THE CHORISTERS, There's a little band of singers & Every evening comes and lingers *Neath the window of my cottage in the trees: And with dark they raise their voices, While the gathering night rejoices, And the leaves join in the chorus with the breeze, Then the twinkling stars come out To enjoy the merry rout, And the squirrels range upon a log; And the fireflies furnish light, That they read their notes aright The katydid, the cricket and the frog. themselves All the night 1 Through my head their ringing Strains of music straight from Mother Nature's heart; Now the katydid and ericket, From the deep of yonder thicket; Then the croaking frog off drones his part, By and by the moon appears, As the midaoight hour nears, hear them singiog; tunes are and fog: Then the mirth Is at Its height, And they glorify the night The katydid. the cricket Atlanta Constitution, I. “Goodby, goodby: wes. we'll wr and tell you all about it, and perhaps send you some of the drawn work.” And with these and the other usual inessages, the train carrying excursion to Mexico pulled ont of station. It was a eommon. everviday sight the station bands, and gave it only a passing glance, of the travelers it was a novel experience, and they looked on it ginning of days of sightseeing in land of the Montezumas. There were two ite the big tae they ut to most as only the he. tie passengers in one tH), carriage like as young Che other called about 25. =a attention. One was a woman of tall and straight, with a 8 queen, who seemed gay as the youngest, her “mother,” and beautiful girl, Their and brother had come to the bid them goodby, a man of 30, well groomed and well made, the typical American man of that age. He had provided every thing that his affection could suggest, and told them to be sure and let him know day by day where they were and Ww! they were well “And you will look af Alice, won't you?” and wis son station Lo them with fer mother, aad looked at him his sister aud a Jounger-waman, about 22. Sbe turned iavoluntarily, and the pretty blush that covered her cheek that name was Alies, too. wobert Duncan glanced at Was struck with her beauty, But saw his look and turned away and bugietl herself with ber baggage. His mother and sister both noticed the co incidence also, and smiled. showed and Her, said his mother. “I hope we shall be She looks very pleasant snd very nice.” Just then the porter shouted train, As the car passed him he look and sister, some curiosity, Then he returned io office, was the junior partner in a prominent law firm in Boston. and had a hard afternoon of work before him. There Was a brief in a case that puzzled both himself and his partner. But try as he would to concentrate Lis mind on bis work, he could see nothing but the beaatiful face at the car window antl bear nothing but the droning of car wheels, At last he became 0 nervous that he threw down his pen, and telling the boy he would not be back until morning, he walked across the common and public garden to his home. The evening at the theatre did not belp him, and he wae rather horror. struck to find himself no better In the morning. This was a new experience for him. No woman had ever before come between him and his work. This was silly. He never saw the girl be. fore and he never would see hier again, of course. Ie must have dyspepsia, Bo on his way to hix office he made A call on his old college chum, now n promising young physician He dig his the ~ Inent symptom was, but was sgre he needed medicine for dyspepsia. Av. cordingly, he felt rather foolish when he was obliged to say no to all the doe. for's questions as to whether he had certain symptoms inseparable from gastric trouble, The doctor laughed and gave him some harmless powder, and he went to the office strong in the resolve to finish the brief. He made fairly good head- way, but still the image of the beaut) young girl would come back to Bim, and as the day wore on more dis ly. Later In the afternoon he got telegram saying that the party was Obleago and signed “Alice.” And it started it all over again, en he became alarmed and feared his mind was going. For he was a believer in “love at first sight,” bardly in the grand passion itself. ——— Then he found himself with an al most rosistless longing to take the first train and follow his folks, Of course, he did not admit to himself that he wanted to see the other Alice, That afternoon one of the firm's best clients came In. He said be contem- plated purchasing some thousand acres in Mexico, with the view of establish lng a coffee plantation there, He was not satistied with the title to the land, and felt that some one ought to gO down there and look into the matter more closely. He could not spare the time, and came to them, thinking that some of their young men might have enough knowledge of Spanish to make the trip. Robert Duncan regarded him as an | angel, and said that as the office was | not very busy just then, he thought he | This was better than the client expect ed. so the matter wax soon fixed up. “Perhaps you will your folks | down there,” said the senior partner, “Why, perhaps I will,” said Dunean, | as if he had just of it, But told his was hard ly probable, as he the lower table lands meet tho ight that It was going down on he partner near the coast Kept pretty upon the higher plateans That night from “Alice before he started his mother. and in said: Chambers is lovely, very mach her name Chambers Ii. morning he si His! The journey was a ti friend, amd alter the train ions afternoon | next FesSOme one, Spent 1a on himself one glo of a burro Duncan bad told his folks hy wire of his intended 11 pf and found by looking over their itiner ary thai they had passed quite near Was where he now He had left the train at a little town previously, and was making his way in to the country to intervi fu- dian whom he expects to find the next morning. The Mexican lands often depends on information only ab the Kindly Indians, he «slept on Idanket stars, and early the next! the path wan old title to talnable from That night nnder the morning was hi pusuaing isl, and beanti At last, about 9 o'clock, he came the of the and looked down on a lovely valley. His guide and interpreter told him the little village which be could was the old Indian About noon they arrived, the title was soon fixed up and ar made to leave the | But | that evening something happened that | altered the plans A small party of had been up on had found a They did one of the village burros, saddle on it and Slraps was a that a woman amd thew Ory over spur moaniain that in Wier matter were the villagers who mountain cutting | wandering | as the wood burro not recognive it It had a side noder one of They En the 3 find uneked the little glove Ameri nye or Knew ropean an ridden aunt to young nxt began a her. Some miles back thes found her un conscious by the road, and putting her | As thes | brought her np Duncan walked up the little village street to see what the mat astounded Alice Chambers on the back of the tittle mile, She was still unconscious. One of He was fo sew the olil women of the village took her Into | few minutes she revived, aml, opening her eyes, smiled a wan smile. When hor caught that ncan oVes of she | “I am Robert Duncan. Miss Cham. | bers, and my mother and sister have been traveling with sou. I am here on business, and will happy to help | yon In any way possible When vou | are stronger we shall bw glad to hear your story.” She rvegaineth her vigor quickly un i der the ministrations of the old Indian | wownan, and soon told them that she | had started out with a party from the little town on the raileoad to make an! excursion to some famous caves, In| Some way she had become separated | from the others, and had tried to find | her way back. Khe hecame confused, and, meeting several natives, they had tried te understand each other, with the result that she became mote and more at sea, She had eaten only what some Kindly | indians had given ber. At last she went #0 long without food that she felt a | faintness coming over her. and she | knew no more until she woke and found herself in the little village. In a few days ahie was strong enough to travel, and Duncan made himsbif a demi-god in the village by leaving a sum of money that to the Indians was fabulous. They enlemlated that the wx. enrsion party mast be at the city of Mexico. and when they reached the railrond they telegraphed the party, An fnswer came back which they got at a station farther on. 1 sald: “Thank God, she Ix found,” They were met at the station hy an enthusiastic crowd made up of the ex. cursion party, the American minister and a great mob of Mexicans, who cheered the couple to the echo, In some way the story had gotten into the pa pers, Duncan decided to stay for some days, and telegraphed bis partner to that effect, who wired back congratala. tions, and Duncan found limself a hero. He drove with them and went to ses the siguts, be One afternoon be asked Allee If she would “drive with him to the grove of Chapultapec, They dismissed the coachman at the entrance and told him they would meet him there in a couple of hours. Then they wandered through that majestic grove, where It is always twilight, even at midday, They had been talking over their strange experi ence, “Alice,” said Duncan, “you, of know that everybody thinks you are my sweetheart, and was before we left home? She blushed and owned that she had heard something to that effect. COUrse, true? Alice, | the first day | have loved you from saw you in the train ly: “Well, Robert, It was quite mu tual. 1 assure you. Oh, there are some people coming. You musin't, From wiich I infer that he her yes," Ni, Globe- Democrat under tO say THE SHORTEST WAR One Day. the employ and \ eamgpaign, involving ment of many thousamls of men ting of * BiIgh Was ove begun sme day Fhe glory of this uni jie gohievement belongs to the British In 1848 aspect in the arins hings bore a threaten indian state the Mahrat formidable encoun entral hy ng nhalsited «f the had up to as, considers Fos] Woes fie ered in our Ind Intelligence an wars reached the British an thorities magzaificent 10,000 cavalry that the nfaniry, amd 200 guns contemplated not only a al Pun British in military depotism, but an active Hanee with their neighbors of the of hreatened by inh, in the w hid event Hueniee hined night be § A Com Nikh Mahraita 1540, 000) with and army, com posed of men Xl guns Accordingly, asx mens Ford antionary orderad a pres He, Ellenborongh 1 hye Gwalior frontier. This force was divid portions: the Hugh and 1 iW on Riv Hien fsough command field stationed el 12.06) srt y Pieces; General ou the eastern was firey. with 3.000 infantry sod a batteries of horse artillery roncegtration took place in No IS, and it had the effect of bringing the native anthorities to their sulkily a« manatiog from internal dis Finally, it nothing shorf of a of the The ember 1 SOLER, while thes nt be orders of Rritish diplomatists, the went decided orders on Increasing was that British Gswalior capital, put a un satisfactory state of affairs prevailing, 0 on December 17 both Gough's and for that occupation conld stop to the crossed the frontier this purpose. No one suspected government was known fo Iw fully inclined and contingency the Mahratta army revolting, to oppose ii% own account, tut colnmns peace the of overlooked British was quite two no had the com rulers traitors, and has take up Gough appears to have entirely dis credited the warnings that reached him, for he left his seige train behind Agr allowed his and the many officers, accompany on clephants at its to defensive wife, other to head, At daybreak troops commenced Kobari River in le an the passage of the surely fashion. A m of the ing a heavy gun fired from the woods village, named Ma ball the cannon rolled between another few minutes the womds he came lined with flame from the mouths shell into the British ranks. The snr prise was completed, The ladies wore hurried to the rear, and a council of was summoned, The ensisd raged for three which hours, ate character. By midday, however, the victory was ours, the Mahrattas fleeing from the field and leaving behind them 5.000 killed and wonnded and 156 guns, By a curlous coincidence, at the very same hour this sangninary and unex. pected conflict terminated, the second British force, under General tacked by the second Malratta army, 12,000 sirong. Mahara jpore had been a soldiers’ battle, but this, the battle of Punneal, was to be decided by good generalship. The little British army, by a seriex of masterly maneuvers, drove the enemy from all points of his position, capturing his aftitlery, and in. flicting a losx of 5,000 men, This com. pleted the day's work, and, In fact, ended the war, which may be «aid to have begun at 9 o'clock that morning with the firing of the cannon ball at Lady Gough's elephant, London Mail, A Description of Wampum. Wampum was the name aoplied to shells or strings of shells used by the North American Indians ag money, Be- sides their use as money they were unl ted to form a broad belt, which was worn as an ornament, In the language of the Massachusetts Indians the word signified white, the color which gen. erally prevailed in wampum belts, Six hundred thousand pounds of tea ire consumal in England daily, THE CATTLE HORN TRADE. Where the Supply Comes Prom and the Many Uses toe Which They Are Put. In Frankfort street, near the East River and its picturesque shipping, is a small shop that deals in a curious commodity—horns, Not the musical rig which the little German band lights to play, but the horns with which a bull assists a stranger over a fence or tosses a small boy over a treetop. Cattle are raised not only for the steaks which they earry about with them, but also for their hoofs, which finally trot to the factory and become glue; their bones, which are | laid down in the miil to become agri- cultural fertilizers; their hides, which | are turned into shoes, and their horns, which are made by the art of the jew. | eler, and the skill of the craftsman into a hundred objects of beauty and utility, The farmer boy, driving Spot and beef, but he is little likely to think | Bpot’s hoofs as pasting together parch- ment or restoring the { form of a shattered vase. or to | Brindle's horns or any part thereof in window of deeds delicate picture a jeweler's as au object art Before the consumer finally down at the table to eat old Brindle turned into roast beef he may comb his hair with a horn comb. Then he ! eat consomme of a horn spoon and serve the salad with a horn salad knife and fork, and finally but Kits i may out the beef soup and roast beef, The horns which the cattle In field shake at proudly flantly, are an object of the ommerce. Sometimes a ship the other side of the world comes to New York Harbor 'w 0.006) TON pairs of cattle hold In the tittle the de. world's from in or Oar you, th horns nu her shop you see horns point toward you from every direction: horns on the wall, thick a blackberry bush: horns around as an elephant’s tusks, which look a= if they might have by a mammoth; long, as black as Satan's, once grew i straight up from a head like the horns of an antelope; horns pol ished like ivory and mottled like mar ble. Above desk ! arches an of horns, nine feet tip The steer that roamed the pampas Repub He, They lar- gest cattle and, ing as thorns on as large been carried pointed horas, that wlowr'n the propre ietor's incredible pair from tip to » jong One wore hose of the are to be horns In New York, perhaps, in the country, i “Horns are shipped ww States from Routh America Africa, India and Europe” keeper of shop. “A come from Buenos Avres and Monte video, the commercial the great cattle industry of the Argentine Republic and Uruguay London, al #0, sends argosies of horns to New World, largely { Russia and India exports | buffalo horas. supply of horns Texas, Argentine bwliovend the the United Australia, says the the great centres of collected the Orient The domestic comes chiefly from i | | i i i i muttered, “We are all too prone to use adjectives and adverbs, anyway.” He picked up the paper and seemed about to begin to read from it, but suddenly stopped, “That whole sentence might as well come out,” he said, “The meaning is perfectly clear without it. Concise. ness is really the crying need of the hour” Then turning to the girl, he said: “Be mine” Thus we see the power of habit, Vor years his duty had been to edit the “copy” of prolific correspondents, Chicago Evening Post. HOW A PLANT PEEDs, ——— Vas Helmont's Interesting Experiment Showias Mew =z Tree Grew. It is more than 2900 years since phi- losophers began to speculate about the food of plants and what we may term their “digestive” processes, but it is only during the latter half of this cen- tions concerning the food supplies of the vegetable world have been general ly accepted by scientific men. As far as Is known, says a writer in Knowl- edge, the first botanical experiment ever performed was conducted by Van Helmont. He placed In a pot 200 pounds of dried earth, and in it he planted a willow branch which weigh- ed five pounds, He kept the whole covered up and daily watered che earth with rain water, After five years’ 164 pounds. The earth in the Knowledge was not sufficiently advanced to enable Van Helmont to in- terpret these striking results correctly, vel “All the large horns which you see in the office came from South Amer ica. 1 don’t think it wonld be possibile the longest pair here. The wild cattle have been crossed hy superior breeds, and their horns ne longer large and long as they did years ago. In a measure they are graded, and as | the stock improves in quality the horns diminish In size. This is espe cially true of the herds of cattle in Texas and the Far West, There are | hardly any pure wild cattle loft in the country. "Tweniy-five years ago one might Americans in the West whose ! beards reached their waists. That | was the day of the long-horned cattle. “The price of horns depends upon their quality. The best cattle horns | bring $300 a ton, the poorest may be had at 310 a ton, while $200 or £250 a | ton frequently is paid. Owing to the | decrease in the number of cattle, espe cially the wild ones, horns have risen 25 per cent, in price In the last two years, despite the competition ef L eelluloid, “The finest horns in the United | States for manufacturing purposes { were the American buffalo horns. The | bisons, unfortunately, are practically extinct, and their horns have disap peared from the market for all time. Sheep and goat horns do not command as high a price as cattle horns. We often receive horng in lots of 10.000 or 60,000 pairs, We sometimes sell 20,000 pairs to one customer,’ New York Press, Rive A Candid Opinion. “Well?' smiled the visiting lady. “Were you considered handsome when you were a young woman “Er—well, Jackie,” hesitated the visi. tor, “1 don’t know that | was. I think probably no one but Mr. Brown con. staered me beautifol, and youn know fle married me.” “Well, 1 just wanted to know. Were you skinny then?” “Not very.” “lI don’t think you could have been #0 very fat. Now you're old and ugly and look ike thirty cents. There's mamma--1 hate to say it, becanse | like her first rate, ut she's not pretty and looks about what she is-50, er some such. Then Mrs. Smith-she makes good cream ple, but she sure. 1y could never have boon handsome. Well, this 18 the way it goes with all the women I know, I asked mamma what she thought about It. She said fhat little boys were to be seen and not heard, and that she would have to give me a spanking before the day was over. So 1 thought I'd ask you... MinneapoMs Tribune. sion that the increased weight had been supplied to the roots. He there. experiment as supporting the theory which he had advanced, viz, that plants required no food but water, Stephen Hales ad- vauced the subject a great step by lo. dicating that much of the increase in weight of plants was derived from car- bon dioxide in the alr. Vegetable cells contais a known as “cell gap,” which is water holding in various materials which have been taken up from with- out by and leaves, These in contact CAUROS COMPOS; hquid solution the roots the which them to tion be added to the substance of the plant. Thus it i in the protoplasm of the living oells of the plant that these “digestive” pro carried on which Aristotle believed to occur in the soil. We see, then, that the living cells are microsco- with protoplasm, nadergo changes in them fo which prepare CORRES Are of the food of the plan is carried o Like a New Gibraltar. who Jost in man winter's According to a as returned from a sojourn lermudas, the people of this con tinent have little idea of the magni tide of the plans being perfected by British goverument at The fortifications, barracks and bid fair make the isl ands the Gibraltar of the Atlantic, The imperial government has built the the these isl to The is round, that it can Iv careened over when the bottom comes foul, thus allowing it scraped and painted down to the cen "he dock can be sunk thirty feet. Betweetl tlie nner and outer skins is a space of twenty feet in depth, This great chamber is divided into thirty-two compartments by fif. bottom #0 be to be These are pumped out by sixteen In- dividual engines on cach wide of the dock, The Imperial anthorities, how- ever, are not satisfied with this pro vision, for a new dock is being built, in sections, in England, which will be 80 feet long and capable of accom: modating the larges! vessels, The island barracks are exception ally fine, and the fortifications are yory strong and extensive, If is sald there are 365, or one for every day in the year. but many of them are mere pinnacles of rock. The government is gradually acquiring additional lands for fortifications, dockyards, barracks and similar works, There is no dou that th® yntention is to make it a place of immense military strength and equipped with the fullest facili tien for tHE repair of naval and mer. chant shipg. isan Japaneic Food Abominable. B. A. Lawton, of Boston. who las recently returned from Japan, was de. scribing that country to a party of friends at the Waldorf-Astoria, and in the course of his remarks said: “Al that has been written of the physical beauty of Japan ix really inadequate, But while Japanese life, Japanese houses and Japanese scenery are re plete with interest and beauty, Japan ese food i= an abomination to the civilized stomach, and as such to be absolutely eschewed. Take the raw fish, for Instance, they serve, The first time 1 tasted it [ was forcibly reminded of the man who invented the “Sapjack’ which, when cooked on one side, auto. matically turned over and cooked the other side as well, The seboeme work: ol out to perfection and fortune seem od to loom large in the near future for the inventor, when a drawback to the scheme was discovered-the ‘fAapjack, once swallowed, kept on turning. That i= what happens when you eat the mw fish of Japan."-~New York Tribune, i The number of high sehoold in the A ——— AN ARMY ON THE MARCH, A Sisgle Corps Extends Over Ihirty-Togr Mites of Road. Few persons have any notion of the vast length of an army on the march A single battalion of infantry, 1,008 strong--which is the strength of an Juglish battalion takes up 2 road length of 525 yards, including about eighty yards for stragglers. A bat tery of field artillery tnkes up 26H Yards, and a regiment of cavalry takes when marching four abreast, 650 yards, An army corps, with its staff, wagons, guns, hospitals, ete, would extend over thirty-four miles of road. An army marches slowly on the best of roads. It Is much more tiring marching in a crowd than walking alone. Soldiers go at the rate of about two and one-half or two and three quarter miles an hour, and in the Eng lish army they do a good day's march when they cover thirteen miles. This accounts for the fact that when news is printed of an army marching to at tack surprise is expressed that the af tacked layed so long. It takes a day or more for all the men to assemble on the battlefield, The march for various arms differ, of course; but the fastest arm has to suit {ts pace to the slowest Here are the English official rates: In fantry in small bodies, three miles an hour; infantry in large bodies, two and a half to two and three-quarter miles: cavalry, walking, four miles; cavalry, trotting. nine miles, cavalry, galloping, fifteen miles; artillery, walking, three miles; artillery, trotting, eight miles in our army the average march for infantry is from fifteen to twenty miles a day. When troops move in large bodies, and particularly in the vicinity of the enemy, the march is conducted to diminish and ex of rates of the in several columns 30 as the depth of the column to peddite the deployment line battle. In large commands the roads, if possible, are left to the artillery and trains, When long distances have to be covered rapidly, it Is done by chang ing gaits. The most favorable ground is selected for the double time, but care is taken not to exhaust the troops im mediately before engaging the enemy. into A Royal Architect snd Gardener. Kings are generally supposed to owe their distinction to their exalted pos tion. It is said of King leopoid of Belgium, however, that If he were not King of the Belgians, he would be a King among architects, among iandscape gardeners. His taste In these directions is prob ably more marked than his taste for ruling, for it is well known that he de tests the ceremonials of royaity, and is never so happy as when inspecting and correcting designs for a new bulid ing or planning the laying out of an estate, Brussels has much cause to be grate ful to kim in this respect, since it is to the keenness of his eye for the bean tiful in landscape that she owes many of her open spaces from which delight ful views of the country can be ob tained. The summer palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians is at Laeken, a suburb of Brussels, It is an estate of about 300 acres, and the park and grounds plainly show the influence of the King's love of horticulture and floriculture, They have been so bean tifully laid out that they are the pride and delight of his subjects, The King himself superintended the opening of every glade and the arrangements of every group of trees. Since the Queen shares with her has. band a great fondness for flowers, and since Lacken is her favorite residence, it is not surprising that the conserva. tories there are sald to be the finest private conservatories in the world. They were begun in 1874, and have been added to from time to time since, ~ Youth Companions. or Every Man Is a King. Only one people and one little valley south of the equator whose sovereign ty has net been claimed by some Bu ropean power now remains. It is the valley of Marotse, fifty or sixty miles wide, north of Lisuli, in South Africa. and the only reason why the Marotse, who inhabit #, have preserved their independence is that England and Por tugal both claim it, and, therefore, the work of “civilization” is at a stand still It may pot be as easy to conquer the Marotse when the time comes, for they are 2 tall, Sl sot 0p race, very black of skin. In manners they are very courtepin, and in bearing dignified. Every Tull blooded Marotse is by birthright a king, and takes his place in the aris tocracy of the empire. In fact, as every one ir King, there is an head tuler. The bare fact that he is 3 Marotse insures the respect of the subservient tribes, and as he grows to manhood a sense of superiority usually Implants in the native the dignity of self-re spect. All the labor is done by slaves. who have been captured from neigh boring tribes, Condensing a Document. The young man took a piece of pa. per and a pencil from his pocket and 1ald the paper on biz knee, “1 will bave something important to say to you in a minute, Miss Jones” he said. Then he read over carefully what was written on the paper and crossed out a word. “Superfivous,” he waid, half to him. self, . again and crossed fe went over It “It's Just as strong without that. ba
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers