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Bellefonte, Pa., May 22, 1896.
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A LITTLE PINK SHOE.
Only a little pink baby shoe
That is stained and wrinkled and torn,
With a tiny hole where the little pink toe
Peeped out in the days that are gone.
The little pink toe was the “big little pig”
That to market so often would go,
And over and over the legend was told
As I kissed the little pink toe.
““Piggie some more,” the red lips would lisp,
And the story agd kiss were given
Again and again, so happy were we
‘In motherhood’s foretaste of heaven.
But there came a night, with desolate blight,
. When death bore my idol away,
And no little toe ever peeps from the shoe
To be kissed in the sweet old way.
But my tears have deluged the little pink shoe
And stained it a deeper stain,
And I long for the touch that would chill me in
death,
If it gave me my darling again.
So when I am dead lay the little pink shoe
Near my heart that is silent and cold,
And perhaps up above, in the sunlight of love,
I shall kiss the pink toe as of old.
—Kate Tennyson Marr,
GRAYSON’S BABY.
BY JOHN FOX, JUN.
The first snow sifted in through the Gap
that night, and in a ‘‘shack’’ of one room
and a low loft a man was dead, a woman
was sick to death, and four children were
barely alive ; and nobody even knew. For
they were hill people, who sicken, suffer,
and sometimes die, like animals, and make
no noise.
Grayson, the Virgianian, coming down
from the woods that morning, saw the big-
hearted little doctor outside the door of the
shack, walking up and down, with his
hands in his pocket. He was whistling
softly when Grayson got near, and without
stopping, pointed with his thumb within.
The oldest boy sat stolidly on the one chair
in the room, his little brother was on the
floor hard by, and both were hugging a
greasy stove. The little girl was with her
mother in bed, both almost out of sight
under. a heap of quilts.. The baby was in a
cradle, with its face uncovered, whether
dead or asleep Grayson could not tell. A
pine coffin was behind the door. It would
not have been possible to add to the dis-
order of the room, and the atmosphere
made Grayson gasp. He came out looking
white. The first man to arrive thereafter
took away the eldest boy, a woman picked
the baby girl from the bed, and a childless
young couple took up the pallid little fel-
low on the floor. These were step-children.
The baby boy that was left was the wom-
an’s own. Nobody came for that, and
Grayson went in again and looked at ita
long while. So little, so old, a human face
he had never seen. The brow was wrinkled
as with centuries of pain, and the little
drawn mouth looked as though the spirit
within had fought its inheritance without
a murmur, and would fight on that way to
the end. It was the pluck of the face that
drew Grayson. “I'll take it,” he said.
The doctor was not without his sense of
humor even then, but he nodded. “Cradle
and all,” he said, gravely. And Grayson
put both on one shoulder and walked away.
He had lost the power of giving further
surprise in that town, and had he met every
man he knew, not one of them would have
felt at liberty to ask him what he was do-
ing. An hour later the doctor found the
child in Grayson’s room, and Grayson still
looking at it.
“Is it going to live, doctor 2’?
The doctor shook his head. ‘Doubtful.
Look at the color. It’s starved. There's
. hothing to do but to watch it and feed it.
You can do that.
So Grayson watched it, with a fascination
of which he was hardly conscious. Never
for one instant did its look change—the
quiet unyielding endurance that no faith
and no philosophy could ever bring him.
It was ideal courage, that look, to accept
the inevitable, but to fight it just that way.
Half the little mountain town was talking
next day—that such a tragedy was possible
by the public road-side, with relief within
sound of the baby’s cry ! The oldest boy
_ was least starved. Might made right in an
extremity like his, and the boy had taken
care of himself. The young couple who
had the second lad in charge said they had
been wakened at daylight the next morn-
ing by some noise in the room. Looking
up, they saw the little fellow at the fire-
place breaking an egg.
had got eggs from the kitchen, and was
cooking breakfast. The little girl was mis-
chievous and cheery in spite of her bad
plight, and nobody knew of the baby ex-
cept Grayson and the doctor. Grayson
would let nobody elsein. As soon as it
~ was well enough to be peevish and to cry,
he took it hack to its mother, who was still
abed. A long, dark mountaineer was there,
of whom the woman seemed half afraid.
He followed Grayson outside.
._ “Say, pordner,” he said, with an un-
pleasant smile, ‘‘ye don’t go up to Crack-
er’s Neck fer nuthin’, do ye 9”
The woman had lived at Cracker’s Neek
before she appeared at the Gap, and it did
not come to Grayson what the man meant
until he was half-way to his room. Then
he flushed hot and wheeled back to the
cabin, but the mountaineer was gone. ’
‘‘Tell that fellow he had better keep out
of my way,” he said to the woman, who
understood, and. wanted to say something,
but not knowing how, nodded simply. In
a few days the other children went back to
the cabin, and day and night Grayson went
to see the child, until it was out of danger,
and afterwards. It was not long before
the women in town complained that the
mother was ungrateful. When they sent
things to eat to her the servant brought
back word that she had called out, ¢ “Set
them over thar,” without: so much as
thanky.”” One message was that ‘‘she
didn’t want no second-hand victuals from
nobody’s table.” Somebody suggested
sending the family to the poor-house. The
mother said ‘‘she’d go out on her ‘crutches
and hoe corn fust, and that the people who
talked bout sendin, her to the po’house
had better save their breath to make pray-
ers with.”” One day she was hired to do
some washing. The mistress of the house
happened not to rise until ten o’clock.
Next morning the woman did not appear
until that hour. ‘She wasn’t goin’ to
work a lick while that woman was a-layin’
in bed,” she said, frankly. And when the
lady went down town, she too disappeared.
Nor would she, she explained to Grayson,
“while that woman was a-struttin’ the
streets.’ :
After that, one by one, they let her alone,
and the woman made not a word of com-
plaint. Within a week she was working in
the fields, when she should have been back
in bed. The result was that the child
sickened again. The old look came back
He had built a fire,
to its face, and Grayson was there night
and day. He was having trouble out in
Kentucky about this time, and he went to
the Blue Grass pretty often. Always, how-
ever, he left money with me to see that the
child was properly buried if it should die
while he was gone ; and once he telegraph-
ed to ask how it was. He said he was
sometimes afraid to open my letters for
fear that he should read that the baby was
dead. The child knew Grayson’s voice,
his step. It would go to him from its own
mother. When it was sickest and lying
torpid it would move the instant he step-
ped into the room, and, when he spoke,
would hold out its thin arms, without
opening its eyes, and for hours Grayson
would walk the floor with the troubled
little baby over his shoulder. I thought
several times it would die when on one trip
Grayson was away for two weeks. One
midnight, indeed, I found the mother
moaning, and three female harpies about
the cradle. The baby was dying this time,
and I ran back for a flask of whiskey. Ten
minutes late with the whiskey that night
would have been too late. The baby got
to know me and my voice during that fort-
night, but it was still in danger when
Grayson got back, and we went to see it
together. It was very weak, and we both
leaned over the cradle, from either side,
and I saw the pity and affection—yes, hun-
gry, half-shamed affection—in Grayson’s
face. The child opened its eyes, looked
from one to the other, and held out its
arms to me. Grayson should have known
that the child forgot—that it would forget
its own mother. He turned, and his face
was a little pale. He gave something to
the woman, and not till then did I notice
that her soft black eyes never left him while
he was in the cabin. The child got well }
but Grayson never went to the shack again,
and he said nothing when I came in one
night and told him that some mountaineer
—a long, dark fellow—had taken the wom-
an, the children, and the tarnished house-
hold goods of the shack back into the moun-
tains,
“They don’t grieve long,” I said, ‘‘these
people.”’ .
But long afterwards I saw the woman
again along the dusty road that leads into
the Gap. She had heard over in the moun-
tains that Grayson was dead, and had walk-
ed for two days to learn if it was true. I
pointed back toward Bee Rock, and told
her that he had fallen from the cliff back
there. She did not move, nor did her look
change. Moreover, she said nothing, and,
being in a hurry, I had to ride on.
At the foot-bridge over Roaring Fork I
looked back. The woman was still there,
under the hot mid-day sun, in the dust of
the road, motionless.— Harper's Weekly.
Imitation Sins.
One of the most uncalled for of all the
offenses against good morals is the intoler-
able profanity ‘common everywhere. On
the street the ears are continually shocked
by outrageous oaths that mean nothing and
have absolutely no excusés. Profanity
never adds anything to the life of a conver-
satipn. Even when introduced on the
stage, as seems to be the habit too fre-
quently, it cannot possibly serve any other
purpose than to disgust. The English lan-
guage is expressive enough to convey all
ideas that come to the mind of man with-
out resorting to profane, indecent or offen-
sive speech of any sort.
Shocking as blasphemy is the world is
full of men who would hesitate a long time
before sanctioning it, yet these same folks
will countenance it “by imitating in form
what they abhor in reality. The deacon
will cuss in his own harmless style, calling
on ‘‘Judas Priest’ and he will “dod dang”?
and ‘‘gol darn’’ an objectionable thing as
emphatically as a more hardened sinner
will show his disapproval in terms that
imply more even if they mean only the
same thing.
%* %* *
The spirit that actuatesis the same.
-The paucity of language and the willing-
ness to make up with slang and coarseness
is the same. Only one is the wicked reality,
while the other is a senseless counterfeit of
the bad. Profanity is wholly useless. Then
why should anybody cultivate a habit of
counterfeiting it ? Why should any man
imitate that style of expression which he
knows has nothing to commend it and
everything to condemn it ? If real sin is
wicked, what excuse can be offered for the
imitation, which has nothing to explain its
existence but following a fashion that is too
insufferable to be followed far.
* % %
Too much is an abomination. We all
recognize that, and the world is full of re-
formers who try to overcome the gin habit.
And while they are doing it they fill them-
selves full of acid phosphate, ice cream
soda, milk shakes, pop, and a multitude of
other abominations. The soft drink habit
has come to be as much of an abomination,
except in the more serious physical and
criminal results, as the drink with the
stick in it. We look upon our stomachs,
or, at least, we act as if we did, as recep-
tacles for an unlimited amount of liquid
horribles, and the nian or woman who de-
plores the drink habit on the part of the
unfortunate who drinks at the haunt of old
John Barleycorn marches up to the soda
water counter and imitates the tougher
sinner with a queer delight.
Alcohol is not the only vile ingredient in
the drinks that are sold the toper, whether
whose nose requires a potion with more red
paint in it. Even the man who makes them
hardly knows what all has been put into
some of the cordials and syrups and flavors
and nerve restorers that go into the soda
water drinks sold plentifully.
* x
Look at the spread of the chewing gum
habit. Those who kick about the filthi-
ness of tobacco get stuck on gum ; and
who knows what there is in chewing gum
to commend it ? What is there in any bad
habit, and what is there in any imitation
bad. habit, anyway ? What's the good to
be hanged for a lamb when the man who
steals the sheep gets no worse than hang-
ing, at the most ? What's the use to use
counterfeit cuss words if we must cuss at
all ? If we must drink why not drink
whisky, and kill ourselves and end the
habit as soon -as- possible ? If we must
chew, why not tdbacco, aud be such a nui-
sance as to be tobooed py everybody ?
What's the good of being stuners if we get
none of the rewards except being classed
with the sinners, and deprive ourselves of
the forbidden pleasures of sin ?
The world needs to be reformed and the
place to begin is with the folk who want
to be wicked, but who are too timorous to
plunge clear in.— Pittsburg Times.
“Puck’s” Editor Dead.
Henry Cuyler Bunner, editor of Puck
died at his home in Nutley, N.J., Mon-
day afternoon. His death was caused by
consumption. Mr. Bunner had been edit-
or of Puck since 1877, having succeeded
the first editor of that paper within a few
months of the time the publication was be-
gun. He was born in Oswego in 1855,
it be the soda water toper or the gentleman.
Education in Centre County.
This is a short review of our county’s
education for the years 1893-1896, ending
May 1,—since Prof. C. L. Gramley is in of-
fice—based upon the annual statistical re-
ports of the Sup’t., which he has been so
kind a to give into my hands. At first this
study was purely for my personal benefit,
but although only statistics, it became so
interesting: and instructive that I fi-
nally concluded that it might be likewise
to others should the WATCHMAN see fit
to publish it. To all interested in educa-
tion, and who should not be, it will speak
volumes of information, conditions and du-
ties. :
First in regard to houses, twenty-nine
buildings have been erected and remodeled
in the last four years, their number having
been increased from 198 to 209 ; the number
of school rooms increased from 264 to 275,
and the number of good school rooms from
148t0 153. The seating capacity and suita-
ble furniture supply are receiving more
careful attention. ?
SCHOOLS.
The whole number of pupils enrolled in-
creased from 9,792 to 10,926, (Miles Twp.,
381 to 341); number of schools increased
from 261 to 273 ; number of graded schools
100 to 110. For the last two years text-
books have been supplied free of cost to the
district. For the last two years the Bible
has been read inall theschools. The num-
ber of schools in which the higher branches
are taught is also increasing.
The - whole number of public examina-
tions 105, in which we notice only a slight
increase of granting provisional certificates,
especially last year, and a decrease in the
rejection of Applicants.
TEACHERS.
The whole number increased from 264 to
276, the men, increasing from 155 to 171,
and the women decreasing from 109 to 105.
Bellefonte, Philipsburg and Rush town-
ship have the most lady teachers. Theaver-
age age of both sexes is 27. The employ-
ence is on a decrease, and that of teachers
of five or fhore years of experience increas-
ing. There isalsoan increased employment
of those holding professional certificates.
Those employed having permanent cer-
tificates, from 30 to 37 per year-in number.
About 16 State Normal graduates have
been employed per year on an average, and
are not increasing either, but those not be-
ing graduates at State Normals have hap-
pily decreased from 47 to 34. The number
of employed teachers educated in common
schools increased from 68 to 130, According
to this the academies and select schools con-
ducted at Spring Mills, Rebersburg, Mill-
heim, must be doing excellent work, meet-
ing the county’s higher educational de-
mand, then the spring terms of equal
length at our State Normals. The num-
ber educated in acad¢mies or seminaries
have been averaging tte Teach-
ers who are college graduates increased
from 10 to 14.
Sup’t. Gramley made 1309 visits to
schools. Only 10 schools were not visited
in four years of which 3 it was impossible
to visit, two being snow bound and the
third closed. 840 visits by all the direc-
tors who are becoming more interested in
this their duty.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
The Sup’t. attended sixteen educational
meetings. In 1896 it is estimated that
ages of six and sixteen not in ‘séhool, but
we are glad to state that this number is on
a decrease having been 476 the year before.
There are 198 directors and controllers con-
stituting school boards, there having been
3 women as members of school boards, but
at present none,—South Philipsburg 2,
Bellefonte 1.
To every reader of the above undisputa-
ble statistics, the following facts must be
self-evident ; that our county through
its energetic superintendent, school di-
rectors and voters is progressing as
much as present circumstances will allow
that through the mercies of the number of
buildings, remodeling of buildings, and
rooms, and the supply of proper school fur-
niture the physical and physiological nec-
essities are more complied with for a freer
and more normal brain and mental ac-
tivity. Something so much emphasized by
the most recent investigators of child-mind
study on the Continent and in America ;
that grading of schools increases in the
same proportion as their number, thus af-
fording more specialization and hence bet-
ter instruction to the individual, that at
last the rich and poor have equal educa-
tional opportunities by supply of free text-
books ; that biblical instruction is much
insisted upon, about which there is so
much negligence in some counties ; that
the standard of education is gradually be-
coming higher in examinations and in the
employment of those of most experience
and better knowledge ; that the superin-
tendent and directors are doing more visit-
ing than ever was done before ; that edu-
cators are seeing the great necessity of at-
tending county, state aud national associa-
tions ; that -the compulsory school law is
after all a very good thing ; that woman
suffrage is on a decline in Centre county in
regard to electing them as school directors,
and finally that the future educational out-
look is very hopeful through a non-recogni-
tion of political and ecclesiastical bigotry
and jealousy. H. ELMER BIERLY,
a Rebersburg.
SPRAYING TREES.—Last Monday morn-
ing Prof. Geo. C. Butz, horticulturist at
The Pennsylvania State College, gave an
impromptu talk on tree spraying and a
practical illustration in the Alexander
orchard at McCalmont’s lime kilns. A
small though representative body of fruit
growers from different parts of the county
were there to receive instructions.
Prof. Butz talked only on the extermi-
nation of the codling moth and oth
sect and fungus life that is parasitic on fruit
trees. For the destruction of all fungus
growth he recommended the Bordeaux mixt-
ure as a spray, then to kill insect life he
advised the addition of paris green to the
mixture. For fungus growth sprays should
be used early, about the time the buds are
just bursting then followed up with two
or three applications later, until the work
is thoroughly done and there is no danger
that rains have counteracted the effect of
the spray. The last application should
contain the paris green and should be used
just about the time the blossoms begin to
fall. Then insect life is most active on
fruit trees and there is a greater proba-
bility of kiiling it.
For shade trees, affected with the scale
louse, or mealy bug, Prof. Butz recom-
mends the common petroleum and soft
soap wash to be applied thoroughly and
freely about June 1st, as that is the
time when the newly hatched bug leaves
its cocoon and hunts the tender parts of the
tree to feed. This wash applied any earlier
in the season will not avail, as it is impos-
sible to penetrate the woolly white blotches
under which the young bug lays in the
larval state. It is only after the bug is
hatched and starts to move about that it
can be reached.
We hepe to be able to give an extended
treatise on spraying in an early issue.
Prof. Butz’ talk was exceedingly interess-
ing and should have heen heard by many
| more than were there. It was solely
through kindness and interest in the work
that he came down here and the same mo-
tive led McCalmont & Co. to go to the
trouble of fixing up various kinds of ap-
| paratus for spraying, so that our people did
not show an appreciation commensurate
with such kindness. However some of the
most reputable farmers and business men
in the county were there, so that while the
ment of teachers without previous experi- |
there are still 312 children between the |
audience was not large it was representa-
| tive.
|
—- oe ieee
THE MoOToR-CyCLE.—The combined
| management of the great John Robinson | that as a result of140 dives in all hold in |
| and Franklin Brothers’ enormous shows
combined attended the recent speed con-
test of ‘‘horseless carriages,’ at Chicago,
and wisely concluded to secure the most
thoroughly finished and speedy of the nu-
merous new vehicles there tested. Other
circus managers were also there, and all bid
for the ‘“‘winner.” The well known cour-
age and unlimited financial resources of
John Robinson and Franklin brothers, to-
gether with that resolute determination to
at all times secure the best in all branches,
prompted these well-known managers to
outbid all others and they did secure the
most wonderful achievement in science, the
the twentieth century—a mechanical con-
trivance that can run 60 miles an hour
over ordinary country roads. It can cover
100 miles an hour on a speed course, and
the cost of running this wonderful ‘‘horse-
less carriage’’ 100 miles is but sixty cents.
It will be seen daily in the free parade of
these great shows, and during the after-
noon and evening performances will be put
to trial tests of speed on the immense hip-
podrome track. No other circus manage-
| ment has ever dared to put a fortune in a
“feature,” the exhibition of which will be
without cost. Of course this is but one of
the many features of these combined great
| shows, that will be seen daily in the mag-
| nificent double parade, which by the way
| is more than a mile in length. Bellefonte,
| May 27th.
eee
THE RECEIPTS OF THE DRUMMER Boy
OF SHILOH. — On last Friday even-
ing at a business meeting of com-
pany B. held in the armory a
report of the receipts of ‘‘the Drummer
Boy of Shiloh’’ was read. It showed that
the company made $254 out of the enter-
tainment. This amount will be devoted
to the benefit of the company in putting it
in better shape. The following committee
was appointed to decide on the distribu-
tion of this money : Sergeants Alexander
and Rearick and corporals Samuel Taylor,
Rutt and Lose.
A new mess tent and also a new cooking
stove will be bought in time for camp this
year. The subject of buying army cots
for the men was discussed and they will
probably be bought if they are allowed to
be used.
OY ren
BIG FIRE IN CLEARFIELD COUNTY.—For
some days past forest fires have been rag-
ing in the vicinity of McGee's Mill’s, Clear-
field county, a station on the Pennsylvania
and northwestern road, forty-two miles
from Bellwood. Sunday evening Altoona
was telephoned to for assistance as it was
feared the town, as well as the big plant of
the Blair Run Lumber company, would be
wiped out by the flames. At seven o’clock
the fire was gotten under control without
doing great damage to the town or lumber
plant. McGee's Mills has a population of
some 300 or 400 people and so far as known
there were no houses burned. The mill of
the Blair Run Lumber conipany was not
lumber were destroyed. The loss is not
known.
he
——On Friday afternoon about two
o’clock the fire alarm sounded and at once
the streets were filled with" people inquir-
ing “where is the fire? Upon investiga-
tion it was found that the alarm had been
sent out out from the home of Mr. and Mrs.
Ralph Spigelmyer on Howard street, where
the lace curtains had taken fire from a light-
ed gas jet. By the time the engines and
fire companies arrived some one, with
much presence of mind, had thrown the
burning curtains and bed clothes out into
the street thereby averting what might
have been a serious conflagration.
a
IES
er in-
Ellis Hall, the manly young son of
Conductor John Hall is the latest victim of
a bicycle accident. On last Friday even-
ing while riding through Milesburg
wlth several companions, they were
greatly annoyed by a big dog that
barked and ran after them as they rode.
Ellis was watching the dog and did not
notice a cow that was directly in front of him
until within a few feet of her and before he
realized what had happened the cow kick-
ed at the wheel and he went flying down
into the dust. He must have fallen with
terrific force for his left wrist was broken
and he was badly bruised. Dr. Church, of
Milesburg, set his wrist and brought him
home. As Ellis is fashioned of the stuff
that heroes are made of, he is not making
much adv over the accident and is getting
along as comfortably as could he expected
at his father’s home on Thomas street.
A Pest of Rabbits.
—Equal to that of Australia.—All Attempts to Kill
Them Off Have Been Unsuccessful—The Damage in
a Single County Last Year is Estimated at $600,-
000.—Result of Nearly 200 Drives.
California’s rabbit nuisance is assuming
proportions and making progress which
most unpleasantly suggest comparison with
the actual plague of rabbits that afflicts
Australia ; afflicts it in a hopeless degree,
according to the latest reports of the var
ious colonial governments. California has
lately adopted some Australian methods of
thinning out the rabbits, and apparently
with about the same limited measure of
success. In Australia the attempt to ex-
every effort is now directed to confining the
rabbits to certain areas, or rather to keep-
ing them out of certain cultivated regions.
Even this entails enormous expense on the
““Motocycle”’—the mode of conveyance in
badly damaged, but a number of piles of
governments and land owners, is by no
means sure, and often is unsuccessful.
| It is stated that in one county alone in
| California the loss to farmers from rabbits
| and hares amounted last year to $600,000.
| Many experiments with poison have heen
| made, but the farmers have about conclud-
led that the only thing to do is occasional-
| ly to thin out the rabbits by holding big
| round-up hunts or drives. ~The story of
| several of these drives recently undertaken
| has been told in the Sun. It'is estimated
California 356,400 rabbits have been killed.
{ But the latest reports say there is no ap-
| preciable diminution in their numbers.
| Some years ago the government of New
South Wales offered a reward of £25,000
to any onc who suggested a really efficient
| method of getting rid of the rabbits. This
| offer stood open for several years, and more
{ than 2,000 schemes were offered, coming |
' from all parts of the world. Many were
| tried, but none was found to be wholly
satisfactory and finally the offer was with-
| drawn, and the- Australians tried to make
| up their minds to the inevitable perman-
ence of the pest. Ferrets, stoats, and
weasels were imported and bred in thous-
ands and they have done good work.
Poisons of all sorts were tried with but lit-
tle success. Cats were introduced and they
also did good service. But the rabbits
multiply at such an astounding rate that
they have much more than held their own
and have spread into new regions, destroy-
ing a large proportion of all crops wher-
ever they have penetrated.
Directly and indirectly South Australia
loses fully £500,000 a year from rabbits.
The government of Victoria has been work-
ing hard since 1880 trying to keep down
the plague, and has spent more than £300,-
000 in the work. The amount of money
spent by farmers and other land owners is
incalculable. One man, owning a large
estate, has spent £15,000 in the last few
years fighting rabbits. The governments
estimates that no less than 37,750,000
acres of land, farmingand grazing, in the
colony of Victoria is infested by rabbits.
Many schemes have been offered for
making use of the rabbits commercially,
and thus recouping at least a little of the
loss they cause. Many thousands are kill-
ed and their skins used, and something of
a trade has been built up in in the ship-
ment of rabbits to England and elsewhere
for food, either canned or frozen. But the
world can’t live on rabbit meat, and it
would | need to in order to afford to the
Australians a profitable way of making use
of their rabbits. The skins are largely
used for many purposes. One concern in
Victoria uses 374,000 rabbit skins every
year, and in the last seventeen years about
68,000,000 skins have been exported from
Victoria. :
There have been intercolonial confer-
ences, attended by representatives of the
various governments and delegates from
the agricultural societies, at which every
phase of the question has been considered.
The final decision seems to be that exter-
mination is impossible, and that the most
effectual way of dealing with the evil is in
building long fences of rabbit-proof netting
to keep the animals out of areas not yet in-
fested, to shut them off from food supplies,
and also to get them together as much as
possible so that they can be raided by
means of drives.
Some of the fences are hundreds of miles
long. One starts at Barringun, on the
Queensland border, follows the Main Trunk
line from Bourke, and ends at Corowa, ex-
tending in an unbroken line for 407 miles.
There is another such fence along the en-
tire western boundary of New South Wales,
346 miles long. But even this heroic
remedy is not unfailing. The fences are
liable to break down, especially in times of
flood, and particularly where they cross
rivers and creeks. It is impossible to keep
the fences under complete and constant
supervision in order that breaks may be re-
paired immediately, and it does not take
long for a few thousand rabbits to potr
through a break once they find it. It is
stated that in many instances hwmndreds of
thousands of rabbits have been seen dead
or dying on the onter side of the fence,
having eaten up all the available food sup-
plies, and making vain efforts to leap over
the closely woven wire netting.
These fences are expensive to build and
expensive to maintain. They have to be
sunk a considerable depth as well as built
up quite high. But after many years of
heavy loss and disheartening struggles the
Austsalians have come to consider this as
the only means of dealing with the pest.
He Got the Recipe.
A man in Mahanoy city, who couldn’t
spare $2 a year for his local paper, sent fifty
2 cent stamps to a down east Yankee to
learn how to stop a horse from slobbering.
He got the recipe and will probably never
forget it. Here it is :* “To stop a horse
from slobbering, teach him to spit.”
——Governor Hastings will speak at
Gettysburg on Decoration Day.
{
terminate them has been given up, and |
|
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
Now and then capricious fashicn decrees
something that is so thoroughly sensible,
so altogether comfortable, that it atones for
the dozens of other fads that bring with
them nothing but an impulse toward mar-
tyrdom. The welcome arrival this season
is the adjustable collar, and if any one not
addicted to shirtwaists should ‘doubt its
popularity they have only to inquire at the
first store they chance upon and they will
at once be told that the demand in white
collars is so unprecedented that manufac-
turers are filling their orders through prom-
ises, and cannot’ possibly supply the sud-
den need. To the fastidious eye there
seemed at first an incongruity in a plain
white collar surmounting any possible color
in a waist, and it is not improbable that
another season will furnish collars to
match and in unlimited quantities ; bus
the effect is chic, it is certainly new, and
—all the world has adoped it. So we ac-
cept it for its unquestioned merits, and
conquer the first impression of oddity.
An adjustable collar for a shirt waist means
| a laundry bill lessened by at least one-half
| and: probably two-thirds, since
It Threatens to be a Serious Matter Out in California
|
|
eve
woman knows that on a warm day note
is so certain to give her a dowdy look as
the gradual disintegration that goes on in
the linen about her throat, while the rest
of her waist is as fresh as when she donned
it. :
The popular sailor hat may be varied hy
different colored ribbon bands, which come
with button and elastic attach ment, and so
may be easily slipped around the crown. y
The sash is seen with every possible cos-
tume, and is certainly a welcome change
from the endless belt. Many of them are
marvels of elegance, rich with the most
dainty of hand embroidery, in brilliant
colorings, but, afterall, the really most chic
are those of plain, unadorned beauty. Soft
surahs, taffetas, satin, gros grain and every
conceivable sort of silk are used. Deeply
fringed ends in the elaborately knotted
fashion are’ liked.
The girl with a figure inclined to be
stubby had best avoid this mode of decora-
| tion, as it very much inclines her to look
more stubby than ever. The willowy,
graceful figure is the one for which the
sash was invented. A smart finish for the
short waisted figure is a narrow, tight twist
of ribbon, with a small bow at the back,
instead of the big sash bow.
White is to be very much worn this sea-
son, and race and Yatching gowns are made
of white alpaca and serge. Short white
| capes of silk lace or chiffon will be a desira-
| ble possession at the fashionable summer
resorts, and the only permissible black
cape is elaborately trimmed with white.
The latest novelty in dress materials is a
very ordinary hemp sacking, woven, of
course, with heavy threads and very open
mesh. Some Paris dressmaker has intro-
duced this, and, while it looks very inno-
cent and cheap, the gowns are made very
expensive with elegant silk and satin lin-
ings and outside decorations of embroidery.
Insertion with colored ribbons underneath:
are used, and the whole effect is not at all
suggestive of the low priced sackcloth.
Another material called ‘‘bure’’ is very
popular, especially in hrown ; it resembles
poplin and mohair, or something between
them, which is a little like each one.
The whole tendency in dress materials
this season is to produce something trans-
parent enough to necessitate a silk lining
and display the shot effects to good advant-
age, but there is a new substitute for silk
called ‘‘suraline,’’ which has a very pretty
gloss and a most industrious sort of a rustle
for those who cannot afford the more ex-
pensive lining. Beige colored canvas over
pale blue makes a charming dress with a
plain skirt and a Louis XVI, coat finished
with a band of black satin around the bot-
i two large pearl buttons at the
The enormous popularity of grass lawn
will speedily bring about a distaste for it,
but just now no elaboration of einbroidered
beads and silk and lace seems too good to
be dedicated to its honor.
A lovely bodice of grass lawn which it
has been my pleasing task to interview this
week is embroidered all over with many
colored cottons—green, pink, blue and yel-
low—and this supplied with a tabbed
basque set upon a frill of black velvet, the
front of the bodice turning back with doub-
le tabs from neck to waist, edged with tiny
little frillings of lace over green chiffon.
Many of the gowns are made entirely of
muslin, spotted or plain or embroidered,
and these look delightful when trimmed
with ribbons or lace ; and a pleasing model
of a plain white muslin gown appears
striped with insertions of black lace mount-
ed over a lining of black and white and
blue striped satin,
Nothing delights the eye as colors, prop-
erly harmonized, while nothing jars on a
sensitive organization as much as ill assort-
ed-tints. The employment of color has its
foundation in philosophical laws, for cer-
tain shades in close proximity to other
tints partake somewhat of their quality,
either raising or lowering their tone.
Above all, should the woman who values
her appearance study the proper applica-
tion of color to dress. The reason. that
dark red is becoming to brunettes is be-
cause it whitens the rH by contrast. Yel-
low, especially the dark rich shades, is
flattering to olive-skinned women, as it
causes them to seem fairer by contrast, one
tone neutralizing the other,
Deep rose is a difficult color to manage,
for under it most dazzling complexions lose
their freshness when brought in eGntact
with certain shades of pink.
Violet should never be worn women
with muddy skins, as it emphsizes the
yellow in their complexion ; it is\ adapted
to both brunettes and blondes with a high
color, as it tones them down.
While the delicate shades of blue, such
as forget-me-nots, sky blue and_turquoise,
are eminently becoming to fair women,
they are not flattering to dark ones. Dark
blue may be safely worn hy blondes and
brunettes.
Green is par excellence the color of fair,
spiritual-looking women. It should not
however be donned by those witb too pal-
lid cheeks, as it accentuates their pallor ;
green, however, the most trying shades,
may be safely adopted, provided a little
lace or frill intervenes, which accentuates
all other tones.
Dead white is exceedingly trying, and
only becomes persons with lovely pink-
tinted complexion. Cream and ivory
white can be more safely worn. These
white materials look well on blonde and
brunette alike, as they take on to them-
selves the vaporous gray tones, due to the
transmission of light.
Black, while universally worn, is not al-
ways becoming, and an all black gown is
apt to, age a woman and bring out facial
defects,