Bemrrii Ji
ing the middle of the remuda, scatter-
ing the horses in every direction.
Finally Alex., a slow serious Scotch
Bellefonte, Pa., Feb. 16, 1894.
mau, but as hard to turn as a buffalo
bull when his blood is hot, jerked him
off his pony and gave him a regular
WISHES.
BY L'MILE PICKHARDT.
I asked a little child one day,
A child intent on joyous play,
“My little one, pray tell to me
Your dearest wish ; what may it be ?
The little one thought for awhile,
Then answered with a wistful smile,
“The thing that I wish most of all
Is to be big, like you, and tall.”
1 asked a maiden sweet and fair,
Of dreamy fyes and wavy hair,
“What woul
That kindly fate should bring to you ?”
With timid mien and downcast 8s
And blushes deep and gentle sighs,
Her answer came, "All else above,
I'd wish some faithful heart to love.”
I asked a mother, tried and blest,
With babe asleep upon her breast,
“0 mother fond, so proud and fair,
What is thy inmost secret prayer?”
She raised her calm and peaceful eyes,
Madonnalike, up to the skies,
“My dearest wish is this,” said she,
“That God may spare my child to me.”
Again, I asked a woman old,
To whom the world seemed hard and cold,
“Pray tell me, O thou blest in years,
What are thy hopes, what are thy fears?”
With folded hands and head bent low
She answer made, in accents slow,
“For me remains but one request—
It is that God may give me rest.”
| —————————————
FINNEGAN'S ABSALOM.
I knew him from the time his birth,
twenty-four years ago, shook the
nurseless and physicianless frontier
community in Jack county, which was
then on the foremost edge of advanc-
ing civilization, to its foundation.
Finnegan had been a respectable
clerk in his native Ireland, at a starva
tion salary, and Mrs. Finnegan a poor
dependent who acted as nursery gover-
ness and general slave and scapegoat
in the family of a coarse, unfeeling,
well-to-do relative.
They had loved each other long and
faithfully, but timidly, and dared not
ventu .e marriage on poor Finnegan's
pittacce of salary. But things come to
people—even so far off as Ireland—
who wait patiently long enough, and do
not die ; and when this pathetic cou-
ple were middle-aged a legacy came to
Finnegan without apology for its tardi-
ness, which enabled them to marry,
and with which they immediately
came to Texas, of all places, and
bought, of all things, a cattle ranch.
However, fate appears sometimes
positively ashamed to be unkind to
such innocents, when they are delivered
over into her hands; and the Finue-
gans were as prosperous as most of
their neighbor.
Their loneliness was dispelled in the
course of a year or two by the arrival
of a son, the only child of this gentle
pair, and the or’nariest baby that ever
howled the roof off a shack. At 2 or
3 years old, when he got to be an ex-
ert on his feet, and with his fists, and
is voice, he made the ranch house so
hot that the boys were glad to give it
the cold shake, and be out onthe
range or in camp ; and by the time he
was 4 he ran the ranch, whaled and
bit any one that interfered with him,
and made himself such a terror that
not a Mexican would stay on the
place. Finnegan had to build a mess
house for the men, although the head-
quarters house had not long since
been made large purposely to have
them all together.
The foreman, who was myself, and
the cowboys only stayed for love of
Mrs. Finnegan— Aunt Mary, we called
her—and I was always losing my best
hands on account of the little cuss.
He was smart enough ; he didn’t
lack enterpriseandsavey. He learned
to ride—and ride like the dickens,—
before he was 6. He used to fairly
roar and cavort because the men
would not stand still and let him rope
them. He practiced on every animate
and inanimate object about the ranch;
and by the time he #as 8 he could ride
a cutting pony that was just lightening
and rope a calf, or even a yearling with
the best of us.
In the course of a couple of years
things got much worse. Heretotore
we had only to stay away from the
headquarters house to be rid of him ;
but now on his pony he haunted the
the camps, the outfits, the roundups,
and was the most everlasting, lively,
ingenious torment.
When he was about 10 or 12 I re-
member he was in camp one day when
we were moving about, getting ready
to go toa round up. He had a new
Calitornia rope he was awfully tickled
with, and he kept riding up behind the
men, jerking the noose tight around
them, arms and all, so they were help-
less till he got done whooping and
laughing and slacked upon them.
I saw Frosty get out his big-bladed
kuife, as sharp as a razor, and when
the kid, after awhile threw his rope
over him, Frosty slashed it smooth in
two at a point where it lay for a
moment on his saddle horn. Robbie
went back almost out of the saddle, as
he braced back for the jerk that never
came ; and when he saw his new Cal-
ifornia roe cut in two he yelled with
rage.
He ran his pony up to Frosty's and
raised his quirt, blubbering like a
great baby ; .
“You cut my ro-o-pe! I'll ki-i-ill
vou!”
“You little gadfly.” said Frosty,
catching his arm, *‘you touch me with
that quirt and I'll pull you oft your
pony and wear you to frazzles with it.
I'll stripe you like a zebra—I'll skin
you. You'll get it once in your life if
I’m fired for it before sundown. Now
cut loose and quirt me if you want to!”
But the kid didn’t want to any more
He had had a taste of the sort of thing
that would have cared him all along,
and he went off as quiet as a lamb and
never did monkey with Frosty any
more.
He followed Alex McRavea's outfit
along one day—Alex, was one of my
wagon bosses—and kept up his usual
tricks of roping the riders, stealing
thinge out of the mess case and charg-
you wish, prey tell me trus,
Scotch Covenanter thrashing.
Those who witnessed the spectacle
say it was a most pleasing aad divert-
ing one—Robbie howling like a pack
of timber wolves, with grief, terror
and amazement, Alex, thrashing away
conscientiously and methodically, al:
most with tears in his eyes, as he re-
flected that Aunt Mary would execrate
him, and Finnegan fire him immediate-
ly ; but determined to finish the Lord’s
work at any cost to young Finnegan's
anatomy or his own feelings. When
he had done, he hog-tied the bellowing
victim, dropped him in the wagon like
a pig, pulled the little saddle off his
pony and turned it into the re-
muda.
Toward evening the outfit came to
headquarters, and Alex, untied the
entirely extinguished Robbie, set him
out of the wagon without looking at
him, and after putting the pony in the
pasture and the saddle in its place went
to the messhouse.
Not a word was ever heard from
headquarters about this awful treason-
able deed, any more than there had
been abont Frosty’s little scrap with
the kid, which made us all wonder if
Robbie hadn't some decent points
about him, and if plenty of thrashing
ight not, after all, make a man of
im.
AtI6the boy had a little brand of
his own—all stolen except what his
father had given him for he was be-
ginning to be the mostaudacious, skill-
ful and successful thief in the Panhan-
dle. His earlier, and always his most
extensive stealing, were from his fath-
er; and from them he graduated into a
regular full-fledged rustler.
The foreman of the Quarter Circle Z
ranch met him one morning skirting
around their pastures with his rope out
and swinging, and Robbie had a very
lame explanation of why he was there.
He had always a branding iron in his
boot or about his saddle.
He mavericked bis father’s calves
more freely than any others, and un-
der the very noses of the old man’s
cowboys ; and it was this heartless in-
gratitude, and his poor old father’s un-
tiring love and inexhaustable admira-
tion and fondness—a tenderness
which followed and protected the
young scamp from the consequence of
his rascality, and which refused to see
or hear anything wrong about the boy
—that suggested to some one the de-
scriptive titleof “Finnegan's Absalom,”
which immedately stuck and entirely
superseded his proper name. I don’t
believe half the people in the Pan-
handle—to which newly-opened coun-
try I had come to ranch for myself,
and they bad followed later, when he
was about 12—knew that his name
was Robert Emmet Finnagan.
When he was about 19 the old folks
gathered him up rather suddenly and
sent him to college. He had got to be
a big, fresh-colored, rather fine-looking
fellow, with an investigating blue eyes,
and a peevish under lip, the kind of
fellow all the girls naturally go wild
over, [but no man could see without
wanting to kick, unless his legs were
paralyzed.
I knew the whole Panhandle to a
man thirsted for his blood, and yet he
was safe from bodily injury for the sake
of his poor old father and mother. But
everything could not be borne ; the old
man was gently but firmly offered an
alternative ; 8o off to college Absalom
went.
An account I incidentally overheard
one day ran like this :
“Say! Finnegan's Absalom’s gone
off to college.”
“No 1”
“Yes. Country got too hot for him,
and Finnegan senthim away."
“What was it ?”’
“Qh, they say he swung too longa
loop for them, and they wasn’t going
tostand it any more.
And this was a clear statement of the
case in cattle vernacular.
He wae two years at college, spend-
ing his vacations atSan Antonio and
other cities. Then they had to bring
him home. In the first place, his pro-
digality was about to ruin them; the
cattle just wouldn’t bold out. Then,
too, it was judicious to withdraw him
when they did, instead of waiting for
expulsion.
Shortly after Finnegan's Absalom
was sent away to Austin, the Finnegan
household had acquired a new member.
This was a halt Mexican girl of about
15, whose parents, attempting to cross
the treacherous Canadian at night,
when the river was up, had missed the
ford, gotten into the quick-sands a:.d
been drowned—a thing easy enough of
accomplishment in the Canadian, even
in daylight, and without an extra big
stream.
Ysabel was the offspring of one of
those strange, incongruous unions you
see sometimes on the frontier, where
such odd jetsam and flotsam from the
great sea of life are drifted and tossed
together in fantastical combination.
Her peregrinating father bad long
been a sort of institution in all north |
and west Texas, in the guise of the
harmless, necessary peddler.
A Yankee of the Yankees, selling
patent churns, new-fangled housghold,
implements and recipes for making ev-
erything in the world you wouldn’t
want—in Texas—including all sorts of
perfumes, marvelous cements, furniture
polish and fancy temperance drinks.
A man of iron muscles and tremen-
dous .will power, there seemed to be a
lack in him that prevented him from
uging his remarkable and varied forces
except to the most trival ends. A
crank, that lacked but a balancing
touch to be a genius; full of strange
contrivances and inventions, a devour-
“tirely to the point, to say.
er of all books and papers, author and
admirer of all sorts of wild social, fin-
ancial and political schemes.
Only a little weight, a touch of con-
tinuity, r little sequence in his ideas,
persistence in any one line of thought
or effort, and he might have been a
statesman, a financier, a leader of men,
and left his mark upon his time and
place, instead of one of fate’s blank
cartridges—an adventitous Bohemian,
blown idly hither and thither by every
little gust of destiny.
It was in one of his outbursts of re-
forming social conditions, wiping out
prejudices and breaking down race dis-
tinctions, that Jason Tuttle married
Felice Gomez.
This girl was of a Mexican family of
some traditions, a little property in
land and cattle, and much pride, refus.
ing to associate upon terms of equality
with the run of poor Mexicans in the
country, and insisting apoplectically
upon Castilian blood whenever such a
matter was broached. They had some
teaching and a few old Spanish books
which they read persistently ; and not
oue of them could be got to confess to
the understanding of an English sen-
tence by so much as the turning of an
eyelash,
The funny part of the matter came
in the attitude of the Gomez family to-
ward this marriage. They were fur-
ious. They proceeded to regard the
connection as little better than a dis-
grace, and to cast Felice off, in the
most correct and edifring old Spanish
manner.
And so it came about that when,
sixteen years latter Tuttle and his
Mexican wife were drowned in the
greedy, faithless Canadian, that has
stolen away so many lives entrusted to
it, their 15-year-old Ysabel was left as
utterly alone and forlorn as a little
woodpecker or squirrel, orphaned be-
fore yet old enough to leave the nest ;
and the kindhearted Finnegans, hear-
ing of it, went and got the child and
brought her home. Her position in
the household was a mixiure of
adopted daughted and petted, indulged
servant,
Being the only child, Ysabel was
much educated and trained, in the
most singular, erratic and contradic:
tory manner, by her strangely assorted
parents; her mother watching and
laboring incessantly to the end that
the child should read and speak only
Spanish, and grow up an ideal Spanish
genorita ; and her father feeding her
active brain upon the most emancipa-
ted literature, aod industriously
pumping the most advanced of his rad-
ical ideas into her receptive mind. It
spoke well for the girl's native
force and judgment that she
really found out some things, formed
some ideas,and drew some conclusions
of her own from the bewildering pro-
cess.
W hen she first became a member of
the Finnegan household she was a
slender slip of a girl, quiet as a little
shadow, but with ample promise of
beauty if an eye had looked discerning-
ly at her. And in the two years that
elapsed that promise bloomed into
most opulent fulfillment.
Her form was pretty and graceful ;
but it was a curious air of individual-
ity, a strong personal and original note
in her bearing despite ite still demure-
ness, that piqued and attracted. And
then, the rich red shining lambently
through her creamy cheeks and break-
ing into open crimson on her full lips,
the big, black eyes, with their long
fringes downcast, and the flashing
white teeth that helped to make dazzl-
ing her rather rare smile—all of these
were calculated to inflame the suscept-
ible masculine beart. :
All the unattached cowboys and cat-
tlemen in all the adjoining counties
cast approving eyes upon this glowing
beauty, and some had endeavored to
do a little covert sighing at her shrine.
The old people who had come to be
very fond of her, were now as careful
and watchful of ber as of a daughter,
and Ysabel herself was a model of
demure discretion.
When Absalom came home and
found this enchanting creature in the
house, his instinct was just to reach
out and take possession of it—to have
and please himself with it. Wasn't it
the same as everything else on the
ranch, his ?
For once the old people opposed him
stoutly and uoflinchingly, and prepar-
ed to send her to a convent school at
Trinidad. Upon the heels of a long
and somewhat stormy interview with
Ysabel, in which he found her as de-
termined in her views as the old peo-
ple, and entirely satisfied to go away to
school, he flung in upon his parents
with the anpouncement that he was
going to marry her.
At first blush this seemed as terrible
to them, with their strict Old World
ideas of caste, as that he should enter-
tain less honorable intentions toward
her. But their resistance was, as us-
ual when the boy wanted anything,
short-lived and their final capitulation
entire.
Of course everybody's notion of the
matter was that Finnegan’s had simply
gotten another adoring slave; and
squadrons and battalions of her mascu-
line admirers, with their weapous and
munitions of war all cleaned and
primed, were breathing fire and wait-
ing to defend her against the wrongs
and ipsults they felt sure would be
heaped upon her attractive little head,
or avenge them in large quanti-
ties of the very best blood her wronger
and insulter had about him.
Vain solicitude ! Yeabel needed no
defense.
As with all the women of her race
and class, marriage made a great
change in her. From being nobody,
with nothing to say, she became sud-
denly somebody, with a great deal, eun-
The dig
nity of her titles, her possessions and
position, was strong within her, and
she showed herself entirely capable of
managing not only Finnegan himself,
in a daughterly and deferential man-
ner, when he counseled her to a con-
ciliatory © policy toward the young
bully.
Capable of managing Finpegan!
She was only too capable of managing
the entire ranch, and could have run
the entire Panhandle, financially, pol-
itically and socially, had she ever got
any sort of cinch on it.
It was not for nothing that she was
the daughter of her father, with her
mother’s balance weight ot unpretend-
ing, dogged persistence. Finnegan's
didn’t know itself. The ranch was
gradually metamorphosed, and run on
« plan that came directly from behind
those black brows of Ysabel’s. And
its transformation partook humorously
of the dual strands intertwisted in her
nature. Through her suggestion a live,
hustling young business man was
brought from Kansas City to do the
clerical work, and the handsome sta-
tionery upon which he wrote with his
typewriter the able and diplomatic
letters evolved by himselt and Yesabel
in conclave bore a neat lithographed
head which read : “Rancho del Santa
Cruz, Graded Hereford cattle : Merino
sheep ; imported Norman Percherons.
Cattle and sheep grazed and herded on
shares.”
The cowboys used to assert that the
cows on remote ranges were myster-
iously aware of the stern regime, and
forbore straying off to the Salt Fork for
the purpose of bogging up as hereto-
fore : that they came meekly in, un-
persuaded, at branding time, and pre-
sented their calves to be monogramed ;
and that even the infrequent maverick
—that Arab of the plains who owns
no master—showed a chasteaed joy
and pride in having Ysabel’s rapidly
increasing brand—Y, T. F., over a
Roman cross—singed on his unfettered
ribs, and sported it thereafter as a de-
coration, not a badge of serfdom.
Absalom had his allowance—a liber-
al enough one—and was not permitted
to over-run it ; and the place emerged
from debt as time went on. Ysabel’s
besom a clean sweep of sweaters, loaf-
ers. shirks, abuses and all sorts of su-
perfluities, which had accummulated
like barnacles upon the easy goingol
Irishman and his softhearted wife, and
the Finnegans were on the road to
wealth.
She relapsed, almost immediately af-
ter her marriage, into her beloved
mother tongue ; and compelled her hus-
band if he wished to hold communication
with her, to speak and understand
Spanish. 1t was as comical as it was
amusing to see how she tamed him.
When he songht,in the early days of
his subjugation, to relieve his over-
strained heart by abusing his father
and mother, saying to them what he
would not dare to so much as look at
her, he met with a violent and unex-
pected check.
Yeabel was tenderly and gratefully
attached to the old people. She would
roll those great black eyes on him,
fairly nailing him, and with her arm
stretched straight out at him, would
ejaculate in her sonorous Spanish :
“What ungrateful one! Wilt thou
speak so to my honored father and my
beloved mother? Go hence with the
evil words | Take thy face away from
me till I have patience to look upon itl
Go I”
And Absalom would stand irresolute,
evading those compelling eyes, making
desperate efforts to get himself to the
point of revolt; but always doing
eventually as he was bidden. This
fellow, the holy terror of an entire sec-
tion, was thoroughly broke to all sorts
of gaits and any kind of harness by a
little, soft, plump crap of a girl that
wouldn’t weigh more than a hundred
pounds !
He that was bellicose is meek ; he
that was insolent is polite ; he, the
arch tyrant of Finnegan's, speaks ciy-
illy to his inferiors ; he that thought it
brave to blaspheme, and witty to be
profane and impious, goes to mass—ay,
to early mass—of a raw and nipping
February morning.
All these wonders were worked sim-
ply by the ascendancy of her strong,
intent spirit over his noisy, ungoverned
weakness.
1f she doesn’t convert the goods she
has on hand into a man, it will not be
from lack of skillful, intelligent and
persistent effort in its evolution, devel-
opment, manufacture, manipulation ;
and, further, if she doesn’t finally
achieve her idea of a Spanish gentle-
man, it will only be because the stuft
wasn’t there.— Alice MacGowan in
California Tales.
The Ark Beats All,
Speaking of ancient ships and ship-
building, Professor J. Harvey Biles said
that, though Great Britain and America
had made such great strides in ship-
building, none of their wooded ships ap-
proached the dimensions of the Ark
which was 450 feet long, seventy-five
feet broad, and forty-five feet deep. He
calculated that this was the size of the
vessel from the Bible measurement,
taking the cubit to be eighteen inches
This, he thought, was the correct meas-
urement. The largest wooden ship
afloat now was the Shenandoah, and her
dimensions were 299 feet by forty-nine
feet broad and twenty-nine feet deep.
Even the Campania was much smaller
than the Ark, except in length, and the
dimensions of the Ark had only been
exceeded in the case of the Great Kast-
ern. In 1856 a prize was offered for the
best model of a ship made by any onein
the United Kingdom, and the models
were on view at the Royal Institution.
The prize was awarded to a model six
times the beam to the length, and ten
times the depth to the length, these be-
ing the same proportions as those of the
Ark.--Scientific American.
Vegetarian— Where are the
goggles ?
His Wife—Here they are.
do you want of them,
“I want to wear them. Now tie
this scarf about my neck clear up to
the ears. Pull my hat down over my
eyes. That's right. Now help me
on with this old overcoat [ dug out of
the attic. I'm going to the butcher's
to buy a porterhouse steak.”’— Chicago
Daily Tribune.
blue
What
-—Two old slaves, John Thompson
aged 85 years, and Kitty Owens 70
years old, were married at Louisville
the other day. They were lovers pre-
vious to the war, but from that time
until a short time ago they bad not |
seen each other. :
Fruit Culture in Pennsylvania,
At one time Pennsylvania was a
leading fruit growing state, and its ap-
ples, pears, plums and peaches held a
high position = both for coloring and
flavor. The prominence of this industry
was due to the German settlers in colo-
nial times, who brought with them from
their fatherland the choicest products of
their orchards. The soil and climate
gave the rich colorings and the delicious
flavor matched only by the same fruits
in northern New York, Massachuetts
and Canada. Then came disease and
insects which preyed upon both tree
and fruit. Apathy and ignorance al-
lowed both to gain such formidable
headway that, in time, Pennsylvania
fell far behind other localities as a fruit-
producing state. Plums, once a promi-
nent feature in every orchard, and a
sure source of revenue, were ravaged to
such an extent by the block knot and
curculio’that eventually they were rarely
seen. Peaches, through the attacks of
the yellows, became unprofitable to
grow in this state, and Delaware and
New Jersey profited thereby. Even
apples, cherries and quinces had their
enemies. :
But, with a better understanding of
the habits of the insects and fungoids,
which attacked the fruits and trees, and
by the energies ofthe Fruit Growers’
association of the State Horticultural
association and similar bodies, the in-
dustry is slowly improving, and there
is reason to hope that before many years
Pennsylvania will once more hold its
own in fruit culture in all its branches
with any state this side of the Rocky
mountains.
Nor is the poor crop of apples and to
some extent of pears last year a dis-
couragement. This was the result of
special climate influences, unusual and
unpreventable. Furious storms tore a
large percentage of the apples and pears
from the trees and a prolonged drought
prematurely ripened the remainder.
This, and not indifference or want of
attention to fruit culture, prevented a
home production of these two fruits.
The revived interest in fruit culture
in Pennsylvania is nowhere better shown
than in the report of Mr. Cyrus T. Fox,
chairman of the general fruit committee
of the State Horticultural association,
recently published. A voluminous
document, it deals minutely with every
branch of the industry, and a careful
review shows that farmers and others
are largely adding to their orchards and
giving to them the same intelligent care
that is devoted tothe raising of other
crops or to other agricultural pursuits.
Spraying with Paris green ; the applica-
tion of whale oil soap; the use ofair-
slacked lime, and similar remedies or
preventives are slowly, but surely,
eradicating diseases and killing off nox-
ious insects. Plum trees once more
are being given a prominent place in
the orchard, and peaches last year
yielded a large and profitable crop. In
reading Mr. Fox’s report if is pleasant
also to note that of the three most suc-
cessful pears of last year, two, the
Seckel and the Keiffe, are Philadelphia
productions.
Besides apples, pears and plums, Mr.
Fox gives close attention in his report
to small fruits and vegetable, and from
his showing growers of the former are
not only numerous, but they have had
rich returns for their investment, des-
pite the unfavorable climatic conditions
which the large fruit growers labored
under. With no glut in the market at
any time, all that was raised founda
ready sale at good prices more than
counter balancing losses by drought and
storms.
In reporting on the vegetable crop,
Mr. Fox deplores the fact that many
farmers’ gardens contain only a few
kinds of vegetables. One-half of the
gardens, he says, is usually devoted to
early potatoes, and the remainder to
lettuce, onions and cabbage, the onion
bed giving place later to celery, peas,
beans and tomatoes are only produced
in limited quantities, Why this should
besois alittle curious. The explana-
tion of “what is good enough for father
is good enough for me,” might have
been an explanation a few years ago,
but as the average agriculturist of to-day
is as intelligent and inclined to be as
progressive as his brethren in other
branches of trade or commerce, that is
hardly satisfying. As most farmers are
perfectly well aware that there are
numerous other vegetable as easily
grown and quite as palatable and profit-
able as potatoes, cabbages and onions,
perhaps Mr. Fox, by the time another
year rolls around, may be informed of
some r8ason why they are not added to
the meagre list of products of the far-
mers’ garden of to-day.— Philadelphia
Ledger,
An Editor Pro Tem,
A drummer for a certain paper mill
met a sentimental young woman on a
Grand Trunk train going up to Port
Huron, and it was not long before his
modest diffidence so impressed her that
she let him sit beside her and divide the
charming landscape with her through
the same window. Aftera delightful
talk of half an hour or s¢ he began to
refer to himself and his lator
“What business are you in?” she
inquired naively. \
-#The newspaper busines,” he said.
“Oh,” she twittered, ‘how lovely it
must be to be an editor. | So much in-
tellect. Such comprehemive breadth
of knowledge. So much of all that
developes a man’s brain and makes him
equally a scientist, teacher, poet, artist,
politician and statesman. I am sure’
—aund, oh | how softly sveet her eyes
turned upon him—*I am, sure I could
love an editor.” od
Then the modest, diffiddnt drummer
kicked his sample case under his seat
and didn’t tell her any bater.— Detroit
Free Press. i i
i
—— Although the worldis getting so
fast that comparatively fey fast on ap-
pointed days of religiots observance,
still there are some who Ho, and last
Wednesday, as the beginting of Lent,
was kept that way by thaisands. The
word Lent comes from lemxten-tide, the
Saxon term for gpring ; Ash Wednesday
is so called from the cwtom in the
Catholic church of the priest making
the sign of the cross on thé foreheads of
the faithful in ashes male from the
palms blessed on Palm Suiday and say-
ing, “Memento homo, qua cinis es et
in pulverem reverteris.”
{just in front.
i
For and About Women.
Mrs. Annie S. Austin, the new May-
or of Pleasanton, Kansas, is a buxom
woman weighing 200 pounds.
I must tell you of a dainty spring hat
that a little friend of mine has just fin-
ished. It bas a true Parisian touch, I
am sure you will say when you see its
copy. So easy it is to make that you
can reproduce it yourself—a tiny toque:
of crushed and crumpied torquoise vel--
vet, with one big chou, of the velvet.
At each side of this a
small bunch of violet lies. At the
back. rising from a smaller chou, isan
aigrette formed from the finest and
daintiest of cream lace. That is all
there is to it. Can you not reproduce
it?
Each night the candidate for a skin
suggestive of peaches and cream must
wash her face and throat with hot water
rubbing it gently with the flannel rag,
on which plenty of pure soap has been
rubbed. If the face is already chapped
it is better not to use soap, but to em-
ploy a thin rag full of oatmeal ss a
cleansing agent. Then the face must be:
rinsed in hot water, in which a few
drops. of benzoin may be dropped, dried
gently with a soft towel and treated
to a massage with cold cream. It is not
enough to smear some unguent over the
face and expect to wake up transfigured.
The grease must be thoroughly but
gently worked into the skin.
In the morning more hot water is nec-
essary to wash off the cold cream. Af-
ter the face and hands have been thor-
oughly cleansed of this, they should be
washed in cold water, as indeed, the
whole body should be. They must be
thoroughly but not roughly dried, and
itis well if one is going immediately
into the open air to dust the face and
hands lightly with dry oatmeal, which
must be wiped off at once. This will
insure perfect dryness of the skin, and
that is the main feature of the war
against chapped cheeks and lips.
There is no surer, way to ruin one’s
complexion than to stay indoors in the
hope of protecting it. The skin needs
air and sunshine. Constant indoor life
is ruinous to it. To accustom oneself to
the outdoor air in all sorts of weather is
the surest way of escaping all the com-
plexion ills that bad weather brings to
over-sensitive skins.
A pretty decoration seen on a ball
gown of yellow crepe the other day was
a flight of black velvet butterflies.
They were arranged down the side of
the skirt, and two large ones poised on
the shoulders. One was fixed in the
blonde hair of the wearer on a wire with
good effect. The bodies and eyes are of
jet.
A charming costume just completed
is of a rather dark fawn, in a fine cloth.
The skirt is perfectly plain, does not
flare in the front and falls in soft organ
plaits at the back. The coat is a long
basque fitting without a wrinkle, and
with the regulation full back and full
sleeves. Not a speck of trimming any-
where, not a line or fold out of place—
severely plain, it was the ideal Lenten
gown.
When the back of the neck aches and
the lines of the mouth droop from weari-
ness apply water as hot as it can be
borne to the face and throat for five min-
utes. Then rub the neck with toilet
vinegar for a minute or two and he
down in a darkened room for a quarter
of an hour. At the end of that time
one will be ready for anything.
An effective, though plain, gown is
one of English mixed cloth. The skirt
is untrimmed, with the two front seams
heavily stitched and the ends of these
seams are brought up and buttoned on
the edge of the waist, which is made
perfectly plain, fastening under the
arm. The sleeves are full leg-o’-mutton
plain at the hand. The English dog-
skin four-button gloves and a small
round hat, plainly trimmed, should be
worn with this gown,
Linseed oil is a sure remedy for both
hard and soft corns. If they are indur-
ated and very painful the relief it gives
in a short time is most grateful. Bind
on a piece of soft rag saturated with the
linseed oil, and continue to dampen it
with oil every night and morning until
the corn can be removed easily and
without pain.
Francis de Ia Ramee, or “Ouida’’ as
she is known in the literary world, is
about 50 years of age. Years ago it was
said that she overdressed shockingly,
and her costumes have not improved
with age. She delights in the most pro-
nounced colors irrespective of their
effect in comparison with her complex-
ion. .
To wear a hat properly this winter it
must be set well back on the head,” says
a fashionable milliner. ‘Ladies on this
side of the water have not yet adopted
this style, but, like the hustle, it must
inevitably come.” The very large hat
will not be worn, neither will the ex-
tremely small bonnet. The shapes are
of medium size, and except those that
are twisted in every direction will be
turned up squarely, either in front or
back’ but the bat off the face is most
fashionable. Turbans will be much
worn. By turban one does not mean
the stiff little affair of former years that
fitted the head like a gentleman’s smok-
ing cap. These are artistic little gems,
made of soft French felt crushed into a
cute little cap shape and trimmed high
in front, and the woman they wouldn’t
be becomiug to would have to be hope-
lessly ugly.
The new materials for spring wear
are in the shops, and the fall roses are
hardly done blooming. Grenadine is to
be worn again, and the new desighs are
exquisitely lovely. Some of, them imi-
tate moire, and many have the prevail-
ing shot effect. French challie is also
to be much in favor. Some of it is wov-
en with bayadere silk stripes to simulate
rows of ribbon. Swiss muslin and
quantities of ribbon will be worn. Men
think because a dress can be washed it
is cheap, so they arefond of telling
women that they look well in white.
The fact of the matter is, white dresses
in the city are a gold mine to the wash-
er woman, and they cost in the long
run more than silk.
ai