me The Vacant Niche. Ten years ago I lived for a number ol months in the pleasant little city of Johnstown, Pa., and although sine that time I have traveled the wide, wide world over, and thousands of places have been illuminated by my graceful presence, yet 1 have never forgotten Johnstown and never shall, not while memory holds her own, The reason this city is a historic spot in my private life is because there 1 enjoved that rare oasis of happiness which one only meets once in the desert of life, and that is, I there enjoyed the delectable society of that highly important and rose-colored section of a young man’s existence. my “first girl.” She was young, pretty, poor and proud. After we became very intimate, as is usuual under circumstances, we became very dential, She to tell sweet, graceful way, what she intended to have if thev—her father, mother and the balance of them —ecould “ever afford t."” Her air castles were about as fol- the music such confi. used me, in her Jows: ‘I am going to buy organ vou know I love a dear Little lady's gold ws handsome gold chain, and a little canary bird that will time. These four things heart on and s g ever get rich,” wit And a husband, t I used to frequently speech, and then deeply 1 1 with add to her littl she yuld blue downcast £1 BAY N Well ve ry other crowd pletely In a and for The i Penn Pitts take bered j # thing After mv arr to : scribbled so envelopes younger Then anxion she with not te il time, chang within Messenger addres writing, ¥ for se i OUsiy Wer 3 the same was t It said she wi ditto (1 information ut woul empress, with and al sonal claimes ‘1f von think me, yo under s in y upper story.” astonished I could have there and died. Oh, what ~g change! After we had conversed a while and got acquainted again, I said: “Well, Miss Annie, I see you have got what you used to wish for 80.” “Yes.” “I see you have an organ.” “Yes.” “Anda canary.” “Yes” “And a gold watch and chain.” “Yes.” ‘‘But you haven't yet the last and most important thing of all, a husband. Youn know in the Jong ago, you used to silently acknowl id down what again not saying a word when I said it was, and you were then aware that silence meant ves.” Then she tried to blush some and exclaimed: “No, I haven't got one vet or you would not have been invited here,” and then she smiled in a way I cannot describe. 1 left early; said I had to take the 10 Pp. m. train for Pittsburg; “important business,” ete I did not fill the vacant niche, Rife in a Big City. (Detroit Free Press. ] The New York Hour wonders that so many people want to live in that city, Four small rooms, 100 feet above the ground, it says, ‘divided amongst a family of six or eight, command a higher price in this city than a cheerful three-story house with two large bath- rooms, back kitchen and back stairs in Baltimore or Philadelphia.” Then the nuisances seem almost in- tolerable. There are ‘‘the constant rumble of the elevated railways, day and night, the tinkle of horse-cars, and flies, musquitoes, and the odors of public and private stables.” What is of these people are too restricted in their means to partake of many of the sleasures of the city. segin to have the spending money of #hose in a city like Detroit, THE WOMEN OF BURMAH, Their Fashions and Personal Habits w=«The Burmese Girls, [Chicago Tribune, | The Burmese women before they be- rome mothers are noted for their well- proportioned though small figure To one accustomed to seeing the regular features so prevalent among the r pretty Indian the M features of their Burmese si but after a ofl: girls, ngo £ stops while the and repellant, 10n he country WAYS Their and well ymetrical, the head well nave many and hey are hands and shaped, arms on the they al- 'X Of pt on ' it luxuriant, and is taken the greatest care f, tied up a la chinoise, wreath wd of they igure their ears which are naturally and pretty, put their carriage 18 erect; 10 hair to grow anywhere « heads, where 1t 18 mu with a 4 flowers entwined: The otl ving thems Ives, an man has told a story that a very much; He t poonful of mashed potatoes up a forkful, he lets n his embarrassment he upsets a up of coffee, which the vim makes no difference whatever, but which he knows does make a difference He finishes the meal im such an unsat- sfactory manner that he suffers {rom ndigestion during the entire evening. miffalo, and feels like a fool he ladies ucl and when the mass hostess 4 lis A Race of Sallors, Norway Letter in Ban Francisco Chronicle, ) Talking of ships, it is wonderful to wee how the hereditary proclivity to get nto a boat and sail somewhere is de- reloped among the Norwegian youth snd at what an early age. Yon see parties of small boys in boats that are miniature reproductions of the old Vi- king ship, rowing end sailing about and managing oars and sails like veteran tars. A little fellow, apparently 9 or 10 years old, will sit in the stern sheets sid handle his tiller and order 1bout his Crow, consisting of three or fonr urching of the same age or a year or two younger than himself. with all the sang-froid and gelf- possession of an old pilot. Sometimes they come to grief and get drowned, though it is wonderfully seldom, con- ddering the number of almost infant. ile sailors, that accidents oceur. As for attempting to keep them away from the water, I am sure a timid in trying to keep her offspring of the male sex on dry land as an old hen to warn her brood of daek chicks from a weighboring pond. Seeing the juven- paddling about one wonder that little Norway should boast a commercial navy of sailing ships second ouly to that of {threat Britain. THE PUEBLO INDIANS. Pecutiarities of These Children of Montezumn and Their Quaint Cus: toms, Taos (N. M.) Letter in Inter Ocean. | Archivologists say that the Taos, or, rally il d, the P= eblo indians, of the territories of New » and Arizona, are of the same the Aztecs of old Mexico. i The two J ople any ol re Their appearance is the same, build their houses heir habits of eating 5 lexic iis probable. emblance hey ' LAY In points both of mud; t and drinking nearly identical, In New Mexico the largest , situated Taos end of Juan are located on io Rio Grande, and ¢ IONE No abode h oms, but | ym fe rtable, ashed adobe, f and the floor. In : w strip of paint runs ywer part of the four wal roof exposes the heavy timb support it. The rooms are vi eight by ten feet in size and feet in height, while in the topmost houses the ceiling is too low to admit of standing in an upright position The vounger children of the pueblos run naked, but the older ones igle garment which but half lad d « teow Cien f oae Wear a woman over BOTORA wear a short skirt, reaching about to the knees, and a jacket which is caught one shoulder and is drawn the breast under the right arm, leaving the neck and one shoulder and a good part of the bosom exposed Over the bead they invari ably wear a shawl, which is kept in place in some dexterons manner, no matter what occupation the woman be engaged in. The men wear hes and buckskin jackets, and are sually wrapped up in a blanket of gay colors. The breeches are ia two parts, and are separated near the loins, a “breechiclout” or piece of doth eling. ing closoly to the body hiding the otherw exposed person. Ducks wear Moces , but the women indulge in such lux es only on fete clay which tine they also wear a mord elaborate dress and ornaments at fy Wh A Ravens as Carriers, [Chicago Times.) ravens do the work of carrir-pigeons, A few days ago three of these birds, Fans and Fan- Making. [Pall Mall Gazette. ] For tsore than a thousand years fan- making has been a principal industry of Japan. In this branch of manufac~ ture sbout 100,000 persons are engnzed out of a population of 1,600,000 in th- three fan districts of Osaka, Kioto, m Nagoya. Millions of fans mde sry vear, of which there are many varieties, differing in strength, Other used for the fan-sticks bone, and wood. Vv is sometimes earved and mother-of-pearl, gold and sil wood un ticks is cbony and chestnut, and is quer wl, The tops of ti are made of j and silk from boiling to the FICE Ar are materials are IVOrY IVOry, «i for tree, dist also u it 18 anese so-called pa rare tree, and is favor strength. The pric the “tops,” 81 $ CO a8 any other palm leaf, or, ¢ the “oh ire Most of Fr AIOE, has of | ed for The ames { more « mach mr I Tan ition of black dark shell. ¥ Nas The Galite dea of Sport. Ae in van ri 1 107 1ntosn ood Such little rave the crowd great ; WAS applanded all these noi ng men who went GE srformance i d ¥ va been some would not have done it. What heir motives were, they kept v at work during every pause, and mes, even daring the dancing. Clumsy Farming in England, (Cor. Boston Commercial Balletin,) In New England, two runn a farm of eighty acres would do about all the work themselves only time to hint at the Ex h farming methods and nery, as often, though of course BIWAYS, ¢ x ibited. the roadside an ment and three horses ma- not I have stopped by looked with astonish- dragging a heavy y man polding plows moving at a snail's pace, turning the furrows Now England farmer would SLOW Ono horse reins over hia neck. Bo round-—-two or three men to a single roan's work, and teams of horses out of grovortion to the labor reguired Their Petting Propensition, The New York Journal has been as certnining the petting propensities of a number of leading actresses, from which it is learned that Mrs. MeKee Rankin's favorite is a Mevican dog, Ada monkey, Mme. Ponisi's a cat ealled her in California; Ada Dyas cultivates lose Coghlan divides her terrier, Fanny Davenport keeps fish in that purposs, were thrown tp at Cob- lenty, and all three arrived st Thurant, a distance of about thirteen miles, in eighteen minutes. Their fight issome- what slower than that of pireons, but thoy are safer as carriers, hs thoy are lows exposed to hostile attacks, i passion for flowers and curious shrubs, and Sarali Jewett Lan po pet but ber "Ne Vacation. W. D. Howells, the novelist, says vacations are not necessary. Ho is under tremendous mental strain from one year's end to another aud never rests, i i i The Forvestd of the Gulf Mtrenm, {Philadelphia Times.) face,” said Prof Rothrock, in his new know next to nothing with r of certainty concerning the interic We inhabit. What we that the sea, ever changing in its surface, should withhold her seerets from us?” the belief of the lecturer revenled seicntific res means knowledge Hn the ey oe the earth y 5 naer, then, Mtl, in ' 1 had been f 41 4 Of tha wonders o i deen NNELNOW] growths science | structural of the ocear could Chinese Maggie, armed. SOOT wel i crowd, and the boy ran o his wondering companions.’ The "Oil Mpot”™ of the Nea. (Milwaukee Wisconsin.) “Ko much bas been said of late re 3 of om storms,’ by vesselmen heavy said Lieut of the itter Andy Johnson, “that n any pH ople are led to } reyYepinue o© curling, smashing sea to a liquid mound. t does not ex- way, but its use causes good results, And speak. described. “The “oil spot’ is situated about ten miles south of Sabine Pass, into which flows the Sabine river to the gulf of The river forms the boundary the states of Louisiana and The ‘cil spot’ estends two between Texas, A storm from ast to south 300 to TOO gulf of Mexico into this ni stio haven. During a gale this spot wonderfully defined. Looking seaward, the scene is grand. An acre of towering foam marks the abrapt dis solution of the lashing seas as they thunder towards the shore. This oo curs in about three fathoms, or eighteen feot of water, from which the storm- driven craft, creaking and straining in every timber, emerges and suddenly finds herself reposing like a child rocked in ite mother's arts, hammed in by a wall of wrath, where the weary mariners can be lulled to rest by the roar of the winds, The place is termed the ‘oil spot,’ not from any known analy- sis of its nature, but simply from its It is to be hoped that some scientist will three-quartersof a mile. £ it is pared, (New Y Something light ar most of the ork Letter.) d gent VOuLr vant y i wotlld rather =n week tl LC Ea SKETCHING. The Artistic Work that Can be with a Red-Hot Poker. ¥ Done In d of ‘barn nis-fonch of rains the board; ere is no or S13 4 is il no wiping out board so spoiled t only A yy remedy ti rin on t fie another and do the “1 shades and eolors which mas pro- duced by this burning process. After the application of the varnish it more resembles oil work than anything els nd the deception is so complete that a fouch of the finger is required to re- move it. The indentares may be plainly felt with the hand. 1t may seem that this art has mever developed, but probably there are few people who would care to sit over a fire poi all day and continually suffer from burned fingers for the sake of art alone whole agam. variety of In 18 wonderful to see th strange The Preacher of the Fature, [Christian at Work.) Wo believe the preacher of the future will sever rustle the leaves of his sere monic manuscript in the pulpit, or read off from the written page his invitation to sinners to forsake ther sins and be reconciled to God. And this will be accomnlishad, not by writing the sermon and the committing it—~which is simpl ing the candies at both ends : by a return to the practice of the times when written sermons were uns known, This method involves one's sate urating himself with his snbject- cloth ing a thought here and there in partica- lar form if he please-—and then delivers ing his sermon aller the fashion of the great orators and speakers. Webster pronounced spontaneity to be one of the chief characteristion of true elo- quence. We believe it {6 be reasonably characteristio of the powerfnl sermon as well as that it is Ton wholly lost sight of in the close reatling met iu 50 many of the pulpits to-day. COIne we bios