LITTLE MISS BRAG. Little Miss Brag has much to say To the rich little lady from over the way; And the rich little lady puts out a lip As she looks ut her own white, dainty slip | And wishes that #¢ could wear a gown As pretty as gingham of faded brown ! For little Miss Brag she lays much stress On the privileges of a gingham dress— “Aha, Oho!” The rich little lady from over the way Has beautiful dolls in vast array: Yet she envies the raggedy home-made | doll She hears our little Miss Brag extol. For the raggedy doll ean fear no hurt From wet, or heat, or tumble, or dirt! Her nose is inked, and her mouth is, too, And one eye's black and the other's blue— ** Aha, Oho!" The rich little lady goes out to ride With footmen standing up ontside, Yet wishes that sometimes, after dark Her father would trundle Aer in the park: That, sometimes, ker mother would sing the things Little Miss Brag says her mother sings When through the attic window streams The moonlight full of golden dreams— “Aha, Oho!" Yes, little Miss Brag has much to say To the rich little lady from over the way; And yet who knows but from her heart Often the bitter sighs upstart Uprise to lose their burn and sting In the grace of the tongue that loves to sing i Praise of the treasures all its own ! So I've come to love that treble tone— “ Aha, Oho!” —| Eugene Field, in Chicago Record. The Old Lady's Stor. BY MARY KYLE “When 1 was a girl,” said the old ladv—she was a very, very old lady, eighty-five or more, they said, *‘thing were not as they are now, and post office, here in America, was not managed as it is to-day. Getting a letter was a serious thing, and send- ing one more so. I've reason to know that. *I lived in the country with aunt and uncle—not my real for he was hus- band, and she only an aunt by mar- riage—but I had no other kin and was iad to have home {i beside, a cousin by courtesy. name was Thomas, and that about all I knew of him for years— he came in and went taking any notice of me. used talk about } ‘ finding fault with his idleness. Once I heard him say ** * The boy a man in him, Cynthia him and spoil him, you'll regret it.’ “Then aunt wished her to be hard on son out of three, ‘Not hard,” he answered; ‘only Tom ought to be taught that he will have to nothing die before to support nothing.’ “Tom, by this time, was fellow of nineteen, and I was Three years later he had no more idea of settling to any business than he had had before, and I had come into a fortune. It was not a large one, but it was enough to make me comfortable for life, and I was glad to stop washing dishes and doing the ironing, and ask my aunt to make me a boarder, since I could pay her well. ‘*She was pleased, and that day I left my little garret-room under the eaves, and had a large room on the second floor given me, ““Besides paying my board, I hired a servant for the housework, and my aunt thought that very generous. Hitherto I had worn her made-over gowns. tree, the dressmaker, and had plenty of dresses made, giving Aunt Cynthia a rich black silk and a broche shawl. She made a great fuss over them, and DALLAS, my nn | uncie my aunt's second 0 ik. out without His father to itm before me the making of You 3 and has not asked himsel him. rit Ot of to leave you, he b you-—and ‘“ “You have no right to accept an- other man’s attentions,” he said. “You are engaged to me.’ “Of course this was false, and 1 She only cried, wd told me that I had no feeling for her poor boy. who loved me so well. ‘1 might have believed that he loy- ed me, and felt myself guilty, but that a little later, coming down stairs to find my gloves, which I had drop ped, and stepping softly, for 1 thought the whole house wax asleep, 1 saw Aunt Cynthia and her son still sitting beside the grate, ‘+ ‘T don’t care an rap for the girl herself,” Tom was saying. ‘I know many a one I admire more, but I like her money, and it would slip into my pockets without any trouble. | [ hate work, And it secmed such a | soft thing to get a rich wife.’ “ You shall have the child,’ said | the mother. ‘I can keep that juncka- napes away. Fine clothes and city that is! all. Besides, how do you know the man means anything. | is ‘By his looks,’ said Tom, 1 kept Why, | up stairs without my | my heart was very light no pity for a fortune- and the words I had heard | made me happy. To cut a long story short, lest I} re you, it was not long before | was Mr. Lorrimer. My aunt 1nd permitted his visits, and told me hat she hoped I would not leave her I knew that the to the |} id agreed to stay, | when ‘1 went gaged to contributed 10U SO. 3 om nowadays; Saw a) I did, he was sulky. “I had trothed 1 for that my be- to Balti- | wlore our CRING, ul Known all aiong 3 1 husband was goin a few or t n the time it was very hard t« yut whe gone | was r As 1 told you, in tl very was lonely. Imai Were no “For alarmed, words fell t hii Lill 108 days the slow — there time 1 at lust a ter me, and receive tidings death. What was this: ““A paper in which was il a notice of the to Augus Esq., ar beyond I expected of 1 ¥ O ne, upon i nothing but ill to Ness came or however 3 may be il forgive him. A. APPLETON “1 did not it. I did woop when I received this letter, but 1 felt hap 3 fair not nerve. o $ : ail fro the shock In every had brought 1 office, and 3 ne m as I sat gazin «1 me on the Pall ier 3 show : I am not pining for remember. I do not love wi you do me; and give you even a kiss.’ * “Oh. Belle, 1 do love you! what I did out of pique!’ ‘and I am sorry you heard me. shall be a very happy couple yet.’ ** ‘Never!’ 1 said. “I'll write to this Tom. ‘Pretend we I said | eried Tom, | We! fellow,’ have Tom should begin to be very pleasant to me, for the first time in my life. *1 thought it was because he saw I had kind feelings and was grateful for what had been done for me when I was a little orphan. It was a new thing to be made so much of as I was now, and I enjoyed it. Even when Cousin Tom began to make love to me I never guessed that it was be- cause I had money, as I know it was now. ““ ‘Will you marry me, Cousin Belle?’ he said one day, and my an- swer was: ‘Tom, I feel as if 1 did not love you the right way, we are too much like brother and sister.’ ‘But he teased me and teased me, until I told him that he might ask me again at the end of the year. ** ‘But you must build no hope on that,” I said, ‘for I think 1 shall feel just as I do now.’ “And now Aunt Cynthia began to praise her boy to me, and to say how glad she should be if he had chosen sone one she loved, yielded to this pressure, but that something shortly happened to turn the whole current of my life. It can be told ina few words, I met Ar. thur Lorrimer at the house of a friend. He devoted himself to me that even ing, and he saw me home, and I un- derstood from what he said that he was in love with me. Cousin Tom was furious that I had accepted other escort. We had a scene that very night. Tom was very rough and brutal. i 1 : i to be off with me.’ ““*Yes,’ 1 said, ‘you may do that, I hate you both; but tell any lie you like.” And he ran away. i “‘Siiting in the room where | stood | was a looking-glass which reflected a | portion of the kitchen. As I hap-| pened to turn my that way, I saw my aunt standing near the open | fire reading a letter. As she read, | she seemed to watch and listen. i ‘In those days we used both black | ink and red for correspondence, and | Arthur had a fancy for red. This letter was written in that color. The | writing, too, looked at that distance! like his, and the secrecy of Aunt Cynthia's manner awakened my sus- | picions. 1 took a step forward, and | she flung it into the fire, and I saw her run out at the garden door. The eyes / “The paper had not blazed up at once, for it had fluttered behind the back log. 1 eaught up the tongs and brought it safely out. It wasscorch- ed and yellow, but I knew I could read it; and running to my room, bolted myself in and examined the “It was a letter from Arthur, and from I learned that he had written many times, and having received no reply, had grown so anxious that he had resolved to come back again, ‘* I am greatly irritated to-day,” he said. ‘Some rascal has thought it a good joke to publish a false marriage with an unknown, probably imagina- ry lady. It is unlikely that you will ever see a Baltimore paper, but I can- not help troubling about that, too. However, we shall meet in a few days, The stage should arrive at —— next Thursday.’ “1 saw it all—my cousin had play. ed a deep trick. The advertisement was his work, and he had forged the letter, but I was master at last. “As for my aunt, the cruel crea ture had destroyed the letters for which glie know I was longing—sho would willingly have broken my hears in order that her son might have my money, “1 believe from what I saw that she had not been able to finish the letter, und was not aware how soon Arthur would arrive, for this day was Thursday, I remember, and night was coming on, ‘I went down to tea nothing had happened. took my hand and kissed my aunt advanced and kissed cheek. ** ‘Hore are true hearts,’ ‘and we will compensate what fals¢ ones have suffer.’ ** ‘Marry me to-morrow, my darl- ing,’ said Tom, ‘and | write to that man, not that we are engaged, but that you are my wife.’ ‘A good idea,” said I; and just then I heard the rambling of wheels. A vehicle stopped Before the house, and some one rapped heavily with the knocker upon the outer door, ‘““‘1t is he!’ I cried, and in a mo- ment more I was clasped in Arthur's Arms. “Ask ns though My cousin it, my suid she, you for made you cnn me no questions,” 1 cried, at no little ble people who would in order to win wealth is mine.’ “That very night old Parson Part- ridge married us, and 1 left the town with my husband. At my prayer he forbore to punish Tom, and stop what wi since, and have lived years amongst my husband's kinsfolk here in Baltimore.'—{ Family Story Paper. THE SEA OTTER. His Fur the Costliest in the World-« Shot from Derricks. nt the » milli Sen Otter i3 snairess, and 1 the world. sy seb would fe two whole find out how the fir on a bed of kelp, flo i oben the i y old waters of sea, on the Pacific, the cradle of broug rocked in how he was ht 1 ht up billows, i soft po 3 a i ¥ 5 other's b rs reast k and her bad P OVEr SAW Was shore sof Als Now and then whe the ocean was very rougl the hunters were out upon # ) Craw; OR « and 3 the breakers y earn ture who The Nog 1) , the tail is short and sing about head and its value, the skin dy, like a misfit cont ly upon it many reason the stretched pelt much wider and longer than in The cont of the full-grown Otter is very dense, very fine, and its color is shimmering, lustrous black. the Sea Otter by the Russians, its fur has been eagerly sought by them, and the cash prices of skins have always been so high that there is not, in the whole United States, Mr. Charles H. naturalist of the Fish Commission, series of specimens, the States the best skins had reached $400 each, and their value has been since creasing. the State of Washington, where Sea Otters are still found along a thirty- bor, half-way to Cape Fiattery), they ricks'' from thirty to forty feet high, erected in the surf half-way between high tide and low tide, and the kills four Otters in a year considers his work successful. Owing to the persistent hunting has been going on ever since Alaska came into our possession, the Sea Otter is rapidly following the buffalo to the State of Extermina- tion. The favorite food of the Sea Otter is not fish, as one might suppose from the habits of the common Otter, but clams, crabs, mussels, and sea-urching. Its molar teeth are of necessity very strong, for the grind- ing up of this rough fare, and the muscles of the jaws are proportion- ately powerful —{8t, Nicholas. i The Doctor's Revenge. A man in Dexter, Me., who thought it a fine thing to stop a doctor who was hurrying by, to ask him some trivial question, didn’t see half so much fun in it when his door bell rang violently at 2 a, m. the next morning, and when, after hurrying on his clothes and hastening down, he found the physician prepared to answer the query, and any more he might have to propound.—{ Lewiston (Me. ) Journal, The British Mint cola twenty-five tous of penules every year. NOTES AND COMMENTS. Tre wonderful proportions to which newspaper advertising has grown within the last thirty years is an eloquent tribute to the value of printers’ ink as a medium for com- municating with the public. A MucH bigger wheel than the great Ferris Wheel, which revolved in the York, is London, building at Earl's Court, Three restaurants will be built supporting towers, room will crown the towers, at the axle. Tur latest thing out meter, by which the life examiners can tell to a fraction exact condition of an applicant's heart best, An electric pen traces on prepared paper the ongoings, haltings and precise peregrinations of the blood, showing with the fidelity of science the strength or weakness of the telltale pulse. It's a wonder, and yet as simple as A, B, C. insurance THe marriage rate in England and Wales during the last quarter of Inst year was lower than in any previous like period. There were 121, 818 mar- riages, which was in the annual pro- portion of 16.3 persons per 1,000 of population. The mean rate for the corresponding quarter in the preceil- was 17 noted that the average n 3 1 be RING ten of any preced- ing ten vears is ast years is far below that ennium. cCALMONT, 8 well-known lish yachtsman, is having a steam it by the Fairfield Company hich, it ony he the fusleont vessel { but absolutely one of the vessels in the { i, inch is said, will not f her class udi pedo catchers Bhe is to be « 1.506) tons burden by engines will hour i about and will be driven we minimum o twenty knot Mr. MeCalmont will Af tnd } i £0 Ww hie speed per ommand be equal t x For many years strong protest has been made to the Egypt by anti {sovern- f O31 ian NOKLS ment other over trite inieg in the world housir Bn of the tion of old ol $ Egyp woolen muses fii COvEeriy i beon greates wasible from The Gov 3 clined to hitherto but ronment has remedy the matter few days ago the ( ters agreed £750 (xx) ction beer has venture upon home, where he mig but removed to Florence, was imprisonment ht be guillotined. where the for life then imprisonment has been made the penalty throughout. penaity Since No one of the World's Fair or In- dustrial Expositions of this year is held in a city of the first rank or in the capital of any country, European The favored places are Antwerp, Lyons, Milan and Ban Francisco. Antwerp, the second city lelginm, has a population of 240. - Fah has a population of 420;000; Milan, the second city of Italy, has a popu- lation of 800,000, and San Francisco, the eighth of American cities in size has a population of sver 300,000, All Francisco, are inland cities. All of them are exceedingly attractive, and which are in great one Those three of them Europe possess very historic interest, while that of them which is in our own country is the pride of the Pacific Coast. Ix an editorial on the recent de- struction of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Engineering News strikes from the shoulder, and strikes hard at the buildings are constructed. Attention ia especially directed to the rapidity the great auditorium ing of the walls and ceiling. seems well-nigh incomprehensible,” a building designed to hold a great construction. The pitiful excuse than plaster is the only reason that has thus far been made public for the use of this material.”’ In this, as in most other instances, cheapness was far from being economical, but in spite of the lesson taught at such tremendous cost, similar errors, the Washington Star thinks, will con. tinne to be made so long as mankind is ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’ Tue Canadian Government, in ton. junction with the Australian Colonies, # now organizing to run a submarine enable from Vancouver, B. C., to 0 Samoa and on to Auckland, New Zealand. This line, by rather a circuitous route, will virtually surround the globe, and complete the missing link across the Paciffc. It may not has been looking with hungry eyes be glad of any pretext to annex them United States. England, America and Germany for torate which over the Navigator Islands, have come to be known as The foundations of empire fore another generation goes past, important colonies, or it may be in- dependent governments, will be established in lands like Fiji, which were recently in the control of sav- age cannibals, Tue chemists all over the world are striving hard to produce precious stones, but up to this moment with only partial success. The false dia- monds produced are an actual fail- ure, for they lack entirely the sparkle which reveals in an instant the qual- ity of the true brilliant firms in Paris are engaged in manufacture and to pre though all the value of their wares is in the gold with mounted. The same ture emeralds and r partial success, the second with a clearness of color that might sometimes ain expert. i ¥v THO seem wper which firms manuf: rithies they ard the st deceive an The imitation sapphires are not at If they are 100 t their falsity is at ull color of the sapphire or its other the Aansiie once evident a being sometimes imperfections proof of its with oenLIneness % ho geniuinienes fig Tha as 1 Case Maxers they succes 1 of the nat would what matter ost was tl peri given agditional y which the whol Yom il STR § $4 worii ous scheme for Ax ambit the is terior of California ha afoot. It run parallel t i ost ¥10 000,000 a ust beet fee ix to be thie nd the ¢ raised, a ace steamers Jrinkerville, 220 in the main canal niles long. from Lake. 1 to Bakersfield sranch canal yortant enough to © fmm fy inmense r, and there by value ing count at each lock great facilities for water x Motors operated by water would fur- nish electrie lights for all the towns From Suisun Bay the canal will extend down the San Joa- quin Valley, the river being utilized of the way. Tulare, elevation wer aon ine, our | 2 i it most River will be included in construc- tion. The water will be obtained from these lakes and rivers, and from the natural drainage. is now lost. The flows down from one canal will be saved in the lower locks. It will be a large volume of water, for the canal will be at least fifty feet wide in its general por- tion.” that A Gruesome Companion, A weird story is told in connection with some legal proceedings just set on foot at Cordele, Ga. have a receiver appointed to take charge of the property of the late Dr George W. Marvin, whom thé stran- gor alleges to have been his father, The estate amounts to some $250,000, A few years ago Dr. Marvin came to the place from Nebraska with his About a year ago he was town, but a died. His of money. elected mayor of the short time afterward he She refused to have the body buried, gent for an embalmer and had it em- balmed., Then she had it mounted on that when she entered the room it would arise to meet her, and then sit down again. The work cost her Afterward she spent the most of her time sitting by the corpse. A short time ago she sure prised the community by marrying the cashier of the Cordele bank.—— {New Orleans Picayune, ee HUMILIATING CIRCUMSTANCER, Algy-=Deah boy, have my twousahs begun to bag at the knee? Cholly-=No; they're all right. “Is my eye-glawss on stwaight?” “Yeu.' “I don’t look like a blawsted guy, do 17" : “Not at all, old chapple.”’ “Then I cawn’t unde’stand it! A stweet beggar stwuck me foh a dime just now.={Chicago Tribune, QUEER TREES, | Remarkable Forest Growths In Var. ! ious Parts of the World, Most remarkable are some of the features of different kinds of trees, and eccentric vegetation is confined to no country, but can be met with all the world over, says the Philadel- phia Press. In Madagascar is to be found = tree called the traveler's tree, yield ing a copious supply of fresh water from its leaves. As it will thrive in any arid country wheres planted, its benefits to the traveler are great. A { double row of these the Ba- hara would not be a bad speculation for some consolidated African cara- van company to go into. It would open up a new line BOCYOsH for tourists and would doubtless prove popular and profitable. In Venezuelan there is the cow tree, which grows on otherwise barren rocks. Its leaves are leathery and merisp, but by making incisions in the trunk a peculiar greyish milk oozes out, which is tolerably thick and of n agreeable balmy smell. The na- tives gather round these trees at sun- rise and bring bowls with them the milk, for toward midday the heat of the turns the milk sour. The sight of these cow trees puzzled the traveler, who cannot account for the trunk being plugged up all over with bungs and short The natives also use the milk as a gum, The butter tree waa first d by European travelers in t {of Africa. From the kernel of the fruit is produced a nice | which,” to re- ceive Bun innocent sticks. liscovered he center » ? Livingstone, Not exactly 8 recom- butter, « i EAVE keep a year,”’ for i mendation me might think. On a nar with this is a manna tree, found ’ i and Bicily. in the custom to It i by evaporation manna, of flows out. 4 sweet but allow tree, boiled, which makes excellen The guava tree of Tier thio even a rivalet i bot % to be found but there ’ Of indaries Rp 108 ure Darrow green thro iS 4ig0 8 cons tree in dro = keeps the or = : + tar ant cloud which is eon- constantly natives of the sup- ii ific there camphor forms in the trunk of the i and some pieces have A8 A Man sarm. und only hick al tree is { in 1 of Goa, near Bombay, and because from morning no flowers yn it, but soon after As the sun morning the pe- lose or fall Stranger still, 1 flowers blossom at night all the year round, and give out a most fra- grant odor. There is another funny tree in Ja- i maica, known as the life tree, on ae- count of its leaves growing even | after severed from the plant. Only | by fire can you entirely destroy it. called * time of sunset sen up with them. the a Fis it 18 covered rises again in als © } Freezing a Soap Bubble. {| A frozen soap bubble, broken in | two and floating like an iridescent | transparent eggshell on the surface of liquid air, was one of the moss | marvelous sights shown by Professor { { Dewar recently in his lecture at the Royal Institution, London. on the { effects of intense cold. The investi. | gation of this new field of science is | developing many wonderful bits of | knowledge, some of which are sure to be turned to valuable practical ae- count before long. A pretty experi- ment, which most delighted the audi ence, was quite simple. The profes. sor poured a few spoonfuls of liquid air into a glass vessel. The intense cold caused by the evaporation pro- duced & miniature snowstorm in the atmosphere above the liquid. The operator lowered a soap bubble on the end of a rod into the freezing | atmosphere, The bubble became | darker, the movements of the rain- | bow~colored film grew slower. It contracted somewhat in size and a moment later froze. A slight move- | ment broke it from the rod and in | two pieces, which floated for an hour, { gradually accumulating a tiny snow- drift within, precipitated from the Irvesing air above.~{Chicago Her Queer Old Laws. Thus, the laws of King Ethelbert of England, A. D., 561-616, provided that for slaying a freeman 60s. should be paid to his kindred and 50s. to the King: for cutting off a foot, H0s. was paid to the sufferer by the offender; for causing the loss of a great toe, 10s. ; for striking off an ear, 18%. : for putting a man’s eye out, the asaail- ant had to pay 50s. ; for cutting off a thumb, 20s.; and for each nail of which one man deprived another, the aggressor had to pay 1s. It must, of course, be remembered that the value of a shilling in those days was very ; considerably more that it is now.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers