Bellefonte, Pa, April 17, 1891.
FAME WEALTH, LIFE, DEATH,
BY WALTER W. SKEAT.
What is fame ?
’T'is the sun-gleam on the mountain
Spreading ‘brightly ere it flies,
*Tis the bubble on the fountain,
Rising lightly ere it dies 3
Or, if here and there a hero
Be remembered through the years,
Yet to him the gain is zero;
Death hath stilled his Sopes and fears.
Yet what danger men will dare
If but only in the air
ay be heard some eager mention of their
name; :
Though they hear it not themselves, ’tis much
the same.
What is wealth ?
"Tis:a rainbow, still receding
As the panting fool pursues,
Or a toy that youth, unheeding,
Seeks the readiest way to lose ;
But the wise man Resp due measure,
Neither out of breath nor base;
He but holds in trust his treasure
For the welfare of the race.
Yet what crimes some men will dare
Butito gain their slender share
In some profit, though with loss of name or
health,
. What is life ?
’Tis the earthly hour of trial
For a life that’s but begun ;
When the prize of self-denial
May be quickly lost or won :
*Tis the hour when love may bourgeon
To an everlasting flower ;
Or when lusts their vistims urge on
To defy immortal power.
Yet how lightly men ignore
All the future holds in store,
‘Spending brief but golden moments all in
strife; :
Or in sunicidal madness grasp the knife.
What is death ?
Past its dark, mysterious portal
Human eye may never roam 3
Yet the hope still springs immortal
Thatit leads the wanderer home.
Oh, the bliss that lies before us
When the secret shall be known,
Andithe vast angelic chorus
Sounds the hymn before the throne!
What is.fame, or wealtn, or life ?
Past are praises, fortune, strife i
All but love, that lives forever, cast beneath,
good and faithful servant takes the
When the
wreath.
— London Academy.
I —————————"
JARED HARPWICK'S TASK.
well the character of this father and
son. Since Joe had been old enough
to assert himself there had been antag-
cniem between them. The father was
arbitrary in his ideas of right, the son
obstinate and inclined to waywardness.
Jared's relation to the family was
almost that of a son. He was 10 have
married Sallie, the daughter, five years
before, but she had been taken ill three
weeks before the appointed day, and
died ten days later, Her last request
to Jared had been to watch over Joe
as an older brother, and to help to
keep him from evil ways,
“Father is growing old,” she had
said, “and if ever you have a chance
to bring him and Joe to a good nnder-
standing do your best. I know you
will do your best, Jared—even to sac-
rifice yourself a little, for my sake.”
The final estrangement came when
Joe declared that he intended to leave
home. He had invented a ‘machine
for compressing sawdust into orna-
ments, and was wild over his prospects
of wealth.
Through the mother's influence,
tude would touch the boy's heart, the
farm was mortgaged.
- “Here are a thousand dollars,” the
father had said on the morning Joe
wentiaway. “You want to leave us; so
go! This is all the help you can ‘ex-
pect from me. If you lose it, you must
shift for yourself. If you succeed, I
shall look for you to pay it back. I
wish you success, but Idon’t expect it.”
No sympathy was in the words or
tone, and Joe went away, feeling that
there was no love for him in his fath-
-er’s heart.
Jared knew that Joe had been lack-
ing in his duty to his parents. He
had written enthusiastically of hie pros
perity, but had not offered to pay back
& dollar; so there was at least a reason
for the father’s refusal to help.
But something must be done. This
trouble and his father’s refusal would
be likely to drive Joe into recklessness
and rain. As he sat upon his little
| porch, he almost fancied he heard Sal-
| lie telling him that here was the op-
The task was brought upon Jared
Harpwick by a letter which came to
portunity she had hoped for.
But be did not know what to do. He
had little knowledge of business. His
aided by Jared, who hoped that grati- |
him one September afternoon as he
sat reading on his vine shaded porch. |
He rose promptly, lifted his straw hat |
from the fleor and put it on, and walk-
ed through the front gate to the pike.
Through the long village street and
a half mile along the dusty pike he
trudged; then, turning aside into a
narrow byroad that branched off at
the foot of & steep hill, he came to a
rude suwmiil. A stalwart man sat up-
on a large moving log, from which a
perpendicular caw was rasping a board.
“Good afternoon, neighber Gray,”
said Jared.
Gray eyed him keenly from ander
his shaggy brows; then rising, he
walked to a lever, pulled it aside and
stopped the saw,
“Sit down on the log, Jared,” he
said. “We can't hear each other
when the saw’s going. [see by your
face that something unusual has hap-
early life had been spent in farm toil,
and subsequently a lucky rise in land
values had brought him resources suf-
ficient for a quiet, humble life.
He saw that help from the father
would certainly touch the boy’s heart
now ; but without jt he felt that a
hard task was before him.
request, however, was strong upon
him, and he decided to go to Philadel-
phia next morning.
Saliie’s
He arrived in the evening, and
sought Joe's room. Ashe tapped he
heard Joe’s voice :
“Come in, fellows!”
Jared entered, and Joe, who had
‘come half way to the door, stopped in
surprise and then turned, confused, to-
ward a table.
It was too late to hide what lay up-
on it—cards, box of cigars and two or
three unopened bottles.
“I wasn't expecting you. Jared,”
pened.”
“I've got a letter from Joe. He's
in trouble.”
“Just as.I supposed. Bankrupt, I'll
warrant ?”’
“That's about it.”
“And he has written to
me to help him?”
“That's true; but, John, don’t be
angry. This matter must be consider-
-ed with our coolest judgment.”
“I'll not consider it with cool judg-
ment nor any other kind.
no help from me, Jared.”
“Very well, John, very well; but
you'll hear what the trouble is, won't
you?”
“Oh, T suppose I can listen,” replied
the father, taking .a piece of bacon
from a shelf and proceeding to grease
the saw.
“Well, .Gray, it's a bad embarrass
‘ment. A customer bought a thousand
dollars’ werth of Joe's patent machines,
promising to order twice as many more
soon. Joe supposed he ‘was perfectly
.good for 1t, and on the strength of this
-ordered two thousand .dollars’ worth
ifrom the man that manufactures them.
Well, the customer turned out bad ; he
didn’t pay the thousand dollars, nor
-order wore, Joe lost the machines,
and owes the manufacturer two thous.
and dollars, which he is unable to pay.
“Joe writes that
-and burned up this two theusand dol-
lars’ worth of machines.”
He glanced up quickly, and caught
-a shade of sympathy upon the sawyer's
face.
“The manufacturer 1s unluckily in a
tight fix himself,.and he is pushing the
boy. Jae writes that this will ruin
thiw, and just when his business was
most promising. [I tell you,
hard on your boy.”
“Well, T don’t pity him a bit—not a
bit. He was determined to go to the
city; now let him dig for himself. I
gave him a thousand dollars to start
his crazy business, mortgaging our lit-
tle place here, and that’s enough,
Mother has pinched herself and work.
ed her fingers.almost to the bone, and
I have slaved early and late to pay it
off, and now that it’s paid, do you
think I'm going right back into that
struggle again?
“No, Jared, not for a bey who for-
gets his old mother as Joe has done.
Why, he hasn't written a line—not a
line to mother or me for a year, and
now, when he wants help, he writes to
you, Jared.
“Does he deserve help? Just an-
swer me that; does he deserve it? I
don’t want to hurry you away, but I'm
going to start the saw.”
He turned decisively, and pulling
the lever set the saw rasping again,
“Very well, John,” said Jared, eom:
ing nearer. “If that's your decision
I've nothing more to say. I shall
have to write to Joe that you refuse,
It does seem a pity to leave him in his
trouble. He's not a bad boy, but dear
knows where this will drive him,
Good afternoon, John.”
At home he sat down upon the
porch again to think it out. He knew
you to get
He'll get
he might have
Stood this it asfire hadn't broken out
Gray, it's
Joe stammered. “I thought it was
the feliows knocking.”
Jared walked forward, and clasping
his hand warmly said: “I see you
weren't expecting me, Joe. But I'm
welcome, ain’t 1?"
“Yes, yes—certainly. Sit down.
Here, take this rocking chair, and give
me your hat.”
Joe was handsome, and in stature,
attire and bearing a_ striking contrast
to plain little Jared Harpwick.
“I'see that I've come at a wrong
time, Joe,” he said, pleasantly. “Just
when you're expecting company.”
“Yes, you did—but don't” worry
about that, Jared.”
“Joe, my boy, what kind of com-
pany were you expecting ?”
“It wasn’t good company,” said Joe,
recklessty. “I've just fifty dollars left
of what was a prosperous business, and
I don’t know where more is to come
from. Tn sheer desperation, I invited
two dissipated younng men here mn
the hope of winning more from them
at cards.” :
“And suppose you had lost the mon-
ey—what then?"
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
“Why didn’t you wait till you heard
from me, Joe?’
“Well, I didn’t expect any help. I
knew just how father would act when
you went to him—hardly listen to you,
and maybe go on sawing. He never
has treated me right; but, Jared, I
haven't done right either. I know
that now better than Tever did. I was
never a good €on at home, and I've
been worse away.”
His yoice had sunk from harshness
to softer tones, and as Jared, looking
his sympathy, let him go on, he pro-
ceeded in words that showed that now
was the time to touch his heart.
“I have thought, Jared, that if fath-
er would help me a little, now when I
don’v deserve it, I could feel better to-
ward him, and we could be as a father
and sou should be. I should know
that he thought something of me. But
I can’t expeet it, and 1'm not going to
ask you what he said, for fear he has
been hard on me, and to save you the
trouble of telling me.”
“I've come with help
Jared, “and I''——
A loud, confident knock iuterrupted.
Joe opened the door and stepped into
the hall. Jared heard him explain
that he “could not have the game.”
There were angry expostulations in un-
steady voices,
By and by Joe returned, and he and
Jared talked long into the night, Joe
telling the circumstances of his failure.
“I've come to try to help you,” said
Jared, “and to-morrow I'll “call upon
your creditor and see what arrange-
ment ean be made.”
“I would go with youn,” said Jae,
“but we had a quarrel “the other day,
and I guess I used pretty hard lan-
guage. He says he'll not see me again
and is pushing me now harder than be-
fore.”
“I'll go alone, then, Joe.”
Joe,” said
“If you succeed, Jared, T promise
you I'll try to be better to father, to
compensate him for this |”?
A shade passed over Harpwick’s face
and he did not reply. ° :
Next morning he went to see the
manufacturer, and Joe met him anx.
iously on his return.
“I've arranged for the payment of
your debt,” said Jared, quietly, “and
the manufacturer agrees to farnish you
fifty machines, on time, to start again
with. You are on your feet once
more,” t
“God bless father!” cried Joe.” “I'll
write him a letter thanking him for
his goodness.” {
“No, Joe,” said Jared, knitting his
eyebrows a little, “I wouldn’t if I were
you. Let me report it to him.”
“Very well, Jared; but I'll 20 home
in two weeks for a visit, and I hope we
can meet then as father and son should
meet,”
Jared went home, and next day he
again trudged out to the sawmill, Gray
was rolling a log into place.
“John,” Jared began,” Joe is on his
feet again.”
“He dido’t deserve it, Jared,” he re-
plied glumly, picking a cluster of lich-
en from the log.
“And heis coming home to see you
in two weeks.”
He saw the old man crush down his
pleasure and his effort in making the
incredulous response, “We'll see him
when he comes.”
He showed no curiosity to know
how the matter had been adjusted, and
Jared left him,
The two weeks brought the evening
of Joe's arrival. Jared met him at the
little station and walked with him to-
ward home. They heard the rasping
of the saw from a distance, and as they
went nearer Joe's eagerness to clasp
his father’s hand and enter upon a clos-
er relation impelled him to start ahead.
Jared quickly caught him by the
arm and said: “Joe, I wouldn’t—say
anything to him about money. A
word might ruin my hopes. Just act
as if there had been no trouble.”
The father sat upon a log, and they
came quite near before he heard them.
He hastily arose. Joe sprang forward,
extended his hand and said:
“Father, I've come back to be a son
to you.”
It had been two yeaissince they met,
and Jared, anxiously watching Gray
now, saw the old hardness come to his
face. But asthe father looked upon
his boy he saw a manlier look than he
had seen before, and a look of ragret
and hope as well. .
The hardness was driven from Gray's
face, and clasping his son’s hand in
his he said, with tears starting, “Joe,
Joe, you're welcome home, and I’m
your father |”
Gray turned quickly and stopped
thesaw, Then, hurrying to the end of
the mill, he called loudly, “Mother!
mother!”
His wife soon appeared, hurrying as
if she feared an accident had taken
place.
but the old father caught him by the
arm and asked joyfully :
“Mother, whois this?"
“Joel” she cried ; “my son!”
“And mine, mother; and all forgiv-
en and forgotten.’
They walked toward their little
home, but Jared said goodby very
strangely, the three thought, and turn-
ed away.
He stopped after taking a few steps
and called Joe to him :
“I wouldn't say anything until to-
morrow, my boy,” he said in low tones.
“It might spoil it all. It's glorious
that this has been brought about.”
He turned away, aud the three,
watching him, thought he had never
looked so sad and lonely since he ‘lost
Sallie, J
Next day Joe and his father went to
town to see Jared. Their rap at his
cottage brought a stranger to the door.
“Jared Harpwick?" he replied “Why,
don’t you know that he has sold his
place here and left this morning on the
early train? I thought every one
knew it here. But you are John
Gray? Harpwick left a note that he
wanted me to give you.”
He brought it, and the old man
read :
Dear JoNN—I have lost all my
money, except a very little, and am go-
ing far into the west to begin life again.
God bless you and Joe. Always be
kind to him. Heis a good boy at
heart. Goodby. JARED.
Father and son turned to each other,
knowing then how Jared had perform-
ed his task.—H. M. Hoke in Youth's
Companion.
er ———
Mirrors Waren His Warrers.—
The proprietor of a large cafe and res-
taurant down town thinks he has soly-
ed the problem of how to keep an eye
on two or three score of employees at
the same time. His place 1s a verita-
ble behive for two or three hours in
the middle of the day, and in order to
keep the employees well up to their
duties it became recessary to make
them feel that the watch ful eye of the
employer was on them all the time,
To effect this an ingenions arrange-
ment of mirrors was devised. A doz-
en of them were built in the wains-
cotin in such a way that they not only
formed a rich ornamencation to the
place, but they enabled a man at the
cashier's desk to view every nook and
corner of the room without turning his
head.— New York Times.
———
—— Mrs. Douglas Gordon, Mrs. Hen-
ry Winter Davis and Miss Mary
rett, who were mainly instrumental in
securing the sum of money which is to
open the Medical School of John Hop-
kins University at Baltimore to women,
are now laboring to raise the half mil-
lion endowment fund which is necessary
to the practical success of the new
scheme.
——Sir Richard Burton, the famous
traveller, writer and archwmologist, who
died lately at Trieste, was master of
twenty-seven languages, Bayard Tay-
lor could command nearly as many, and
"Theodore. Parker read twenty-eight,
* though he spoke only English with ease
and fluency.
Joe was hiding behind Jared,,
Gar- |
The Peasant’s Reply.
A gentleman who had recently re-
turned from Russia relates an incident
which, although trifling in itself, is yet
most pathetically suggestive of the con-
dition of the poor in Russia, and of
the state of things which has bred so
deep and so wide spread discontent
among the people, = 3
Being about to leave some: station at
which he had been staying for a few
days,the gentleman in question called in a
moozhik — to adopt the spelling of
George Kennan—-to strap his trunks.
The man was of enormous build, with
every appearance of great strength,
while the traveler is not above medium
height, and while of compact mold is by
no means of muscular appearance.
The trunk was rather overfull, and
the task of bringing the buckle on the
strap into its place was by no means a
light one. The Russian tried again and
again, becoming short of breath and red
in the face with his efforts, while the
American looked on at first in impatient
silence and then with contemptuous re-
proaches. At length, losing patience,
the traveler pushed the moozhik aside,
and with a single quick effort brought
the strap down and buckled it.
“There,” he said, “are you not
ashamed, you great big fellow, to be all
this time buhoding over a thing that I
can do in a minute, and I’m only up to
your shoulders 7”
There was no trace of anger in the re-
ly :
p Lan, little father, but you have had
meat to eat all your life.”
SE —————
The Oyster Supply Dwindling.
When the first settlers came to the
present site of New York they had 350
square miles of rich oyster beds around
them. Where are they now? At one
time oysters were found in abundance
from Cape Cod to the St. Lawrence.
They are all gone. The Delaware
Bay and Delaware River were famous
for their oysters. They are now prac-
tically barren. In the Chesapeake
Bay and its rivers were the finest oys-
ter grounds in the world. They ag-
gregated the enormous total of 1,600,-
000 acres, and yeilded from 15,000,000
to 20,000,000 bushels: a year, besides
supplying seed oysters to Long Island
Sound. Of the 25,000,000 bushels of
oysters eaten 1n this country in 1880,
the Chesapeake Bay supplied 17,000,-
000. This season its total product has
been less than 5,000,000, and next year
it will not reach 3,000,000 bushels.
Oysters that brought 40 cents a bushel
ten years ago would be worth a dollar
a bushel to-day. The advance in price
within a year has been over twenty-
five or fifty per cent. more.
New York, Connecticut and Rhode
Island are doing good work with their
oyster-planting laws, but at best they
will produce only about 2,000,000
bashels annually for the next few years,
and in the twelve other States which
raise oysters there are no methods of
recuperation, and the dwindling of the
general supply is sure to continue.
An Old Time Editor.
A legal friend reminds me of an old
Colonel Rogers, who published the Bos-
ton Journal before the war. He was
terribly conservative, and his paper was
delivered almost entirely to annual sab.
scribers, although a few copies were on
sale at the book stores. One day when
the Colonel came down town he was
horrified to see a boy with some Journals
under his arm shouting out, “Journals,
4 cents; Journals I’ Dazed for a minute,
he called the boy into a doorway and
asked, “How many Journals have you
there ?”” Told, he took out his purse
and paid for them all, and ordered the
boy to run home and never to buy any
Journals again. He was so scandalized
by the occurrence that he said he felt
almost ashamed to meet his business sc-
quaintances for weeks. Times changed
when the war broke out, and the Jour.
nal went on the street like other papers.
i ——————
Correcting the Teacher.
In one of the Springfield grammar
schools the teacher was explaining an
example in arithmetic on the black-
board, and had finished it with the ex-
ception of the last two figures of the an-
swer, which was in dollars and cents,
when she was called out of the room.
On returning one of the pupils raised
her hand and said, “There are some
cents to the answer in the book, but
there is’nt any on the board.” “Why,
Nellie, what do you mean by speaking
to me like that 7” the teacher exclaimed
in anger. After the school bad been in
a roar of laughter for fully a minute it
dawned on the teacher’s mind that it
was ‘‘cents’’ instead of “sense” that the
girl was talking about.
Be —
Not a Bad Idea.
“Remember, boys,” said the teacher,
who being still new at the business,
knew not what else to say to make an
impression, “that in the bright lexicon
of youth there’sno such word as fail.”
After a few moments a boy from Boston
raised his hand. “Well, what is it,
Socrates 2’ asked the teacher.
“I was merely going to suggest,’ re-
plied the youngster as he cleaned his
spectacles with his handkerchie:, ‘that
if such is the case, it would be advisable
to write to the publishers of that lexicon
and call their attention to the omission.’
res mame
—The new reading clerk of the
Colorado State Senate is Miss Anna 'W.
Kelly, a young and very pretty woman.
She reads rapidly, clearly and with eor- |
rectness of accent and pronunciation.
She is the first woman to hold such a
position,
——Miss Edith Brown is one of the
most successful of the young artists in
Boston. She is a designer of stained
glass, and has taken prizes in competi-
tion with some of the famous workers of
this department. She is only twenty-
one years of age.
r———
AN OBJECT OF SYMPATHY.—“On
what grounds did Henshaw get his
sion? T never heard that he did any
fighting during the war”
“He didn’t, but he claims his sym-
pathies were enlisted.”
‘we sniff—draw the air into the u
pen- |
Hard, Common Sense.
You hear and read a great deal about
the tyranny of parents who refuse to
sanction marriages, but that which is
cailed tyranny is in many cases hard,
honest common sense and "good judg-
ment, based on experience and observa-
tion.
No father, who has reared his girl at
great care and expense, giving her the
best education his means will afford, de-
veloping her into an attractive thing of
beauty and culture, with chances for the
highest happiness and good in life,
wants her thrown away on some brain-
less, unprincipled fop, who hangs
around saloons and smokes the = vilest
kind of cigars, or cigarettes, day or
night,softening what little brains he or-
iginally possessed.
A girl who will go back on the wise,
loving, disinterested counsels and advice
of her parents and wrecks her bricht
prospects of life in a union with such a
worthless scamp, who is principally at-
tracted to her by the shekels of his
prospective daddy-in-law, deserves to be
miserable all her days and break her
heart, as she surely “will, by such a
thoughtless, inconsiderate course of con-
duct, and also those of herloving, dot-
ing parents.
It is the nataral duty of parents stern-
ly to protect their unexperienced child
against marriages with such adventur-
ers, who have not enough mind and
vim to earn a living for themselves
alone, much less a wife and family,
which are the inevitable outcome of
marriages.
Look around you! See the social and
personal wrecks of life caused by impro-
per marriages.
They fill the world with misery and
woe. :
It is the loving, sensible, considerate
girl who will, without question, take
the advice of her older and experienced
mother and father on so important a
matter as marriage. It is safer, unhesi-
tatingly, for her to take their advice,and
she will yet live to thank them on her
bended knees for their advice and ac-
tion. : :
Girls stand by your parents! Trust
them and do just what tf ey say !
The Sense of Smell.
The eye is only used for se¢ing, and
the ear for hearing, but the nose is one
of the organs that serve a double pur-
pose. Itis not only the seat of the
sense of smell, but was intended to be
the principal organ through which man
should breathe. Its circuitous passages,
warm and moist, protect the lungs by
taking the chill from the inspired air
and arresting irritating dust.
The whole nose is not concerned in
the act of smelling. The olfactory
nerves, which alone take cognizance of
odors, are situated in the upper third of
the nasal chambers, out of the line of
ordinary inhalation. For tLis reason
| we do not usually notice odors unless
they are somewhat strong ; but when
pper
part of the nostrils and hold it there for
a few moments-— we become aware of
the faintest scent.
rr —
France's Executive.
The President of France is chosen by
a majority vote of both branches of par-
liament sitting together as a joint as-
sembly, and his term is seven years.
Usually, bowever, he is compelled to
step down from office by pressare from
parliament before his term ends. The
constitution gives him the authority to
select a ministry, which must comprise
members of parliament; to conclude
treaties with foreign nations, to appoint
t> the chief military and civil posts, to
pardon offenders, and in concurrence
with the senate to dissolve the chamber
of deputies and bring about a new elec-
tion. These are the chief powers of the
president. The present executive—Car-
not—- was elected on Dec. 3, 1887.
——The following are some of the
large salaries paid in New York :
Chauncy M. Depew, President of the
New York Central, $75,000; R. A.
McCurdy, President of the Mutual Life
Insurance Company, $60,000; H. B.
Hyde, President of the Equitable,
$60,000 ; W. H. Beers, President of the
New York Life, $60,000 ; Frederic P.
Olcott, President of the Central Trust
Company, $60,000; John A. Stewart,
President of the United States Trust
Company, $50,000 ; J. W. Alexander,
Vice- President of the Equitable, $45,-
000,
Be —
——The death of Miss Alice Bronte,
whieh took place in Treland, removes
one of the last members of that remarka-
ble family. It takes the memory a
long way when we realize that she be-
longed to an earlier generation than
Charlotte Bronte. She was the sister
of the Rev. Patrick Bronte, and there-
fore aunt to Currer, Ellis, and Acton
Bell.
en mm ————
HARD To CHOoOSE.-—Mrs. Bargain—
What are you worryin about this morn-
ing 7”
Mr. Bargain — I need some new
clothes and a new watch, and I can’t
make up my mind whether to get the
clothes at a shop where they give away
watches, or to buy the watch at a shop
Where they give away clothes.
——Among the special students at
Bryn Mawr College is Miss Urne Teu-
da, a Japanese woman, who is a teacher
of English in the Peeresses’ School at
Tokio. Miss Tsuda was on of the five
little girls sent in 1871 by the Japanese
government to be educated in this coun-
try, she and one companion remaining
here for ten vears.
rc ——
—It has been stated that over boys
under fourteen or fifteen, a woman can
more easily exercise a good influence
than a man, and at Scottish education-
al conference held this year a move
was made to employ women as. teach-
ers tor boys and mixed classes.
REASON T0 BE AFRAID. —Borer —I
was up in your neighborhood the other
day, and I thought of dropping in.
Wornout-—Yes ?
Borer--Yes, but. I got lost. Saw a
| street running the other way-—
Wornout—-Street must have seen you
coming.
i ——————
Snakes That Fat Eggs.
‘‘The funniest snake I know anything
about is one found in Africa, which
lives upon eggs,” said Ostenlowist Lucas
w a Washington reporter “It has a
curious projection downward from its
backbone, just bekind the head, which
is like a tooth, the extremity | eing actu-
ally tipped with enamel.
“This toothlike appendage has a most
important function with relation to the
creature’s method of, getting a, living,
and it would be difficult to find a more
astonishing illustration in naturs of the
adaption of structure to necessity. “
“When the snake swallows an egg the
latter is passed down through the gullet
until it encounters the sharp tooth I
have spoken of, which breaks the
shell.
“Thus not only is the food rendered
easy for immediate digestion, but no
portion of the fluid contentsis lost as
would ' be the case if the snake were
obliged to bite into the egg with its
mouth fangs.
“It seems surprising how many snakes
are able to swallow animals bigger than
themselves until it is considered how
particularly well nature has adapted to
the purpose the structure of their jaws.
“The lower jawbone, instead of being
in a single piece, is merely connected in
front by an elastic ligament, so that the
two halves are capable of great exten-
sion. Again, the halves of the lower
jawbone are attached to the skull very
far back, so that the animal can ma ke
an enormous gap.”
nt —
The National Plant,
There bave been laudable efforts Iate-
ly to elect a national flower by voting;
but however dear, and rightfully dear,
to the American heart is universal suf.
frage, it cannot decide this question, th e
answer to which should be by acclama-
tion. "And how could a fair vote be ob.
tained without ‘an’ organization almost
such as ‘is found necessary for choosing
a President for the great Republic—-
which in this case is clearly impossible?
Of all the plants selected by this Re-
publican caucus, the one that is alread
national has been strangely neglected. .
The stately sunflower, the fragrant arou™
tus, the gay golden rod, the beautiful
mountain laurel, the grand magnolia,
the gorgeous cardinal flower, have each
and all had their adherents and been vot-
ed for ; but when a few out of what
should have been many millions of votes
have been recorded, the thing comes to
a dead stop.
The American Garden may speak of
‘our national flower the golden rod 37
but when nothing has been the choice
of the whole people, or a representative
part of the people, nothing can come of
it. But the maiz2, the Indian corn, has
a strong though unacknowledged posi-
tion as our national plant. :
Mysterious Tricks of Steam.
Notwithstanding the many years the
steam boiler has been under observation
thers are conditions of steam making
which play strange tricks, as indicated
by the steam gauve, tbe pressure, with-
out any discoverahle cause, at times in.
creasing forty or fifty degrees in as many
seconds, and not infrequently leading to
disaster In a big electric light station
in Philadelphia there has recently oc-
curred a series of mishaps to the boilers
extending cver a period of twelve or
fourteen months, the strongest bolts be-
ing inadequate to keep the bands and
headers intact. Expert. have examined
and studied, but without being able to
agree upon the cause, and though a
coroner’s jury, made up of boiler makers
and engineers, cailed to inquire into the
cause of an explosion which killed one
man and frightfully scalded two others,
brought in a verdict against the electri-
cal company, it was unable to explain
wherein there had been want of precau-
tion or point out the safeguards required
to prevent a similar occurrence.
—— While a huge pine log was be-
ing sawed into timber at a saw mill on
a small creek some two miles from
Athens, Ga., as the workmen were
turning it over preparatory to ‘'squar-
ring it,” what was their ‘astonishment
to see the head of a huge frog bob out,
where he was imbedded and barely es-
caped being cut by the saw. How in
the world his frogship got there is a
mystery, as he was completely incased
without any possible means of ingress or
egress. As the log was the fourth or
fitth from the butt of the tree, the frog
must have had bis apartment some
fifty or sixty feet from the ground. The
tree was perfectly sound with the ex-
ception of a decayed spot some inches
below the hermetically sealed prison of
the frog. The animal was very fat and
was unable to move when pulled out of
his den. ;
EA —————
——1In Berlin, the other day, a driver
who ran down two pedestrians had a
narrow escape for his life. In Mexico
the law of the streets is the reverse, the
citizen who gets run over being arrested
and fined for his stupidity, In New
York, sententiously comments the New
York Press, we adopt a middle course.
The passage of Broadway is a sort of
rough and tumble go-as-you please, in
in which the laugh if not the law, is on
the man who gets hurt.
n——
—— What the police eall an “etherized
drunkard” was locked up ina Boston
police station one night recently. His
name is Marshal C. Crane, and his home
is Canton. Or bis person was found a
large bottle ot ether and two towels, and
he produces intoxication by saturating
the towels with the liquid and inbaling
it. He has served tine in the Concord
Reformatory as an habitual drunkard.
When placed in the tombs he pleaded
and cried for the return of his ether.
rc —————
Boru Broveur Ur WELL —Popin-
injay—There goes a man who was
brought up with a slver spoon in his
mouth.
Ponsonby-~-I know a man who was
brought up with a dozen silver spoons
in his pocket. :
EI mar
TERRIBLY IN EARNEST. —1 would
kneel forever at your shrine.” said he.
“Would you ?" she questioned sweet-
ly.
oN he answered wildly, “bring on
yourshrine and I'll prove it.”