* , HIS LAST VALENTINE. Wve” of my heart, could my heart's love crown thea, ieeless disdem I would bring; Jd I with poet's harp renown thee » woft, how tuneful the songs I'd sug *Or had 1 Goleona's mines, by rightful Title, I'd lay them beside thy fot; Though to get thew here would be something frightinl, vo Yet, Devertheloss, I'd attempt it, aweet, ‘And otVor treasures I'd likewise proffer If 1 possessed them ; but, Fate ma ign Has left ue nanght but wmysel! to offer, And this poor attempt at a Valentine *Oh, never mind crowns,” esme the bright girl's pHRAwWer “Don't bother about Goleonda's mines, I'd Hike to have you, if 1 really can, sir, Hut vou'd better let up on the Valentines !* Puck. A QUEER VALENTINE BY JENNIE P. MERCHANT. It was the evening of the 14th of February, 187—, and in the par- tors of John Fraser's beautiful home sn the bank of the Hudson, a small party of intimate friends had assem- bled to “surprise” Mrs Fraser. It was her birthday, and her sister-in- iaw had planned it all so nicely that little Mrs Fraser had not a suspicion of what was “in the air.” Before 10 o'clock, the last (expected) guest had arrived, and merriment reigned. subject of valentines came up. sral of the party confessed received at least one. Miss Frasa never favored suddenly, caased a digression. Aunt “Mammy” took it upon herself to re- spond; but Mr. Fraser thought proper to personally attend the door. Ile had but reached tne vestibule, when Dinah closed the door and set down a large basket, making exclamations Neve in that way, when “+ dun ’spcet sah, (it as. enoddah s'prise.” The cover wis cautiously lifted aud there lav a rosy babe, fast asleep! was a card, inscribed: ssMiss Louisa Fraser -—- & Valen- tne.” “Kiel!” laughed Dinah, yere doant beat de nation! Lawd, I caint make out who de it. 'Fore ef? * ioah, for I dun looked all 'roun’. seemingly of them as much surprised as any and cried out lustily. This had the effect of Lringing Mrs. Fraser into the hall, and about two minutes the new arrival was presented to the company as | ‘Miss Fraser's valentine.’ : Baby's impromptu cradle was duly searched, but further than and wraps, nothing was therein. i All now forgotten, and | baby engrossed the whole company. | The little flow was dressed in a long ro but the experienced mothers there present, declared he was old encugh for short clothes. It certainly was a pretty baby, with | bright blue eves that looked wonder. ingly from one to another; and after | passing from hand to band, he began { to [feel acquainted, and laughed | aloud. His fat, dimpled hands caught at the trimmings on the ladies’ ares:es, and at the gentiemen’s watch chains Little Sam-- came Lo announce supper, very much disgusted at 1ittention shown to the IPheare mos’ like dey live baby afore,” found | else] was fn be, black and sight wail. nebber seen | Sam said to Dinah, | as he went to the hall table and caught up the bell Then ha rang it with a vengeance. The little stranger to good Dinah's care, per table proved a change of theme. - % * - = * » alone, Mrs been think- | wis the fF Ji was consigned and the sup- very agreeable As soon as they were Fraser said: “John, I'v ing that the mysterious baby is Archic McCall's You know we read of his wife's death a short time ago, | and that he seemed to be in a de | cline.” “What a thinker you are, little; wife! 1t would never have occurred to my dull brain, but very likely you! are right.” And what thought Miss Frazer? She had studied the little face long and earnesly, hoping to discover some resemblance to the lover of her young | days: for she, too, with woman's quick intuition, had thought, “It may be Archie's child.” She could | love anybody's baby, but nearer and dearer would seem this waif if she could but gunow it to be the child of the man to whom she had given her! heart's best love. Though she had renounced him on | account of his growipg habits of dissi- | pation, some years before, the sense | af loss had never left her. There! were chords in her heart that still} vibrated even at the mention of his | name. of the pain Borne. . Louisa Frazer was a rare, woman; hiding away her own cares, | and seckiog to make the world better | and brighter for others. and grief so bravely: prise” party, a parcel containing sev- eral thousand dollars was sent to Miss Fraser. ‘For ‘the Valentine" was all the message that accompanied ft« A week later came the news of the death of Archie MeCall the love so long pent up in her pa- tient heart, was lavished on the child committed to her care. Jealously has she watched and guarded him, from the time that she guided his little unsteady feet in tak. ing the first steps; sleepless have been | her eyes when her boy has tossed in fever; and in health, she has ever “Aunt Lou” as the most beautiful woman he has ever met. The bands of soft, brown hair havo | become well stranded with silver; | some lines of care ars traced on tho forehead that was so white and smooth: but her eyes are as soft, and: her voice as gentle, as when she 218% sang ‘‘lullaby” songs to him. i And as the ‘‘years creep slowly by” let us hope that the heart of this! noble woman may never be wrung! with anguish, as are the hearts of too many wives, mothers, and sisters | over the fall of cherished idsls whose ruin is compassed by the wine-gfih Known at Home. Two ladies staying in the bean®. ful lake region of England, near the ! home of Wordsworth and amid the scenes made famous in his poras, | stood hefore a village shop looking | at a portrait of the venerable poet | displayed within. As they gazed a| pair of village lovers approach and | also looked in, attracted probably by | a display of cheap rings on a tray ia | the same window, One of the ladies, seized by a hu-!| morous impulse to discover whether the name of their most famous local i celebrity had any meaning to the ears Not i i i of a couple of apparently tvpical na- | tives suddenly turned to the other] and inquired, with an air ot innocent curiosity. pointing to the portrait: { “Who was this Wordsworth, any- way?” Her companion replied in the same “I'm: not sure, but 1 think he | was the man who introduced the, breed of black-faced sheep we saw in the mountains yesterday!” The village couple, who must have, overheard this dialogue, did not be-| tray by the least shadow of expres | sion thav they found in it anything! { peealinr; but as one of the ladies de- | clargd afterward, the trouble with, | such incidents is that you never cal | tell quite what they mean. Perhaps those simple villagers were { having their inward laugh at the ip | porant Americans all the time, and were only too polite to let their) i amusement find outward expression. i Perhaps, on the other hand, they had never heard of Wordsworth before be { was brought to their attention as ar | introducer of black-faced mountain “There was a joky In the aflalr somewhere, ’ sighed the narrator, peasively, “but I wish I could be sure A less dubious case of greatness un to see the house where Whittier lived He asked the first person he met where to find 1t, and received courteous and minute directions, but in informant he Whit thanking his kind chanced to speak of the poet ‘The poet Whittier!” exclaimed the obliging native. “I'm sure 1] don't know where he lived: 1 thought of course you wanted Whittier, the shoe man. "Youth's companion. How They Kide in Australia. In Australia, where the population is and distances are great, some remarkable feats of endurance in horse riding are credited to the police, says the London teats more remarkable taking into account all the circumstances, than thos: ac complished by the winners in the military ride between Vienna and Berlin. Trooper Power in February, 1880, andertook an arduous journey across most inhospitable country ir pursuit of a horse stealer named Smith. This zealous oMcial traveled 766 miles in twenty.six days without changing horses. For one stage of eighty miles he was wholly sparse ih 130 miles that his two horses had nothing to eat His powers of endurance may Ix judged from the statement that he did thirty miles a day on warn-out horses, along long dry stages, and with bad water or no water at ail te drink. i Trooper Willshire on another occa | slon rode eighty.tive miles in twenty hours on one horse. This was May a= 1887, two days after the natives had ‘stuck up” Eriduna station, This same man traveled 200 miles in four days when he heard that a com- rade named Shirley had died of thirst. | He did not have macadamized roads and plenty of fresh water like the German officers, but he had a broil ing sun to endure, =and hills to climb, ‘“‘mulga” scrub to penetrate, and was sometimes compelled to take! dead animals out of native wells be | fore he could use the water. —————— u Sulgect of Gruels, The subject of gruels 1s not fully! understood, yet these are the most | valuable foods for the invalid ‘The! average cook understands oatmeal gruel alone by this term, are many other varities of this food. | water for two hours till it is reduced one-half 1s a nutritious and excelient flavored to the taste. A delicious! rice gruel may be made by adding a! tablespoonful of rice to three cups of boiling water. When it has cooked for three-quarters of an hour, a cup of milk 1s added, with a teaspoonful of salt, and the mixture is boiled for a few minutes longer. Strain the gruel through a puree sieve, pressing through all the rice that will go. Let the gruel boil up for five minutes af- ter it is strained. Add sugar and nu to the taste. Serve it with little siices of brown toast. Though this is a very palatable gruel, {t is not as full of nourishment as a barley gruel, but it is valua persons I sue who “been his playmate and best friend. Well he! “wy % to cannot take heavier food. — New York NOTES AND COMMENTS, —— Taw rapid growth of the League for (Good Roads since it was formed by General Roy Stone and his associates, in the opinion of the New York Sun, ‘‘is the best proof that thefe was need for its formation, and that there is a widespread mote. There are already branches of it dreds of ‘countries; it has already rompted several of these branches to , the work of road improvement; it has secured the co-operation of sundry influential agencies which have never Yefore acted together; piles of letters of inquiry are received at the office of its secretary, and its expenses have been covered by voluntary subscriptions, It is the purpose of the League to influence matter of road reform, so that desirable laws apon the subject may be adopted by the legislatures of the several States. [ts method of procedure is yet to be drawn up. secure the adoption of systematio and The expenditures, including the cost of labor, in roadmaking by local bodies are enor- mous, running up to at least a hundred country; yet there is hardly a State of the Union in which there is any method or in which With good country roads the marketing facilitated ; attractions the would be reduced: the rural life would be increased ; busi and hundreds of others objects would be sub- be benefited, served.” Woor-sontixe in California has been done largely by Chinese in the past. The Californis Wool depot has now set the fashion of employing girls only to do this work. The concern has hitherto had white men on its pay rolls, but wages in the face of Chinese competition, Announcing a reduction, it lost the sers ices of the white laborers, and advertised for girls to take their places. There was po trouble about filling them. The girls are succeeding very creditably as sorters and grinders, and they promise in couse of time to be more nimble fingered than the Chinese, if not quite as industrious “Of course,” says the manager, “I notice work of bailing and trucking the wool to different parts of the warehouse, and it will require the employment of assist ants to the girls to do this work. H ever, it is not a difficult matter. While I would much prefer the men to do this have been given the opportunity to go to work instead of Chinese.” A company has been formed in Taco ma, Wash., to extract gold by a secret process from the sands of the Pacifi Ocean. Gold has been found in the sand of the ocean beach at many places along the Pacific const from the Straits of Juad de Fuca to Southern California, but only in small and widely separated stretches does it exist in sufficient quantities to pay for working it by processes so far Known, found does not washed t is believed the gold so come fiom the lasd, but in from some hidden reef in the OCCA The company has se exclusive right to work many stretches of the beach in Washington, Oregon, Southern California. At places, Beard's Hollow, there are believed two roid -be Wing one thirteen inch below the surface and pine inches thick, and the other thirty inches below and thirteen inches thick Platinum and rhodium bave also been found in paying quantities sand at this point, ‘‘I¥ you could stand the moon,” gavs an astronomer, ‘‘the earth would appear to you to be sixty-four times larger than the sun appesrs to the resid ents of this mundane sphere; this because the earth has eight times the diameter of the moon, therefore she must neces. sarily show the moonites sixty-four times as much surface as the moon shows us The sun, on the other hand, would appear no larger to you from your ob- servatory on the moon than it does from our globe. The earth’s atmosphere being blue it has been decided that the earth is bed, ured and ope of thes to be stratas, £ = firs in the ocean on 8 bright blue swift-revolving ball sixty- yo four times larger than the sun! OxLy twenty-two miles of the Panama Canal remain to be dug, if faith may be put in the statement made by officers of the original company. Intelligent Ameri- to be completed, the whole distance from ocean to ocean, not a mile of the canal having been actually finished. The dredges threw up the dirt on either side, and when the pile reached a certain height it fell into the ditch. This was the case all along the canal as far as the work progressed. One of the workmen not twenty-five feet can be A sMoxuMeSsT of coal, fifty feet high, ton feet square at the base, and four feet square st the top, and of unique con strustion, is to be exhibited at the Chi. Fair, by a leading coal company of Pennsylvania, It will be constructed in sections sixteen feet long, and put to- ther at Chicago. be selected that will show, when placed in position, all the connecting minerals that are found in the mining of coal parts of the conl will be left in the h state and others will be highly pol . One single of coal al ready prepared weighs almost two tons. Among the many measures inaugurated by Mr. Gladstone's administration is a scheme for teaching the elements of tities in all scholastic institutions con- led or Supervised by the Government. Hitherto this branch of edieation, te which so much attention is paid in this country, as well as in Switzerland and primary schools of Great children have been allowed to canvasback and teal duck, and wild geese, Within an hour's walk from the town the mountains are overrun with deer and other game, while a few miles further back are large numbers of moun- tain lions and bears, Tur average housewife tukes pride ic having a big kitchen, She should seo the one connected with the big restauraul at the World's Fair. It will be an im. i mense affair and in it enough food will be cooked daily to supply 109,000 per- sous, Tue Government of the United States is among the oldest of civilized Govern- ments now existing in the world, since most European countries have been to a considerable degree revolutionized since the first election of George Washington to the Presidency. Sm Epwanp Svrrivax estimates that 20,000,000 persons, an actual majority { of the whole people, depend upon agri- | culture for a livelihood in the United Kingdom, The Trans-Saharan Rallroad, { While still in the air, it is quite cer- i tain that something will come of the re- | cent agitation in France aod Algeria in | favor of a Trans-Sabaran railroad as a | strategic, political and commercial ne- { cossity, We know that the French have i made Algeria one of the best mapped | parts of the world ; that they have built { 1,700 miles of railroad in the colony, and | that Algeria is looking across the desert to the rich central and western Soudan as a source of trade, capable of enormous expansion, which may be drawn to her | INArts, The outline of the plan is to build a narrow gauge road from Southern Als gerin through a series of to | Timbuktu, and connect this point by rail with Senegambia on the southwest and on the east with the fer. tile regions of the central Soudan, as far as Lake Tchad. Three projects for this ! railroad have been studied by order of ‘ the French Governments, The Russians have proved in Central | Asia that desert railroad building is pras ticable; and while the Saharan railroad project has not vet passed the stage of | tnquiry and discussion, there are indica tions that the work of 3 into effect will not be long delayed. will be required, however, to establish proper influence over desert tribes like the Tuaregs, who seem at last on the verge of more hopeful and pleasant relations with the white mace. The proposed line from Ain Sefra is in favor, and is likely to prove ticable.—{ Engineering Maga LT] ¢ LO arryio ing it It Hre atest A Remarkable Cave, A gentleman of Waycross, Ga, who has just returned from a trip to Decatur county, saves that while he was there he the of J. A. CU who whe vast { land Mr. Connell RCTS OF ANG went with him to a place on the was gruest onnell, esiatle where there is a remarkable and cave. The gentleman tiving near the falls one cannot impressed with the the trees and flowers } A stream of natural springs rain, ripples do eq, and here the water waterfall says: ‘Ar. beautiful the which is augmented the hillside jumps off water, and win alls perpendicularly over a ledge of nx kK ire has formed sg high hills eighty basin which nat foot of several the waler reaches about feet and § 3 tle Ol rantly ue carsh u it disappears the basin ten nderneath a je ive of rock the side of this rock there is r | for a man to ern we entered large enow crawl in. Taking a Im through the opening and found ourselves in a large cave. We went about seventy. five feet and found an underground river flowing guifward In the cave there is a faint light at midday. At a certain hour of the day, Mr. Connell says, that if a newspaper is held at the opening of the eave it will be carried in by a current of air, and after a lapse of six hours the current drives the paper back again, Standing just below the cataract at mid. day, with a spray enveloping us, a rain bow as beautiful as any that has ever spanned the heavens was seen, This rainbow is a daily exhibition.” {Atlanta Constitution, How English Walters Are Pald. { In Eoglish restaurants, where the cus- | tomer pays his bill through the -waiter, { the latter is held responsible for its due | payment from the moment he receives the articles ordered by the customer from the kitchen, and what is known as the “check” system is pretty generally | adopted, says the Hotel Register. The | waiter, on beginniog his day's work, i pays in to the proprietor or his clerk | from $10 to $25 to cover the value of the { orders he is likely to receive during the | day, and he is giver in exchange a num- | ber of **checks.” For every order he | gives he hands in checks to an equivalent (amount, If the value of the orders ex- ceods the amount of deposit the waiter must pay in more money before he re- ceives the dishes. What the customers pay him he retains until settling time, If the customer away without paying the waiter must bear the loss, The waiter is the person on whom | blame naturally falls if orders are not promptly executed. But he is himself at the mercy of the kitchen porters, who pass him the dishes from the kitchen, and these men seriously impede him by dawdling in carrying out his orders if he fails to square them with a fee. Influence of Rabbit Flesh. In mediaeval ages the flesh of the hare was believed to induce melancholy in the mina of the eater, When Falstaff is complaining to Prince Benty of melan- choly, ospeare makes mM say, What sa, Po to hare?” on the like cures lik Cane ov tae Hamm. —When nature has neglected to crown a hemd with silken tresses one can, in some midusare, rem- edy the slight by persistently brushing the hair. A good quality of brush should be used. A hair brush should have long, soft bristles that will go through the hair and touch the scalp; then every particle of dust and dirt can be re. moved. A comb is seldom necessary if the Linir is carefully brushed ; if used at all the comb should be a very coarse one. A fine comb irritates the scalp to & hurtful degree, and is quite apt to break | nnd split the hair. Brush the hair for five minutes before retiring at night, braid it loosely and permit it to bang. Never sleep with hairpine in the hair, Ihe hairpins to use are made of bone, amber or tortoise-shell, Coarse, sharp | pins cut and tear the hair and should | pever be used. It is an old-time saying | and well worth a tris! that ‘100 strokes | of the hair brush every night will make | yne's hair like silk.” Takixe Corp axp How To Avorn Ir. ~1n such a winter as the present colds are | wlways more prevalent than in dry, cold | weather, This carries out the theory | which is now generally accepted that | colds are not so much due to sudden | changes of the weather as to the debili- tated condition of the person who suffers | from them, When the system of an in. dividual is weakened by sitting in a overheated room, the sudden change caused by going out into the cold quite sure to produce s cold. Bleeping in badly ventilated rooms, the presence of anymalaria in the atmosphere, unwholesome food, late hours, or any. thing else which tends to weaken tho | system against the attacks of discase, are likely to produce cold. Strangely enough persons who go ciose, air is arc as likely to suffer from colds as those who go from a warm atmosphere to a cold one, especially if they are persons who are of weak physique. The invalids who go from the North to Florida every winter usually suffer when they get to the warm climate with what sre known there as ‘acclimation colds.” The best remedy against colds and influcnzas of sll kinds therefore is strong. vigorous health, wholesome food and regular hours. Persons who are delicate in physique or are invalids must take proper precaution to protect themselves against sudden changes of kinds. They should wear warm clothing of pure wool next to their skins, and should sleep in i ywoms, but shou! sing rooms in winter, and pro. themselves by clothing against of the cli the eondition which produc es a cold recognized by phy sicisns 11 fil well-vent warm dre i 3 ated ro d have tert fickle So thoroughly is £ hanges nate as due to an enfeebled state of the sys em, that it is customary to give tonics ws soon as the sufferer is convalescent in bring the system up to the That a cold should never be neglected has passed an axiom. Taken the begiqning it may be easily broken up, when, if allowed to run its course, it may develop into sen Almost mother has simple home remedies to break upa cold The best home treatment consists of vari arider to proper tone, almost into at Ous 11ID08s every ous remedies to bring about perspiration, after which the patient must be kept for or thre doors system has bail tonics A warm drink com posed of faxseed tea and lemonade is one of the best home remedies which excite perspiration, After taking a hot drink of this kinl the sufferer should be put to bed in warm sheets, under abundance of blankets and with the feet. When there is any severe pain or soreness in the « hest a mustard plaster should be applied te the spine between the shoulder and When they have been across the chest, kept on long enough to bura weil they should be replaced by cotton batting. Where a cold begins with a chill, a phy siciag should be always summoned, as it is an alarming symptom which too often precedes pneumonia. A severe cold in the head is not likely to mean anything serious, as such a cold does not often end in an affection of the lungs, but the numberiess cases of the grip which pre- ! ceded poeumonia have led us all | to look seriously even on a simple | influenza. at least two « days within until up by his been fat once not botties at blades The Lumnious Compass. fhe lan ious eomoaes recently intro- ueed in the French navy consists of asa srdinary Thompson compass. During the day it is employed in the usual way, but at night a vertical line of light is thrown from the binuacle light upon the interior side of the compass box, between the card and the glass, by means of a combination of lenses and mirrors, This line is, for the time being, a fixed line, and bears a known relation to the direction of the ship's keel From another combination of lenses and mir rors above the center of the card a interior side of the compass box, and This line being of different length is easily dis. In move his wheel so as to keep the two luminous lines in the same straight line. ~{ Chicago News Record, India-Rubber From Turpentine. Doctor W. A. Tilden discovered some Hi ue pudet isla tame © nto what ap to ne india e change Sut hid at Yom same t about by heat, "I'he material so produced resembles pure Para rubber in every way, pnd, Whe Bis senting rubpee or not ; or RT neon, fr that we may in rubber com- a fortune Dr. Kiilmer’'s SWAMP-ROOT Ta CURES A PHYSICAL WRECK! Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N.Y. Gentlemen: 1 desire to tell you just how I was, 80 that the public may know of your wonderful Swamp~Moot, Two years ago isst October | had spells of vomiting, | could not keep anything in my #tomach; the Dootor said I had consumption of the stomach and bowels: continued 10 run-down In weight; 1 was reduced to 00 Ibs. | would vomit blood, and at one time as much as three pints; we had two of the best Physicians and they said, my case was hopeless, “Oh, my sufferings were terrible” A neighbor told us of your Swamp-Root, and my husband got a bottle; 1 took it to pease him. 1 used six bottles of Bwamp-Root and 1 am now pearly as well as ever, | weigh 108 ibe, do my own work and take care of muy baby. Every one says, ¥ sees raised Prom the dead, and many will not be. lieve that I nan still living until they come and see me, and then they can't believe thelr own eyes, | am looking eo swell, Very gratefully, Mera Jons CHAMPINE, Jun, 10th, 1868, Antwerp, N, Y. At Druggists, Price-—50¢, or $1.00, “Yaled Tndorsement of Scott's Emulsion 1s contain- ed in let- ters from the med:- cal profes- sion speaking of its gratify. ing results in their practice. Scott's Emulsion of cod-liver oil with Hypo- phosphites can be adminis- tered when plain oil is out of the question. It 1s almost as palatable as milk—easier to digest than milk. Prepared by Bott & Bowne, N.Y. AN draggiete “German Syrup” Mr. Albert Hartley of Hudson, N. C., was taken with Pneumonia. His brother had just died from it. ‘hen he found his doctor could not rally him he took one bottle of Ger- man Syrup and came out sound and well, Mr. S. B. Gardiner, Clerk with Druggist J. E. Barr, Aurora, Texas, prevented a bad attack of pneumonia by taking German Syrup in time. He was in the business and knew the danger. He used the great remedy-—Bosthee's German Syrup—for lung diseases. @ BEOTHING LIKE SWIFT'S SPECIFIC is totally uniike other blood medicine. It cures Teescoaes the blood and skin by removing the and at the same time supplies oo a wasted parts. Don’t be im on substi. tutes, which sre sald to be just a8 of 5 mof true. No medicine I 1 has performed as many wonderful cures, or relieved so much “ My blood was badly poisoned last , whieh got my whole system out of order a a constant source of suffering, no and no enjoyment of life. Two bottles of brought me right ont. There is no better remedy for blood diseases. * Joun Gavin, Dayton, Obie.” Treatise on Blood and skin diseases madied free, SWIFT SPECIFIC CO. Atlanta, Ga. € { 7 SPRAY PUMP E50 i EXPRESS Paid.for i 1 Spray « Ten Acre Orchar Ber Pax. : by the leading Entomologists of punraniend ny TE 00 In use. J “0, was. er Mg Ag Tog 1 FO LEWIN MPG, CO... Box A, Canming, X.Y. lilustrated ITH MA Washington and ai LIND vn ant Com. KFS Bo bb