IRISH LAMENTATION.
Cold, dark and dumb lies my boy on his
bed ’
Cold, dark and silent the night dews are
shed ;
Hot, swift and fierce fall my tears for the
dead !
His footprints lay light in the dew of the
dawn,
+ As the straight, slender track of the young
mountain lawn ;
‘Il ne'er again follow them over the
lawn,
But
His manly cheek blushed with the sun's
rising ray,
And he shone 1n his strength like the sun
at midway,
AWAY,
And that bluck cloud forever shall cling te
the skies ;
And never, ah, never, I'll see him arise,
Lost warmth of my bosom, lost light of my
eves!
SABINA'S VACATION.
Sabina Gray.
them away!”
Sabina Gray was
working woman. For three years she
had sat bebind the cashier's desk in a
great lace and ribbon store on Chestnut
street, making change, adding up long
rows of figures, deciding whether this
coin were spurious or that banknote
counterfeit, balancing her books every
“How shall I ever pass
last, and commencing anew avery morn-
ing as regularly as the clock
sig ht—until, one sultry afternoon, the
battslions of figures seemed to reel and
grow dim before her eyes, and they
carried her home in a dead faint, to the
breathless horror of her mother, her
wages in gay clothes,
duties!
“Bless me!” said poor Mrs, Gray,
“And we with only two dollars left afier
the rent is paid and the grocer’s bill 1s
settled!”
give up her situation, when we need
her salary so much,”
eldest of the school teaching pair, who
had just bought an imitation gold neck-
lace,
«Of conrse, it is out of the question,”
said Belinda, the second girl, who was
saving up for a silk gown,
“* Very well,” said the doctor, brusque-
ly. ‘In that case, you may as well crder
her coflin at once,”
And he went out, with small cere
mony.
“‘Horrid, heartless bear!”
nor.
“Doctors never do have any nerves,”
said Delinda,
said Eli-
faded handkerchief around his neck,
and pulled his cap over his ears, and
went down to Mechlin & Marabout’s to
tell his simple story,
a few days, sir,” said he to the head
man. ‘Because the dootor said she
must have rest, and I don’t think she
wiil have the courage to ask you her-
self.”
The head man, although he looked
so bearded and majestic that Bobby's
heart sank within him, bad yet a kind
heart.
“You are a good boy,” said he. *'Yes,
tell Miss Grav that she can have tw
weeks— her salary to go on just the same
—from Monday next,”
And Bobby sped home, like an arrow
out of a bow, to tell the good news
The next question was was
Sabina to go? Hotels, fashionable re-
sorts crowded boarding houses, were out
of the question for an individaal of her
slender means,
‘“There’s Cousin Alyssa Streeter has
an elegant cottage at Long Branch,’
said Mrs, Gray. “‘She used to spend
six weeks at a time with me when we
were girls together, and my father was
a well-to-do farmer. I will write
to Fer. Bhe will be glad to receive
ou
where
her.”
“What difference does that make?”
said kind Mrs, Gray, who believed all
the world was as kind and loyal as her-
self
“She
broker,”
wondered
° there,’
New York
“1 often
invite us
married a rich
said Miss Kliuor,
that she did not
Belinda, ‘Maria Middleton
once. A perfect Adonis! I say, Ina,
how [ wish I could go with you!”
lay, in which two of the precious vaca-
frigid note came back.
a room romewhere for Miss Gray, if it
was absolutely necessary (these last
come at this particular time,
Sabina made a little grimace, as she
read the letter which her mother handed
her,
“Must I go, mother?” said she,
“I don't ses that there is any choice
left for you,’ sdid Mra, Gray, sadly.
“It will be the worst dose of medi-
cine I have ever taken yet" said Sa-
bina.
So she started with her little travel-
ing bag sud the blue-lined bonnet that
made ner face took like a newly blos-
somed violet, so sweet, and fresh, and
innocent, Bat instead of taking her
ticket for Long Branch, she bought one
for Mauch Chunk instead,
For there in the leafy wilderness that
skirts the besutiful Lehigh river, lived
old Aunt Mehitable Cooper, who wove
rag carpets for a living,
In the family disoussions no one had
mentioned Aunt Mehitable, She was
oid and she was poor; but in her secret
heart Sabina felt that rhe had rather
go to Aunt Mehitable, in her one-storied
farmhonse, than to share the elegance
of Mrs, Streeter's Queen Aune Cottage
at Loug Branch,
“I will write to mamma when I get
there,” she thought. “I krow Aunt
Hetty lost a daughter ounce, and per.
aps that will make her none the less
glad to see me; and perhaps I can help
her about her carpets; and I know
| there used to be such lovely wild
| fluwers 1n the woods sround the Lehigh
river,
charsoteristio ejaculation, as her grand-
wild flowers, ‘Why, it's Mary Gray's
| darter Sabiny, ain't it?
i
| at me.”
| “I've come to visit you, Aunt Hetty,"
| sayd Sabina,
Then she told her simple tale,
| room, because I've got a boarder—a
| city young man, Come out here for
| three weeks to fish.”
“Oh!” said Ssbiua.
| “Bat he's real pleasant,” added Aunt
| Hetty. “No more trouble than a
chicken, His name is—bless me! here
he comes now. Adam, this 18 SBabiny
| Gray. Sabiny, this is my boarder,”
Sabina had been half inclined to be
| yexed at the idea of this delicious soli-
tude being invaded by any one save
herself, but one glance at the hand-
some, frank face of Mr. Adam dis-
armed her; and they were presently
the best of friends, chatting away on
the doorstep, while Aunt Hetty baked
biscuit, set forth a comb of new honey,
| and produced a dish ot wild straw-
berries whose fragrance
the whele room, and broiled some
delicions spring chickens of her own
raising.
And after tea Aunt Hetty
Sabina out to the shed to see the
carpet loom, where the bright colored
rags glowed like sections of a kaleido
i scope.
“Why don't you lock the door, Aunt
Hetty?” said Sabina
‘Lia, child!” said the
“What should 1 lock it for?
old woman,
Nobody
| house —they won't wait until 1 get the
| north chimney fixed up again—and the
neighbors to see about jobs of carpet
| weavin'l I've a deal of time to work
gince Adam come. He milks for me
| time, He lights the fire for me, too, of
a morning, and fills the kettle, and
| brings in wood for all day!”
“Oh!” thought Sabina. ‘‘Mr, Adam
is a poor young man, is he, working for
his board? Well, I'm a poor young
woman, and | must do the same.”
“Well, Auut Hetty,” she said,
cheerily, “I'll cook the dinner for you
and sweep the house—
and you must teach me to weave rag
carpet.”
“La, me, Sabiny! that arn't no way
to treat company!” said Aunt Hetty.
“You're here to go walkin’, and gather
posies, and freshen up those white cheeks
of yours a bit!”
“Yes, Aunt Hetty, I know,” said
Sabina, coaxingly, “but [ would rather
nelp you a little, too—just a little.”
So the next day she tied one of Aunt
Hetty's gigantic checked aprons around
her, and cooked the glistening spotted
which Mr, Adam brought bome
afterward she washed the dishes
and wove half a yard in red and
bine carpet, which chanced to
be on the loom, before she went walk-
ing.
“jt is such a wild, lonely " she
said to herself, “I should like to weave
rag carpet always!”
She lost her way in the woods, of
course: but what cared she for that? It
was only the biue windings of
the river Liehagh till she reached home
—and, before she was half-way there,
Mr. Adam overtook her, and
had a pleasant walk back to the
tage,
There is no place like a snmmer glen
for becoming well acquainted, and
presently he had told her that he had
to Mauch Chunk to get out of
the way of a houseful of company at
home,
“My mother wants to marry me to
sn heiress,” said he, a3 they sat resting
on a mossy log by the river side. “A
young woman with green eyes, a muddy
complexion, and a temper as crooked as
her nosel”
“Oh, you could never do that,” said
Sabioa.
**Not at all 1” said he, with emphasis,
+My ideal is a blonde, with light
brown hair, blue eyes, rather a low brow
and"
He stopped suddenly,
Sabina's face flushed.
| the exact description of the fair coun-
trout
and
rag
%
Ww life,
to follow
they
cot-
come
river?
versation,
cashier, rather—in a Philadelphia store,
1 have ten days’ vacation to spend here,
| onsin in Long Branch, but—but 1 pre-
ferred to come here, Now, Mr. Adam,
| we must burry back. 1am to get tes for
| Aunt Hetty."
| “We will hurry back, by all means,”
said he, “Bat you mustn't call me Mr,
| Adam. Say Adam.”
| **That would be very familiar,” said
| Sabina,
| “My name is Adam Streeter,” said
ne, ‘And I certainly shall not permit
yon to say Mr, Streeter,”
Sabina started,
"Streeter 7” she said,
Alyssa Streeter’s son?”
“I am.”
“It is Kismet!” cried Sabina, laugh-
ing. “1 came here expressly to get
away from yon.”
He bit his lip.
+I comprehend,” said he, *'You are
the pretty working girl whom mother
was so afraid of, Perhaps that was
one reason why she was so anxions
that I should come out here trout fish-
a"
“Are you
Isughing, until
echoed again,
Was it at all strange that, under the
circumstances, Adam Streeter and
| Sabina Gray fell in love with osoh
| other?
| At the end of the two woeks, Mrs,
the gray old rooks
Gray came to Mauch Chunk to briz
her daughter back to the city,
Sabina was at the train to meet her,
and drove her home in Neighbor
Hawkin's wagon, through the Lehigh
woods,
“Bless me, darling—how plamp and
rosy you have become,” said the widow,
“Oh, yes, mother,” smd the girl; *'I
have grown quite, quite well again!
est rag carpet you evep saw, all out of
odds and ends. And—snd I am en-
gaged to be married to Cousin Alyssa
“Dear me!” ejaculated the bewildered
madd
should happen in so short a time?”
Sabina, brightly.
As if love—the rogue—did not al-
The time had come for the out-blos-
soming of Sabina Gray's heart—that
was all!
fl ff es—
An Indlan Delicacy.
They do not appear to be governed by any
tribal laws, yet adhere to many of their
old traditions. The tide of industry and
civilization swe«ping over and around has
left them greatly modified by the conlact,
acteristics of the race, in some
they are much improved. One
men of superior ability and industry form
a nucleus around which others less ambi.
tious gather. Here they fence with braeb
and logs a tract sufficient for their require-
ments of hay-making, pasturage, etc.
They invariably build their cabins upon
most sightly pont, even when
spring that furnishes their water is half.
way down the hill. This habit has no
doubt descended from a warlike ancestry,
and is no evidence of an esthetic delight
in hazy valleys and misty mountain tops.
when water is pleotiful and the weather
propitious. They cannot always walt for
their maturity.
trions and find remunerative work
wood-chopping, sheep-shearing, etc.
Although they often indulge in the food
of cinilized nations, the acorn is still a
favorite article of diet in every weli-
regulated wigwam. The process ol oon-
palatable bread is curious
branches of a grand old pine I found them
at work. They had shucked and ground
in the usual mannper a large mass of the
acorn meats; a8 number of
had been hollowed out of the black soil,
much the shape of a punch-bowl lato
At hand
large clothes-baskets filled
and into these they dropped
stood several
with walter,
required temperature,
crushed bitleroess
Upon the masa of
they carefully Isdled
the bet water, making it about the color
and consistency of thin cream. Not a
speck appesred to mix. A buxom muhbais
stood by each vat and with a small fi
boagh stirred the mass, skillfully remov.
ing any speck thst floated upon the
surface, The soil gradually absorbed the
bitter walters, leaviog a firm, white sub
stance, of which they make bresd.
taste of it, at which they
in their langusge and all
again, and after more
r handed a small particle
i sweel and
0
laughed,
aug hic
and found it
began al once 0
ly was this
n adbered to the soil
upon the rocks, and ins
was fit for use.
waler,
we
ipo
.
mix with
bake bef
nat int
Pas IDO
the fire
AAPA
Delall’'s Impressions of Washington,
itte of Haron
DeKalb, t y Frederick Kapp,
gives at length the story of this brave but
riunate French offic who fell a
Camden in Revolutionary war. De
y was a trained soldier, and scems al
first to have looked upon Washington's
military character with a contemptuous
eve. His first impressions of Washingion
are thus given 1a a letler to De Broglie:
“] have not yet told you anything of
the character of General Washington.
1# the most amisble, kind-hearted and
upright of men; but as a General he 1s 100
slow, oo indolent, and far too weak; be.
sides, he has a tinge of vanity in his
composition, and over-estimates himself,
In my opinion, whatever success he may
have will be owing to good luck and to tbe
blunders of his adversaries, rather than to
his abilities. 1 may ever say he does not
know how to improve upon the grossest
biuaders of the epemy.
overcome his old
French."
His ister
fit gr
¥
uni a
te
[$41]
WR
prejudice against the
estimate of the American
letter to Henry Laurens, which Mr. K«gp
prints from the manuscript, he writes:
Washington, that he must be sa very
cause, forbearing public complaints on
that account, that the enemy may not be
apprised of our situstion sand take advan
tage of it. He will rather suffer in the
opinion of the world than hurt his country,
in making appear how far he 1» from
having so oonmderable an army as all
Europe and a great part of America believe
be has, This would show, at the same
than could be expected from any General
in the world, in the same circumstances,
person (nobody actually being or serving
in America excepted), by his natural and
acquired capacity, hus bravery, good sense,
uprightness and honesty, to keep up the
gpirits of the army and people, and that |
look upon him as the sole defender of his
country’s cause. Thus much 1 thought
myself obliged to say on that head. |
only could wish, 10 my pnvale opinioa,
he would take more upon hlmeell, and
trust more 0 his own excellent judgment
than to councils, but thus leads out of
the way.”
bn ISS
Mr. Crisp showed at a recent mest
ing of the Mieroscopioal Society, Lon-
don, a very enrious microscope bearing
the date 1772. Besides possessing
other peculiarities, it had three objec.
tives attached to a sliding piate at the
end of a nosepiece in a manner similar
to that adog in the constrsaotion of
the modern Harbey and other miero-
OOPS,
How the Fort was Saved,
There came to my hut,
summer's day, crawling
mr,
painfully
one
on
ain talking about,
& snake—a “‘moccasin,’’ if my memory
serves aright, I took him in, out of the
sun, and gave him nearly sll the cordial I
had in the hut,
his eyes and spoke, [ gave
cordial now in tea-spoonfuls. 1
leaving him. But he was on his feet and
well again at last, and if ever lears wee
he bade me good bye. 1 hadn't
much at the fort during the red-skin’s
about me, when one forenoon Doddie and
I came clattering over the drawbndge,
evening in autumn the dog barked; next
moment my red skin steod before me with
a finger on hs lip.
“Hist!” he said; andl
Ob, sir! Tom Morns was a
he was informed by that poor
friendly red skin that al twelve thal night
in it
ww be
tribe of red skins, and every one
save Mary, who was
«ged off into captivity,
1 thanked the Indian, blessed him, then
The saddle was broken; it must be a
ride. There was Lime
no accident, It was now eight
yelock, and 1 mounted, waving adieu Wo
the lodian, and rode away eastward in tbe
direction of the fort. In an hour 1 was
Here the main road branched
away round among the mountains, "There
time to take that. My way lay
the ford and through the forest,
out.
ACT OAS
sod coming out at another ford,
within & mile of Klis Fort and Farm.
1 headed Doddie for the stream, and we
were soon over. 1 knew the path, and the
moon was up, making everything light as
day.
But jook ahead!
moon's light,
The forest
Alas! no, sir; iI was
was in flames. | thick
was done by Lhe savages U
me, In half an bheur more, mr,
the flames were licking the grass within
r pathway, and runmng in
bark of the trees,
intercept
tongues up the
Next moment
g forest. To fly from the fire
threw mysell on my
despair. Ob! the agony of those
minutes! But even then 1 believe
that | thought more of poor Mary and her
own wretched end
! at I started to my feet, for a
nose had sudged me on the arm, It
PDaddie, and in an jostant we were
ing again through the forest, "think
might have made the ford, but my
horse now seemed lose all control of
nimself, and 1 of
was thrown,
once
0
Doddie made for the river above this
ford, and then he took a desperate leap
into the deep water. But be was quieter
w, and it was easy to head him down
stream, and at last we were onoe
wm ferra firma with the broad
the fire. We blew
barricaded the gate
arrival—and sol a
an hour afterwards
the
READ
river between Us and
and
wy
iw hall
surrounded by howling
hef came next evening, in
unted soldiers; and 1 feel
t was that grateful Indian
- AA A IS
Smuggling as a Fine Art
A boatman on the Si. lawrence
in this maaner ia relation t
that river :
“Yes,” he continued, in reply to a ques-
tion regardiog his smuggling, ‘ll trav.
vo New York ports for a good many
years and I reckon they all knew 1 was
nabbed
once, and that was by a detective thal gol
on al Havana with me and got into me by
sayin’ that be was smuggling’. 1 lost ten
thousand cigars that time and gave it up,
Wall, | knew they was up
to all sorts of dodges, so I brought = joad
talked
y snuggling on
Of
but
fill a schooner, and a good pile
hold three hundred
‘em 1n-
all nght,
I got
dock
to the Fulton Market
unloadin’ ‘em, when
with
business.
and officer and
He kept out of
me on the boat,
seized the hull
They would have gone through all nght if
I hadn't given It away like a foul.
“But the fruit dodge was an old one. |
had a friend, who worked the dimond
racket, that put me up to it, There was'nt
him,
had over £50,000 worth of di"inonds that
he wasn’t goin’ to pay duty on. Where
"sve supposs he had ‘em? Wall, in hws
state room he fiad as big a bunch of bana-
nas AS ever YOU BAW, seme green and some
ripe, and the green ones he had slit on the
side next to the bunch on the nmde, and
in each ome was a stone and 1n some two
or three. Wall, when we got to New
York the inspectors came aboard and one
walks up and says ‘Hello, Senor, what
you got this time!’ “That's for you to find
out,’ ssid the Spaniard, laughing. And so
they took him down, and the way they
went over hus things was a caution. They
examined everything and even looked in
kis hair—he bad black curly locks like—
but they had to give it up. When they
got through he says: ‘Wall, gentlemen,
you've had some hard work. Set down
sod have some wine and frutt.” Ho he or-
ders a bottle of wine and begins pickin’ off
some of the ripe bananas, and there they
met for an hour or 80 within three feet of
them stones and didn't know it, He never
turned a hair; he bad nerve, I tell you.
‘The tricks he had,” continued the ad.
mwinng friend, ‘would fill & book. One
time, you know, there was a fashion for
box toes and his were bux, sure enough,
and the toe of each were holier and held
halt & dosen stones. The buttons on his
coat were holler, too, and made to shut
with a spring, and so it was. One time
he'd have an umbrella that woald hoid hail
a dosen; then he'd have some stowed 1 an
opera glass. He had a watch that looked
but between
There was—'
‘Hold on & minute, Bob,’ interrupted the
angler.
The smuggler stopped rowing and the
bost shot into the deepening gloom of &
little bay.
The bights on the bay bad been left far
behind and the only sound thet could be
hoarse croak of u bulltrog snd the creak.
ing of the limbs in the woods.
‘I thought I heard the splash of = net’
exclmimed the angler,
‘lI heard something myself,” answered
‘Biosh, I reckon.’
‘len’t that a boat in shore theref’
moment the boat ran up on the beach; the
the side of their bost
trying 10 appear al esse.
‘Well,’ said the inspector,
‘Well,” retorted the men in concert.
‘Going to make a haul to-night?’
‘] guess not,” replied the spokesmen of
the two; we're only studyin’ nstur,’
‘1 didn’t know folks were 80 fond
ture about here,’ sald he Inspector;
shall have Lo trouble you lo point out
of na
‘but 1
that
‘Pint it out yerself,’ was the
‘Who saad anything about having a netf
Taking out a grapnel the inspector threw
it over snd began to haul around the spol,
but all to no purpose. ‘They had a nel,
I'l take my affidavit,’ he said. “The way
they do, when they think any of us arc
about, is to throw it overboard and sink it,
taking the bearings. I've hooked seversi
that way, but 1 guess thisis a still hunt’
No pet was to be found. Either it
concealed in the bushes or was coming io
As the two suspected fish
erman rowed off the game protector said:
‘We can't follow them all might, but 1 ex-
pect Ul will haul somewhere hefore
morning.’
“The only article that 18 smuggled now
on the niver,” said the inspector as they
anything
il, and that they lake over whenever
they get a chance. I was pulling along
Canadian channel recently, when suddenly
I ran into a boat and nearly sunk myself.
We had it bot and heavy for a few
mente.
AnEwWer
ey
i8 Of
the
I went for the fellows for not «
rying a ight and they for me for running
» but they were exiremely
fous vw get off, and when 1 swung along
side 1 found that it was a big flat- bottomed
boat, iown with three or four ba
into the
loaded d«
They thought 1 was & cus
house 1pspector and begged off, tned
bribe meand everything. Alter Keeping
them on the jump for twenty munules ]
told them that I was only 8 game jngpec-
tor, and after some choice language they
got off and over all right. You see,
impossible to prevent smuggling; it
take an army ol men Bu
not what it used 10 be in years gone
f oul.
Wo stop IL
pea
Tacubays, Near the City of Mexico.
The sitractions of
Angel are their
gardens filled with magnificent
With a Little care, the trees and p
all climes grow here mde by side.
houses have windows, with iron
glass (opening French
street, but the large gar-
n the mide of thew
gales,
l'scubaysa and Ban
pure air and lovely
trees
ants of
The
bars and
Bashics "it in
fashion) the
dens are in
A few gard
Those of the
the rear or
ens bave large iron
}
bi
se in -» » & v 4 »
Mier, Barron and Escandor
and that of Mier
“Calle Real,
families are handsome
pirance 10
’
the
al the ¢
really
ik
| geramums flower
geraniums grow
{l have walls «
height of ive and
CEDAICTR, BPTIC
wil
sixteen feel), on
and grapes. Their flowers f
varieties and shades, from p white and
light pink to the richest cnmsoned, purple
and lisc, and some are vanesgsted with
these linte; their shapes vary (rom the
“rose” te the ‘‘cing-feuilles.” The calln-
lily flowers exuberantly in the shade of
LW
hike Ha
BI
ure
many
and then throws oul immense branches,
Roses of all kinds are now flowering
{March 18 ) and the apple, pear and peach
trees are in bloom. Fig-trees grow beside
then and yield delicous fruit in the
One can sit out of doors all
round with comfort.
the year
In winter, a hat and
are often pleasant,
light woolen or cotton clothing is comfort
and one secks or shurs the sun
Afternoon showers are very frequent
the feet.
effect on delicate skins (commonly called
chapping) but it 18 a trifle when compared
to the moist and weakening heat of the
tropical coast and lowlands,
le Wore One,
I was sitting on the front seat of an
open car the other day, gazing abstract.
edly at the driver, when all at once I
was startled by secing a fat woman who
sat in the seat behind me reaching past
my head to give him a terrible prod in
the side with the point of her umbrella,
My first impreszion was that it was go.
ing to be a onse of aggravated assault,
bat I soon discovered that she only
wanted to stop the car, for she presently
got out and went on her way as coolly
as if nothing had happened. To my
surprise the driver did not even tara
rcund, and the only apparent effect of
the blow on him was a sudden inde.
soribable noise, such as is heard when a
sudden kiok forces a little of the wind
out of a football.
“Kxouse me,” sald I, ‘do they ofien
hit you like that?”
“Very frequently, sir,” was the re.
ply.
“+1 should think it would hurt yon,"
The driver took his hand from the
brake and smoothed down hws coat be
hind,
“Feel there.”
I did so, and encountered a protuber-
anoe,
“What's that?” I asked.
“A pad, sir.”
“What's it for?”
“For the points of umbrellas and
The Hollow Spaces of Houses.
The floor of an ordinary dwelling
house consists of boarding supported
| upon wooden joists which run into or
| lie vpon the walls, and to the under
| edges of which are nailed the laths which
| carry the plaster of the ceiling below,
| Beneath the flooring, therefore, of
| every room, save those which are next
to the ground, extends a series of paral
| lel spaces, each more than a foot wide,
| from eight to twelve inches high, and
|as long as the room 1s wide, As most
| houses contain either partiions formed
of upright timbers secured to the joists
| and covered on both sides with lath and
plaster, or have furring strips attached
over the interior surface of the outer
walls, or else are liberally furnished
with both partitions and furnng, it is
evident that very commodious eoncealed
quarters are furnished by our buiiders
for the accommodation of vermin free
of expense, If rats and mice think,
what fools they must reckon us poor
mortals! What a Jow idea they must
copeeive of the int eroatures
who, though on the one hand they keep
cats and set traps, on the other provide
Mus wrivuscu-
of
for the accommodation of
and Mus de
communicating corridors and cham
ying over
of the walls and
into the
the basement,
rat could
after the
human beings reasou abo
gence of animals, can ir
soliloquizing: “These two-legged, muz-
zie Jess and bare-skinved animals must
be eudowed but a low degree of
intelligence, for during the whole of
my life, and, according to tradition, for
many before 1 was they
have built their houses 50 a8 to give us
the most pleasant quarters possible,
and yet I know that they hate our race
and would kill us all if :
Who has not heard in the dead of
night when the cars are silent, after the
midnight revelers have ceased and ere
the street dealers make morn hideous,
a party of mice ng carnival
y the partition or floor? They race,
squeal, they tumble over each
other, they seem to be rolling marbles
or bobbins about (perhaps tb
{In fact, they have a gener.
ally, while the would-be sleeper, his
heart beating with the nightmare caused
by the rough awak ;. wishes he
could transform himself into a ferret
and kill the whole gay company.
There is no rea<on for ali this save
human stupidity, and the reasoning rat
would be right. A properly eonstructed
house would not furmsh runs for rats,
Every wood partition ought to be filled
in perfectly solid with brick, concrete
or some other material, and every floor
joist should be exposed. The objection
to this is the expense. Partitions filled
in with brick and plastered on both
sides cost more than a row of poets
covered with lath and plaster; and re-
gard for appearances exacts that, if the
under side of the floor boards and three
sides of each joist ure visible, these ex-
posed surfaces should be planed smooth,
stained or painted and perhaps adorned
with mouldings chamfers., More
over, the boards of the floor mm be
drier and more carefully selected, or a
layer must be laid, in order to
inst from falling through. Bat
iitional cost of these essentials
off by economies in
her direction. The lower parts of
rooms ow overloaded with dados,
wainscot and heavy woodwork round
joors and lows, etc. Boome this
could be dispensed with where economy
Wah
lus UNANRUS B&B BETICE
rami! aimost the entire
i floors and opening 1
roof and downward inte
If a Dear
reason about numan
that
Ward
same fashion
intel
agine him
b $322
it the
we
with
A Year born,
53 9
the could.
oa mgh
€Y ate),
good titne
¥ i Ui
or
|
must
double
preve:
the
Can
anot
are
of
an object,
A good floor can be made by laying
the joists flat, so as to have three inches
of woodwork throughout. In large
rooms this needs a beam or two. Lignt
blocks of lime concrete are manuiao-
tured for partitions, and are a vast im-
provement on wood. The entire house,
walls, internal and external, and all
floors, can be built in one solid mono-
lith of cement concrete, and this would,
of course, be rat-proof, and would af-
ford no harber to more dangerous ene-
mies, 1t must be remembered that the
hollow spaces of walis and floors may
| conceal decaying matter of various
kinds compared with which rats and
mice are innocent and amasing.
sss AM Mi
|
Mad All Over,
| A great big hulk of a gant, having
| enough whisky aboard 0 make hm
sonoying, was hanging around the Toot of
Second street the other day and abusing
everybody who passed. A boy finally
{ sad to him:
“If you bad any sand you'd tackle that
hackman over there.”
| ‘sand, sonny; why, I've got a wagon
| fund of it. Where's the victim? *”
“Under the porch there, in the char.”
The giant walked over and crushed
“hacky’s” hat over his eyes and asked him
how all the folks up Fighting Creck were
getting along, but inside of a minute and
a balf he was the “lickedest” man in
| Detroit. Whea the hackman got through
mopping him the boy banded him a news.
paper to wipe the blood off his nose, and
said:
“You nre big enough to eat him up.”
“Jess #0, sonny,” replied the giant as
he tenderly nursed his nose, *“but it dont
foller that because I'm bigger'n s curry
comb I kin swaller one. The difference
between us is that he's in a hurry to hek
some one and drive off, while I've gota
hull week's time and don’t keer to fight
until I've called names and got mad all
over.”
i
Tobacco In England.
Raleigh gave Queen Bess a pipe of
tobaooe to smoke on his return from his
Virginia expedition. “The Queen gra.
ciously sooepted of it; but, fiading hor
stomach sicken after two or three whills,
Lt was presently whispered by the Earl
of Leicester's faction that Bir Walter
had certainly poisoned her. But ber
majesty, soon recovering her disorder,
obliged the Countess of Nottingham
and all her maids to smoke a whole pipe
out amongst them."
Tur average minister may know noth-
ing about the peouliar game of poker,
but he will respond to a “‘oall” if the
pile is large enough,
canes, sir, I always woar one.”