1 aMEKE@ffiK POLIK L©KE 1 OciENTISTS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY SOON TO O U MEET AND SET FORTH THE RESULT OF THEIR STUDIEJJ "JFS * | —Copyright. i8<)8. To search out and put on record the beliefs, superstitions and myths of the fast dying or already dead old races of America, to gather up and preserve the legends, traditions and some accur ate knowledge of their curious customs and ideas is the work of an organiza tion that is little heard of, but yet is strong among scientists, and has its members in every corner of this "outi try—the American Folk Lore society. Attention is now being directed to these workers in a strange and inter esting field, for the tenth annual meet "AFTER AWHILE THE BOY WHO LAY IN THE BOTTOM OP THE BASKET SCRATCHED A HOLE, THROUGH WHICH HE ESCAPED."—Traditions of the Tillamook Indians. ing or convention of the society is close lit hand, the dates set being December 28 and 2!», and the place chosen Fayer weather hall (the Physics building), Columbia university. New York city. Very nearly 200 folk lorists arc expect ed at this conference, to listen to pa pers on the negro and the Indian, the French and Spanish settlers, the races of Central and South America; a mul titude of odd facts dug in some cases from old documents; in others taken, its in the cases of certain negro settle PROF. O. T MASON. DR. D. G. BRINTON. tnents and Indian tribes, direct from | the lips of patriarchs and others whose \ memories are long-, and who are still j aloof from civilization. Thus the conference will hear, on | these days, and anions' other papers ! already arranged, I'rof. Charles L. Ed wards, of the Cincinnati unive-sity, on ! negro folk lore; Dr. L. Ferrand of Co lombia, on the folk lore of British Co lumbia, and A. L. Krocher, of Colum- I "WELL, DE WITCII SOT DOWN ON TIFE PINB. M hi a. on "Animal Tales of the Esqui maux." The other papers that are to be read will extend the breadth of the study of the meeting to all corners of the continent. For.in whatever pertains to folk lore, the society is eclectic and liberal Its pfeiitest work since its founding in 18*8 has been. It is true, upon the negro «xd the Indian, but that has been only because here lay the greatest wealth of superstitions, record of customs and mythology. There were living repre sentatives of these races at hand, ready to be questioned. The work, however, only begins here. Step by step the folk lore society is digging into a far distant past. Its 11 volumes of its journal (quarterly) and the six books it has published in addition to these, show that a new literature is already well started. Serious scientific men and women make up the backbone of this society— professors of universities, curators and assistant curators of museums—and joined with these are some hundreds of observant, thoughtful people, who are no scientific experts, but have a Jove for these researches, and can sometimes add a word or a thought, contribute an idea or a finishing touch to the papers read and the discussions waged. The lists are open to all, and if anything, there are more women than men members, many of those from the south being useful in thcnegro work. | From almost nothing- has the society | grown in its course of ten years until j now it numbers a famous delegation of | American scientists, particularly of i anthropologists. This is so marked ! that the meeting of the Anthropolog | ical society, to he held in Columbia uni ! versity the same week, will have very many of the same prominent members, j and the two conventions will not be un -1 like. The man and the woman who are severely practical may wonder, per haps. at all this work, and question the advisability of tins great use of print ers' ink. To those not interested in ethnology it may seem a good deal like child play to gatltvr up these quaint stories unil the scattered hints of cus toms. To this argument the folk lore scientists bring forward this answer: CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 189s. "Tlie field being 1 one which no other agency now fully covers, there is thrown upon the society an important task which cannot be postponed. The collection of American oral traditions should be regarded as a national duty. To gather materials for history which are indispensable to anthropological record, and which, unless recorded, will in a few years have irretrievably per ished. appears even more important than the collation of historical records already safely lodged in libraries." The society's head and forefront is William Wells Newell, of Cambridge, Mass.. an author whose immediate work of recent years has been medieval lit erature, he. having recently issued a volume 011 "Arthurian Romance, King Arthur and the Table Round." The projector of it, the editor of its journal, end long its secretary, Mr. Newell has kept on pushing the society through all these years, reaching cut constantly for new members and ever striving to make folk lore better cared ftrr and un derstood among people of education ar.d refinement. Scientists to whom this peculiar field has appealed have cooperated with him, and the result is shown in the quaint papers in the journal. A recent number of this contained the follow ing features, the mentioning of which will be of much interest: Ninth An nual Meeting of the American Folk Lore Society, The Collection of Mary land Folk Lore, Work and Methods of the llampton Folk Lore Society, Negro Hymn from Georgia, Traditions of the Tillamook Indians, The Legend of the Holy Grail, lion-owing- Trouble, Negro Song from North Carolina, Record of American Folk Lore, The Sixth Vol ume of the Memoirs of the American Folk I/ore Society, Folk Ix>re Scrap book. Notes ni.d Queries. Ixical Meet ings and other notices, Bibliographical Notes. As an instance of the material the society is collecting, here is a Balti more, Md., folk lore story (in part): "Georgia, did a witch ever get after yon ?" "Nor'm. but my mother, she knew a woman that was inighty bothered by a witch. Ev'y night, soon as de women went to bed and turn over on her back, dat witch would come and jump oil her and ride her hard, so she couldn't move. So one night she fix for dat witch. She put pins in de seat- ofj a chair, and when de witch come, she sat right down on de pins. Witches have to sot down befo' dey can get out de skin; dey can't ride you long as dey is in dey skin. Well, de witch sot down on the pins, and she stuck fas'. She couldn't g'it up out er de chair, and she beg de woman to let her go, and she promise, ef she oid, she wouldn' come back no mo'. Den de woman let her go!" Six volumes mark the progress of the society outside of the Journal. These are "Folk-Tales of Angola" (Africa), by lieli Chatelain; "Louisiana Folk-Tales," by Alice Fortier; "Bahama Songs and Stories," by Charles L. Edwards; "Cur ient Superstitions, Collected from the Oral Tradition of English-speaking 1-oik," by Fanny D. Bergen, with an in troduction by William Wells Newell; "Nanako Legends," by Washington Matthews; "Traditions of the Thomp son River Indians of liritish Columbia," by James Teit, with introduction by Franz Boas. And here, there and every where does the research go. The society has sev eral local branches, notably one in Bos ton, one in Baltimore, one in Cincin nati. That in Baltimore is diligently sending negro*folk-lore. There is to be a special range of folk-lore studies in ♦iie direction of music, Henry E. Kreh biel. of New York, having collected much in this way. Dr. Henry Wood, of Johns Hopkins university, is the society's president. Charles* L. Edwards is the first vice president. Miss Alice C. Fletcher tbf second vice president, William Wells Newell permanent secretary and John 1L Hinton, of New York, J.retasurer. OF A PERSONAL NATURE. The duke of Cambridge is the only member of the royal family who em ploys a woman cook. A young man named Shivers has been arrested at Chillioothe. Mo., for stealing a stove. Though otic of the youngest general oflicers in the confederate army Gen. Wheeler was the oldest in the national service against Spain. Gen. Wood, military governor of San tiago, before the war broke out was an obscure army surgeon with a salary of $2,400 and no prospects. Uev. Frederick C. Brown, now on the lowa, which is making the voyage to Manila, is said to be the youngest chap lain in the navy. lPisage is 25. ■Senator Fairbanks, of Indiana, is said to be one of the greatest readers in the senate. All new books, especially his tory and fiction, are at once purchased by him. Harrison M. Seal, of Whitcomb, near BrookvilJe, Ind., probably holds the vot ing record for that state. lie voted for Jackson in 1828 and for each democratic presidential candidate since then. Paul Du Ohaillu. who is visiting ir. Boston, said the other daj': "I don't know why I'm always called the 'African traveler.' I spent three times asi many years in exploring the 'land of the midnight sun.' " Balzac's birthday, the 20th of next May. is his centenary, am' it is to be cel ebrated both at Paris'and Tours. It is said that his long-forgotten play, "Mar atre," will be performed at the Paris Odeon. OATMEAL FOR BREAKFAST. The Greek traders seem to have had some knowledge of oats, as they termed them bromos. II is not kno\,vn what country first cultivated the wild oat grass to a con dition usable for human food, nor is any reference made to this grain in the Old Testament. Oatmeal in the olden times wasan ex tremely coarse food, as the only means of separating husk from groat was bruising sundried oats between stones by hand and afterward winnowing in a strong breeze. The phenomenal growth of the oat meal industry in our country is second to none, when it is noted that as early as 1865 the milling of oats was a most limited affair. The larger proportion of oatmeal sold here came from Canada and (ireat Britain and it is an amusing fact that the retail druggists carried packages of Scotch oatmeal in stock to meet the requirements of physicians, who would prescribe gruel for their patients made from it. If our advice wasasked regardingthe consumption of cereals we would give it emphatically, never eat oatmeal every morning, but alternate it with other cereals such as corn, wheat and rye, which are manufactured in such variety of form that you have no ne«d of duplicating your breakfast food but once in two weeks. It has been defi nitely shown that the continuous use of oatmeal by the Scotch people has caused more cases of dyspepsia than any other known food. CONCERNING PERFUMES. Bartholin says:"The odor of the rosemary indicates the. coast of Spain more than ten leagues'out to sea." Cinnamon is an aromatic bark of odorous fragrance. It is* a native of Ceylon and India. The Egyptians and Romans' held it in high esteem. The Bedouins use civet to.anoint their bodies, a substance, of the consistency of honey, strong and offensive in itself, but agreeable when a very small pro portion is mixed with other ingredients. Lavender is. an English production and is cultivated about Hertford, Sur rey and several other districts. Its name, "lavandula," from "lavare," to wash, indicates its use. which was per forming the baths of wealthy people. Some perfumes have a stronger scent than others, some give out their fra grance at special times. Certain flowers need the warmth of the sun. some the soft rain and others the cool r.ight air before they venture to throw •it their redolence into the atmos »here. PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES. Amateur photographers in Russia are obliged to secure licenses. The kite empress, of Austria was an enthusiastic amateur photographer, and.in the course of her wanderings in European countries made over 1,000 studies of the various types of beauty that came in her way. A photographic film 9% miles in length is somewhat of a novelty, even in this age of big things. Threeof these articles of the size stated are now in progress of construction for use in a cinematograph. The cost of these films is about £2OO a mile. Photographic films can, therefore, now be had per yard, per acre, or per mile. One of the latest and most novel, as well as dtaring, feats of the amateur photographer is to take portraits in profile, and then, trim and mount the same so that the head is completely cut away, leaving only the line of pro file. In this the familiar lines, which serve to reproduce what is commonly knownas the likeness, are all preserved. ODD LITTLE FACTS. A woman's brain declines in weight after the age of 30. Many thousands of persons in Chi cago wear wooden shoes. Paper quilts are extensively used abroad by the poorer cla-sses. In very clear water sunlight pene trates to a depth of over 1-.500 feet. Small nostrils are said by physiolo gists to indicate small and weuk lungs. Fieas will never touch an epileptic, and will instantly leave a dead ordvina person. PAINT AND PAINTING. fainting damp wood imprisons the moisture and induces dry rot. From a sanitary point of view pointed walls are best; the worst is a papered wall. Two ounces of dragon's blood dis solved in one quart of turpentine, gives a good mahogany stairi. As a filler and putty, some painters use plaster of l'aris, mixed with week glue, to tli-j consistency of putty. Putty can be kept soft by covering with water, or, still better, with lin seed oil. Any good putty will harden on exposure. When mixing tints in the light, it must be remembered Hint the color will not appear quite the same in a partly darkened room. All light tints are more or less af fected by the application of clear var nish over them. It is better to mix a little of the color in the varnish. If your brush was not cleaned at the proper time, and has become hard, put it in linseed oil and heat the oil until the dried paint is loosened. Dry burnt umber mixed in vinegar makes a good walnut stain, as does also one pound of dry Venetian red mixed in one quart of turpentine and one pint of asphalt. To test the durability of colors in paint, apply a coat to strips of thick pa per and nail them on the wall, exposed to the strongest possible light. Over one-half of the sample or samples of color, fasten heavy paper, cxcludinga.ll light. After a few weel*s remove this covering and note the difference in the exposed and unexposed portions. —The Master Painter. SERVE THE RICH AND GREAT. The salary of Queen Victoria'si chief butler, who looks after the wine, is £ 500 a yea r. The washing of the clothes flor the English royal household costs' more than £.'!,<)<>(> per annum. Mrs. Oliver 11. P. Belmont prefers men servants of herculean proportions. Her new footman is about seven feet high and otherwise in proportion. [Forty servants is the average num ber employed by the Astors, Yander bilts and other multimillionaires, with an average pay roll of SI,O(XJa month. The Rockefeller servants are on duty certain hours, with certain hours for themselves, and they remain indefi nitely, none ever leaving of his own accord. Very many marry, and their children, too, remain as part of the family below stairs. There are 1,500 people upon the Ger man emperor's list of employes, includ ing 850 women servants, who are en gaged in looking after the 22 royal palaces and castles that belong to the crown. Their wages are small. The women receive not more than sl2 a month, and the man servants from sls to $25 a month. Tlie court of Pope Leo XIII. com prises l.Oflfl persons. There are 20 valets, 120 prelates, 170 privy chamber lains, fi chamberlains, 300 extra hon orary chamberlains, 130 supernumerary chamberlain a, 30 offieersi of the noble guard, CO guardsmen. 14 officers of the Swiss guard and police guard, 7 hon orary chaplains, 20 private secretaries. 10 stewards and masters of the horse and 60 doorkeepers. BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS. London has> 45 theaters. Emma Karnes takes great care of her voice, and say® she, "lives by the ther mometer as most people do by the clock." "There is only one thing I enjoy more than singing," sakl Jean De lieszke the other day. "That one thing is bicycling '* Frank Hunter Potter, a nephew of )he Episcopal bishop of New York, is a grand opera tenor, whose stage name is Sig-. Filipe. Sara Dernhardt in 1872 earned S4O a month. During the last five years her average earnings have been SIOO,OOO a year. The sinking of certain masses has been forbidden in the Roman Catholic ch.tirelies of Cincinnati because they too closely resemble operatic music. The manager of a London music hall announces that anyone who purchases a ticket for the performance may have his or her teeth extracted for nothing. The climax in a new English melo drama is a marriag-e ceremony per formed in a church by a burglar, who. being- interrupted in stealing the silver communion utensils, puts on the rec tor's robe and reads l the service. GATHERED FROM ABROAD. Kissing a woman's lips is a gross in sult in Finland. The Slngalese, after extracting- the honey from the bee, chew up the insect itself. The Chinese tael is a coin which has never existed. It is simply a unit used for convenience. Fashionable Japanese young ladies when they desire to look attractive, gild tlwir lips. A Swiss village is to be constructed at Paris for the exposition, at a cost of $600,000. The revenue of Denmark is 40,000.000 crowns, one-half of which sum is ab sorbed by military expenditures. Waiter g-irls in some of the large Munich cafes receive no wages, because they get as much as three or four dol lars a day in fees. FSinee 1879 more than 3,000 houses have been detenarited and closed in Dublin on acaount of their unsanitary condition. When a dog barks at night in Japan the owner is arrested and sentenced to work fir a year for the neighbors whose slumbers may have been dis turbed. POESIES OF THE POETS. lie Xul Vnin Heeinixe of S|tain. We were tempted to be bumptious when the sinking of the Maine Was followed by the drubbing we admin istered to Spain, But 'twill pay us to remember It was arro gance and pride Which led Spain to the sins for which her soldiers bled and died. It may be that republics, like old mon archies effete. May get the big-head badly, toppling off their props and feet. We love our flag of freedom, with its bril liant proiivlse-stars, The many grand achievements frescoed In its battle scars, The grand domain it represents, its men who fear no foe, But ride Wie ear of progress with resistless vim and go; And yet 'tis well to fit the car with air brakes and the like, Control Is of importance from a warship to a bike. So let us mix humility with all our loud hurrahs. Content with common sense to love our country and its cause. To look for inspiration and true wisdom to the skies. Remembering that God is great and In Him vict'ry lies; So while we crow a little for the victory o'er Spain, Mix love with all your loyalty—all braggart brays are vain- Bombastic pride Is but the sugar coating over pain. The greatest are the humblest high in Heaven and here on earth. Solf-praise Is but a bubble and a text for honest mirth; We want to feel responsible for greatness and its use. With penalties awaiting its perversion or abuse. So do not stop to cackle or to waste the precious time, March on in modest might toward our des tiny sublime, For gratitude Is virtue, but mere boastful ness a crime. I. EDGAR JONES. I,et Me Relieve. When boughs are shaken of bloom, and dead leaves drifting, too, I would recall their first perfume and the J sunlight sifting through; When fields lie barren without, and bitter frosts are come, Bid me not hear the winds of Doubt, that with the darkness roam. When hours grow dim and gray, and the song of the year is sung. Leave me the thrill of the dawning day, in a heart that Is young, is young! Though Hope be a blossom whirled, and Time doth pillage and win. Let me hearken the pulse of the World, and learn of Truth therein. Ay, though my dreams shall pale, while night but an ember lures, Let me believe, though Its light shall fall, that Love, that Love endures! —Virginia W. Cloud, in Bookman. Spill ll '* *20,000.000. What'll we do with this money of ours— Money we scarcely expected? No one will hint that we've wasted the hours Nor the country's finances neglected. Shall we devote it to powder and shot. And talk about fierceness and slaughter, Buying ships to be added, no doubt, to our lot Of scrap-Iron under salt water? Shall we simulate pride, and still sneer »t the rules By which the world makes Its progres sion? Or shall we hire teachers and open up schools, And try to be In the procession? —Washington Star. Palmistry. She takes my hand with the soft diffidence That seems a part of girlhood and pro claims The timorous amateur: then glibly names Each line thereon, but holds me in sus pense A sweet long while before she can com mence The oracle's deliv'ry. Like twin flames Her cheeks burn up when finally she frames The promise of long life and affluence. If through some gypsy strain she reckons dear Her reputation as a prophetess, Then by her pleasant art may she dlvlno That it is thrice secured if she will clear My way to all felicity with "yes" In answer to a small request of mltu - —Edward W. Barnard, In Judge. A ToneliiiiK Tale. The playwright with his manuscript Went sadly oxl his way, Threescore and more of ma.nagers Refused his play that day; Then from a corner dark there sprang A robber bold and masked. And of the author, with a gun. His life or money asked. "I've nothing but this play, I swear!" Replied the trembling scribe: "All say it is not worth the string With which the cover's tied!" The robber snatched the manuscript And fled without delay. "Thank God! At last!" the playwright cried, "A man who'll take my play!" —Boston Transcript. A Lullaby. Sof' an' low, sof an' low. An' sweetly es de rlvab's flow. We heahs de music cross de sea Whah spreads