- mur, and were you at this late day to bring an action against your accuser it would lack force and weight, as the law’s delay could easily be invoked by your counsel to defer trial until after the election, and then, as is generally done in such cases, have the suit withdrawn. The nomination of ex-Governor Rob- ert Hi. Pattison fortunately makes it easy for Repulicans who own themselves to exercise their better judgment by casting their ballots for him. ~ His per- sonal character is without blemish ; his record whenever the rights of the peo- ple were jeopardized by arrogant and powerful corporations is enviable ; his political career has won the admiration of even his political opponents, as ex- pressed in the editorial remarks of the most partisan Republican papers when he relinquished the Gubernatarial office tour years ago. I regret that T cannot support the nomination of the Republican Conven- tion at Harrisburg, for reasons above stated, aside from the important one that the will and choice of the vast ma- jority of the Republican party, who de- sire the nomination of the gallant sol- dier, General Hastings, were stifled through the one-man power and politi- cal machinations of Senator Matthew S. Quay. Your, respectfully. RUDOLPH BLANKENBURG. rm ———————— #234,000 Spent in Three Years. Boston, July 831.—Mrs. Kate H. An- drews, who has applied here for sep- arate support from her husband, Charles Andrews, son of one ot the proprietors of the Boston Herald, says that her husband was nineteen when they were married three years ago ; that his father gave him a furnished house and $200,- 000 in cash, and the money is all gone and her husband is $34,000 in debt. She says her husband is jealous and gets drunk, and he replies that she also gets drunk and dirts, and that he spent the $200,000 in “society and bad business ventures.” Mrs. Andrewsis a danchter made a vow to care for her until she {of Medical Director Jackson, of the died, without speaking to her of John ' navy. a Fat Men and Intelled. it Is a Mistake to Think that Corpu- lency and Genius are Antagonistic. To certain slender people the assccia- tion of intellect with fat will be received with discredit, perhaps ridicyle. They have visited the dime museums of the country and have seen the obese ladies | and the fat men there displaying their superabundant collection of adipose tis- sue, and have gone away with the idea that fat people, merely Lecuuse they are fat, are more stupid and more de- ficient in intelligence than people of average avoirdupois. And they have extended their opinion on this subject formed in this way, outside of the dime museums and applied it to fat people generally. i . Probably therefore, it will be surpris- ing to those entertaining this idea to learn that some of the finest intellects the world has ever known have been encased in fleshly caskets plump even to obesity. Napoleon, notwithstanding | his active career, was decidely plump. Dr. Johnson was stout even to flabbi- ness. So was his biographical shadow, Boswell. Balzac, the great French novelist, was so large that it was a pretty bit of exercise to walk around him. Rossini, the composer, was a re- gular jumbo, since for six years he | never saw his knees. Jules Janin, the prince of critics, broke every sofa he ever sat upon; his cheeks and chin protruded beyond his beard and whisk- ers. Lablanche, the Italian singer, was charged three fares when he travel- ed. Dumds pere was stout, and Saint Beuve was provided with the stomach of a Falstaff. Eugene Sue had such aversion to his growing corpulency that he drank vinegar to keep it down, and yet he wrote the “Wandering Jew.’ With these illustrious examples be- fore them the fat men of the land may reassure their minds and reply to the jibes of their friends while proceed- jing contentedly to lay on successive layers of adipose But it is not necessary to look to hi:- tory to furnish notable examples of illustrious fat men. Here in our own day are plenty occupying conspicuous positions and assisting inthe formation of new states and making of new laws. In the national congress of the Un- ited States there are some thirty or forty men whose combined weights would amount to four or five tons, or at an average of about 250 pounds ger man. And they are all jolly and good natured, too, besides being all men of intellect, which could seldom be said of an equal gross weight of lean men. Truly, fat has its victories as well as lean.— Exchange. The Texan Cow-Boy. His Daily Routine, Bravery and a Fond- ness for fine Boots. Cow-boy life has in the last few years lost much of its roughness. The cattle barons have discharged most of the men who drank, and have frowned so persistently upon gambling that little of it is done. Cards and whiskey be- ing put away, there is small temptation to disorderly conduct; so it is only when they reach some: large city, and are not on duty, that they indulge in a genuine spree. On the ranches kept under fence they have little to ko when not on the drive or in branding-time, tha cattle being ail safely enclosed. But they must take their turns at line riding, which means a close inspection of the fences, and the repair of all breaks and damages. Where night overtakes them, there they sleep, stak- ing their horses, and rolling themselves in their blankets. These rides of in- spection take days to accomplish, for there are ranches in Texas which ex- tend in a straight line over seventy- five miles. Those ranches which are not under fence necessitate more work. The boys must keep their cattle in sight, and while allowing them to graze in every direction, must see that none ‘in the many thousands stray be- yond the limits of their own particular pastures. They go then in parties, scattering over the territory, for they must cover hundreds of thousands of acres in a day. It is not a life of hardship, and pays well enough. Everything is furnished to them free of the very best, and they are paid besides thirty dollars per month. Each party stays out from two to three weeks at a time ; but they take with them the finest of camp wagons, with beds and bedding, cooking utensils, the best of groceries of all kinds, and as ex- cellent a cook as money can employ. The prairies are full of game, and their rifles are ever handy. The life is free, fascinating and peculiarly healthy. These men are excecdingly chivalrous to all women ; this seems to be a trait born in them, us mucha part of their moral nature as it is of their physical to have small feet, for itis seldom that a genuine Texas cowboy can be fourd who has not the distinguished mark of a handsome foot, and his boots are to him all that tha sombrero is to a Mexican. He will deny himself many pleasures, he will zo without a coat, and be seen in most dilapidated attire, but his boots must be of the best and most beautiful nuke that the country can afford ; high of heel and curved of instep, a fine up- per and thin sole, fitting like a glove, and showing the handsome foot to per- fection. Take the cow-boys as a class, they are bold, fearless, and generous, a warm- hearted and manly set, with nothing small, vicious, nor mean about them, and Texas need not be ashamed of the brave and skilful riders who traverse the length and breadth of her expansive prairies.——Harper's Magizine. ar aT as—— Fish of the G.cat Lakes. What Cur Inland Seas Yield and How They Yield It. Buffalo Correspondence New York Sun. This city is the most important lake fish distributing market on the entire chain of the great lakes, although a very small proportion of the fish that are daily sent from here to the Eastern cities are taken from waters contiguous to Buffalo. They are brought from Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, the near-by waters of Lake Erie and Ontario furnishing a comparatively small supply of fish for shipment. The fish are transported in refrigerator cars, {and the supply is so larga that the pre- sent demand is not only fully supplied. but there is surplus enough to keep the , winter demand for lake fish amply cared for. The trade in lake fish with sea- boards markets has increased so of late: | years that it would now be impossible | to supply it during the winter season if winter fishing had to be depended on for the material. The surplus of tha summer and fall catches is frozen and stored in refrigerators for the winter trade, so that a whitefish, lake trout, yellow pike or lake bass served on a | New Yorker's table in midwinter may ; bave been caught the previous July or { August. Whether the flavor of the fich is frozen in with the fish itself so that it will be the same as it is in the fish tak- "en from the water is a question. | Lake Superior is considerad the best | of the lakes for fish. Its water is more [ like that of springs than the others. : Whitefish and trout taken from Super- | ior command better prices than similar | fish taken from any of the other lakes. | They like deep water, and are found at their best in water 300 feet deep. Yel- low pike come chiefly from lakes Huron and Ontario. Lake Erie excels in blue pike and black bass. Immense num- bers of whitefish and lake trout ave tak- { en from Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, but the best come from the colder, clearer waters of Superior. Gill nets are used almost entirely in capturing lake fish for market, although tons of pike and bass are taken with hook and line. It is a singular fact that blue pike are rarely, if ever, found in any of the lakes except Erie. The fishermen on these lakes follow a perilious calling, and many lose their lives in the violent storms that sweep over the lakes almost without warning. It has long been noted as a curious es are found in nearly all the great lakes with the exception of Lake Erie. This can be accounted for only by the theory that a subterranean river connects Lake Ontario with the upper lakes. The beds ot Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan and Ontario lies at about the same depth below the sea level—from 250 to 260: feet—the upper lakes’ beds being the highest. The bed of Lake Erie is 350 feet. above the sea level. The theory is that. ariver running beneath Lake Erie ex- tends fro Lake Superior to Lake On- tario and that the fish from the St. Lawrence and Ontario follow the course. of that river and find the waters of the. upper lakes. Fingers and Forks. Did you know that Queen Elizabeth ate with her fingers? You may have known that she loved show and style, that she was so fond of fine clothes that. when she died she left three thousand dresses and any quantity of jewels; but. did you imagire that such a great lady could be so1nelegant as to eat with her fingers ? But she did, and so did Shake- peare, and Chaucer, and William the Conqueror, and King Alfred, and ev- erybody else who lived before her time. These last were more excusable than she -—they had no forks ; but even she was not without excuse, for though she had several they had been given her as cur- iosities, which I suppose nobcdy expect- ed her to use. There was one of crystal tarnished with gold, with two little rubies and two pendant pearls, and stil other of zoral. 1 Why didn’t she use them ? you ask. Well, because she had never seen or known anybody that used one, and they were something new ; and, besides, there was a prejudice against this invention just from Italy. But you must must not think because there were no forks that the old-fashioned dinner made no pretensions to elegance or refinement. The guests had knives and they had fingers, and with these two implements they managed nicely. From their old books of etiquette welearn how they did it. In the first place, the fin- gers must be publicly washed before be- ginning the meal ; even if this had just been done privately, it must be repeated at the table, that no one might feel un- easy in eating after his neigbor’s fingers bad been in the dish. To aid further, the meat was prepared as far as possible before it was brought on the table. If in a stew, as was usually the case, it was cut by a carver, and passed in large plates with a knife. As to the way of helping himself, each guest must choose and keep a par- ticular part of the dish for hisown. He must help himself daintily from this plate, using only three fingers; after- ward, in carrying the food to the mouth which of course, was done with the band, these same three fingers must be used, taking care, however. not to touch the nose with them, to do which was extremely inelegant, and showed a lack of good breeding. Of course all this soiled the hands, and in refined households at various intervals bowls of perfumed water and different napkins were passed, and no one must refuse to wash. This old fashion of handing round a silver bowl or dish of rose-water is still sometimes seen in Europe, After a while man found out that he needed forks, or, rather, woman did, for it was she who first used them. Great dauies kept them in their rooms to eat comfits with and to toast bread ; and, in course of time, they brought them to the table. As T have said there was a prejudice against them ; and the first few persons who were brave enough to use them were laughed at and called effeminate ; a preacher even went as far as to say that for any one to refuse to touch his meat with his finge:s was an insult to Providence. Nevertheless they spread; in Eng- land slowly, even after Italy, the home of their birth, was full of them. Those who knew their value, however, found them so convenient that up to 150 years ago—since which it has been no longer necessary —gentlemen travelling from place to place, and knowing how poorly supplied were the inns, carried ona with them in a case with a knife. Since that time the old two pronged fork, or fourchette (little pitchfork), as the French called it—and really they were only tiny pitchforks—bas given way to the more convenient three and four pronged forks in use in our own | homes.— Mary M. Winston in Harper's Young People. fact that all the St. Lawrence river fish-