YE ML RPC
mci
Bellefonte, Pa., Jan. 20, 1893.
The Way of the World.
There sat a crow on a lofty tree
Watching the world go by;
He saw a throng that swept along
With laughter {oud aud high.
“In and out through the motley rout”
Pale ghosts stole on unseen,
Their hearts were longing for one sweet word
Of the love that once had been;
But never a lip there spoke their names,
Never a tear was shed : ?
The crow looked down from his lofty tree—
“Tis the way of the world,” he said.
A singer stood in the market place,
Singing a tender lay,
But nc one heeded his sorrowful face,
No one had time to stay.
He turned away ; he sang no more ;
How could he sing in vain?
And then the world came to his door,
Bidding him sing again ;
But he reckoned not whether they came or
went,
He in his garret dead :
The crow looked down from his lofty tree—
“Tis the way of the world,” he said.
There sat a Queen by a cottage bed,
Spake to the widow there:
Did she not know the same hard blow
The peasant had had to bear ?
And she kissed that humble peasant’s brow,
And then she bent her knee:
“God of the widow help her now,
As thou helped me.”
“Now God be thanked,” said the old, old crow,
As he sped from his lofty bough : |
“The times are ill, but there's much good -still
In 'the ways of the world, I trow.’
—————————
AFTER MANY YEARS.
“Jane Eliza,” said Jeremiah to me
a-going home from the horticultural
show, where, though I say it that
shouldn’t, our Baldwins and our Gold.
en Majesty punkins ehowed out super-
ior to all others and fetched a prize—
“Jane Eliza, it is time you spoke up
and told the facts in the cace, Misrep-
resentation should not be permitted
by perfessers.”
‘Jeremiah, my dear,” says I, “your
words express the thoughts that air in
my mind. I'll up and do it.”
We warns a-speaking of the Bald
wins nor the Golden Majesties, as youn
may suppose—it was the case between
Tobias Starch and Rosy Wood that
was in our minds. How it may be in
New York I do nat pertend to know.
I'should suppose folkses’ minds was
‘too well occupied in them haunts of
vice and terror with savin’ themselves
from bein’ run over or electroated to
death by busted light wires, cr bein
smashed by new houses comin’ down
onto ‘em as they walked onconsecious
by—which is, accordin to the papers,
the re'lar thing there—on account of
builders trying to-save mortar, or ‘bein
pickpocketed or sandbagged in the
streets, or murdered by burglars into
their beds, to care enough about -sean-
dal to salt it up tweaty vears and then
fetch it out again with "alterations. I
hope they don’t do it any way, but they
doin villages like Soapstone, where
every thing goes on regular and even
for the most part, and the majority
lives till eighty and dies because they
air tired of hevin te get up and put on
their shoes and stockings only to take
‘em oft again at nine o'clock and lay
down,
“Twenty years ago it happened.”
says I te Jeremiah. “Itwarn’t sensi-
ble of Rosy, but she was a gal then,
and it was New Year's time.”
Now that again may not be under-
standable by city folkses, but in Soap-
-stone New Yeai’s day is the day for
-doin all sorts of queer things ; playing
all sorts of tricks—a kind of April
Fool's Day comin on the first of Jan
uary. And anybody that is tricked at
that time is bound. to be forgiving, and
it didn’t seem to meto be fair for old
Mrs. Perket and Marie Beckworth and
Miss Maberly, all of em to speak to
strangers ot Rosy Wood as “the per-
son that proposed toithe Rev. Tobias
-Starch in her younger days and wae
rejected.” Rosy hada’t ever married,
and a spinsterhood of thirty-seven teels
such elander kinder heavy. Aa old:
lady could laugh it off, bat when a!
person ain’t neither young or old it’s
harder for ’em ito bear. Mrs. Wood
had said she couldn't stand to see Rosy
80 cut up, anddhere seemed no provin
facts, unless I up and proved ’em, and’
;proved "em before all Seapstone, too,
in a kind of public way.
“It had ought,” said Jeremiah, “io
‘be writ down and read as a paper,
Jace Eliza, your air talented and hev
the pen of a ready writer; then why |
not give it in a literary form ?”
“Jeremiah,” says I, “I will ; you
inspire me. I will write it, and I will
zead it at the minister's donation party
ef I am spared. Oaly, Jeremiah, vou
must go to the store and fetch home a
bottle of ink, six pens and a .quire of
T,
I said this in such a solemn manner
that Jeremiah replied
“Amen,” quite unconscious, instead
of sayin “I will,” as he orter.
by the way. Read it loud, so that I
shell know how it sounds before I read
{ people anxious for the worth of their
EE ———————————
it myself,” I says, sinkin into the larg-
est rockin chair and foldin my weary
hauds.
Jeremiah took the passel and re
view it with a kinder sublime expres
sion onto his countenance.
“Jane Eliza,” says he, “when I
view this here noble work I feel proud |
of you. Your thought and feelin’s
muet hev poured from you brain like
it was a fountain. But, Jane Eliza, I
hev read papers before public and you
hev not. Ten minutes is considersd
considerbul time fora paper, and fif-
teen is the limit of patience, unless it
air a lecture with tickets paid tor and
money, when circumstances alters
cases. This noble work, ef you was
to begin to read it at the donation par-
ty at about 8 o'clock, would take you
until that evenin next week, allowin
time for meals. It would be profitable
for them to hear it there ain't no
doubts. But do you think the mass of
the population of Soapstone is capable
of riveting their attention on anything
for that there length of time?”
Jeremiah’s words was uttered with
a eolemnitude that proved tney were
true* Ilooked at him speechless a
minute, and says I:
“Land sakes alive! I see it ali!
My mental powers have got ahead of
my common sense. What be I to
do?”
Sez he:
“Before I speak you'll hev thought
it out, Jane Eliza. Reduce it to fax.
Read them to the donation party, and
publish the rest ou’t in the shape of a
book here-atter.”
“Pardner of my life?’ gez I. “A
woman that has no Lusband to ask ad-
vise of is a poor, forlorn critter. I will
expungh the ideas and confine myself
to the fax, and read them to the meet-
in,”
But Jeremiah saved me the toil of
this ruther menial labor by getting a
copyboek and expunghing the facts
into that in his best handwritin, while
I washed up some flannels, and on
New Year's eve I took my production
It takes a lot of time for folks to get
togetherard say thew how-’ye-do’s and
get their hats off, and the appropriate
time didn’t come for me to read until
it was half past 9; then I riz up. I
was glad Rosy Wood was there, and I
was glad so many folks were out ; but
I was kinder sorry to see a stranger—
a middlin aged man, pretty bald atop— |
apparently some one wisitin our dom- ;
inie; but it couldn’t be helped, and
everybody was lookin at me, and I;
was obliged to start. i
Bretheren and sistern,’ sez I, “I hev |
Somethin here I wish to read to you. |
It is a statement of the facts of the
case betwixt Tobias Starch and Miss
Rosy Wood. You may say inwardly,
‘Why rake ’em up after twenty years
of silence?” Bretheren and sistern, it
was others that raked 'em up and gave
‘em a wrong coloring. I stand here
for to state the truth on my solemn
Bible oath, with a wafer and a stamp
at the bottom, and the names ot wit-
ness attached. Some on ’em is dead
and buried, but [ wrote 'em down all
the same. It istryin me to stand here
as I do, but the martyrs died for the
truth, and I’m ready to suffer for it!”
Here the strange.gentleman with the
bald head said: “Good! Good!
Right!” and gave courage, and I be-
gan to read:
“My friends,” sez I, “New Years
day, as we all know, iis a day here for
fun and frolicks and trick playin.
They do say that Seapstone was fust
gettled by folks from Sweden, and that
they had them habits and customs
and handed 'em down to their ances-
tors. Perhaps it isso. Any way we
do it, and we did it wore twenty years
ago, when those of us that was born |
was all younger than what we be this
‘New year’s eve, At that there time
Miss Rosy Wood, a lady we all know
well, was just seventeen, and full of
fun as an egg is of meat, and being her
‘ma had departed this life, and she
~didn’t get on with her stepma, who is
mow in glory, she boarded to my house
dor a spell,
‘At that time there was a young
man that was studying for the ministry
a-boardin with me. Most of you re-
member him. His name was Tobias
Starch, He was just twenty, but stif-
ferthan a poker. Laugh was not in
hin, nor was he ever seen to smile,
andihe had been told by his ma that
girls always set their caps for young
ministers, and that he must beware.
Therefore he was always bewarin
plain to behold, and the one he bewar-
ed of most was Rosy Wood. .She was
a girl that laughed considerable, and
she kad a way of touchia folks on the
arm when she spoke with her nice lit
Bright and early he got the literary
fixin’s, includia a wafer, for we had re.
marked that legal afferdavids always
had wafers onto ’em, likewise postage
stamps, and day and night I sat before
the succertary into the best parlor
while thing went to rack and ruin.
The turkevs ran away, Jeremiah’s
tle hand, and all this seared Tobigs
Starch and made him think she want.
ed for 40 marry him when she wouldn't
hev done it ef he'd groveled onto his
bended knees before her. However,
Tobias went around tellin the other
students how bard it was for him to
get rid of her attenticus, and they eame
in a neat, compact form to the party. |1¥
‘Well,’ says Tobias from ineide.
* “Tobias,” says Rosy from outside
the door, ‘are you very busy ?’
‘Yes, said Tobias.
“ ‘Too busy to come and spark a
little?’ said Rosy. ‘Just a little. [I'l]
have a lamp in the front parlor, and
just you and me. Won't it be lovely,
Toby, dear ?” :
‘ “I beg to be excused,’ says Tobias.
“ I’ve sot so on it,’ says Rosy, whim-
pering. ;
“Kindly go away,’ says Tobias from
inside. :
“You are very cruel, Toby,’ says
Rosy, ‘when you know how fond I be
of you, Toby, darling.’
‘Miss Wood,’ says Tobias Starch,
‘I have never given you the privilege
to call me Toby. Stop doing it. Go
away.’
“Toby, you can’t mean it,’ says
Rosy.
“1 mean it!’ called Tobias very
snappish.
“ ‘Tobias,’ says Rosy, as nat'ral as
ever you heard, while we all choked
ourselves with our han’kerch’efs, ‘To-
bias. I hev concealed my feelin’s very
keerful, but they can’t be retained no
more, Hear me, cruel being!"
“<I will not, says Tobias. ‘Go
away, or I'll tell everybody. I know
how I ought to behave, and I'm al
ways particular, I promised ma I
would be. Go away!”
“Then Rosy Wood did go too fur.
My cheeks mantles with blushes as I
read this here; but she wus wild with
fun and hearing us giggle and choke
all about her.
‘Tobias,’ says she, ‘my intentions
is honorable, I offer marriage. On
my bended kuees, Tobias, I beg you to
be mine. Surely you will not refuse
me.’
“I am ebliged to decline your offer,
ma'am,’ says Tobias Starch. ~ ‘I should
choose a more retiring and proper be-
haved person. Go away!’
“As soon as he said these words
Rosy began to weep. She wep’ and
sobbed and got highstrikes in a most
natural way. Finally she says faint
‘ ‘Tobias Starch, ajoo; your cruelty
kas killed me, Ajoo—ajoo !’
“Thea she made a great noise fallen
onto the floor, and Tobias opened the
‘door. There warn’t no light in our
room, and his shaded lamp didn’t re-
weal nathin,
“ ‘Where are you, poor girl’? says
he.
“Here,” says Rosy. ‘Embrace me
once before I die.’
“ No,’ says Tobias Starch, ‘I will
not embrace you. You air not dyin;
your hand air warm; but I am very
sorry for you. You will get over this
1ll fated attachment in time, and take
a lesson from this affair, and remem-
ber that boldness in a lady is abhor-
rentto a man of priaciple. Ge to your
room, Miss Wood, and pray to be
comforted. I will pray for you.’
“ ‘Assist me to rise,’ says Rosy.
““There was a kind of a bumping
sound, and we knowed it was time to
light up, In a minute a blaze of bril-
liance from half 8 dozen keryeene ile
lamps and as wany taller candles
flosded the room, and Mr. Tobias
Starch, settin onto the floor, looked
areand and saw the compaey, and
heard ’em, too, for we laughed until
we bad to stop for breath, At last
Jeremiah riz up, and says he:
“ ‘Come, Mr. Starch, don’t feel mad.
Rosy heard tell how’t you said she
was settin her cap for you, and this is
only tit for tat.’
“But Tobias Starch never smiled.
He riz up from the floor, walked in-
to his room, come out with his bag in
his hand and his hat on and walked
out of the house, and next week left
Segpstone for good.
“That night we jest laughed over
our nuts and gingerbread and cider ;
but purty soon it got to be no laugh-
ing matter tor Rosy Wood. Some
wicked critter spread the report that
she had actually proposed to Mr.
Starch, meanin it, and she was worrid
sick by it.
“That,” say I, elosin my book,
“was twenty years; bat only thisOcto-
ber the report was riz again, and spite-
ful things has been said in my hearin
ag’ia a lady that does not deserve it.
So, unaccustomed as [ am to public
epeakin, I bev riz up to tell the truth
on my Bible oath over a seal and post-
age stamp, and let everybody ever af-
ter hold their tongue.”
There was a kinder solemn silence.
I dunno what may have been comin,
but jest then up riz the strange gentle-
man with the bald head and gives me
a beamin smile and says he:
“I should like to add my testimony
to that of the sister that has just fin-
ished. Iam a witness she has forgot-
ten. I am Tobias Starch himself,
grown considerably older, and I sol-
emuly attest ¢o the statement you have
Just heard. I was a little prig in those
days, brothers and sisters, very conceit:
ed and very anxious to do right, too
solemn and pokey, and not able to see
a joke, and speiled at home by my dear
old mother, who spoils me still ; but I
stockings got holes into em, and
Jeremiah’'s buttons came off and were
not sewed on ag’in. I began my la-
bors in the latter end of October. Nov.
ember passed, December came in, and
still I writ, for what with wishing for
to have a good style, and hevin consid.
erbul to say, and remarks of my own
to add, and poelry to quote, and get-
ting it copied off neat, and hevin to re.
fer to Webster's Unabridged continual,
the work was slow, and every few days
Jeremiah had to buy me another quire
of paper and. more ink. However, it
was finished at last, and the appro-
priate time for readin it—the New
Year's eve donation party—had e’en
a’most arrove when I put my MS.
into Jeremiah's hand and said:
“Jeremiah, my work air accomplish-
ed. Ireturn to my proper spear, and
never will I leave it again, for writin
one koneize sthtement is more labor
than house cleanin kept up remitless
fora year. Ef this had not been my
duty ae a perfesser I should hey fallen
and told her, and her spirit kinder riz,
and rhe vowed and deelared that come
New Year's eve she would play him
such a trick as would stop his braggin
about bein made love to by the gals
for good and for all. Kis yer blame
ker?”
“It served him right, ma’am 9” says
the strange gentleman in a loud voice,
and everybody elee said, “So it doos I”
. Sach is the power of popular opin-
ion.
“Rosy Wood said this,” I read on,
“and what is more, she meant it, and
when New Year's eve came she was
ready. Mr, Starch always shut him-
self into his room to study afier tea,
and he never heard the little knocks
on the door and the little giggles when
we opened it. About twenty friends
arrove, and as they came they sot
down on chairs placed as for a meetin
and kept mum as mice. Lights was
all ready to light, but none was lit. '
was present, and then Rosy Woo
Pretty soon the hull twenty we'd asked ' at
was not bad enough to tell a falsehood.
I never misrepresented Miss Wood,
whose New Year's eve joke gave me a
good lesson. Iregretothershave done
it. I think I see Miss Wood yonder.
Will she shake haads with me
I remember his very words, and how
noble he looked standin there. And
Rosy Wocd came out of her eorner,
laughing and blushing and holding out
her hand.
“I'm glad to ask your forgiveness,
Mr. Starch,” says she. “I was young
and too full of fun in those old days,
I’ve certainly got bravely over the first
of those things anyhow.”
“And my conceit has d
with my hair,” says he.
Bat they didn’t look either old or ug-
ly, for all, ae they stood there shakin’
hands, first with each other and then
with me, and I felt proud of what I'd
ropped away
went and did.
That evening Mr. Starch devoted his
tention most petickeler to Rosy Wood
came in, whispered, ‘All keep quiet,’
and knock on Tobias Stareh’s dcor.
tions. He took her down to supper
and pulled snap crackers with her. and
gave her mottoes, and eat a philopene
with her, and he beaued her bum. He
was a bachelor and had been goin west, -
and it seemed kinder providential that
he should hev been visitin our dominie |
that very New York’s eve when I made
up mind to give the facts of Ros
Wood’s case and stop the slander. And |
it seemed more so jest a few days be-
fore the next New Year's came round,
when Rosy with her eyes gleaming
and her cheeks as red as lady slippers,
put her arm through mine comin from
church and said :
“Aunty, Tobias Starch and I are go-
ing to be married New Year's eve and
I am going with him on his mission.
This time he proposed I"—Mary Kyle
Dallas in Fireside Companion.
The Sparrow Pest.
The English sparrow has become such
a nuisance in America, interfering
seriously with our agricuitural interests,
depredating upon our gardens, destroy-
ing our beautiful flowers, ornamental
shrubs and vines, that itis proper and
advisable to fall upon some plan to ex-
terminate the pest. Intelligent agricul-
turists and horticulturists have ex-
pressed the greatest astonishment that
we American people have allowed such
destructive and worthless birds to be
introduced into our country. They
not only destroy buds and blossoms on
our fruit trees, but lessen our wheat crop
to a great extent. Kven when itis in a
milky state they can be seen in large
flocks alighting on the heads of wheat,
picking out the finest grains and bend-
Ing over the stem, in many instances
breaking the stalk of the growing crop
all through the fields. It is lamentable
that these sparrow enthusiasts could not
be induced to listen to the warnings of
more intelligent and far-seeing citizens.
Being grain eaters by nature, they nat-
urally enough take to our wheat “fields,
Tobey may be seen in our peach orchards
picking at the beautiful pink blossoms
and destroying entirely the embryo
fruit.
A Washingtonian lost two crops of
pears and could not account for it un-
til he watched these birds and noticed
they were pecking at the pear buds when
‘they were just beginning to swell, tak-
ing out the entire flower portion of the
bud. They make their morning meal
on goosberries, currants, raspberries and
our small fruits. They have even been
seen attacking so large a tree as the elm,
picking at the buds in early spring, in-
Jjuring the leaves of this beautiful tree
and causing them to shrivel up, In
California where grape culture is an
industry of great importance to her
people, this increasing pest has caused
great apprehension, and will entail
serious loss unless itis checked and
destroyed. When the trait trees are
mantled in beauty, they may be seen
depredating upon the plum, cherry and
quince, and if let alone, it will be use-
less to #7y to raise anything.
These miserable birds are ravenous
seed-eaters, preferring a variety of food,
and the gardener as well as the farmer
feels keenly the losses they occasion.
This spring my strawberry bed was
full of healthy blossoms, promising a
handsome yield of this delicious berry,
but the fusiidious appetites of these
thieves were directed to the destruction
of the bloom throughout the entire bed,
80 that they spare nothing, but are con-
tinually onthe wateh to satiate their
desire for a variety of food.
These cunning birds have been known
to destroy an entire crop of apples,
pecking holes in them as soon as they
are mellow, causing them to drop off or
decay on the trees, invariably selecting
the finest fruit. I donot know of any
other bird that shows a fondness for
tomatoes; but the palate of the Eng-
Lish sparrow is peculiar, and nothing
seems to be sate where it abounds.
Cubbage and lettuce, too, have suffered
materially from the depredations of this
increasing pest.
In our rice growing states they may
be found feeding with the rice birds,
and are tar more troublesome, because
they are so tame and cannot be scared
off, in many cases causing the planter
to abandon the growth of rice alto-
gether. Some contend that the spar-
row is of benefit in eating the seeds of
noxious weeds, and destroying insects ;
but close observation shows that he is
more destructive than advantageous.
We would all be pleased to have him
bug our potato crop and make himself
useful, rather than destructive ; but his
appetits 1s too dainty for potato bugs,
and he saves the farmer nothing, but
destroys everything in his reach.
Last summer 1 raised as I Supposed
a large crop of sun flowers, intending to
feed the seed to my poultry in winter.
To my great disappointment I found
that these wretched birds had eaten
them entirely up, and 1 had not the
opportunity of saving seed for planting
this spring. The filthy habits of this
bird are most annoying. Where they
build their nests, and in their roosting
quarters they are most obnoxious. My
old home is covered with English ivy,
end they still cling to their English
tastes and flock to it, winter and sum-
mer, to nestle among its sheltering
leaves of velvet softness, Their nests
may be seen all through this beautiful
elinging vine, which I fear will eventu-
ally be destroyed by their continually
alighting in its luxuriant branches.
At St. Stephen’s church, Rhode
Island, there were over nine hundred
sparrow eggs taken from the beautiful
ivy that coversits walls, and the sex-
toa of St. John’s church took out two
cart loads of nests from that building at
onetime. They arendt only pests to
the farmer ard gardner, but frequent
the thorough fares of our cities, and here
they increase very rapidly, where they
multiply unmolested, being no other
city bird to disturb them. They are
not confined to any latitude and flourish
in any climate. There is a great clamor
and ery throughout our country of the
destruction and loss these miserable
birds o:casion, and our people should
all unite ‘with one accord” to destroy
them by every available means.
M. B. E.
——Twenty-five Union Pacific rail
road employees were killed by an ex-
plosion at Como, Col., on Tuesday af-
ternoon. It wasa dust explosion in
d and she didn’t seem to hev no objec- | the mines,
“phi her’ ” or a ‘“‘water of | v 1
|= philecpaer’s, stone | some of them with cuffs just large
Can Death Be Conquered ?
Iaall ages mankind bas looked upon |
death with terror, as a universal con-
queror, a mysterious and dreadful fact |
, Which inevitably puts an end to all ex- |
| istance.
A few hundred years agoa
very large number of intelligent persons
believed in the possibility of finding a |
life” with the property of prolonging
the human span indefinitely. We
know now that the boundaries of visible |
life are set, and that there is no hope of |
removing them by scientific or other
means beyond a certain point
The craving for afterlife has been
characteristic of humamty since the ear- |
liest times. Religion is based upon it,
and faith satisfies it. . But there are |
minds who will have no certainty except |
that based upon scientific information.
With them the great question is: Can
another existance be proved with.
out departing from the rules of scientific |
reasoning ? If it can, then death at |
once loses its terrors and becomes mere- |
ly an incident of life. Obviously the
class of phenomena to be studied in de-
ciding the question 1s that whichis |
commonly known as spiritualistic.
Undoubiedly there has been a great
deal of fraud in Spiritualism, Clever
sharpers have made money by gulling |
the public with trick and pretence. The |
|
the impression that all these phenomena
are false and the popluar prejudice has
been backed by science, whice has
strangely refused to investigate.
A vigorous protest against this atti-
tude is made by the Rev. M. J. Savage,
of Boston, who has published accounts
of various anthenticated instances of
spirit manifestation in the Arena, to
magazine he adds his conclusions. In
existance in invisible form after death,
Mr. Savage quotes the remark of
Thomas Paine: *It appears more proba-
ble to me that I shall continue to exist
hereafter, than that I should have ex-
istance, as I now have before existance
began.” Of his own attitude in study-
ing the phenomena from which he has
drawn his deductions, Mr. Savage con-
fesses that he began by being bitterly
hostile, and says: —
“In my studies I have sought faith-
fully to follow the scientific method,
which I regard asthe only method of
knowledge. By careful ubservation and
rigid experiment 1 have tried, first, to
be sure that I have discovered a fact.
Of this fact IT have made a record at the
time. I have paid no attention to re-
sults apparently obtained in the dark or
in circumstances where I could not be
certain as to what was taking place. I
have not said that ail these were fraud,
but I have never given them weight as
evidence. I have made a study of
sleight of hand, and am quite aware of
all the possiblities of trickery. But to
imitate an occurrence, ard under other
conditions, is not to duplicate the fuct.
The larger number of these occurrences
which have actually influenced my be-
lief have taken place in the presence of
long-tried personal friends, and not with
professional ‘mediums’ at all.”
Mr. Savage concludes that hypnotism
is an established fact, and that accom-
panying it are some facts such as dual
personality, the power of seeing without
eyes and hearing without ears, which
shows that the mind is not so dependent
on the ordinary senses as is generally
supposed. He regards mind reading
and thought transferrence as established
beyond dispute. He believes that some
of the phenomena which form the stock
in trade of the professional medium, as
table-tipping, the removal of objects
without apparent physical force and the
playing of musical instruments by in-
visible means are certainly genuine.
Materialization or the reappearance of
the forms of the dead, and slate- writing,
he does not insist upon because he never
saw instances in wh ch fraud might not
have been practised. He dees not at-
tribute these things to Spiritualism, ac-
knowledgiug that they may be account-
ed for by conditions of the mind as it
exists.
What be regards ss a crucial test is
the reception through a friend, nota
professional, of information purporting
to come from a person whom he knew
intimately in [ife concerning others
miles away, of whom the medium never
beard. These conditions preclude the
explanaticn that the information was
due to thought transferrence or to clair-
veyance, for each supposes previcus
knowledge on the part of the medium.
Neither could guesswork or coincidence
account for the accuracy of the informa-
tion given. Itcan be explained, in Dr.
Savage’s opinion, only by the theory of
Spiritualism.
It may be added that F. W. H.
Myers, the leading man in the English
Society for Psychical Research, bas be-
come convinced of ‘‘continued personal
existence and of at least occasional com-
munication,” and that Richard Hodg-
son, Secretary of the American branch
of the Society, has expressed a similar
opinion,
Until science has sifted the pheno-
mena in a manner to preclude the possi-
bility ot error on the part of individual
investigators, however sincere, it will
be unsafe to accept any conclusions.
But the problem is one of the most in-
teresting that is presented to the human
mind, and the constantly increasing
numbers who are willing to accept the
spiritual solutiou indicate that a greater
share of scientific attention will be paid
to it in future.
A Disappointed Man,
He had been found guilty of picking
pockets. Judge Duffy said to him .
“This is your second offense, I will
give you three years in the peniten-
tiary.” *
“I deserve it, Judge ; I want to have
a chance to reform.”
“You will get it.”
“I will come out of the penitentiary a
better man than when I wentin. Do I
have to go there at once ?”
“Certainly.”
“That's bad. I was in hopes that I
would get out in time to work the crowd
at the World’s Fair in Chicago.”
“My impression is,” replied Judge
Duffy, “that if you don’t want to be
robbed you should stay away from Chi-
cago, ”’
Note—Judge Duffy was a Tammany
Hall delegate to the Chicago Conven-
tion.
Sy
exposure ot these ethuds has created |
which in the currant number of the!
re.ard to the possibility of a continued |
TheWorld of Women.
Cardinal velvet and jet isa popular
combination for dressy women of all
ages.
Do not salt your steak until after iy
has been broiled tinless you wish to ex-
tract the juices of the meat.
New wraps have enormous sleeves,
enough to pass the hand through.
Velvet zouave jackets, richly em-
broidered and trimmed with fur are
worn with modish reception toilettes.
The trumpet-shaped skirt owes its
flaring effect, in many cases, to a hair-
cloth petticoat, worn beneath the outer
skirt.
The newest pattern in table linen is
the golden rod, either woven in asa bor-
der or in single stalks through the entire
cloth.
Marie belts of ribbon hail straight
rom Paris, and accompanying them
are Ewpire sashes, made of twisted
gauze,
With the ever-to-be-noted evolution
in fashions, satin-faced fabrics are again
enjoying the greatest popularity, wheth-
er in biack or colors.
If you wish to remove from your
| bands the odor of fish or unions rub the
- bands with fine salt and then give them
| a warm water bath.
| A large buckle, either of jet or jew-
eled metal, is now placed on” the side of
| the very high girdle worn in connection
| with some of the new Parisian cos-
| tumes.
The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, one of
the most popular women preachers in
the country, is now visiting New York.
If she means to convert that city she
| has an ambition as big as it is hope-
less,
Among the pretty and useful house
dresses for this season are those made of
white French flannel. They are made
with a long skirt, a long fitted basque
and full sleeves, and are trimmed with
ruchings and plaitings of pale-tinted
silk.
Over three thousand acres of land in
four townships of the State of Washing-
ton are held by women. Some of the
land is under cultivation, and the
ranches bring in comlortable incomes to
the plucky women who own and run
them,
Miss Mary Curtis Lee, daughter of
the late General Robert E. Lee, has
been twice around the globe, and is now
resting from her travels with Baltimore
friends preparatory to her trip to Cairo,
where she proposes to reside until
spring.
Mrs. M. P. Kimball succeeds her de-
ceased husband in the presidency of the
Pennsboro and Harrisville Railroad,
and West Virginians have so much
faith 1n her executive ability that they
are in no fear of the road suffering by
the change.
The fashionable sleeve is a mass of
puffs, slashes, ruffles, humps and lumps.
Lt is drawn in one place and bulged out
in another; has round-and-round bands
of trimming, or those that extend from
shoulder to wrist. Some sleeves are
made of one material, others of two
kinds of trimming are not unusual,
The loose wrap, or circular, is at last
voted as prejudical to health, and there
are evidences that it is be abandoned for
the close- fitting garment. It is a curious
fact, however, that until fashion pro-
nounced against these tkings there was
no sign of their being given up : but
the moment that a recognized authority
expresses the unfavorable opinion, they .
are promptly put aside, and it will nev-
er do to wear them any more,
A light blue crape dress fora young
lady has a round skirt of dancing length,
surrounded by four puffs of crape strap-
ped by twisted bands of narrow black
velvet ribbon, with white lace insertion
on either side of the puffs. This trim-
ming is used three times in succession
around the bottom, extending’ below the
knee, then once more after an interval
of the width of the puff. The round
bodice has a draped front and plain
laced back. A puff borders the neck
and forms short sleeves. The Empire
girdle and sash are of black velvet.
It wasa pale helitrope cloth with
three ruffles around the skirt, each one
edged with fine jet trimming. The
round bodice had a belt of jet and
a round yoke outlined by the same
trimming. From the shoulders fell two
deep wings or capes, likewise trimmed
with jet and, a sash of benguline
bordered by jet fell from the shoulders,
being tied loosely just above the
waist line. The hat of helitrope felt
had no other trimming save a black sa.
tin ribbon band and loops. It tied un-
der the chin in a trim little bow and the
effect was delightful.
The exponents of high art in dress
condemn the high stiff collar, which
they robsaysthe neck of perfect freedom
of motion, destroying the natural expres-
sion and grace. The neck is to the
bead what the stem is to the flower.
They consider even an unbeautiful neck
freed better than the stiffly bridled car-
riage, which is the product of the tailor
collor. The soft frill of lace” that has
encircled the throats of the heroines in
English novels since the beginning is
reinstated for the wethetic maiden, while
the tailor-made girl will still cling to
her “‘chokers,” Princess of Wales ‘dog
collars’ cte.
We are slowing but surely drifting to-
wards the flaring skirt which in its pro-
nounced sweep exhibits all the features
of 1830 styles. “Hcopskirts ! why the
idea is absurb.” This is about the way
the advance modes which so positively
herald its coming are ignored, but wait.
We women are a trifle alarmed, and a
good deal disgusted very frequently at
some of Queen Fashion's pranks, but
if given time enough we are certain to
fall in with her way of thinking. I re-
member so well upon the introduction of
the clinging skirt the indignation of one
woman when asked if she expected to
adopt it. “Never,” was the emphatic
answer. ‘What, swathe my form in
yards of drapery or roll myself up until
I look like an animated cigar? Well
not much,” and yet six months atter the
fashion was an assured one this woman
was one of its most enthusiastic de-
votees.