Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, November 16, 1894, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Bora ips
Bellefonte, Pa., Nov. 16, 1894.
mm——
THE INFINITE.
I.
Far off, and very far!
Beyond the crystal sea;
Beyond the worlds that are
Unknown, or know to be;
Beyond the pearly star;
The clustering nebulae ;
Beyond dark gulpuswe see
Where rolls no glittering car—
At last, at last, we come to thee,
The finite to Infinity!
iL.
Ere yet, and evermore !
Betore the day’s delight;
Before the dawn, before
Apollo in his might
Sped forth by sea and, shore ;
And after many a night, .
When all the hours take flight,
Forth issuing from death’s door—
Behold, behold, in death's despite
Eternal looms the Infinite!
—The Academy.
E————————— EE
HIS LESSON IN LOVE.
A SKETCH BY FRED. W. ELDRIDEE.
Before he saw the white parasol and
the pink drees shining light amidst the
dusky foliage of Pokono Mountain,
Jack Ensign had hugged to his breast
a profound contempt of what the poets
and philosophers of all ages have call-
ed “the divine passion.” He either
understood por attempted to cempre:
hend the-spirit whose existence in the
hearts of men and women has kept the
world moving through countless ages
of time. He did not believe men died
of it or for it,nor that woman sacrificed
10 the little god one jot or tittle of her
comfort or convenience. Steries of
thrones that crumbled and nations that
perished with love as the lever of de-
struction went in one ear and out the
other. They were fables. Antony's
love of Cleopatra, he was fond of de-
clariog, was indicative of the presence,
not of a reckless devotion that scorned
honor and place. but of a lamentable
lack of common horse sense.
“Why,” he would exclaim with su-
perior scorn, ‘‘do you suppose if An
tony had had brains enough to come
in when it rained he would have thrown
up a possible naval victory, surrendered
hard-won honors and a good income all
for love ?7—bah! Why the income
could not have been less than $10,000
a year. Love ! Non-sense 1”
In like vein he poo-pooed the story
of Romeo and Juliet, and took particn-
lar delight in railing at Haggard’s
idea, conveyed in She,” of a woman’s
existence through indefinite time and
her alteration of the course of pature
that she might some day ‘hold a man
in her arms.”
All this entertained the portico co-
terie nightly, and was lightly regarded
as eccentric egotism to be flung off
some day as a cloak. The constitu-
tional flirts sought the early fall of this
fancy and fell instead themselves, for
Jack really detested the fleeting
amours of summer resort and went on
uninterrupted in bis vicious trampling
down of sentiment.
Bat it's a long lane that has no turn-
ing. Jack’s turned and described some
new and startling curves in so deing.
Lurline came, saw and all the rest so
easily, that the “coterie” were dazed.
When he left in September dutifully
following in her wake, they said adieu
to a changed man. He had lost flesh
from worrying as to whether his adored
held him as the only existing male
being, and his face had a drawn and
anxious expression. But over all there
was a happiness that passing clouds ot
doubt and jealousy could not totally
obscure. It was the trade-mark of love
and we forgave him his fall. Three
-montbs later the “coterie’ heard -of his
‘marriage.
That uniquely delightful post-court-
ship, the “honeymoon,” that time of
hugs and kisses, of low intoned avow-
als and small quarrels easily glossed
over, was to Ensign a material sort of
Paradise. Then they settled down in
a house with porticos and quaint ga-
bles and ensigns, days still passed in a
daze of happiness. He was a $4000 a
year lawyer. This was the limit, not
of his energies, but of the small city
in which he lived. Do the best he could
he never earned more, nor could he
hope an advance would come except as
the tewn grew naturally. This fact,
later an, became a spectre that would:
not down. Meantime he was pointed
out as a contented man.
[t.was in about the fourth month
‘that the iridescent gleam of happiness
that made Jack's face radiant faded
and disappeared. It bad come to be
such a mirror of his love that those
who looked felt a shogk at the change.
But Jack said nothing, and while the
ripples of gossip welled into moun-
tainous waves that beat heavily about
him he made no sign. If bis marriage
had been a tailure these people should
never know. As long as concealment
was made possible by his .own conduct
the veil should never be lifted from his
new SOrrow.
But he had to tell the bask cashier,
and be felt with a hot flush of despair
that in time the various tradesmen
with whom his wife dealt would come
to know why he smiled eo seldom and
why winter had supplanted spring.
Sometimes, when the burden seemed a
veritable mental #Old Man of the Sea,”
he felt an impulse to cry aloud to all
men his secret ; to shot from the roof
tops his misery that curiosity might be
turned to pity. The nourishing of his
secret was not so easy as he reckoned,
and the lack of a confidant and sym-
pathizer accentuated his suffering.
Then came the day he had to ask
extension of credit—mercy from the
shopkeepers. His wife was piling up
bills so fast that he could no longer
make pretense of cash payments, and
cherished dignity was offered on the
altar of his devotion. If he had loved
his wife less or with more common
sense he would have hinted, protested
or appealed. But he did not dare. He
knew she would storm and he dreaded
the flashes of her midnight eyes, More-
over, he adored her with such fervor
that any rebuke, however slight, would |
be impossible of endurance. He would
hold her love at any cost, £0 he deter-
mined that appeal to ber should, if
ever made, be a last resort.
His flop from a ‘woman hater” to
a servile slave of a very poor represen-
tative of the sex was complete. Psy-
chologists in those days would have
found him an interesting study. He
attempted no justification of his senti-
ment, not even to himself. Lurline
was his life, his soul. For Lurlive,
worthless, wicked Lurline, he would
make any sacrifice.
Day by day he got deeperand deeper
in the financial web and realized some-
thing had to be done. - The desperate,
practical necessities of the hour, coup-
led with a love worthy of comparison
with any the world had ever known,
may explain the marvelous sacrifice
he did finally resolve on to save his
love and his place in the community.
In determining to die Jack plead his
case to his conscience as he had never
plead for any client.
He argued that he was not able to
provide Lurline with the worldly riches
that seemed her only aspiration ; she
would sooner or later discover this in-
capacity and rebuke him, possibly de-
nounce him. This was sure to come,
and this would be infinitely worse than
material death. There was no loophole
of escape, Wrongly he had failed to
tell her his limftations before marriage,
now he dared not. He knew her self-
ish nature would never permit her to
accept the situation. She would rebel,
and between losing her love and death,
oblivion wasto him far less to be fought
off. So he resolved to die—to go out of
a world ke knew to the darknees of the
unknown, that he might show his love
and defend himself.
“I want to insure my life fora round
$100,000, and I want the policies made,
out in my wife’s name.” he told the
president of the insurance company,.
and as he spoke he felt he was signing
his death warrant.
“Youn must love your wife,” smiled
the silver-locked executive.
“This is not love as much as justice.
[ amin the best of health—but who
knows.”
Fate helped him in every way—when
the medical examination was ended old
Dr. Hume said he was a splendid risk
despite the amount--never had he’ seen
a wan of thirty freerer of the ills to
which flesh is heir.
Being a director in the insurance
company Jack arranged his payments
so that be should not betray his real
poverty and arouse suspicion of the
motive back of his action. In any
eveat, he calculated he would net have
to pay ‘the premiums for long,s0 he
put on a bold front. Having decided
on the greatest sacrifice he could make
there must be no mistake. Larline
was told of the insurance policies and
instructed as to how to proceed should
he die suddenly—of course he was not
going to, but—— It made ber quite
merry, the delightful arrangement, and
Jack, hopeless in his passion, felt no
pain ateuch rejoicing. If Lutline had
sung hallelujahs he would have groyv-
elingly pleaded for a kiss.
Having arranged the preliminaries,
he went to work on the serious busi-
ness of taking his life. He was to
commit euicide, but it must be done so
that none should suspect. Poisons.
daggers, pistols, drowning or any other
violent torm of self-destruction was ont
of the question. It must be done scien-
tifically or his sacrifice would ‘be use-
lees.
The doetor’s statement regarding his
health rather discouraged him. It
would take some time to kill himself
as he planned, il seemed, and exposure
of his bankrupt state must not come
before death.
To the succeeding few days he read
diligently the gruesome records of the
wor d's cuicides:; patiently sought in
books some form such as he felt would
not appear to be suicide at all and
tried a score of experiments that
brought pain but not death.
“James Seovelli, an Italian, com-
mitted suicide yesterday at his home
in Sumac alley ina peculiarly horrible
manner. Procuring a large hat pin of
the kind usually employed to keep
women’s hats in place he stabbed him.
self through the right temple. Scovelli
sought his life while at the breakfast
table or the cause of his death might
never have been suepected, as the inci-
gion of the pia left & hardly percepti-
ble hole, and there was not enough
blood to be noticeable.”
This was the item in a morning paper
which seemed to firet point the way di-
rectly to Jack, and in the privacy of
his room that night he tried to follow
in the path of Scovelli,
Taking a large hat pia of the kin
described in the article he pressed it
into the temple just beneath the skin,
determined to still the lite that seemed
go strong within him. It was a dire
failure. Either through the uonsteadi-
ness of hishand or for some other rea-
gon the thing he wished moet to avoid
occurred--the blood flowed and flowed
freely-so he abandoned the effort.
For one moment as he stood before
the mirror and the blood trickled down
his face and dyed his shirt, Jack’s rea
son came within an ace of assuming
Sway.
All the repulsiveness of his course,
his cowardice, his crime against so-
ciety and God, and his own loss al-
most drove him to face whatever lot
the earthly conditions might be treas-
uring up for him, but a photograph of
Lurline distracted him and the sound
of her voice s'nging eomewhere on the
floor below completed the collapse.
Never, never could he endure her
scorn, Besides that he was already
thousands of dollars 1a debt. And so
he went on.
From seeking between book covers
he took to haunting territory wherein
he hoped death might lurk. The slums,
the nurseries of disease, had him for a
daily and nightly visitor. Despairing
of quick death he sought to woo. it
slowly. Every man who looked as
though he might have some affliction
Jack managed to enzagez in conversa
ticn; be found any excuse to enter
homes where he knew some stricken
wretch lay in the grasp of a contagious |
malady, and he even wandered aim-
les:ly through reeking alleys and lanes,
hoping their polluted atmospheres
would claim him victim.
After a week of this he turned his at-
tention to more promising fields. In
a remote part of the city limits stood
the municipal hospital, where were
isolated unfortunates, who had con- |
tracted diseases that made them vir-
tual outcasts of society. Every avail-
able patient was hung over and chatted
with until it seemed as though the
reckless young lawyer could not possi-
bly escape contagion. But he did, and
with despair Jack saw the roses in his
cheeks bloom with defiantly increased
color. His lower strata explorations
seemed to have really improved his
physical condition, and he weighed
more.
All sorts of baits were held out to
the spirit of the White Horse, bids
that womnld have ended in success a
dozen times but for Fate, who takes a
savage delight in baffling one's intens-
est longings. Eating fruit that was
reported to contain germs, hanging
around buildings in the process of de-
wolitien, hoping for the oblivion fur-
nished by a falling brick,drivinz horses
known to be equine devils and dashing
into burning houses for the alleged
purpose ot heroic rescue, all failed
alike to cause him even slight annoy-
ance.
The horses became vertiable Dobbias
under his touch and all the evil prom-
ises of the other agencies of destruc-
tion disappointed him in the same fash-
ion. An ordinary citizen avoiding
them would have probably died a hor-
rible death, The struggle to get killed
| aud yet never arouse suspicion was the
hardest part of it. While eating fruit
in the hope of absorbing deadly bae-
cilli he must needs talk politics with
the grocer, and there were constant in-
terruptions of good-wishing friends
even while he pursued the elusive paes-
port to that ‘‘bourne from which no
traveler returns.” Altogether it was
pretty discouraging.
Meauwhile Lurline’s heedlessness
bound him tighter to the wheel and
the hour of ruin came nearer and near-
er. Already he had run $4000 ahead
of his income, never stopping once to
consider, and he calculated that by
another twelve months he would be
involved to the extent of $10,000. It
might as well be $10,000,000, so far as
any hope of liquidation was concerned.
All this, however, only served to con-
sole him in his undertaking and give
him strength.
Try as he would, death would bave
none of him. He dared not embrace
a dozen dooms that lay invitingly with-
in reach for fear of detection of any
masked effort at suicide, and so appeal
ed at last to starvation to come to the
rescue.
While Lurline chatted over the
breakfast Jack toyed with the toast,
sipped the coffee and yet practically
ate nothing. When dinner came-Jack
pored persistently over some legal
transcripts; supper found him cbat-
ting voluby that he might divert his
wite’s attention from his negligence in
eating. So it went for three days, and
still Jack found his abasement of the
flesh availed nothing. Beyond a slight
weakness and severe headache his tast-
ing had had no perceptibly evil effects.
Sull hoping, Jack took to smoking,
not immoderately merely, but contin:
ually, and supplemented this unwhole-
some indulgence with beating of sleep.
He accounted to Lurline for sundry
nocturnal wanderings on the plea of
insomnia, and she accepted it all with
the carelessness of a selfish nature that
iustinctively dodged trouble. At last,
one day, when the sun seemed bright
er than usual and there was an exnil-
aration in the crisp autumn wind that
gave added zest to lite outraged nature
gave way. ‘Turning a corner near his
nome Jack was stricken with a sudden
blindness that passed away, leaving
him as one on whom death had laid
its mark. And so it had. By a
mighty exercise of will he reached his
home, and staggering to a couch fell
in a swoon.
Night came and neither Lurline nor
the servants tound him, and morning
again before they noticed the silent
form, and Jack, rocked with fever,
had the goal in sight. There was no
hope, absolutely not a chance, the doc-
tor aid and Jack dying ani knowing
he was dying, rejoiced. Lurline was
| kind, patient, watchful and displayed
to bim new and adcrable characteristics
that made him g'alhehad not falter
ed. Bat he could not go out of the
only world be knew without at least
securing credit. It would make Lur-
line miserable, but she would recover
and embalm him forever in her memo-
ry. Every cent she spent would re-
mind her of his sacrifice. No man
could hereafter take his place in her
affections, dust though ke be. So on
the last day, be felt it the last, he call-
ed ber to him,
“Lurline,” be said quietly, “I have
sold my soul to the devil for yon.”
She smiled ; he was back in the old
delirium.
“That's right, sweet,” he went on,
“smile; emile, love, for I did it that
you wight, smile. You have earned
it; you taught to me the lesson of love
—suppoese I had died without knowing
that. I have had my heaven—all [|
can hope for——and you led the way. |
Should I not repay you?’ And then |
he told her of “it’—told in all its hor |
rible details the hideous story of his un- |
natural eacrifice—wrestled = with the |
impatient Death that tugged at his |
heart strings, that he might carry into |
the grave the reward eo hardly earned. |
When he ended and lay hovering be-
tween lite and death, all his wonder-
ful love in his eyes, she walked
to a table nearby and lifted an open |
telegram that lay there. With un-
steady step she came back and laid it
in his nerveless hand. Half crazed by
the revelation she did not realize that
her act could serve no purpcss other
than to torture him in the few remain-
|
|
ry oe STR a Bc
ing moments of his life. Ie read the
lines and the reacin killed h'm. Not
immediately ; there were two minutes |
of agonized consciousness, minutes in |
which he expiated ten thousand times |
over the sing which love had driven |
him to commit. Here was the mes-
|sage:
ITASKAN INSURANCE COMPANY.
Dear Ensign: Yesterday’s Minve
sota forest fires have hopelessly wreck:
ed the company. We are $250,000 in
the hole already, with three burned
towns yet to report. We will give it
up sure. Receiver to-morrow. It not |
actually dying, come to the directors’ |
meeting at noon to-day. I
SECRETARY SAMUELS.
The Japanese Home.
From Harper's Bazar.
If & man of taste should enter a Japa-
nese parlor, he would not fail to be sur-
prised at the display of marvellous and
exquisite taste. Yet I have often heard
the saying of foreigners that “the Japa-
nese house has no furniture, and is ab-
solutely cheerless and empty.” This is
quite wrong. I must say that they have
no taste of the Japanese art ; for the men
of taste are agreed in saying that the
art of decoration im Japan is excellent.
If any one has some taste in this art, he
will perceive that the hanging picture
en the foko wall, elaborate arrangement
of flowers, pictures on the framed parti-
tions and all decoration,however trifling,
reveal infinite taste. The tastes of the
Western people differ so much frown ours
that the decoration in their chambers
seems almost childish to the Japanese
eyes. The gorgeous display of colors in
their rooms would please our children
to look at. Drawing-rooms piled up
from corner to corner with toys, shells,
stones, dishes, spoons,and different novel
things always remind us of our curio
shops. A bunch of flowers is stuck in
a vase without form and without order !
The pictures in the rooms hang per-
petually, though the face of nature and
feeling of man change from time to
time! All these sights which we are
accustomed to see in the European house
exrite in us nething but wonder. Yet
this is the taste of the Western people ;
we have no right to criticise it.
In Japan the family never gathers
around one ‘table asthe European or
other Asiatic peoples do, but each per-
son has his or her own separate small
table, a foot square and a foot high, and
always highly decorated. When they
take their meals they kneel upon the
mat, each taking his table before him.
The little lacquered table generally con-
tains a small porcelain bowl, heaped up
with deliciously cooked rice, and several
lacquered wooden bowls containing soup
or meat, and numbers of little porcelain
plates with fish, radishes, and the like.
The way of cooking, of course, is entire-
ly ditferent from the European. Two
pretty chop-sticks, made of lacquered
bamboo or wood, silver or ivory, are
used, instead of knife, fork, and spoon,
and all people use them with great skill.
All foods are prepared in the kitchen, so
as to avoid any trouble to use knife and
fork. Soup is to be drunk from the
bowl by carrying it to the mouth by
hand, in the same way as people drink
tea or coffee. Table etiqutte has elaborate
rules, which bigh-bred ladies and gentle-
men must strictly follow. A maid-
servant always waits, kneeling, at a short
distance, before a clean pan of boiled
rice, with lacquered tray, on which she
receives and delivers the bowls for re-
plenishing them. Fragrant green tea is
always used at the end of the meal, but
sugar and cream never.
The Vanderbilts Agree.
To Separate—The Wife to Get a Divorce and
$3,000,000 in Cash.
It is announced that Mrs. William
K. Vanderbilt, of New York,has agreed
to accept $3,000,000 in cash from her
husband, and to hereafter live apart from
him. The terms of settlement provide
that she shall sue for a divorce from ber
husband, and that he shall make no de-
fense to the allegations upon which her
action is to be based. The multi-million-
aire, it is alleged, will be sued for breach
of martail obligations and has to enable
his* wife to establish this charge, pro-
vided ber with evidences of his infidelity
in the way of sworn statements confess-
ing his guilt. In addition to $3,000,000.
Mrs. Vanderbilt is to relinquish all
claims upon her husband’s estate and to
waive all claims to alimony. Mrs. Van-
derbilt is already the ewner of mansions
in New York and Newport valued at
upward of $3,000,000, which were pre-
sented to her by Mr. Vanderbilt. These
sums, in addition to what he has done
for his wife’s impecunious relatives, be-
speak Mr. Vanderbilt to be a man whose
generosity isin proportion to his vast
wealth.
Raise More Broom Corn.
We waat to call the attention of our
farmers to the importance of raising
broom corn. Very little of it is now
raised in our vicinity and the crop is
short in the West, where it now comes
from. lt is worth from 7 to9 cents a
pound, or §160 to $180 a ton. The
price will go to $200 before the next
crop. There was a time when a great
deal was raised in lower Bucks county
and in Philadelphia county. Now very
little is raised,end yet it is as easy a crop
to raise as any. Let our farmers discuss
this subject in the; institutes, and let our
practical farmers give a part of their
go wl SRA
ground to it next year. The import-
| ance of raising paying crops ought to be
thoroughly discussed.
TP SA
——Girls who have formed the un-
lovely babit of chewing gum are in-
formed on the authority of a famous
scientist that it produces face wrink-
les ranning from the nose towards the
corners of the mouth. The girl who
, wishes to avoid such wrinkles will stop |
chewing gum. Probably she would not |
stop for anything else, but when the
choice is between an unwrinkled face
and a wrinkled one the gum will have
to go.
—— President Seth Low, of Columbia !
college, New York, and his brother. A.
C. Low, have erected a hospital at Wen- |
: bang, China, in memory of their father, |
and presented it to & mission of the!
Protestant Episcopal church in that
city.
Genius and Degeneration.
It is a strange fact, however, and one
not noticed by Lombroso or any other
writer, as far as I know, that mechan-
ical geniuses, or those' who, for the
most part, deal with material fact, do
not, as a rule, chow any signs of de-
generation. I have only to instance
Darwin, Galileo, Edison, Watts, Rum-
sey,Howe and Morse to prove the trath
of this assertion. It is only the genius
of mestheticism, the genius of emotions
that is generally accompanied by un-
mistakable signs of degeneration. Swin-
burne’s poems show clearly the mental
bias of their author, who is described
as being peculiar and eccentric. Many
of the nen of genius who have assisted
,in making the history of the world
have been the victims of epilepsy.
Julius Cesar, military leader, states-
man, politician and author, was an
epileptic. Twice, on the field of bat-
tle, he was stricken down by this dis-
order. On one occasion, while seated
at the tribune, he was unable to rise
when the senators, consuls and prae-
tors paid him a visit of ceremony and
honor. They were offended at his
seeming lack of respect, and retired
showing signs of anger. Cesar re
turned home, stripped oft his clothes
and offered his throat to be cut by any
one. He then explained his conduct
to the senate, saying that he was the
victim of a malady which, at times,
rendered him incapable of standing.
Many men of genius have suffered
from spasmodic and choreic move:
ments, notably Lenau, Montesquieu,
Boffon, Dr. Johnson, Santeuil, Cre-
billon, Lombardini, Thomas Cawp-
bell, Carducci, Napoleon and Socrates.
Suicide, essentially a symptom of men-
tal disorder, has hurried many a man
of genius out into the unknown. The
list beging with such eminent men as
Zeno, Cleanthes, Dionysius, Lucan and
Stilpo, and contains the names of such
immortals as Chatterton, Blount, Hay,
don, Clive and David. Alcoholism
and morphinism,or an uncontrollable
desire for alcobol or opium in some
form or other, are now recognized as
evidences of degeneration. Men of
genius, both 1a the old world and in
the new, have shown this form of de-
generation. Among che men and
women of genius of the old world who
abused the use of alcohol and opium
were Coleridge, James Thomas, Carew,
Sheridan, Steele, Addison, Hoffman,
Charles Lamb; Madam de Stael,
Burns, Savage, Alfred de Musset,
Kleist, Caracci, Jan Steen, Morland
Turner (the painter), Gerard de Ner-
val, Hartley Coleridge, Dussek, Han-
del, Gluck, Praga, Rovani and the po-
et Somerville. This list is by no
means complete, as the well-informed
reader may see at a glance, yet it
serves to show, however, how very of:
ten this torm of degeneration makes
its appearance in men of genius. In
men of genius the moral sense is some-
times obtunded, if not altogether ab-
gent. Sallust, Seneca and Bacon were
suspected felons. Rousseau, Byron,
Foscolo and Caresa were grossly im-
moral while Casanova, the gifted
mathematician, was a common swind-
ler. Murat, Rousseau, Wagner, Clem-
ent, Diderot and Praga were sextual
perverts. Genius, like insanity, lives
in a world of its own, hence we find
few, it any, evidences of human affec-
tion in men of genius.
Dr. Johnson, who was a sufferer
from folie du doute, had to touch every
post he passed. 1f he missed one he
had to retrace his steps and touch it.
Again if he started ont of a door on the
wrong foot, he would return and make
another attempt, starting out on the
foot which he considered the correct
one to use. Napoleon counted and
added up the rows of windows in every
street through which he passed. A
celebrated statesman, who is a per-
gonal friend of the writer, can never
bear to place his feet on a crack in the
pavement or floor. When walking he
will carefully step over and beyond all
cracks and crevices. This idiosyn-
crasy annoys him greatly, but the im-
pulse is imperative, and be cannot re-
gist it. Those who have been ioti-
mately associated with men of genius
have notice that they are very fre
quently amnesic or “absent-minded.”
Newton once tried to stuff his niece's
finger into the bowl of his pipe, and
Rovelle would lecture on some subject
for hours at a time, and then conclude
by saying, “But this is one of my ar-
cana which I tell to no one.” One of
his students would then whisper what
he had just said into his ear, and Ro-
velle would believe that his pupil “had
discovered the arcannm by his own sa-
gacity, and would beg him not to di-
vulge what he "himself bad just told
two hundred persons.”
We must not confound genius and
talent—the two are widely different.
Genius is essentially original and spon-
taneous, while talent is to some extent
acquired. Genius is an abnormality,
but one for which the world should be
devoutly grateful. Psychos, in the
case of genius, in not uniformly de
veloped, one part, being more favored
than the others, absorbs and uses more
than its share of that element, whatso-
ever it be, which goes to make up in-
tellectuality, hence less favored or less
acquisitive parts show degeneration.
Why genius should exist is one of the
unexplained phenomena of nature, but
that it is the result of natural causes 1
have not the slightest doubt.——Med.
Ree.
SE
— There 1s a big fat girl clerk in a
confectionary store on Ridge avenue.
«What do you weigh ?” a fresh cus-
tomer asked her.
«.Candy,” shesweetly veplied. —Phila-
delphia Record.
——Little Dick—1Is this the flitered
water ?
Little Dot—I don’t know. Taste it.
Little Dick-—Tt tastes like old straw.
Little Dot—Yes, that’s filtered.
—— The wicked flee whea no man
pursaeth, 80 as to get into training for
the time when fl'gat is necessary.
BS ee I rere tt
For and About Women.
Lady Henry Somerset knows very
little about the luxury of rest. She is
an indefatigable worker. In every
good cause she isinterested, and her in-
terest means practical help. During
the last year she held 115 meetings and
twenty-seven conferences. She traveled
over eight thousand miles and spoke in
twenty counties to about two hundred
thousand people.
The prevailing color for the autumn
is red. It not only crops up in every
bonnet, but in decoration as well, and
it rightly used is an excellent thing. In
quantity it is apt to become aggressive,
Too much is worse than none, but in
bits it is delightful and conveys a com-
forting sense of warmth, while just now,
when we are getting occasional fortastes
of frost, it seems peculiarly good. Cer-
tainly the dealers bave been wise enough
to recognize the fact, and their window
displays reveal bright glimpses of the
color which bespeaks an ability to defy
Jack Frost. As has frequently been
mentioned in these notes, the window
decorators are many of them artists in
their way, and a study of their methods
might lead to many good results,
“There is always women in it.” If
there be any evil done, we always see
the words: ‘There was a women in
it,” but these people forget to count the
thousands of noble deeds where a wo-
man’s steady hand and clear brain were
at the helm, says the ‘Households
Realm.” Certain men are 0 apt to pat-
tern after Father Adam, and when they
err, throw all the blame on the woman,
forgetting while they accuse woman,
and yet boast of their own strength,
courage and soldiersy power, that so do-
ing is confessing their own weak-
ness. i
Go back, if you will, to Isabella of
Spain. When all others laughed at the
chimerical dreams of Columbus, she
parted with her jewels and equipped the
ships which found their way to the new
world. She was the equal of her hus-
band, and as such counseled and gave
her commands, and you would call Is-
abella of Spain unwomanly ? Certainly
not we, the beneficiaries of her self-sac-
rifice.
There was ‘‘a woman in it’ when
Harriet Beecher Stowe brought home to
the hearts of men the evils of the slave
traffic, firing them to action.
jonable has a bell front, the rest of it be-
ing in five great pleats One in the
back sets straight out from the waist and
is as long as the demi-train of the party
dress of two seasons past. The two
length of the train. Each one is gored
in at the top, so there is little bunching
at the waist, and the lower edge of each
is rounded out, so that if the skirt is
spread flat at the edge the back willap-
pear to be cut at the foot in five grad-
uated scallops. This out insures the
rounded fullness of the pleats as they
lie on the floor. The entire pleated
back is lined with haircloth, but the
skirt is not as heavy as would be
imagined. It isso well hung that the
back really supports itself as it rests on
the floor. But when the wearer tries to
hold itup and walk, she will geta
sprained finger in less tban no time.
There has never been a skirt more digni-
fied and graceful in effect, but it is pos-
tively an impracticable cut for the street
or for any but indoor use. It cannot be
held up gracefully because of the stiffen-
ing, or effectively because of the weight.
Some women will be sure to wear the
model in the street and let it drag, but
the best folks won’t. Such untidiness
can never be fashionable again,
“At last art has triumphed over na-
ture,” said the girl as she heated her
curling iron to curl the shorter locks
which had not been rolled up on their
kid curlers the night before.
Let us glance at her as she goes
through the process of “triumphing.”
Her tresses have been parted in the
middle—that was done last night. Then
it was rolled up on kid roils in two lit-
tle puffs on each side. This is the hair
that used so be a bang, when she had a
liking for short curly hair. After she
bas curled the shorter locks so that they
will comb back and unite with the rest
of the crimped bair, she does tne long
black hair in a Psyche just below the
crown ; then she unrolis the puffs,
combs them out, and, keeping the part
in the middle, tucks the short hair into
the Psyche. Theshort locks are then
fastened down with shell combs clese to
the forehead, and behold ! she has be-
come a Trilby girl. ;
But there is a new fashion which bids.
fair to supersede the Trilby headdress.
It is the style which the English maid-
ens have adopted. The hair is parted
in the middle, waved in big waves and
combed down over the ears to the
nape of the neck, wkere it is coiled in a
loose round coil. This style 18 very be-
coming to broad faces, since it con-
ceals a goodly portion of each side of the
face,
There never wassuch a fad for buck-
les and slides. They crop up at the
waist line, in single file in the front of
a bodice, and in charming contrast with
a soft velvet collar. When used in this
way they are dignified by the name of
Czarinas, and come in fine enamel,
jeweled and plain. Itis a pleasure to
go through the shops this year, just to
revel in the lovely things on view, but
it needs a nice long purse if you start
sn to purchase extensively.
The skirts of three quarter length
coats are not so emphatically rippled as
they were last season, but still flare
gracefully from the figure.
A very pretty suit was reddish-brown
face-cloth trimmed with bands of white
cloth that are strapped at intervals with
four black velvet ribbons half an inch
wide, each strap holding a smooth steel
button. The skirt falls in flutes nearly
all around, is lined with silk, stiffly
interlined, ani is bordered atthe foot
with white cloth almost two inches wide
strapped with velvet. The shirt-waist
of brown ani green shot taffeta has a
novel embroidery of black in open de-
sign forming a large letter X on the
front ard on the sides of the sleeve
puffs.
The skirt that is just becoming fash--
pleats on each side graduate to the