Fe ‘flirting. Bellefonte, Pa., Jan. 22, 1897. THE OLD CALENDAR. i The calendar of ninety-six Now totters to its fall, And that for ninety-seven comes To crowd it from the wall. When that old card was posted up— It seems but yesterday— Its ink was fresh, its colors bright, But now it's torn and gray. Like faithful friend, it ne'er deceives, But always answers straight When with inquiring eyes we turn To ascertain the date, : Though questioned oft, by day and night, Our trust it ne’er betrays - A sentinel of time it stands, With record of the days. And as we look fond memories rise Of days that it has seen Since it was placed upon the wall With all its lustre clean. In reminiscent mood our minds Recall the pleasant hours When skies were bright, and hearts were gay, And paths seemed strewn with flowers. And, thinking of the year to come, We wonder if—but, pshaw ! + This moralizing doesn’t pay When doubts arise to awe. The old must go, the new must come, Time's always on the wing, And every year to every life Its share of joys will bring. AN ARMY COQUETTE. Incivil life the good old days were at a time not nearer than 50 years past, but in the service a sun that rose ten years ago shone on a good old day. There are rail- roads now, and big garrisons near towns, and there are no Indians—as good old soldiers understood Indians—and gambling is in discredit, and colonels whose orders are obscured by liquor fumes have de- creased 98 per cent, and there are houses with every improvement instead of wall tents and adobe huts, and the men have as many rights as women in Wyoming, and the officers have fresh oysters and don’t pay $1a bottle for beer, and their wives have more interesting subjects to consider than each other’s most sacredly private business--wherefore there is no longer war in time of peace. Nevertheless, 10, 15, 20 years ago—-when all these things were—- was the good old time before the service had begun to go to the particular bow- WOWS. This that T am going to tell happened in the good old days. It could not very well happen now, because, as I say, things have changed. At the time Betty Mandeville’s father was in command at Apache and Betty was engaged to be married to an unusual- ly fine fellow, whose name is not part of the story. He was a second lieutenant, and he was in love, with all the beautiful disregard of the facts of life that is char- acteristic of the enamored state. Of course the post knew of the engage- ment before either of the two most inter- ested parties did. That was because this happened in the good old days. For the same reason—though it can occur some- times even now—opinions on the match flew thick and fast and obscured the sky of charity. They said that the second lieu- tenant was making a fool of himself, which was the only unkind remark he fell heir to. But Betty fared worse. She came of a bad strain. There were things in the histories of both her parents that everyone knew and no one was supposed to know. Her father was English and had been a jockey. He was the son of a concert hall singer and a man whose only nobility was his birth. Mrs. Mandeville—who was more Mex- ican than Spanish—ore a good Castilian name, which covered a multitude of sins. There were any number of Mandeville children younger than Betty, and all un- mietakably favoring their swarthy mother. They were so dirty that they were a dis- grace to the post. But Betty was tidy—as to dress—and was blond—Afluffily, curlily blond, with a fine skin and innocent blue eyes and a rosebud moath. It was said she look like an English professional beauty, but there was no one to recognize the startling likeness to the concert hall ‘grandmother. She had a taste for laces and high heeled slippers that may have been either a Spanish or theatrical in- | heritance. And she was beautiful beyond a question, with a beauty that was only skin deep. After she had promised to marry the second lieutcnant Betty went down to Lowell to visit her aunt, who was her mother’s sister and was the wife of Captain Locke. Betty knew that she would enjoy herself more if the engagement were kept a secret. - She could keep it quiet, because it was in the good old days, and news travel- ed slowly, and distances were great. Mrs. Locke had nothing to be proud of but Betty, who detested her mother and all her mother’s family, liked her uncle well enough and got along famously with him despite his temper. She could her- self understand how life with one of the Franquelos might change a naturally placid disposition. On the second day of her stay her aunt took her to stay over night with Senora Franquelo in Tucson, which was the be- ginning. The Franquelo family was large, and most of it dwelt in the one house—an adobe with the external whitewash broken off in oddly shaped pieces and built as all adobes were built in the good old days—one story around a courtyard. There was nothing in the courtyard but chickens and ollas—broken and otherwise—for the soil of Tucson is not fertile. Outside, where the narrow doorway faced upon the street, hardly less white under the burning sun than the whitened walls that lined it, a mocking bird cage of willow hung against the house, with a red chile stuck between ite bars. It was the first time Betty had been under the ancestral roof. Besides her grandmother, who was more unpleasant than the aunts, there were many cousins, male and female. Of these, two—second cousins—were in love. They were Carlos and Ines. In less than ten minutes Carlos had deserted black browed Ines and was languishing at Betty with his two soft eyes. Ines was openly wretched, Carlos openly infatuated. Betty openly But Carlos did not know that. Betty and her aunt went back to Lowell the next day, and the same evening Car- los rode over to the post to see her. There were six officers calling on Miss Mandeville, so Carlos sat apart and sulked. But he outstaid them all. When they had gone, after a supper of canned oyster stew and tamales, he drew his chair close beside the sofa upon which Betty was half reclining. “W’y do you like doze offecers better dan me ?”’ he asked her. “I don’t, said Betty. “Do you noot truly ?”’ ‘Of course I don’t. How could I?” Carlos was not accustomed to Betty’s like, and, as even those who should have known better had believed her because of her round, blue eyes, he was not to be blamed for his faith. . “Would you rather talk to me?” ‘A great deal rather.” “But dey haf staid so late dat I must 800n £0." w. “It’s not late. It’s only half past 12. It would be too bad of you to go just when we began to get a chance to settle down for a nice, cozy talk.”’ Carlos persisted coyly, ‘But you weel weesh to sleep.” “Very well,” Miss Mandeville shrugged her shoulders, ‘‘then you had better go. Ines may get angry if you stay, and you like her more than you do me.” Carlos denied this in words that were neither kind nor just to Ines, but Betty damned her with faint praise. She was not a clever conversationalist nor was Carlos Franquelo, but they kept each other interested until very late, and when Carlos went home Betty stepped out to the front porch with him and put her hand in his with the least bit of a pres- sure. ‘Can I kees you ?’’ Carlos asked baldly. “I suppose so, because we're cousins, you know,’’ Betty assured him as she raised her innocent face to his handsome Mexican one. He whispered : ‘I lofe you, oh, I lofe you! You are beeutiful, beeutiful.’”” And Betty laughed a little and told him he was silly when they had only known each other for two days. Now, with Betty’s beauty and other at- tractiveness, it was natural that she should have a great deal of attention from the bachelors ; but Carlos’ devotion was so marked that they drew off one by one, leaving the field pretty much to him. They resented Betty’s permitting the young Mexican to follow her about incessantly, even though he were a second cousin. As for the girl, until it was too late she did not see the harm she was doing. Then all the officers had deserted her. and then there was only Carlos. Well, Carlos was handsome and good enough game, so she led him on. It was not her fault surely that she didn’t know the ways of Mexican lovers. She had told plenty of men that she loved them, and nothing had happened. But one night she told this to Carlos at his urgent request, and the next day, at about “stables,” ‘as she was swinging lazily in the hammock on the porch, she saw three buggies, containing two men each, coming up the line. In the first sat Carlos and his brother ; in the others remoter male rela- tives. Betty guessed the truth at once, and her pink cheeks turned white. She ran into the house and sceeamed loudly for her uncle. “Oh, Uncle Nat,’’ she begged, when she found him in his room, ‘Carlos and Jose and all his nasty old relatives are coming here, Send them away, won’t you? Please do.” She clung to his arm. “Why shall I send them away? Are they going to murder the poor littic girl?” ‘No, no, no. But I think they’re going to ask you to let me marry them.’: “All of them.” Betty lost her temper and flew into a white rage. ‘Stop your fool joking and do what I say. You tell them I’m sick, and tell that——Carlos that I hate him.” Carlos found the captain and made his demagd in due form. The young lady’s father not being there, he felt that her uncle could take the place of a parent. He wished to ask the hand of his beautiful niece, knowing that she herself was will- ing to bestow it. ‘How do you know that?’ the captain asked. ‘‘She tell me so.” “When ?? “Last night. She tell me dat she loved me, so to-day I come for to ask her from ou.’ ‘Are you sure she said she loved you Franquelo ?"’ ‘‘Oh, yes, sairtinly. She kees me also.’ The captain left the room and went to find his niece. ‘‘Elizabeth, that fellow says that you told him you loved him. Did you?” “The old fool.” “Did you ?”’ “Supposing I did? He made me. He's an idiot to think I mean every little thing Isay !” “Did you kiss him ?”’ “No.” The captain’s face cleared, then be- thought him of the ways of women. ‘Did you let him kiss you ?’’ ‘Perhaps. I don’t know.” He caught her hand. Come in here to Franquelo and explain yourself. You'd better say you’ll marry him after that pro- ceeding.” in 1 Betty was frightened. Her d&fiance changed to pleading. ‘‘Please don’t make me see him, Uncle Nat, dear. Please. ‘‘Come on.”’ “But‘ Uncle Nat, I can’t say I’ll marry him. I was only fooling. I’m engaged to another man.”’ Captain Locke dropped her hand and re- turned to the sitting room. “Franquelo,’’ he said coldly, for he dis- liked his nephew sincerely, *‘I regret that this unpleasant thing should have you under my roof. My niece tells me that she was not in earnest, and that she is soon to marry another man. However, she shall not stay another day with me to trouble you or any one else. I shall send her home to-night.’’ * * * * * ““They’re a bore.” Betty was sitting snlkily in the waiting room at the Tucson station about half past 7 o'clock the same night. Her uncle was seeing to the checking of her trunk out- side. When he came back, a man whom he recognized even in the late twilight as Carlos Franquelo ran past him toward a horse that stood in the street 4 few yards away and going hurriedly to where he had left his niece he found her lying full length on the floor and dead. Her yellow curls were wet and dark with blood, and her face was quite disfigured because the pistol had been held close to it. * * * * * When the news was broken to the second licutenant, he called Providence a great many hard names, which is frequently all the thanks Providence gets for doing us a good turn.—Gwendolen Qverton in San | Francisco Argonaut. ——There are 119,000,000 old copper pennies somewhere. Nobody knows what has become of them except once in a while a single specimen turns up in xchange. A few years ago 4,500,000 bronze 2 cent pieces were set afloat. these are outstanding. Three million $- cent pieces are scattered over the United | States, but it is very rarely that no one is | seen. Three million offburn it. Bombay’s Great Plague. More Than Half The People Have Fled To Escape Death.—The City Panic Stricken—Bodies Abandon- ed in the Streets—Not Enough Men Can Be Found to Bury the Dead—Bazaars Deserted—Few Euro- peans Attacked. Every day the plague at Bombay becomes worse. It is estimated that nearly half the population of the city has fled to escape death. The situation is greatly aggravated by the prevalence of the famine, thousands of the natives who leave the city having absolutely nothing on which to support themselves in the country, and thus they fall victims to the slower death from starvation. Eight thousand fugitives are camping out at Adheri, where every condition is fav- orable to an outbreak of colera. There is | a scarcity of water in and about town, and the sanitary arrangements are of the crud- est character. In Poona and Bandra the plague is rag- ing with great virulence. The efforts of the physicians to stay the progress of the disease in the slightest degree have been fruitless, and the death rate is exceedingly high. Hundreds of persons attacked by the disease havedied in two or three hours, after suffering dreadful agony. The customs of the natives add to the hideousness of the plague. The Moham- medan cemeteries are over crowded, aud it is impossible to find men enough to dig graves and bury the dead. The sound of dirges is incessant in and around the places where the Hindoos burn their dead, in accordrnce with their time- honored custom, and the funeral music has a most depressing influence on all who hear it, natives and foreigners alike. It is said that numbers of dead bodies of Parsees, the religious sect who expose their dead bodies to be eaten by the vultures, are slowly decomposing in the open air in the places in which they are left. They have not been eaten by the vul- tures, the birds having been overgorged by the great abundance of corpses. Everywhere the greatest difficulty is found in obtaining men to carry the dead to the cemeteries, burning places, and the Dokhamas, or ‘‘towers of silence,” of the Parsees. Even relatives shun their last service to their dead, fearing that they will contract the disease by touching or ap- proaching the corpses. In many cases bod- ies have been found abandoned in the streets, their bearers having been overcome by fear while taking them to their last resting place. It is now well established that the dis- ease is not a mysterious ‘‘stroke’’ from Hea- ven, a visitation from God beyond control of man, but an indirect product of dirt and bad food, commencing among the classes least able to resist the virsus, and scarcely touching those whose higher standards of life and general diet enable them to defy it. At the same time this correlation of the plague with poverty opens up serious possibilities during the present famine in India. But a process of cleaning has taken place in Bombay on a scale that would have been beyond the powers of any city of medieval Europe, and which is still be- yond the powers of any Asiatic city outside of British India. The essential features of the British Indian sanitation are a pure and practically inexhaustible water supply brought by engineering works from distant sources of the cities, a complete system of the municipal distribution of the supply, the power thoroughly fiushing the sewers, and a scientific drainage system for rapidly getting rid of noctious products. It is with her water works that Bombay is fight- ing the plague and has brought within manageable compass a pestilence that has hitherto defied control. Other cities of British India, notable Calentta, which have thorough systems of water supply, have thus far defended themselves from the vis- itation with entire success. And the meth- ods adopted in Bombay donbtless form the most valuable sbject lesson in protection against the scourge ever afforded the cities and nations of the East. It is essentially a disease that cannot exist where -cleanli- ness prevails and wholesome food is to be obtained. How Camphor is Made. One of the principal products of the ter- ritory which has come under Japanese ad- ministration as a result: of the war with China is camphor. In the Scottish Geogra- phical Magazine. Mr. John Dodd, writing on Formosa, tells us how this product is cultivated. Small shanties are scattered over the hills where the camphor tree grows, and in directions the clearing of the woods is go- ing on at a rapid rate. On the hillsides are built distilleries, consisting of oblong- shaped structures, principally of mud bricks, and about ten or twelve feet long, six feet broad and four high. On each side are five to ten fire-holes, about a foot apart and the same distance above the ground. On each fire-hole is placed an earthen pot full of\ water, and above it a cylindrical tube, about a foot in diameter and two feet high, passes up through the structure and appears above it. The tube is capped by a large inverted jar, with a packing of dark hemp between the jar and the cylinder to prevent the es- cape of steam. The cylinder is filled with chips of wood about the size of the little finger, which rest on a perforated lid cover- ing the jar of water, so that when the steam rises it passes up to the inverted jar, or condenser, absorbing certain resinous mat- ter from the wood on its way. While distillation is going an an essen- tial oil is produced, and is found mixed with the water on the inside of the jar. When the jar is removed, the beady drops solidify, crystallization commences, and camphor, in a crude form, locking like newly formed snow, is detached by the hand, placed in baskets lined with plantain leaves, and hauled off to the nearest horder town for sale. Peacocks Instead of Watchdogs. ‘The place of a watchdog on the farm or country place,” said a prominent man the other day, “might be well taken by peacocks and guinea fowls. I long since adapted peacocks alone to guard my place and nothing can come around the premises night or day, without causing an alarm from them. They are more watch- ful than any dog I ever owned. My ex- perience with guineas has not been so ex- tensive, but I believe they are also sure to give an alarm, or rather a good many alarms, if any strange man or beast should venture near them by night or day.” ~*To Know Whether It Is Good. The best and most simple way of doing this is to cut a small piece of the silk and If it burns out quickly, leaving a clear, crisp, gray ash, the silk is pure ; but if it smoulders and leaves a heavy red or reddish- brown ash, it has been treated with chemicals and will not wear well. HER A Hold Up. An “Old Timer" Tells How a Young Lady Flagged a Train and Called a Conductor Down. In the year 1885, says ‘‘Old Timer’ in writing to yesterday’s Pittsburg Post, the passenger and freight department on the Hollidaysburg branch was represented as follows : Engineer, Yank Jones ; fireman, James Stewart; passenger conducto?, James H. Cramer ; baggagemaster, Christ- ian Kephart ; freight conductor, David T. Cramer. When not too heavy to do so, the freight and passenger trains would be hauled together ; thus the freight conduc- tor was often with the passenger train. I remember a very laughable incident that occurred that summer, and there is no doubt some persons still living in Holli- daysburg and Altoona who were passengers | on the train that day and who will remem- ber the circumstance. One, I know, will recall i the fireman, James Stewart, who is now;4n engineer on the eastern slope of the mountain. On one of our trips from Altoona to Hollidaysburg, with several freight cars attached to the regular passen- ger train, and while rounding the curve south of Allegheny station, Yank dis- j covered a lot of cows on the tracks. He I sounded the cattle alarm and called for | brakes, but one of the cows was struck and | killed. Two or three days after the killing of the cow, while the train was on its noon- day trip from Hollidaysburg to Altoona, and when near the place where the cow was killed, Yank called for brakes twice in a way that said he wanted to come toa stop as quickly as possible, and we all re- sponded to his call promptly and soon had the train stopped ; and there, standing in the heavy rain that was falling at the time, was a handsome young girl of 16 or 17 years of age, witha red bandana hand- kerchief tied on a stick, with which she bad flagged the engineer. Hank asked her what was wrong, thinking the bridge over Mill run had been washed away. She said she wanted to see Jim Cramer, the passen- ger conductor. Jim was standing on the platform of the baggage car, and the plat- form of the car was full of passengers, all wanting to know what was wrong and why the train had been stopped at that out of the way place. Jim stepped off the platform and the girl walked toward him. He asked her what she wanted. She replied loud enough to be heard by all the passengers: *I want you to pay me for my cow that you killed the other day ; and you cannot move this train until you do pay me.” This stand-and-deliver demand made by the young lady knocked all the talk out of Jim, and before he could reply the pas- sengers, who were all well acquainted with Jim, said : “Yes, Jim, pay the girl for her cow, so the train can go on to Altoona." . By this time Jim had recovered his voice, paying for the cow when he got to Altoona, but the girl answered him, saying : “No, you must pay me now, and you cannot move this train until you do.” However, Jim gave Yank a signal to go ahead, and the train moved off on its way to Altoona, and as far as we could see the girl she was still waving the handkerchief for the train to stop. H. J. Lombardt was superintendent, and Jim acquainted him with the facts in the case. He made inquiries, and, I was in- formed, sént the young lady the value of the cow in the shape of his individual check. It appeared the cow had heen a gift to the young lady by her mother as a wedding portion, and was highly prized by ber. I could give the name of the young lady who held us up, and no doubt she is still living in the vicinity of the city of Altoona, and may be a grandma now. Gold in Alaska. A Belt Three Hundred Miles in Length Discovered by the Geological Survey. An interesting report, made by Director Walcott of the Geological Survey, showing the presence of an enormous gold belt in Alaska, has been forwarded to the House of Representatives by the Secretary of the Interior. The report tells the story of an expedition that was sent out by the Geo- logical Survey to determine the gold and coal deposits along the line of the Alaska coast. A second expedition followed in May, 1896, going to the gold fields of the Yukon River to investigate the report that there were larre placer deposits along the stream beds. The party traversed the val- ley of the Yukon from the British bound- ary on the east tothe mouth of the river on the west. All of the well-known placer deposits were examined, and the origin of the gold in them was traced to the quartz veins along the headwaters of the various streams entering the Yukon. Sufficient data were secured to establish the presence of a gold belt 300 miles in length in Alas- ka, which enters Alaska near the mouth of Forty-Mile Creek, and extends westward across the Yukon Valley at the ramparts. Its further extent is unknown. It is the opinion of the geologist in charge of the expedition that it is entirely prac- ticable to prosecute quartz mining through- out the year in this region. He also dis- covered along the river areas of consider- able extent of rocks containing hard bitum- inous coal. The director thinks in view of these facts that a reconnoissance map should be made of the gold and coal areas in order to se- cure an intelligent conception of the re- sources of the interior of Alaska, and for this purpose he asks an immediate appro- priation of $25,000. - Wiped Out the Whole Family. A Murderer Kills Wife and Child and Takes His Life. Herman Stimm of Janesville, Wis., shot and killed his wife and son, Friday night, and then committed suicide. The troubles which resulted in the triple tragedy had had their origin several years ago, and cul- timated in a suit for divorce. Stimm had threatened to kill his wife, and she had ap- plied to the Court for protection. The crime was not discovered until the store ‘over which they resided was opened the next morning. The body of the child was in the bed, and that of Mrs. Stimm was lying on the sitting-room floor. The body of the murderer, with the revolver half submerged in a pool of blood, lay on the bed-room floor. For Cigarette Fiends. *‘Cigarettes,”” says a Chicago clergyman, ‘‘are made of the cheapest and worst to- bacco.” The reverend gentleman is labor- ing under a delusion. They are not as good as that. A New York youth who smoked 100 cigarettes a day tried to kill his brother. Young men who smoke less than 100 a day only try to kill themselves. A Bangor, Me., firm contributed 2500 cigarettes to a fair held recently for the benefit of a hospital. Its generosity would have been more symmetrically ‘developed had it sent along the coffins with the coffin nails. and told the girl that he would see about | The ‘Bloody Angle.” One of the Most Desperate Engagement in the War.—Gen Horace Porter Tells of Scenes in the Wilderness e—Trees Cut in Two by the Inces- sant Musketry Fire. I had been anxious to participate in the scenes occurring at the ‘‘angle,’”” and now got permission to go there and look after some new movements which had been or- dered. Lee made five assaults, in all, that day, in a desperate and even reckless at- tempts to retake his main line of earth- works ; but each time his men were hurled back defeated, and he had to content him- self in the end with throwing up a new line farther in his rear. The battle near the ‘angle’ was proba- bly the most desperate engagement in the history of modern warfare. and present war- fare, and presented features which were ab- solutely appalling. It was chiefly a savage Bras fight across the breastworks. Rank after rank was riddled by shot and shell and hayonets-thrusts, and. finally sank, a moss of torn and mutiliated corpses ; then fresh troops rushed madly forward to replace the dead, and so the murderous work went on. Guns were run up close to the paparet, and double charges of can- ister played their part in the bloody work. The fence rails and logs in the breastworks were scattered into splinters, and trees over a foot and a half in diameter were cut completely in too by the incessant musket- ry fire. A section of the trunk of a stout oak tree thus severed was afteaward sent to Washington, where it is still on exhibition at the National Museum. We had not only shot down an army but a forest. The opposing flags were in places thrust against each other, and muskets were fired with muzzle against muzzle. Skulls were crushed with clubbed muskets, and men stabbed to death with swords and bayonets thrust between the logs in the parapet which separated the combatants. Wild cheers, savage yells, and frantic shrieks rose above the sighing of the wind and the pattering of the rain, and formed a demon- iacal accompaniment to the booming of the gnns as they hurled their missiles of death into the contending ranks. Even the dark- ness of night and the pitiless storm failed to stop the fierce contest, and the deadly strife did not cease till after midnight. Our troops had been under fire for twenty hours, but they still held the position which they had so dearly purchased. My duties carried me again to the spot the next day, and the appalling sight presented was har- rowing in the extreme. Our own killed were scattered over a large space near the ‘‘angle,” while in front of the captured breastworks the enemy’s dead, vastly more numerous than our own, were piled upon each other, in some places four layers deep, exhibiting every ghastly phase of mutila- tion. Below the mass of fast decaying corpses, the convulsive twitching of limbs and the writhing of bodies showed that | there were wounded men still alive and struggling to extricate themselves from their horrid entombment. Every relief possible was afforded, but in too many cases it came too late. The places it came too late. The place was well named the “loody Angle.” : The result of the battle are best summed up in the report which the general-in-chief sent to Washington. At 6:30 P. M., May 12, he wrote to Halleck as follows: ‘“The eighth day of battle closes leaving between three and four thousand prisoners in our hands for the day’s work, including two general officers, and over thirty pieces of artillery. . The enemy are obstinate and seem to have found the last ditch. We have lost no organization, not even that of a company, whilst we have destroyed and captured one division (Johnson’s), one brigade (Dole’s), and one regiment entire of the enemy.’’ The Confederates had suf- fered greatly in general officers. Two had been killed, four severely wounded, and two captured. Our loss in killed, wound- ed and missing was less than seven thous- and ; that of the enemy between nine and ten thousand as nearly as could he ascer- tained.—Campaigning with G.ant, in the January Century. McKinley Prosperity. Among the banking institutions that have recently been blighted by the hot breath of the McKinley prosperity are the following : The Atlas National bank, the Dime Savings bank, of Chicago, Ill.; the Scandia bank, of St. Paul, Minn.; the Bank of Superior, of Superior, Wis.; the McCoy Banking company, of Independence, Mo.; the Commercial National bank, of Roanoke, Va.; the Columbian National bank and the Washington bank, of Minne- apolis, Minn. Besides these bank failures many business firms have gone to the wall. Costly Ground. A lot on Broadway, in New York, has been sold for $1,600,000, or at the rate of $258.57 per square foot. This price has been exceeded but twice in land sales in the metropolis—when $300.70 per foot was paid for 508 square feet at the southeast corner of Wall and Broad streets, and when 11,447 square feet at Broadway and Pine were purchased at the rate of $267.87. The former deal was made in 1885 and the lat- ter in 1893. Speakeasies in the State. There are 35,000 speakeasies in Pennsyl- vania where liquor is illegally sold and no license paid and 24,000 licensed places for the sale of liquor. This fact has been as- certained by a committee created by the last legislature to investigate the workings of the high license law, with a view to cor- recting its defects if here were any, and for the purpose of making suggestions where- by the law should be strengthened. The committee’s report will call especial atten- tion to the speakeasy. ——Judge: ‘This man says you shot him in the back on purpose while out gun- ning with him.” Sam : ‘‘Dat ain’ so. self axerdently.”’ Judge: ‘‘It’s almost impossible for him to have shot himself in the back.’ Sam : ‘‘Oh, you ain’t posted on dat ere nigger. Dere ain’t no mean trick dat ere coon wouldn’t be guilty of, sah.” He jist shot him- ——The Old Rascal : “Yes, I love little girl babies.” Miss Oso Sweete: ‘““Do you? And at what age do you think they are most de- lightfal 27’ The Old Rascal : ‘‘Oh, about 19 years old.” —There was a little man And he had a little gun. And one day they, one or both of them ex- ploded ; But no one blamed the gun For the thing that had been done, For, of course, it did not know the man was loaded. — Brooklyn Life. FOR AND ABGUT WOMEN" Mrs. Stevens, president of the Woman's Christian Temperance union of the state of Maine, and Miss Cornie M. Dow of Port- land, daughter of Neal Dow, have together been able to secure homes for 23 Armenians in the state of Maine. Violets, violets! In the millinery world violets are holding forth at a great rate. These popular flowers are on every new hat, on corsage and on muff. Violet sachets and extracts are now the foremost perfume, as well. It is said that every hearty laugh in which a man or woman indulges tends to prolong life, as it makes the blood move more rapidly and gives a new and different stimulus to all the organs of the body from what is in force at other times. Therefore, perhaps the saying, ‘‘Laugh and grow fat," is not an exaggerated one, but has a founda- tion in fact. No truer words were ever uttered than those which state so clearly, ‘‘Laugh, and the world laughs with you ; weep, and you weep alone.”’ The jolly, wholesome, happy-hearted people are those who have most friends and see the best that life holds out to them. What pieces of inconsistency women are ! When ‘the small sleeves were introduced they were pronounced horrible and every one of them said they wouldn’t have them and then straightway proceeded to have them put in their gowns, and now they are voted ‘‘just lovely.” A new idea in skirt garniture is to have two bias pieces of the material, four inches wide and nine inches long across each hip from back to front, the centre just touch- ing the belt. This has seven buttons and false buttonholes on the upper edge. A bias fold to match is put around the foo$ of the skirt with the buttons, put on in clusters of five at intervals of about 12 inches. It is very new and stylish. A mustard-plaster ought never to blister the skin. If it"burns too much an extrs piece of muslin can be placed between if and the body, and can be removed when the patient becomes accustomed to the heat. Mix the mustard with equal quan- tities of flour and ground ginger. That the rage for purple and the thou- sand-and-one variations of this shade is very trying to many women. It takes a very white skin to wear it becomingly, as it casts such a yellow shade. For acold on the chest. There is no better specific for most persons than well- boiled or roasted onions, both for a cough and for the clogging of the bronchial tubes, which is usually the cause of the cough. If eaten freely at the outset of a cold they will break up even a serious attack. In just a common, uninteresting street there lives a little woman who has the soul of an artist and the pocketbook of a type- writer. An unfortunate combination under ordi- nary circumstances, but not so in this in- stance, for, with a fluffy soul and ema- ciated purse, she also possesses a genius for color and economy. She’s made herself a dining room that is as pretty asa picture. This is the way she did it : . The floor she stained herself in dark oak, to match the imitation oak woodwork in the doors, windows and over mantel. The stain she had mixed for the purpcse at an ordinary painter's. It consisted of oil and turpentine, with the least bit of coloring matter. This mixture dries in the wood, reveals the grain prettily, and only costs eighty cents a quart. Of course, she started in with a distinct color scheme in mind—blue and white— and selected her rug with this in mind. She found she could get an ingrain rug four feet by seven for $3, ora juterug, the same size, for $5, and knowing the superior wear to be gotten from the jute she gave the extra §2, as the best economy in the long run. She was also delighted to find the blue and white colorings in the jute particularly fine. > Her four chairs were of pine, spindle- backed, rush-bottomed, graceful and com- fortable. They cost $1 a piece. The square table was of pine and it cost $2, and the hanging shelves, a foot deep and three feet wide, which served asa buffet, were of the roughest board, hung on gilded rope. They cost exactly $3. Five cans of white enamel paint a$ twenty cents a can converted the unin- teresting pine into a pretty white dining set. A single tub of Antwerp blue oil paint added the Delft effect so popular now in aristocratic breakfast rooms. A couple of yards of Chinese blue and ‘white cotton at fifteen cents a yard cur- tained the shelves and hid the china that was not in the right colors, and was itself a thing of beauty as well. Unfortunately, the presence of a large trunk was necessary in the room. It had to stay open. She covered that trunk with plain blue cotton jeans. A cover that could be removed was neatly fitted and surmounted by two square straw pillows, also covered in jeans. The dainty freshness of the window cur- tains always suggested an unlimited bank account and a resident laundryman. Snow- white lawn was the groundwork, and the figure dull blue, widely separated and Delft-like to a degree. It cost eighteen cents a yard. Narrow bands of blue jeans held them in place instead of the usual cheap trappings of gilt. A small gypsy table, also painted white, and bearing a small spread of jeans, edged with coarse lace, stood in the window and did duty as a holder of work baskets or tes cups or dessert, as the hour and the occa- sion demanded. Over the buffet shelves were placed a row of willow ware plates, which are fre- quently pressed into table service, and white tea-pots, platters and bric-a-brac adorned the mantle. A fad of this cleverly economical hostess * is so eschew table cloths. The smooth, white table surface is invariably laid with doylies, centrepieces and tray eloths, some- times white and sometimes blue and white, or yellow, and her china service through- out, though cheap, is blue and white. The whole thing, bric-a-brac, pictures, linen, floorstain, willow plates and all cost just exactly $19. It isn’t ‘“‘swagger,” or even Bohemian, but it’s fresh and pretty and dainty, and it looks as if a lady ate in it. Never try to wear a shoe too small, or that does not fit when you first put it on ; there is no misery more nearly distracting than a shoe that hurts the foot. Never let your shoes get hard and dry ; don’t let them run over ; don’t let the heels run down ; don’t dry a wet shoe until you have rubbed it well with a flannel cloth, then with vaseline.