THE GREATEST SHIPS. ALCT OF CURIOUS INFORMATION ABOUT VESSELS. Quickest Time Across the Atlantle— Largest Vessels of All Kinds Fastest Ships, Ete. The first, fastest finest, biggest ships in the woild present u wondertul study. At no time has general interest been directed to the subject of marine superlatives in this country as in the year 1891. T'ho greatest ocean highway in existence is that neross the between Great Britian and the city such ¢ Oi world is most interested that highway. The [(ustest passage betw-en York and Queenstown, both eastward and westward, was made in the latter part of | 1891 by the steamship Teutonic of the | White Star line. The fastest passage from Queenstown to New York was! made in August. being five days sixteen | hours and thirty-one mmutes. The | fastest pussage from New York to Queenstown was made in October, being | five days twenty-one hours and three minutes. | The first steam vessel to cross the At. | lantic ocean was the Savannah, which grossed from Savannah, Ga., to Liver. pool in 1819 The first steam vessels to reach New York from Gre t Britain were the Sirius and the Groat Western The Sirius, a ship of 700 tous, sailed from vork April4, 1838, and the Great West- ern, 1,340 tons, left Bristol three davs later. They arrived on April 20, the Ririus in the morning and the Great Western in the afterncon The vessel ever built, in size. was the Great Eastern, was 692 feet in length, and 8 breadth. The Teutonic DY’? length. The largest turret ship perbaps the largast battle ship in exist. ence, is the Hritish battle ship Hood, which was launched at hatham, on July 30, 1891. The Hood hnsa of 14,150 tons. The I war ship is the harbor Miantonomoh., The the Freuch navy is th was launched early in Her displacement is 11,0 The longest sailing cr British masted iron feet in long laid in a sh was to be the | dling ere fit in the world. Her noe w t De her length 350 feet, and sh to has five musts, bi f mastered sh ps in nu be the Palgrave, tl Paritan. The tons, the Liv The ti ships it Rappaha =us juehanna. burned the 1881. The largest sails world, says the skipper of the ¢ doah, who rates his craft nex, isthe five- masted French steel shin Li France. The biggest steam ferry poat world is the nuat bs ailt Pe nusylvania Railroad C wm pany between New York and Jersoy Ulty, The largest steam eninge in the ‘wo i2 on the new Italian « riser Sar legna A Joreq 5.6K) 1.0 power is are made along | New ! groatest steam which feet in 8 feet in tl the world, displacement wrest American defence vessel Bren Octobe nur, which ship G06 wus {i on the Ciyde of hat UGK), on Cine rid of de. feioped. The fastest ship i navy, which « r trial or. the Pacific maintained during « ir hours’ speed of 19.7 knots an hour. one-tenth of A knot in excess cord of the Pil LJ! cad de elope i ¢ was 20.06 kr ts an hour, it is supposed. i mn he coanat, run ao That was of the re. I'he maximum Nan Franci is equi valent to twunty- three land miles, Une of the fastest vovages from China to New York was made in the summer of 1890 by the steamship Glen Ogle of the Glen line af Glasgow, which arrived from Amoy ia fortv.e x days. The fast. est time was by the Glonshiel of the same line, forty theo davs The fastest passenger steamboat ply- ing in the waters of the United States is the Mary Powell, runn’ng from New York city te Albany. Nohody knows just how fast she could go if put to her mettle. The greatest fleet of pa senger vessels owned by any ene company is that of the Peninsular sad Orienta’ Steam Navi- gation Company. In the flect are sev enty-two steamships of 199,270 tons and 180,000 horse power. The P. and 0, | steamships stemned 2,500,000 miles in 1850 without an accident. The biggest fore.and.aft schooner in the latest Government list is the Golden i0 which i 3 OU., in 1883, The Governor Ames, built st Waldaboro. Me.. in 1889, registers 1.680 tons, and is the largest schooner in salt water, The largest floating elevator in the! world was launched on Jan. 14, 1892, in | Brooklyn. Its tower rises 74 feet above | its deck. Norman L. Munro's steam launch Nor- wood, with her record of a mile in 2.12, ! ade on Nov. 7, 1891, may be considered “the fastest boat aoar.” The first steamboat to plough the Pa. | eific along the const of North Americas | was the Hudson Bay Company's steam | boat Beaver, which is to be exhibited at Chicago | The first screw propeller on the great | lakes was the Vandalia. Her ma. | ¢hinery was built in Auburn prison, New | York. The first steamship to make a direct trip from NewsYork to Australia sailed tn October, 1801, Her name was Karls ruhe. The first whaleback #'eamship built | { made the voyage to Liverpool and back | in the summer of 1501, The first whale- buck of any importance was the yacht Livadin, designed by Admiral Popoff for the Emperor Alexunder 1. of Russia. he is 240 feet in length. bullet wound which almost punctured her heart, and death she was stricken with poeu- monia. Yet she survived. DETECTING BAD MONEY. Ladies in the Treasury. money handlers in the Treasury Depart. mont at Washington, has the remarkable record counting 55,000 coins in | single day, each coin passing through | her hands, and =o delicate has her sense of touch become that should there bea counterfiet coin in the lot she would de- | tect it even when counting at this tre- mendous rate, She spreads the coins upcn oa large glass-top desk and draws them off with the tips of her finrers, one, two, three, or four at a time, as she pleases. for her four fingers are equally educated to the work. Her have nothing do “the detection of fa se coins. Her fingers do it all They have become so familiar with the exact weicht of true coin, the feeling of it and the amount of its resistence upon the glass desk, that a piece of spurious gold, silver, nickel or copper money ut- tracts her attention instantly, I'he expert counters of paper m noy detect counterfeiis more by the eve than by feeling, thoughif the quality of paper be poor they can tell it by the sense of touch. Mr. Buraett, the chief of the redemption div tolls of of to oves islon, a young 10v sent in for redemption, when she threw out a bill and went with her count. When she had completed the count she took up the rejected bill and examined it closely, but could find wrong about it. Her first im; er, had been that it was a and she 8:0 d by the impressionand gave the bill to the for. man of her room. He her what was the matter with it and she said she did not know, only she was sure it was bad, The put it ander a glass and provounced it good, but the young indy was so positive in jection of it that he took it to the hat ge i i It and pronounced it go biel then | asked her wh on i west hide nothing ression, howey i i bad bill, asked foreman ner ntleman examined took : 3 . * 83d Bae | it was the Treasury Dep used them prosoan tha s BIG With 1 its spurious character rable to g for it ress. on, { ir those 1 1 YY nenomens ang tine CDRTA sepa the senses. The Wonderful Growth of Shipping on the Lakes. - added winters « the lakes meg turned out of valuation During same time the number of steamers more than 1, reg ins creased from 21 to 110. The two uations of the fleet already differ by me either one on vougeis, MH) net ZIster td presents d SO. 000 006: but the ¢ than sizes the fact of ha 1 I extraordinary growth and renders it diffi- cult to predict the increase in the ton. nage and io the size of ves upon the lakes during the nine years that remain till the opening of the next century. More than one-half the vessels on the great lakes are assigned to Chicago, Port Huron, Detroit, Milwaukee, Grand Haven, Cleveland and Buffalo, The number of Canadian vessels on the lakes is 647; tonnage, 132,971; valuation, $3,089 130, For [further comparison, it may be stated that the total of coast and inland shipping registered in Canada is 7,153 vessels, register tons, valued at sels $31,213,430, The increase in population of the lake ports indicates the great increasa that must follow, necessarily, in the aiso of the railways tributary to them, has inereased fiom about 42,000 in 1850 to 255,000 in 18% ; Cleveland from 17,000 in 1860 to 262,000 in 1800; Chi- 1800: while Detroit and Milwaukes exhibit a remarkable parallelism in growth, the former having increased from 116,340 to 206,876 in the last ten years, and the latter from 204,468, —Seribner, - AH Announcing a Royal Death, A quaint ceremony is about to be per. the nn. nouncement of the death of the late Hesse will go to Berlin to hear the news, The Emperor and his court, all in deep mourning, receive the envoy in a room i hung with black. The envoy enters with a lugubrious air, and dojectedly an. nounces the demise of his sovereign, The biggest sugar fleet ever assem. Yled at Delaware Breakwater consisted of twenty-five vessels, carrying 12,000 tons of sugar from the West Indies — (New York Sun. A ——— Mus. Hawrgy Cuarsax, the wife of while the Emperor deplores the loss and t makes a suitable vulogy of the departed Lone, ‘Then an hour ister the Emperor and court, all in gala dross, receive the envoy again. thero is much jubilation and joy, and tke oid adage about ‘mie king is dead; Jong live the king,” gets a new > eoutirmation «=| Picavune, THE PAMPAS. IN SOUTH AMERICA’S LIFE | GRASSY DESERT. Snake « Hunting Armadillos and Wrestling Frogs—The FiercePuma and its Fear of Man. One of the most interesting regions of the world is the grassy deseit Argentine, known as the * which half way necross South America the Atlantic vast plain without trees, lakes or rivers, bearing a strange and wonderful fauna, Lacking these features of variety the region has no aspects of grandeur and the dead level affords no appearance of extended space. At seca, a person's oye being six feet above the surface of the water, bis horizon is only two miles and four-fifths distant. On land, in a per- foctly tlut eountry, the limits of obser \ ation are © ually contracted People born and bred on the “pampas’’ when they first visit a mountainous district experi nee painful from viewing the widely around them. Une of the most plentif of the pampus,”’ extends from Ocean —a sensations extended il species maunals is the strange armadillo, one of the most ancient of surviving creatures, contemporary with i moegather- the being vptodon and colossal It figures conspicuously in fables current among the natives, represented as 6 en ature fertile in ex pedients duping especially the fox, just as ‘Brier Rabbit and other animals, otherwise, kills them ith the shell Snakes, are its favorite by actually HOvs Tenomo an 18 or prey, I it ing t fits serpent its the venom snakes ot the i Herons and serrated e "The bites of the pression upon nZainst ies o re rrasping Jiders so that § ted attack must How great m astonishment it rausge on sary by its leap quick os violent hug it admin at ‘wrestling frog be the chtning. and ators wo il i be an appro- priate na: Greatest among are the jaguar and is also the “grass oat domesticated powerful, and puma, although of flesh-eating creatures has one very characteristic — it will nes and ciunot be induced es him. In j i# the on'y large beast of prey. even no small child may go out in safety and sleep on the plain Yet this same grea. ture commonly attacks and kills the for. midable jaguar, harrassing the latter by moving about it with such rapidity as to confuse it, and. when an opportunity nccurs, springing upon ite back and inflicting terrible wounds with teeth and claws. It kills cattle and horses in great numbers, breaking the neck of each animal attached with a single blow Pumas have been occasionally kept as pets, never temper. ‘I hey are the most playful of arimais, and are a'ways delighted to gambol with a spool tied to a string (ne of the most interesting mammals of the region des ribed is the “vizeacha,” whi h is a rodent very common on the pampas. It is nearly two feet long, ex. clusive of the tail, when full grown snd weighs about fourteen pounds. This i and extraordinary of attack man to defend places where jt extremely COUrageo =, oi itself against but their posterity continues in the quiet possession of the habitations bequeathed to it for centuries, Another remarkable pampas is the ‘‘eoypu ’ rodent of the ou rut in shape It is aquatic, In the ming and playing in the water, convers- ing together in strunge tones, which wound. Among them the mother coypu is seen with her. progeny, numbering vight or nine, with ns many of them on her back as she can a modnte, while the others swim after her, crying for a ride. The CoOypu wus much more abundant fifty yeurs ago than now, and its skin, which hus a fine fur, was exported to Kurope. About that time the dictator, Rosas, issued a decree which made the killing of a coypu a criminal offense. The result way that the creat- ures increased and multiplied exceed] ly, and, abandoning their aquatic habits, they became terrestrial and migratory, swarming everywhere in search of fool, Suddenly a mysterious malady fell upon them, from which they perished in enormous numbers, becoming almost ex. COO gl tryed ines, Among the extraordinary phenomena observed on the pampas ure stor flies. They before southwest wind, interior tis a cold violent, bursting on the and Moving ahead o flies, apparently in d moving in elouds at wr eighty miles an the air with their swarm. the nit Ive feet a of the the aw ! dragon Come which blows from exceed; very short Ww nd, plains time. the dragon fore it und f seventy denly lasting only a f such ot varging, Ones soe th « about twi ¥ SOUT star iar Th ta the fact: of tact; gong. nasirikes (he Eating Calla Lilies. A now vegetable is about to he duced through the Department of cultore. It is the root of which resembles som the ordinary Irish tuber tion of ia io with the out eéscuient. : It i« more elongated, cailn ppea ance the whiskers, that have no po, Gul. few thing ty of the article as an $0 « ai and when cut the a a trifle more viscid; 1 tion of it is so § kel ist In cooking it has first to be boiled to de- stroy acrid properties, after which it may be friel, roasted, baked or what not, according to taste. Farm's in Florida have begun to raise these calla roots for market, says food The plants grow readily in swamps, and so thiekly that the yield of a single flooded acre is enormous They repro. duce themselves by the multiplication of their bulbs underground, so that the grower has simply to dig up the offshoots (and leave the parents to propagate anew For centuries the Egyptians have cul- interior it Bn 800. otato » you would not be to ngu.sh difference. any certain of the Nile overflow, and the present | time the calla lily bulbs are a common vegetable in the Japanese markets. So prolific and palatable are they that their propagation in many paris of the United Staten, where conditions are favorable, may reasonably be looke | forward to as an agricultural industry of the fature, — [New York Journal, their pit-like entrar ces closely grouped tog ther. The animal: make a smooth clearing all around (heir village on which a turf is formed, and here they feed and enjoy their amusements in com. parstive security, Any enemy that approaches is seen and at the first note of aisran the whole company scuttios into the burrows, They fetch sticks and all sorte of refuse from every hand snl pile it up about the village, forviog in the course diameter, which protects the habitation from floods. Each burrow of the viz sacha ordinarily opens into a large ciron- Jor ch mber at from four to six feet other chambers diverge in ali directions. The new “vizeachera” or village is in- voriably begun by a male which, after establishing himself as u solitary with a single burrow is subsequently joined by other individuals, and these sro the par. onts of innumerable generations, for they establish no temporary lodging places, Originsof Wall Coverings. Tapestry came originally from By. | gantivim, where its weaving was brought {ton high state of pertection. Its ex- | pense, like that of all wall carving and stucco, was very great. Stamped leath- er, which, in a measure, superseded it, | was also costly und possible only to the { very wealthy, This stamped leather consisted eof the skins of goats and | calves cut into rectangular shapes and | covered with silvereaf, then varnished | with a yellow lasquer, to give the ap- pearance of gold. It was then stamped with dyes sunken and in relief, and | painted in various colors, Wall paper | had, in the meantime, been estonzively | practiced by the monks of Europe. From he seventh century it had been the cus. tom to decorate the walls of churches | and cathedrals with Biblical scenes and | din pv designs. [Carpet and Uphols. ery Tinde, i i i WAS IT SECOND SIGHT? A Strange Reminiscence af the Case | ter Massacre, | Among the many curious instances of seeming second-sight may be plane ed the following incident of that saddest trag- the death of ( ter and his gallant followers, The love existine Jlunk and his blue-eyed “Buster,’’ the pet and darling whole garrison, was something to be re membered. Whenever the tail soldierly figure of the young father was to be seen, duty, that of the child w gure to be close besi ia, Sometimes riding on his father's clinging to his his, eyes full content. When the dreaded day came that was to separate those fearless men from the women and children who #20 loved them Juster hardly be torn from his father, and my | told me that long after, the child's shriek of utter misery, unchildlike in intensity, rang in his ears. For after the command had marched across the low irple hills, ry, edy of modern days Js between Captain boy, little UICES On is ghogider, sometimes hand ol always lifting passion Moe love una 1.4 coud its EOI dave out of the reach of loving fuster droope | und pined: but he rhild, vety sh ga and the old chile to his out as i CYes, nua rang ] almost jarri ‘ar Une warm Mrs. Blank sat sewing u her bab feet ore Arms and resin for the rest of the bat eveniog both her absent b Mrs. Blank sat for silent thought, then t © paper to her, wrote i Jane 26th, and poured out to her only brothe the aching of her! TE anxie'y i by the child's fool i i weairide ira siceping, a : oF I% RNG nts jrawing an shes pwn the date art and the sens Cause isl the him in his gle p Hen hich still stirred bbed and tossel all night. (Ou the 6th of July, when tho whole writhed and cried out i the news that had come whom Mr. B. had shown his sister’: letter, knew that on the 26th of June Captain Blank had dearly sold his life, and had been fou vd pres ed with manv wounds, his empty revoiver clasped in in his stiffened band. And far away, io his quiet home. his baby boy had scomed to know it.— Harper's Weekly. army in agony a $0 us, we, i« The Puma's Fear of Man. Dr. Hudson speaks of a *‘gauvcho’ {South American cowboy) of his ao quaintance who went one day to look fo cattle. A pama made his appearance and refused walk away, even whe the herder threw the noose of his lass | over its neck. The gaucho them dis. | mounted, and, drawing his knife, ad vanced to kill it. Still the puma made | no attempt to free itself from the lssso buat it seemed to know what was coming, | for it began 10 tremble, the tears rat | from its eves and it whined in the mos | pitiful manner. He killed it as it sa!] there, unresisting, but after accomplish ing the deed, foit that he had commi te. a murder. It was the only thing be hac | ever done in his life, be said. which oo | casioned him remorse when he remem. | bered it, although he had slain severa'| men in duels fought with knives. Al who have killed or witnessed the killing | of a puma agree that it resigns itself if this pathetic manner to death at the hands of man. When attacked by the latter its ene gy and daring at onoe for. sake it, and it becomes a weak, inoffen- sive animal, which, trembling and uttering piteous moans, implores com passion from a generous enemy. dul the enemy is not often generous. | Washington Star. ma io Heavy white silk belts for large silver buckles are new, especially designed for wash dresses. They are more chic than bolts of the same which must needs L lined. PENNSYLVANIA ITEMS, EPITOME OF NEWS GLEANED PROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE STATE ' Miller ised of the Hochweiter, the YGEXERAL BEIGLE of shiner, testified in his own nee murder oid man BOO. fat Bomer- g was done inal set. He claimed thet the kills in Net er . ‘ self-defense, NM unerot ithesses declared that Hoehstetler Lac brestened Miller's lite. A MEETING of the Flat Charitieg was held in Harrisbuorg, » eport was submitted to Governor completely ex. snerpting the ¢ als of the Insane sylum from the charges proferre Peart, of Kittaning. Neither t} CUSEr DOr his witnesses appeared. 1 { on the Huntingdon Reformsatory will be submitted to the Governor t A TERRIFIC rain storm passed over Bedford County Crops were camaged, A MERTIXG of the Btate Tax ( wos held In Harrisburg. Wire ure patient in the William amped from a second-story wisd wf delirious, George SGT Port eieved futal injuries, | iHE United Presbyterian Assembly ad, ourned in Pittsburg 10 meet in Monmouth, {it., May 4, 185 The passage of 1 exclusion bill was condemped Tue a convention at ie Lliinese Prohibitionists of P sCcrenion gates 10 the National Convention at 8t. Logis. Drrury Atorsey General Suranaban has order srdisns, asked the court in Harr.sburg for sn retraining the order of Fraternal G Philadelphia, from nt $140 (WH nt o v coiiected by the making the first dis Tuy sheet sheet fron, steel and tin plate t at Pittsburg and elected fficers, including Johan J us secretary, } adopted a scale © { which will be mitted to the Amalgamated Association. WHILE teasing & pug dog Harry Huflertys Bridgeport lsd, was severcly bitien on the ose by the suimas. Carrais LL H, Bakken jier and former resident of by a train io Erie. 4 MBER of Phil were entertained by the an C Puiladelphias, was killed West Chester ¥ AC “VEER Sew 116G culiar disease. He was rm and afterward wos ta y became omifizd WHILE Eliss ng that sil wi "| Kinser oof ye forwarding of the inte Deparime ri ac interest of unif Tne Friendship } cate 1s new ceretnor ARL GENS & ng near Pittsburg of $53,000 by his mother, vb tem berg, Germany. A Huxganiax weddingio Bradd k «nded in a free fight. Several ite jured. persons were and five were arrested A. G Savion RM. Fdelman, of Potistow against 8, B. Lalshaw, ¢f Royersfor charge him with obtaining shares stock through deception Pennsylvania and Ralirosds st Marcu The Penn lay a THE war between the Feading broken out again fo peog ie attempted track b they were resisted and finally drive away by the Reading people. Daring the mei several persons were hort. Tue public closed om theria AT the Presbyterian Ch General Assembly ¢ ureh the sider “prevalent” be eYin ¢ which reference was rade i trains running on Sunday, secret soc urder div and were ree, social evil, chareh lotteries gambling. Missions and alod Wire making cake, a cook in the of Joseph stInIOArivs se taped Nesbitt, of Ligonier use! arsenite mistake for by baking p fe Several members of the family and some boarders became violently ill ADJ an order distanding Company I, Eighteenth the le aiter eat EXERAL ug the cake TAXT G GREEESLAXD issued i giment, of and officer to turn ov Pittsburg, req es] i is commanding breperty. SUPRRINTEXDEXT HYATT, of the Danville insane Hospital was informed by Governor Pattison and Attorney General Hensel that the $70,000 appropriated by the 1850 Legis Inture for building ad furnishing an snnex to the bospital is not available as no work was begun on the strudture in 1887 Pirrsienc, Pottstown, Dethlehem, Allen. town and other points in the State visited by a severe hui and storm, rail St were lightning FourtrEx Republican conventions were held in Allegheny county Congressmen Dalizell end Sione were renominnted, as were Judge Stowe and Coroner McDowell, The various legislative and senatorial districts selected their candidates, Mr. Dolzell for Fenator, secured thirteen of the assembly candidates. DY an explosion of gas in the Mocanavgua mine, near Wilkesbarre, two miners were killed and a number of others burt, three of nem fatally. PREPARATIONS for the dedication of the { High Water Mark” tablet at Gettysburg vave been completed. The official program BENATOR Rutan visited Harrisburg for the purpose of holding a conference with the Attorney General. He proposes to institute legal proceedings against Senator Quay, ex. State Treasurer Boyer and Tressurer Morris son, for alleged vioiations of law and illegal use of State funds INastreet quarrel at Centralia, Patrick Usiisgher stabbed and probably fatally wounded Richard Kane. Tux monument to the unknows victims of the great Johnstown flood was unveiled, Ad dresses were made by Governor Pattisdn, exe Governor Beaver and Flood Commissioner Jaden, The monument is of granite, snd is Wath, Hope and Charity.