LEFT ALONE. | By Crirron Bincma. They're only a mother's treasures, A curl of golden hair, A dolly limp and broken, And a frock you used to wear; And her tears are falling on themy For once you were her own, But you were wed this morning, And she is left alone! "Twas hard to say good-bye, dear, "Twas hard to let you go, But ah! the years bring joys and tears That only mothers know She looks at all her treasures, ’ And her tears fall like sweet rain; She feels your tiny fingers Upon her cheek again; She seems to hear your footstep Along the nursery floor As she gazes almost blinded, l At the baby's shoes you wore. "Twas hard to part with you, dear, She always loved you so; The love that's best beyond the rest, That only mothers know. It seems to her a dream, dear, You've gone away a bride, And that she will wake to-morow To find you by her side Ah, no, the tears are true ones, But on her bended knee She still can pray God bless Though still alone is she, you. Tom Gill could do it; and just because he had put off doing it for a couple of days! The cold weather came suddenly. People woke in the night shivering for more blankets, and the next morning all ponds were covered with ice. Then the wind rose, and came in an arctic gale straight from the north. It blew so all day and all night, and before the second morning dawned the cold was bitter. half hour late in getting to Mrs. Byrd's. She was in the kitchen to receive him, and he noticed a certain unusual gra- ciousness in her manner, “1 ain't just on the minute this morn- ing,” he said, with his pleasant laugh. “Bed felt so good, 1 lay a littie too long.” “Just a little,” said Mrs. Byrd, smoothly. “Now that you mention it, I think you have been late every morn- ing; a half-hour or 50.” Tom gave her an apprehensive look. "Well, you see them warm mornings | thought it wouldn't make any difference. You see" “But isn't a bargain a bargain?” asked, calmly. “You know you and don’t you think I had a right to ex- pect you at that time? 1 may be wrong, but it seems to me it was none of your business what the weather was.” “Oh, well, if you lock at it that way “And interrupted “Yesterday wil another thing,” she h only would afraid morning you left the furmace coal in it, saying you I am For life's made sweet by love, Where'er our footsteps go. But angels write in words of The light that mothers know Philadelphia Ledger. TAS SASS Tom's Miserable Luck. BY J 3 ES C€ PURDY. FINS AS SAS SAS ASN “1 dunno how such miserable tries harder for no boy's capabler than he i always scem to go how.’ . Indeed. there ground for Mrs certainly have a g in his wrestle with the bright and active, not vicior lazy. He found plenty of opportuni ties to work, but tl did not iast. “Tom hasn't ge influence,” mother would sigh in explanation takes influence to push a boy how's a poor boy to get any i 2 When Tom was discharged from Electrical Works, he assumed that piace was wanted for the son of stockholder. The manager's e tion was different, but T believed Tom. As winter approached, the need home was more urgent than ever the mother herself had cellar stairs and we consequence, “1 ought to broken step,” she said, d was goin’ to fix it broke, but he kept pu how.” Under pressure announced himself He was handy and = he could put an elec rig up an electric ment, put a new was 3 got, contrive a kiichen mend a broken bracket, replace a shattered wif. | dow-pane. All these took, Mrs. Byrd gave him his first trial. She | was not rich, she did not even keep a| servant, but her word of commendation | went far with the many rich people | among her friends. Being interested in | Tom's mother, she gave the boy two or | three small jobs to do, and he did them : well. “You might try him,” she said to her friends, “but don’t promise any steady work till we see how he holds out For | he has had an unbroken run of what his | mother’ calls ‘miserable luck’ Perhaps his luck has changed now.” So Tom was given a good many jobs. Presently winter was close at hand, and furnace fires must be started. “Build mine at once,” Mrs. Byrd said to Tom. “I will tel! you exactly how 1 wish it managed.” And she concluded : “I take you on trial for two weeks. It depends on yourself whether the trial shall last longer than that” Then she was reminded that some boy had broken a pane of glass in the cellar window facing north. “Put a whole pane of glass in there,” she said, “before the first freeze. [It won't do to have that water-pipe frozen. “I'll put it in to-morrow morning,” said Tom. “Very well, I'll trust you for that” The mild weather lasted nearly a fort- night after this, and furnace fires were kept as low as possible. Tom had sev- eral of them to attend to, but not quite so many as at first. Already his miserable luck had caught up with him again. Sev. eral of his new employers had dispensed with him. Mr. Crane told him bluntly that, since he had “skipped” a day, he need not come back to finish weather. stripping the windows. When he went to lay Mrs. Wilson's vestibule oilcloth, he found it already in place. It was dis. couragiing but still Tom did not give up. The disappointment at Judge Grey's came near making aim do that, however. He was called there to put an electric bell in order, and to put new wires to the gas-lighting attachment. He soon had the bell working perfecsly, but when he went back, three days later, with the wire for the other job, he found that a regular electrician had been called in his stead, and that the work was already done. Why? Certainly no electrician in ®s 1 dis OQ Tr 1 $ i om always has Pm sure i agamnst seemed Lall's comp did ne rtunitics ms fallen have remem when order, attach- a 1f shelf, } wor | ne uncer Soins tings ~ the city could do that job better than would have come, especially such a cold day.” ‘N-no, ma'am, but—I'll tell you m and stove—jtist a as it was mother wasn’t worse, One of our neighbors wanted me to put up her thank-you job—and I thought just for once maybe it wouldn't be any hardship for you to put on a shovelful or two, till" “No hardship at all, I assure you, for day the I was st of the and all the evening. fire rather evening ?”' Ott mu Didn't you find low when you came in the coaxed ught seemed 1 . vont $s ian- he onened he opened he 8 and same close down the “Oh! Oh!" At the foot of the stairway T ped, pale, speechless, overwhelmed cellar was with water, small cataract was still pouring The water-pipe had burst, Mrs r of fresh dismay been fifteen Her and ugh the water and m stop. The and a into flooded 1 is Bad as the situa- minutes earlier, voice roused Tom he splashed away y the cut-off, turned Then he fis #0 stopped the rush waded to the furnace: was and had been so since the night before There, staring him it eless, out of countenance, was the vacant space into which he had 1 to put a pane two weeks ago, thought z few days matter—and I wasn't expecting the freeze yet, and anyhow | put a board against it last night It must have blown he muttered, trying to ex- omise A wouldn't mare in" cuse himself “And you are the one that never went back on a bargain!” Some of Mrs, Byrd's friends had never seen her angry, but she had her full of human nature. and now she was fairly ablaze with wrath and scorn. Her tone and the look she gave Tom made him burn with shame. There opmion of him. and for the first time he deserved. repeated I knew your record, but 1 thought you the vse you have made of it! You have cheated every friend I recommended you to. put up with your dilly-dallying! to last!” “No, ma'am, I ain't! Excuse me, but I ain't!” He came and looked straight into her angry eyes. There was a new sort of dignity in his respectful tone and in his pale face. “I was, but my luck’s changed, and 1 ain't now.” “Go! 1 have no patience for any more experiments, Go!” He went meekly up the stairs. She followed him slowly, with the uncom- fortable feeling every sensible person has after a fit of anger; she had said sides, there had been a ring of sincerity in his voice and za Jook in his eyes that added to her discomfort. When she reached the kitchen Tom was at the door, ready to go out. He faced her, and in a businesslike tone said the most unexpected thing possi- ble: “What plumber shall I go for? That pipe must be fixed right away.” “What have you to do. with that? Don’t you understand? You are dis- charged.” “No, ma'am, I ain't. Excuse me, but really 1 ain't. You see it's just this way. I've got to k on working for you, and for all the rest of the folks that's dropped me, fo as to make up for the way I've been doing. Understand? I ain't asking pay them; ouly to make it up to you, I can see now that I'm in ded, and | want to prove that my luck's ” She wavered an instant, in spite of herself. “I really believe 1 luck has changed! It used to be that you wouldn't stay in a situation, and now you wox't stay out of run off and get Brown, the plumber, here as soon as you can. Then come back and build that furnace fire. The house is as cold as a barn, and [ want my breakfast.” He went and came, kept coming and going, not only to that house, but to one after another «i the houses that had dispensed with him His employers wondered if the reform would last; but long before spring all were convinced that his luck had changed indeed. Before another wintet came he was back in the Electrical Works, and there he has stayed ever since. EXTRAORDINARY DINING ROOMS, Anything From a Barrel to the Swell-Box of an Organ. An invitation to dine in a barrel has in itself no great element of attraction; tun large enough to hold £200,000 worth of the seductive bever- the dinner is one of a each perfect of its kind, dozen courses, * complexion. his wa Wo guests by of Nancy colos sal he invitation issued chosen Messrs, Fruhinshaltz & Co. and the dining saloon champagne tun built for of 5 teeny is un 153 Was 3 the Panis Ex. last year shape of an enor. and diz wis in the mous barrel, 31 feet meter, with a capacity that a small have been mere pre- fact, could sO capac army of packed in its Ws was it, in 1.000 interior. The paration of the wood for its construction upicd four months: a year was Ee its cost was £2,400 and » heavy that 3 men OCC spent wm building it; i wis strong locomotive draw it. regal cask covers 8 would be required to Within this truly as for two hours a sumptuous feast, rang from an « of potage a la bis evisses to a dessert that would Lucuil remarkable Werture a Xt a ot a Le sary § C Lp « Was pariaxen 2% than was one which, a year even this appetiie do villagers on wrthern coast of Nor An whale, a Northern rorqual, had way drifted ashore bringing He Was 8 monster 1. measuring eighty tail,” and yielded ne and oil. In honor of such a rich treasure trove the finders decided 3 ff. vei Ql tO give a banquet in on record , which, after the removal of the blubber, afforded ample sitting for far appetite fected 10t recorded, the inside room thirty guests the of the guests was af by but that some of diners, toward the end of the meal enamored by their t they expressed the deterthination to ¢ there forever, and were only eject- G UY muscular force Ai oy it 1% sai SO 3 Bang interior of 3 ore than one ed in the 1s ; ed in the int a large organ notable, perhaps, was that given the Silbermanns, a century ago, in organ of the tholic Church, Dresden, when the vox most went 14 SLOp Was mor ever been F ty years of ago ten guests ttle dinner x of Leds organ : OTRan ot aown at 3 s} to e swell-b and the n Hall famous the Sydney Tow converted into a 5 a much m It 1s no une wre numerous body of diners to d nd dance inside the trunk of ne of the enormous trees which common there, some of which are over 300 feet high and ninety feet in circomference. In mterior of one of these giants of the forest, in Calaveras Grove, a memorable banquet was given some years ago. The trunk. which was thirty feet in afforded ample acenmmoda- ton for the fifty guests invited. and after the dinner was disposed of and tables cleared away twenty-five couples danced until far into the morn- ing.~-1 it-Bits. or other are so More Woman Are Nesded. There seemiy @5 be a shortage of wom. of the censvs-takers are true. In two of them ajone—Canada and Australia— there is a chance for 3500000 more to gain husbands and homes, According to the latest figures the population of New South Wales consists of 720,000 males and 628.000 females . Here is a deficiency of 100,000. In Victoria the discrepancy is not so marked, but in other colonies the difference is propor. tionally larger. In New Zealand, for instance, there is an excess of 50,000 males, Perhaps if the women realized how much they are needed there they would go in bevies. It is said, however, that they are too timid to venture into strange lands and are waiting for the colonists to come and take them. Stu. dents of conditions think somet could be done to equalize the sexes, both in the colonies and at home—¥onkers Statesman, Chinese College For Londsn, In future if an Englishman wants to learn Chinese he will not be to travel to China to do it. A Chi college is to be established in Londen; and, though the college is not yet built, scene of the professors have already arrived and have started work, The professors wear their ordinary oriental winnents when taking classes, and many puply have joined—army men, je neers, city clerks and dipio matists, Of course, there have ES Si anhy st of the ph where the teachers are all Rati sey of the Celestial Empire. , THEY NEED COOL HEADS AND FIRST | CLASS PLASTER. Ornaments For the Home-Hints as to How They Ton be Made if the Be ginner Has a Little Ingenuity and Patience, Few people realize the pleasure and instruction that can be gained from making plaster casts, says Good House- keeping. It is inexpensive, and utensils required are found in household. A cast of the baby’s chubby kind, is not only a delight, but an or- nament. The great ting excited. paris, and that it’ be bought from some { which is obtained from a drug store is erly, for a first attempt; a bucky of i or soapsuds, and if possible some cf j are all the materials required, | 18 first taken of the object, and | this filled it gives the ’ is cast of the object shown, the other part resting on a tile or plaque, those that are in the “round.” The part 18 and show the - whole object. or , hand is about as simple an object as can be and is more interesting than most t as the hand on is the easiest, | would be well to start with that. Pl a sheet of paper on a table and th | grease the hand thoroughly with the oil or thick soapsuds to prevent the plas- ter from sticking to the skin when re moving the mold, ; When the hind is placed in tion wanted, fil] it, where the WE tile the posi- de the spaces jerneath it does not touct table, with clay, or if putty. It i small wall of clay aroun prevent the plaster fron not Put ; of cold water in obtained Clay canno use % Ty i is Necessary. keep the spoon under water to avol $111} Use the consistency of 1 makir bles added, or hot the ore quickly used, hardens 0" srvsall ansntife mail quantity any easier i for “rotten” and pas two. Pour the plaster over the | taking care that easier to | until jt is about half an inch thick | will require a few set, and is ready to i be scratched with a knif minutes fox ft off when it It is mould up and lift Can Casey to turn the hand anc the hand off the { under ¢ dull knife ont mould the ster has away with a . . 0 Should the hand not i [OL 1% 1 come out easily, | works he fingers separately will often ser em mold urs and then $ y The dry a { loosen ti Ie wed to should be al few ye 1 : ; hiled with white plaster, the same con L & at } sistency use wall of clay ab was tor the mold A wit an inch high will have d the edge of the mold when filled, gives the tile § Let the whole then chip the mold away with a | the mold, being of a different color, | be readily distinguished from the cast In making the mold for round, after the hand has been oiled. sink 1t to about half its degth in a bed of plaster, leaving about half an inch for thickness. Make the rim smooth and when hardened, oil: upper ‘half with plaster. When set this should knock apart easily and the hand be lifted out. Another way. but a more difficult one, after putting the hand half way in the plaster, and before this bas dried, is to put a thin, strong string ! to be built arc which, {| Cast to rest on the string out, which cuts it in two. This is the best way to cast a foot The manner of filling both these kinds of molds is the same. plaster; let harden and lft the molds off. Only one cast can be made from molds like these. are made and sold and a number of the same casts are wanted. a gelatine mold is made; being elastic it is easily pulled off without harm to the cast and still retains its shape and can be filled any number of times. The yellow or ivory finish that is given to many casts is obtained by using white shellac, which can be had already mixed from a paint shop. By adding oil paint any desired color can be obtained. Rubbing whh a cloth gives a high polish. A bronze finish can be given by coating with a mixture of white wax, dissolved in tur- pentine, to which bronze or green paint has been added, . A fine set of casts, which would in- terest children and could be used in the schoolroom, could be easily made, such as fruit or vegetable forms, apples, bananas, potatoes, corn, or simple ani- mal forms, such as frogs, fish, etc. also models that one has made and wishes to preserve. Queer Neighbors. John Widgeon, the field collector of the Maryland Academy of Sciences, Be ELE ar the le to be found in the years ago while exploring Kent Island 1 venture up a forty-foot hickory tree to inspect a « large fish-hawk's nest When almost to the nest | was surprised to see an enormous black snake wrap. ped around the heavy sticks at the bot tom of the bulky nest. The snake, al- though at such an unusual distance from the ground, did not lose its presence of mind, but dropped gracefully from family of field mice. Above this was a nest full of live sparrows, and upon the top of the hawk’s nest were three young hawks just hatching ~Baltimore Sun. A TAME CROW, Time. He began his career in the fens, on a tree overlooking the river Nene. One bank holiday in June two boatloads of “bricky lads” splashed up, spying the slender willow and captured him and his brethren, Finding that they were only crows mstead of jackdaws. as they had they thought of killing them, their teacher stepped in on half of James, and he at least was saved hoped, when be- to be changed { a Little vi the broad fens to a little yard f a t { could no fee from irom centre fighting pow he als i 1. . ax ana Ciaws used as the rowed, | began he ) ws his feelin ing when he i and talk in his i y vecome quite the cx angry way when he is pleased. | ck of the walk, both the dog, a terrier renowned for fighting, id the huge family cat | terror of them Indeed. he chases | pulled the The servant is fond in the yard, and once tha ! games be i 10 be stop- grief energetic be ng and chatter clean, a even window ome in and have hi Vegetarians and Science. were to believe the vegetari id that d grat Carnivorous from pure Unhappily for teeth of human were not intended to cat herbs only, and, indeed, man has never had cither the teeth or the digestion for a A German pro- fessor has been inquiring into the mat- ter, and lays it down that vegetarianism originated in the East, not from choice. but from necessity, owing to a scarcity of meat. The Northern Europeans of the inter-glacial periods were hunters of the mammoth, and the Danish “kitch. the primitive theory, that the bein +1 show wy European subsisted on meat and fish The Asiatics, on the contrary, became shepherds and farmers. They had grain and cattle, and when they over. ed diet with them. The essential thing, says the German professor, is to main- tain a proper proportion between meats A mixed diet has much to The fauit of vegetables, do with man's superiority its nutritive value, and the digestive system wastes in assimilating bulky food the energy which might be used in men- tal work. London Globe. Determination of Death by X-Rays, The subject of the definite deternina- tion of death is one of great importance, and oew tests are from time to time submitted. The Jatest one* suggested, as we learn from the American X-Ray Journal, is that of Professor Ottolenghi of the University of Siena. The pro- fessor is said to have “discovered that, while it is easy to apply the rays to the lungs of a person who is alive or in trance, it is extremely difficult, indeed practically impossible, to apply them to the lungs of a person actually dead.” The reason is that some intervening obstacle prevents the rays from pene- trating into the body. He has repeatedly made a test of this kind, always with In the face of slander American loco- motives can still blow their own whis- tes, It is hoped that science will make this summer memorable by practically demonstrating its plans for the extermi- nation of the mosquite, Princesses have been born where princes were desired to the royal houses of Italy and Russia. Are the boys learn- ing to shun the dangerous thrones? In Texas there are sixty-six counties which have a greater land area than the State of Rhode Island; one of them, El Paso, is considerably larger than Massa chusetts, from of about exempt taxation in the territory Greater New Yor to $ 872,000,000 in a sin an offi richest 3 he died, than Pierpont poor old Ge orge ! jess tendency to computed * greatest at the I twenty-three tha age nd fifty years being lative pop- - between The * maximum period % Delween no re ulation en and women is four 10 one, Russians are narine boat which lan- it in two days. a hard guage to learn serves the pure tion as well Dr 3arth Af, i MOUNGCS, the deaths in Of between Asserts «11 “ai LN4% wenty and thi twenty and thar sixty in every one hundred of the great white scouige epresented that in Greater New 1.000.000 and 0,000 electric arc lights are burn- night. It than 200,000 horse-power is em- incandescent over La . - 2 15 estimated that lees This 15s more bined power equipments e entire savy of the United States, ed in their production General Guenther, at Frank- Germany, reports to the State De- rtment at Washington the existence pical Africa of an ideal food of the which the chemists say is state Consul fore +07 y fruit found in a natural that shows all the chemical properties of a perfect nutriment. Two pounds of these beans would supply the daily requirements of the human system. Canada has granted railroad subsidies up to date amounting to $88 884.557 and 30.725,130 acres of land. The provinces have granted $31,310.17 and the municipalities $15883342, making a grand total of $136.079.260 of public money in addition to the land. Of this amount the C an Pacific's share of the Dominion l cunted to $62, 742816 in money i 25,000,000 acres of land. 3 A4i%0 ——— An ambitious task for student labor has been set by George A. Merrill at the head of the Wilmerding school of industrial arts and the California school of mechanical arts in San Francisco This is the construction of a brick. and terra-cotta building to be 160 by seventy feet wide, and three stories high. The work will begin at the opening of the next fall term, and may continue for some years, as only the students are to be employed upon it. The second-hand bread industry in London appears to be in a prosperous condition. The material is collected from restaurants and dust heaps. This is sorted into first and second quality. The former is baked and then cut into discs for soup, and the second quality is sold for food for poultry and domestic animals. In the United States the col- lections are regularly made, but it is not sorted or rebaked. It is invariably found good enough to consume on the spot by the collectors The recent suicide of von Minckewite the former chess champion, in a fit of in. sanity, following so soon after the death of Steinitz also from insanity and the similar ending of Morphy some years ago has drawn renewed atlention to the disastrous cffects the inordinate grati- fication of the chess passion may pro- duce. Most of these great players give themselves up absolutely to their chos- en form of mental dissipation, and un- less the mind is powerfully constituted the result is a mental wreck. The Attorney General's report of the operation of the Federal bankruptcy law for six months shows that 9,300 petitions for voluntary and 1.078 for involuntary
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