CCA SROTE EE [EE Beworrahit Aatcn Bellefonte, Pa., March 17, 1905. FIGGER UP. If the day seems to carry a burden of woe, Figger up ; If its moments seem dragging and terribly slow, Figger up, For I guess you will find if you pause to re- flect That there’s *bout as much sun as you've right to expect ; If you’ve earned something good, you are bound to collect— Figger up. On the great slate of Time there are many accounts,— Figger up— For various payments of divers amounts,— Figger up, And we're apt to collect what is coming our way, ! Though it’s shine of the sun or gloom of the day ; If we dance, you have heard, we the fiddler must pay — Figger up. Look back on your life, though you'd much rather not,— Figger up— And say, if you dare, that the treatment you got— Figger up— Is not pretty near to the treatment you earned. Who was it the candle incessantly burned, And burned at both ends, until wisdom he learned ?— Figger up. What's the use of a sigh, or the good of a whine ?— Figger up— Take your medicine now, as I must take mine. Figger up, And I guess we may find on the big, final sheet There was just as much shine as of gloom for our feet, Or, if not, that the treatment we had was but meet— Figger up. —A. J. Waterhouse, in Sunset Magazine for Oc- tober. THE OTHER SIDE. The door-bell rang twice and there was a sound of raised voices in the hall. Shelton looked up from his cup of coffee across the table at his sister-in-law with a ques- tion in his eyes, just in time to see her change color. She rose hurriedly, maur- muring an excuse, and went out, shutting the door behind her. babbled on incuriously of the tennis tour- Damens. “Papa will take us,’’ said Elsie, shaking her blond curls with conviction. “Maybe he won’t have time,”’ said the more serious Claire. ‘‘Oh, papa always has time for us; and ’sides it’s for the benefit of the sick chil- dren, and papa said we ought to do all we can for it—’count of Robbie,”’ conciuded Elsie trinmpbantly. Shelton only balf heard; his inner ear was fixed on that colloquy in the hall, and when, after a few minutes, Mrs. Shelton slipped silently into her place, his eyes studied her face keenly. She kept ber’s persistently averted, but there was a red spot on either cheek which had not been there before, and the hand which lifted the coffee-pot shook. Her brother-in-law con- tinued to scrutinize ber pitilessly. There were little lines about the corners of her eyes—those were the sleepless nights with the boy, probably; there were others about the corners of the mouth, and little furrows on the forehead, which he bad remembered as Parian marble,—those were not the boy. The lips were set in a peculiar line, the corners were depressed into the habitual melancholy of those who have forgotten how to smile. Shelton looked at her so earnestly that at last she surprised the look and a hot color came into the thin cheeks. “What kind of a night did Robbie have?’’ asked be. *‘Restless—he slept towards morning; I was up with him most of the night.” There was an implied explanation in the words; Shelton brushed it aside. “Will too, I suppose?’—he glanced at his brother’s untouched place. ‘Ne, I did not call bim;—he took that long tramp yesterday to get Rob autumn leaves, and came home tired out. Besides — I couldn’s have slept anyway. ‘‘Here he is now,” cried Elsie, clapping her hands. ‘‘Papa, papa!” Claire’s face, too, had brightened; indeed, a sudden sunlight seemed to fall upon the room. There are those who seem to bring both sun and air with them; papa was one of them. A gay little echo of whistled melody came in with him, and he stopped on his way to Lis chair to give a soft little mischievious pull to the golden and hrown ourls above the two beaming faces turned to greet him. The children’s babble ran over again in a minute. ‘Papa, it is a good day,” said Elsie; “I bet you a peanus it wonld he, yon know.” ‘And, ob, papa, the ground will be splendid for tennis,” cried Claire. “You will be able to go, won’t you?” Papa laughed and put both hands over his ears. ‘‘Hold on, chicks; give me time to breathe and to speak to mamma. Good morning, Jim. Well, what kind of a night did you have, Lena? How is the little chap?’ ‘She was up all night.”” Shelton spoke sharply. ; ‘Why didn’t you call me, Lena?’ Papa’s voice was reproachful. ‘‘You look all fag- ged ont. I tell you what, chickies, we muss take care of Robin and let the mam- ma get some rest after breakfass.’’. And as papa proposed it, stirring his coffee, and smiling at them over if, it sounded like |. the nicest kind of a proposition. Bus then anything—even a visit to the densist’s— wounld have had almost a festival sound as eminating from him. Papa's eyes were so merry and his laugh was so full of fan, his brown carls were so soft, and everything ahout him so debonair and coaxing and kind. —the individual did not live who had ever szen papa really cross. Uncle James, beside him, was like a column of figures beside a fairy-tale and mamma—even mam- ma—was like a story which you loved but somehow depressed yon and took the smiles out of yon and left yon vaguely un- comfortable. But papa—papa always un- derstood ; you could babble over with him all the fun that was in yon and never be thonght silly, and he cared how your kites flew and whether yon won the dence set in tennis. Mamma often listened so abstracs- edly, you could nos tell whether she really heard or not, and if she made an effors, still you were not sure whether she really cared; but papa cared. It was all real to bim. He always had time to go down and score the match games, and knew every boy aud girl in the set by name, and he understood just why Ned Martin’s serve was ‘‘greas,”’ and where Sune Smith was de- The two little girls plorably weak; and from base ball to ping- pong, and dancing school to the Charity Fair, he was an aathority on all subjeots, and one you could ruthlessly consult at all hours. Uncle James was good at helping you with your lessons in an awfully serious way, and mamma was always to be counted on for buttons and to do up one’s sore throat, or any other barren necessity of life; but when it came to living, papa was the thing. aa listened now in silence to the discussion of the tonrnament for the bene- iit of the hospital—all split up with little langhs and jokes—which went on while papa broke his egg and sipped his coffee. ‘Mamma, however, never even smiled, and presently went upstairs to Robbie. Uncle Jim swallowed his breakfast glamly. ‘Poor mamma,’’ said papa, ‘‘she’s all tired out. Run away lize good little girls and see if you can’t amuse Robbie. I'll come as soon as I've finished this egg.” ‘But, papa,’ said Elsie, ‘‘if we take care of Rob all the morning, you will take us this afternoon, won’t you? It isn’t go- ing to rain, truly, papa.’’ Papa laughed again at her eagerness. “We'll salk about that later on,” he said easily. ‘‘Come, skitter along.’ ‘If you can manage with juss the boys at the shop, Jim,—he spoke soberly when the chiidren had gone,—I’ll stay at home and give Lena a rest this morning; the poor girl has been up all nighs.”’ ¢‘Mossin has been here again with that coal bill, Will,”” said his brother, sharply, by way of reply. ‘‘What are you going to do about it.”’ Papa’s face clouded slightly, but he threw the cloud off resolutely. *‘I told Mossin,’’ he said, in an annoyed tone, ‘‘that I would attend to it at the first possible moment —’ ‘‘He has called three times already.”’ “I'll go round there to-day,’’ said papa, pushing away his cup and rising. ‘‘It’s impossible for me to settle juss now—with Rob needing all kinds of comforts; but for the poor little chap’s illness I could have kept things even. Here only lass week I had to ges a wheeled chair—’’ “I didn’t know that was paid for,’’ said Shelton. Papa looked more annoyed than ever, bus his perrennial sweetness conquered. ‘‘Nobody realizes how these things count up,’’ he said. ‘It’s all well enough for you, Jim, with only yourself to think of; bus I can tell you it’s a very different prop- osition when it comes to five. And now, besides the chicks and Lena, here’s the lit- tle chap with this hip trouble; and I don’t propose my family shall suffer for anything that I can give them.”’ Jim Shelton’s lips opened and shut si- lently. He followed his brother’s graceful figure across the room. ‘I suppose,’’ said papa, turning at the door, ‘‘you can spare me this forenoon.”’ “Of course,’’ said Shelton, dryly. He was still leaning his elbows on the ta- ble, laying out tennis-courts with the crumbs moodily, when his sister-in-law re- appeared and began to clear the table. The Sheltons kept but one maid. “Don’t let that coal bill worry vou, Le- na,’”’ said Shelton abruptly. ‘‘I’ll attend to 16 this morning.”’ Mrs. Shelton’s thin cheeks flashed. ‘‘It was not the coal—this time,’’ she said. “What was it, then?” “The market bill.”” Mrs. Shelton set down the pitcher she was carrying and gripped the table-cloth once or twice. ‘They refuse to leave any more orders till the account is settled; and the doctor insists upon strong broth and chicken for Robbie.”’ ‘*How much is it?"’ “Thirty-seven dollars odd.”’ ‘Will didn’t pay it, then, last month?” ‘Of course not,’’ said Mrs. Shelton, with such an accent that her brother-in-law looked at her. \ ¢‘Sit down, Lena,”’ he said. ‘‘You are worn out.’”’ He himself got up and walked up and down the room rapidly, casting as he did so glance after glance at the woman who sat there staring into the morning suushine with burned and tearless eyes. In that light every one of the thin, sharp lines stood out plainly. Shelton cursed himself softly under his breath as he looked. ‘Don’t worry,”’ he said aloud, ‘I'll at- tend to both bills.”’ ‘‘Do you think that makes it any easier for me!’’ said the woman, sharply, and suddenly her eyes dimmed. ‘For Heaven’s sake, Lena, don’t. Think of the child,” said Shelton. ‘‘And—so far as I’m concerned—why should yon mind? It I died to-morrow, the little I bave would be all yours and the children’s. I’ve taken care of that, at least. And I've got the business where—where I can keep it from ruin.” *‘I am afraid of myself,’’ said the woman; ‘‘I—I am beginning to bate him.” ‘Well!—Idon’s wonder.’’ He walked to the window and looked out. ‘‘It is talking to the wind; I've tried already every posei- ble argument, for your sake, but I'll try again if you say so.” ‘It’s absolutely useless; do you think that I haven’s tried too—all these years? No, there is nothing to do. And the chil- dren adore him—they love him better than they do me.” ‘*‘They ought to he ashamed of them- selves.”’ said Shelton, roughly. ‘Why ought they to be ashamed ‘of themselves?’ —she turned upon him almost bitterly. ‘‘They love him for the same things I loved him for—the same things which I almost hate now!—and the things are true. He is gay and bright, and always doing all the pleasant, expensive things which give them pleasure. Children love what is cheerful and bright.”’ ‘‘It is easy to be cheerful and amiable —and let someone else pay the biils,”’ ob- served Shelton, grimly. ‘Isn't it?" There was a moment’s silence. ‘You would he justified in clearing ont of is altogether,”’ said Shelton, slowly. ‘So far as I am concerned, I have cleared out of it,” she replied. ‘‘But—there are the children.” **They ought to be told; it’s a shame to let them grow up cherishing false idols; they ought to know its all a grand sham.” ‘‘It is not all a sham,’ said bis sister-in- law, lifting her white face almost sternly. ‘Their part is true; the bond is a true one; what they love is trne enough, and what be is to them. And suppose I did take all that out of their lives—suppose I did break their hearts and ruin their childhood, ~—do you think they would love me any the better for it?’ ‘They ought to-—~when they know,’ per- sisted he, doggedly. ‘‘But they wouldn’t; and what could I give them in place of all this?’? ‘You know very well,”” began Shelton, averting his eyes, ‘‘that every cent I have in the world » ‘And you know very well,” interrupted she, ‘‘that I conldn’t take one—then. But thas isn’t what I mean. What could I give them in place of what ha is to them? And he is their father,—and it is my fault shat he is. When they are older, they will judge, iuevitably,—and perhaps they will be able to judge more fairly and kindly than I am able to do. Everything irritates merow. I don’t wonder the children love him best.”’ ‘‘It was always so,” said Shelton, in a low voice. ‘He was the favorite at home and the pet at school; he bad only to wish Ior a heart to win it. He could wheedle and coax anybody for anything. He could sell ten sets of volumes any day now to people who do not want them, while I am trying to sell eomebody a book he has come a mile to buy. He had only to wish fora heart and it was his—child’s or man’s, or—"’ he broke off abruptly. ‘‘WhenI think of the home he took you from.” he began, in a changed voice, ‘of the girl youn were, and that it has come to this—that you are afraid to meet your own trades- people—’ ‘‘I am growing bardened to it,’’ she said with a quiet scorn, which a scarlet stripe, as if he had struck ber, on either cheek be- lied. ‘It is only the children I think of now.”’ ‘‘And even them he manages to steal from you,”’ said Shelton, savagely. ‘It's outrageous. I don’t know how to win them, but you—it’s preposterous! They— they are ungrateful little wretches. If you wou’t do anything else, Lena, for Heaven’s sake make a stand there.” ‘Do you think people love by force?— that I can compel my own children to love me—or you—better than their father?’’ ‘Try, at least to make yourself brighter for their sakes, if that’s what the little beasts care for,”’ said the man, grimly. ‘Will is always talking about the duty of ‘keeping near,’ them; ‘sharing their inter- este,’ —that means going to all the games, and buying Rob an expensive microscope last week instead of—’ ‘The child has been very happy with it,’ remarked the mother, listlessly. *‘He has? Heaven knows I don’t be- grudge him any comfort, but—well, no matter. This cursed tournament, now— Lena, go yourself with the children and cut him ous of it,”’ said Shelton, with growing rage. ‘‘You can’t take the walk, but—look here: let me send up a carriage for once, and you take the little girls and pretend you care! I'll stay with Rob my- sell, and see to everything. Come, it will do you good, make the effors.”’ ‘How oan I?"’--it was almost a cry of despair. ‘‘I tell myself every day I muss; bus it’s no use. I have lost all energy— all hope—all courage, and I am so tired, — so tired of everything.’”” She dropped her head suddenly upon her arms, and Shelton sprang to his feet. His hands worked ner- vously, and he thrust them deep into his pockets as if for security. He looked dumb- ly again and yet again at the bowed figare, and walked away to the door. ‘‘Try, nevertheless, Lena,’’ he said with a hand on the latch. *“I—I’m going myself now to attend to the—the business,”’ and the door closed behind him. It was noon before ‘‘the business” was satisfactorily concluded and Shelton had arranged for an afternoon’s absence at the shop. His face wore its mo«t determined expression as he went up stairs to seek his sister-in-law in Rob’s room. She mes him on the threshold, holding up a warning hand; and Shelton, drawing near, gazed silently. Propped in his father’s arm, the sick boy was sleeping sweetly, one hand clasping a shining object, while the other curled round his father’s finger, who, cramped in behind hin bad held him patiently. The child’s face wore a contented look, but the father’s was white against the pillows; he bad fainted quietly. His wife turned a face as colorless to her brother-in-law. ‘‘He bas not moved for fear of disturbing Rob.”’ *‘Lils the child,’’ said Shelton briefly, slipping an arm beneath his brother; bus at the soach both pairs of eyes opened. ‘What did Ido?’ said papa, witha smile. Fainted? Oh, nonsense? And the little chap was sleeping eo beautifully. You're all right now, Bobbins, aren’t you?” Rob rubbed his eyes, and they fell npon the ehiny thing before them. ‘Look, mamma,’ said the boy. ‘‘Isn’t it beautiful. My papa got it.”’ “For the tournament,’’ said papa, with an embarrassed smile. ‘‘You see, I thought it would please the children, and being for the hospital, I got it for practically noth- ing.” Shelton surveyed the cup—it was of sil- ver, with the date and name engraved. *‘It isn’t much of a oup,” said papa, ‘but at any rate it’s something towards helping the other poor little sick chaps who haven’t any home like this one.”’” He stooped to embrace the boy. s *‘I love you—I love you,’ said the child, wrapping his arms about him ecstatically, and papa held him very close. The two litsle girls came bounding in, dressed in their best. “I told them not to disturb you,’’ said papa to his wife. ‘‘You see I had planned a little surprise, anyway, and as I had promised to take them to the tournament, 16 occurred to me that it would be a good scheme to give them a lunch there, and give you a quiet day, J.ena. We can get sandwiches—something simple—for we mustn’s be extravagant, you know, chicks. Rob is going to watch for us, and not be lonely one bit—are you, Bobbins?" “Isn’t the cap lovely?’ said Claire, soft- ly, creeping to her mother. ‘And isn’t it lovely of papa?’ said Elsie clapping her bands. ‘‘Papa always thinks of the nice things.”’ Papa laughed an embarrassed laugh. “It’s mamma who is the lovely one, you know,’ he said, bending down to caress them; “but at any rate, papa’s little girls love to flatter him.”’ Shelton bad walked to the window. ‘‘There’s a buggy,’’he said in an odd voice, “Did yoa order one?’’ : *‘Oh, that’s'all right,’’said papa, genially. ‘The trolley only goes part way, and the chicks would be all played ont. You know Ibave a pull with Sayer’s, so the carriage costs me almost nothing. We’ll bave a drive too one of these days, wont we, old chap, when the doctor lets us?’ The child threw his aims about him again silently. “My little boy loves his papa, doesn’t he?” said papa in a moved voice. *'S8o do we, papa,’’ cried Elsie, stoutly. Papa extricated himself from the bon- quet of arms with a laugh, but his eyes were dim. ‘Well, come along, chickabiddies,"’ he cried, gayly. ‘‘Good-hy, old chap; you look out and we’ll wave when we go—and the first thing coming back; and if its onr side that wins we’ll tie Elsie’s blue ribhon on the whip, so you oan see it ever so far; bus if it’s the other, we'll tie my white bandkerchief half-mast.”” And papa walk- ed out of the room, each of the little girls with a hand in his. Robin leaned forward eagerly to watch their departure from the window. Papa helped Elsie and Claire into the buggy, then climbed in himself. Papa gathered up the reins; he waved a band, the little fellow waved energetically and fell back exhausted. It was the mother’s arms which caught him. - ‘‘Darling papa,’’ she heard him mutter. Shelton picked up his hat. “I may as well go back to the shop,’’ be said. Leprosy Beaten at Last. Cured of leprosy, with his face clear from ‘the fearful scarf of the dread disease, as smooth as a girl’s, and with the glassy stare gone from bis once expressionless eyes, Lois Sinet, a 15-year-old New Orleans boy, of Creole parentage, has been discharg- ed from the Louisiana Lepers’ Home, as the first leper who has ever been absolute- ly cured by less than divine agency in the history of the world. Success has crowned the treatment administered in the Louis- iana Lepers’ Camp by Dr. Isadore Dyer, consulting leprologiss of the home, and the world’s authority on leprosy, and a short time ago the boy was released from the asy- lum without a trace of the disease for which he was committed to the home four years ago. In the history of the world there is no greater miracle than the healing of the lepers. The healing of the ten outcast and afflicted sufferers at the touch of the Naza- rene has been one of the staple evidences of his divinity. Yet here in these modern days this very miracle has been accomplish- ed. It was not done at a touch in the twinkling of an eye, but years of patient labor and unremitting care were required to take away the taint of the most awful affliction under which the world suffers. Every moment of the day in the life of this boy and of all the other patients in the home is hedged about by the regulations of the physicians and every movement of each patient, man, woman and child, are carefully prescribed. Yes the miracle is not less great on ac: count of the number of years required to the physicians and every movement of perform is. When TLonis Sinet was com- mited to the home, in October, 1902, his hody was the color of coffee. He was cov- ered from head to foos with leprous ulcers; his face was blotched and puckered up with open sores. He had noeyebrows or lashes; his mouth was drawn down sidewise across his face. When he smiled so light-hearted —a boy was he, that even in the depth of this misery he conld smile—she contortion of his face was most horrible. Now he is pleasing to look npon. Hig face is olear, with a slight color in his cheeks, a most unusual thing in a Creole. The skin is as tender as that of a baby, having virtually been made over. There isa new growth of hair and lashes on his once bald head and unshaded eyes; and the eye, which was formerly dull, bleared and glassy, without expression, is clear, and shadows all the emotions of his mind. CURE FOUND AFTER LONG AGES. Ten other patients at the Louisiana Lepers’ Home, the only institution in the world, or in the whole of history, where an attempt bas heen made to intelligently care leprosy, are on a fair way to recovery. ‘*Leprosy in all hut the most advanced stages can be cured at the Lonisiana Lep- ers’ Camp,’’ says Dr. Isadore Dyer. ‘All the treatment means is indefatigable per- severance, not for days, but for months and years. If the remedy is taken early enongh. and maintained, leprosy can: he cured in any case except where the patient is in the last stages, and where the disease has made such terrible inroads that the sources of life bave heen sapped, and there is not sufficient foundation on which to build a new body. ‘In ten years the catalogues of incnrable diseases will have been lessened by one disease. The awful scourge of leprosy will have been cut out of the list of irremedi- able visitations and placed on the same harmless list with typhus, typhoid, yellow fever, cancer and tubercnlosis.”’ Eight months ago the announcement was made by Dr. Dyer, in a lecture hefore the Jesuit College in this city that leprosy had been cured. The news was flashed over the habitable globe within 24 hours. Inoredulity was expressed by the whole world. Telegrams came from far-away Russia and Germany. A prominent Berlin specialist, hitherto deemed the world’s au- thority on leprosy,sent a long letter to Dr. Dyer, asking for information. The Inter- national Dermatological Congress, which meets every three years in Europe, and contains the world’s greatest specialists on skin dis:ases among its members, sent Dr. Dyer an urgent invitation to address them at their conference held last September in Berlin. His address was one of the fea- tures of the whole Congress, not only at that convention, but since its organization many years ago. Before that Congress Dr. Dyer presented a paper on ‘‘Leprosy in North America,” which contained statistics of the disease throughout this continent, including Mexico, Canada and some Central Ameri- can States. LEPERS ON NEW YORK STREETS. The startling information was contained in the fact that there ate fully 500 lepers abroad in Louisiana, aud more than 200 walking on the streets of New York. “*These latter,’ the report states, ‘‘are entirely without attention by the medical authorities of that State, who have asserted that the disease is not contagious in spite of the world’s experience to the contrary." These lepers are free to walk abroad upon the streets of the national metiopolis, con- tinually spreading the danger of contagion to all whom they may chance to brush against in the course of their peregrina- tions. No care is taken of them; there is no place where they may receive special treatment,and the danger is not even recog- nized by the city’s medical authorities. “There are 2,300,000 lepers in the world,’’ said Dr. Dyer, commenting on this report. ‘‘Three million out of an esti- mated population of 1,438,680,000 souls, or one for every 500 souls. Ont of every 1000 persons that walk the habitable globe, there are two afflicted with this awfal and loathsome disease, hitherto incurable.” The figures are appalling : 20,000 lepers in Japan, 200,000 in India, 2,000,000 in China and thousands and thousands in the Philippine Islands. The acquisition of the Philippines, Guam aud Porto Rico have made the question of leprosy an important one to the whole country. Every one of the Philippine Islands is infected ; one-tenth of the population of Guam is infected; in Havana there are 11 lepers now in she 1so- lation hospital at San Lazardo. There is a lazaret in nearly every important city in our new acquisitions. : DESCRIBES THE FIRST CURE. Speaking more in detail of the treatment by which Sinet was cured, Dr. Dyer said : ‘‘Absolute cleanliness, pure food and regularity of living are enforced. The vir- tue of the treatment is that it re-enforces the tissues that have been eaten away by the disease and enabies the system to work them off. It is simply she enlistment of soience to aid Natare in shrowing off the euoroachment of disease and to rebuild the destroyed tissues. Constant bathing is a great feature to enable the skin to throw off all impurities at ovee. “Certain ointments ate used in small quantities, and an extremely limited quan- tity of drngs is also given the patient. Strychnibe bas been given regularly in one to twenty grain doses, and chanlmoogra in gradually increasing doses, from five to fifty drops. ‘In the early part of February, 1903, he developed leper fever. In May, 1903, dosage had reached fifty drops. In the summer of 1904 he was taking regularly twenty-five grains three times a day. He bad grip in January, 1904. Otherwise he has been in perfect health. ‘For both males and females, chaul- moogra oil and strychnine in gradually in- creasing doses have been given, the treat- ment varying altogether with the necessi- ties of the patient. Hot baths formed a very large part of the treatment, and the regular diet and exercise, with the excel- lent fresh air and ozone of the Louisiana pine woods, are potent factors in the treat- mens.’’ Attention! Youngsters. Most young people are willing to do trifling acts of courtesy and kindness when they are asked for; even when it is at a cost of some sacrifice on their part, ‘they generally make the sacrifice with agreeable promptness. Bat there is special grace to be given the favor that is done before it is asked or without any previons knowledge of the recipient. It ie such a pleasure to find things and without having to beg some one to do them that the timely thought of somebody is gratefully appreciated; and, although the thought may not be easy to give at first, is grows by practice. Suppose some older person enters the room where the feather-hearted younger person sits, the moss comfortable corner of the room is found vacated, the relief of not needing to turn some one else out adds greatly to the zest of occupying it. Suppose the eyes that find is harder to thread needles than they used to do found needles threaded in the work basket, what a delightful surprise ! Suppose the stockings, that nightmare to the busy mother, were suddenly seen to be sorted, folded, and put away; those to be mended laid in order, although the invisi- ble worker might not be able to darn well enough to mend the rents—another delight- ful surprise. Suppose heaps of such little things of the sort which are always waiting to be done were silently accomplished, with a loving wish for the comfort of somebody’s tired body and mind. It is well worth while for mothers to undertake the work of ‘line upon line and precept upon precept,” which will train their little ones into habits that will later on prove of solid comfort. A Bit About Lent. With Ash Wednesday began the Lenten season—the fasting time before Easter, which from the beginning of the Christian era has been ohserved in the Catholic, Fpiscopalian, Greek and Oriental churches. The observance of Lent is an ancient custom banded down by the early Chris- tian fathers. Formerly the usage of Lent excluded all meats and the fast was strictly kept. Gradually the roles were relaxed. In Spain, is is said, during the Crusades and the wars with the Moors the practice began of permitting in certain cases the substitu- tion of a contribution to the holy war for the observance of the Lenten abstinence. The term Lent bad its origin with the Anglo Saxons, who called March ‘‘the stormy month,’ ‘‘the rugged month?’ and “the lengthen month?’ or length month, be- cause in this month the days rapidly lengthen. Ae the chief period of the fast occurs in March it was given the name of Lent. . Easter Sunday this year will fall on April 23rd. Extension of World's Largest Farm. The largest farm in the world, which until recently was in Missouri, has been extended into Iowa, says the Kansas City Journal. It is owned by David Rankin and his son, W. F. Rankin, of Tarkio, Mo. The elder Rankin ia worth $1,000,000 and has made it by farming. He owns 23,500 acres in Atchison county, and, being still afflicted with the desire to own more land, bad to reach into Fremont countv, Iowa, the other day, when he bought 3,500 acres more. Rankin never sells. He is a cattle king, a corn king, a land king, a philan- thropist and a captain of industry. He employes about 300 persons, representing 1,500 population. His Devoted Assistant, No small credit is due to Dr. Ralph Hopkins, the young conferee and assistant of Dr. Dyer. Dr. Hopkins is resident leprologist, and his regular report to Dr. Dyer as consulting leprologist form the only intelligent tabulated records of sys- tematic observances on systematic medical treatment of leprosy in existence. Dr. Hopkins lives among the lepers. He is risking everything for the cause of sci- ence and, should he contract the disease, he would be obliged by State law to re- main among the lepers while undergoing his own treatments. The White of an Egg. The white of an egg is made up of little cells filled with albnmen. By heating the white these cells are roptured, and oxvgen from the air is inclosed, which gives the white and light appearance to beaten eggs. The white of a stale egg will not inclose as much oxygen, will not be as light and as easily digested as that of the fresh egg and, of conrse, less valuable. The importance of heating the egg in cold, pure air is readi- ly seen. Snakes’ Eyes Never Close. The svuake has one great protection against assailants, He appears to be al- ways awake and on his guard. This is ex- plained by the fact that the eyes of snakes never close. Night and day, sleeping and waking, alive or dead they are always wide open. A snake's eyes are not protected with lids, but with a strong scale. This is as clear as glass, and, of course, affords not the least impediment to sight. DINNA FRET. Is the road very dreary, Patience yet ! Rest will be sweeter if thou art aweary ; And after the night cometh the morning cheery, Then bide a wee and dinna fret, The clouds have a silver lining, Don’t forget ; And though he’s hidden, still shining ; Courage ! Instead of tears and vain repining, Just bide a wee and dinna fret, —Torquil MacLeod. ——Sabscribe for the WATCHM AN. the sun is Lew Wallace’s ¢“Ben-Hur.” The death of General Lew Wallace® re- calls the circumstauces of his first visit to the establishment of Harper & Bros. in New York with the manuscript of ‘‘Ben- Hur’ under hisarm He was personally unknown to the Harpers as that time, and after introducing himself he explained to Mr. J. Henry Harper that he had written a book which dealt with the life of Christ. Mr. Harper asked him if Christ actually appeared in the story, and Gen. Wallace replied that he did. Mr. Harper then re- marked that this suhject was a delicate one to treat in a novel, and Gen. Wallace an- swered that if there were anything in the story which could offend a fellow Christian he would rather cut off his right handfshan publish it. He then explained to Mr. Harper that the book hag resulted from a spirited con- troversy he had held with Robert G. In- gersol on the subject of religion, in which Ingersol bad defeated him in argument. Gen. Wallace went away from the discus- sion with a troubled mind. For some time he contemplated writing a theological work which would strengthen religious faith at the point of Ingersol’s brilliant attack. But he decided that theologians could do that work much better tha he, and besides bis desire was to reach and help the masses. He lay awake by night pondering the ques- tion which had taken possession of his mind and eventually decided to write a religious novel in which he could embody his understanding of religious truth. ‘‘Ben- Hur’ was the result. When General Wal- lace had told these interesting facts to Mr. Harper he left the manuscript, expressing the hope tbat his own estimate of the work would be indorsed by the house. The manuscript was read in the usual way by the readers of the firm and was promptly accepted. Gen. Wallace told Mr. Harper later on that he had written the book in all sorts of out the way places —on hoats, railroads, in carriages, wherev- er he bad an opportunity—afterward correcting and revising with the utmost patience and care. It seems astonishing that he bad never been to the Holy Land when he wrote ‘‘Ben-Hur,’”’ but worked out the minute topography of the country as ii is presented in the story entirely from mape and reading. He once said to Mr. Harper that wher eventually he did visit Palestine he was himself surprised at the absolute accuracy of his descriptions, which tallied exactly with the facts, and he was fond of telling how he found the very stone which he bad imagined as a resting place for Ben-Hur at a certain point of the story. The hook was published on Nov. 12th. 1880, and for the first year the sales hung fire. It showed no signs of general popu- larity. Then it began to grow year by year, and it bas now sold well on to a mil- lion copies. st —r— The Shamrock. We hear much about the shamrock these days. How mavoy of us know much about it? In the dim past the name shamrock is supposed to have heen applied to a plans of the geuns oxalis, or wood sorrel, which alsp has trifoliate leaves, Just now numerous pans of oxalis are to be seen at their best at Hortieultural hall, Fairmount Park. They are in the East hall. Not everybody knows how this plant, which is commonly known as the white trefoil and white clover, came to be the emblem of Ireland. One authority (Lover) says that when St. Patrick first preached the Christian faith in Ireland before a powerful chief and his people, he did nos think it was to enter into a theological definition when asked to ‘explain the Trinity, so cast about him for some simple little image that would en- lighten rather than puzzle. So St. Patrick stooped to the earth and picked from the green rod—which is so softly green because there is not much sun- shine and a good deal of moistuare—a sham- rock. He held this trefoil up before the people and bade them behold one in three. The chief was at once convinced, as were all his people, and they straightway adops- ed the faith preached by the interesting saint, so the legends run. Why Is It? Everybody knows how the wheels of a railroad car are fastened to the axle. They are shrunk on—that is, put ou hot and al- lowed to shrink in cooling so thas they are practically a solid piece with the axle. These cars go around curves, and it will be observed that the outer rail covers a great deal more ground than the inner one, so that to turn the curves and finish even the outeide wheel must of necessity travel con- siderably faster than the inner one. Yet it is fixed solidly to the axle and cannot make a fraction of a revolution more than the other one, yet the axle remains intact, and the curves are passed with untiring regularity. Why is it ? Finest Coffee in the World, We ought to buy more coffee from Mexico, for the slopes of the gulf produce some of the finest coffee in the world. European con- sumers are more paticular than the people of the United States. The importers over there have agents in all the coffee countries picking over the crop every year and buy- ing the best grades; while the poorer qual. ities, which are not wanted in the European markets, are shipped to the United States and dumped on docks at New York, Balti- more and San Francisco for our commission merchants to get. We use five times as much coffee as any other nation in the world, hut we are not go particular as to its quality. LIFE GUARDS.—The Life Guaids are two regiments of cavalry forming part of the British housebold troops. They are gallant soldiers, and every loyal British heart is proud of them. Not only the King’s household, but yoors, ours, every- body's should have its life guards. The need of them is espesially great when the greatest foes of life, diseases, find allies in the very elements as colds, influenza, ca- tarrh, the grip, and pneumonia do in the stormy month of March. The best way that we know of to guard against these dis- eases is to strengthen the system with Hood’s Sarsaparilla—the greatest of all life guards. Is removes the conditions in which these diseases make their most successful attack, gives vigor and tone to all the vital organs and functions, and imparts a genial warmth to the blood. Remember the weak- er the system the greater the exposure to disease. Hood's Sarsaparilla makes the system strong. ——Children are notoriously eager to ac- quire facts. The following question was asked by a lad of seven after he had ridden upon his uncle's knee : ‘Say, Unole Will, what hecomes of your lap when you stand up ?""—Youth’s Companion.