A Strange Love. I clasped hor, straggling, to ray breast, I whispered love unknown; One kiss upon hor lipa 1 pressed— And she was all ray own. I loved her with a love prolound K'en death eonld ne'er destroy— Anil yot I must conies* I fonnd My bliss had some alloy. One ere I wiw her, unaware, Upon a lellow'a lap, Ha claiming kisses ripe and rare I did not like the ohap. She had some faults (as have we all) Aud ona I hotted to throttle — She had, alas, what IJmust call A weakness lor the bottle. One morn I mot her ore was made Her toilette, and beneath ▲a old straw hat hor laugh betrayed My darling had no teeth. (Tnoonoious ol my presence she With artless antics rare Tore off her hat and—gracious mo Her head was minus hair. Bnt love is founded on a rock And mighty in its might, For I could learn, without a shock, She could not read nor write. She cimid not dunce nor siug a tone, And scarcely could converse; Hat what cored I—she was my own For better or for worse. Oh! how I loved her—l conlessod Devotion and you, may bo. Would do the some il yon |>ossessod Another such a baby. —H. C. Dodge, in Puck. I" PESSONAL." IN) WHAT CAME OF IT. *• I wonder why so much money is wasted by people on matrimoni il ad vertisements," said Will Fowler to me one day. • This was apropos of nothing in par tinular, for not a word hnd been said for ten minuteß; but then he was always popping absurd questions at you. " I can understand a man's going to the theater," he continued, " or sub scribing to a soup-kitchen, or even being fool enough to send a bouquet to some pretty girl, but why on earth he should tumble any more coin into the hungry pockets of these newspaper men is more than I can understand. Where does the fun come in ? Of course the i haps who advertise haven't an idea of marrying ousuch an introduction, and equally, of course, no woman nowadays is goose enough to answer such an 'ad '—that is, no woman with whom it would be any pleasure to correspond." ft was a gloomy March day, and Will and I were toasting our feet befote the fire in his Chiiitgo office. He was a married man, witli a pretty wife and several children, a very clever writer, and possessed of a private income more than equal to his needs; I, a younger class college friend of his, atul a pin feathered lawyer with certain heart en gagements which precluded all idea of other love affairs. The topic broached by him was argued pro and con, and the result was that I bet him a dinner that a carefully-worded matrimonial advertisement would bring in at lenst fifty answers, the loser to pay for the publication. After long consideration, iu which he good naturedly took part, the following card was written and sub sequently published in a Sunday paper noU-d for its personals; HAVING BEEN A WIDOWER FOR two years, I wisn to marry again. I am thirty-five years old, five feet ten inches in hoight, thirty-nine inches atounil thechest ami have excellent health, mental and physi cal Being of a somewhat phlegmatic tem perament, I neither ask nor proffer nrdent love, hot simply desire that there shall be a mutual respect, as my chict reason lor marry ing is that during my lre<|iient business ab sence* trom home my little six-year-old girl may be left in chaige ol one who will guard her with a mother's care. lam a commercial traveler for a large Eastern house, own a suburban cottage, which is comfortably lur umbel and have 94,1)00 in V. S. bonds. Per fect respect will be felt for any laily who may answer this advertisement, and absolute se crecy will be observed, whether the application Ira tavorably received or not. Only those need apply who will fairly answe •to the fol lowing description: Age, between twenty and thirty; education, good; disposition, not given to bickering or fault-flnding; health, good, nnd especially must Ira Iroe trom any pulmonary complaint; appearance, rather pleasant than handsome; reputation that will liear the closest scrutiny. In return lor these excellent qualities a modest home and gentle UcaUuent are offered. Address EDWARD CXARKK. Office. Monday morning'* mail settled the wager, for by that delivery more than the requisite number of letters eanic to band. By Monday evening the city cor iiwpondenee was about exhausted, but for days afterward notes nunc dropping in from the country districts, the last one coming all the way from Salt lokc City, until the total number received amounted to one hundred and twenty si K. Of these a large moiety had been ant on speculation by women of the lowest nlaus. The next largest assort ment came from the servant-girl class, and a nice collection of pencil marks, had Rnghsh and dirt they were. Some had come from sewing-women, telling pitifttl stories, many of which bore evi dence of their troth in their incoher ence. Others, again—and there were a good many of these had been sent in joke, as we oookl easily ae, while a doscn. perhaps, were startling repel* (sons of life and sorrow among edu cated women, whose want struggled with the feeling of shame. The last mentioned letters made ns feel very un comfortable and blackgnsrdish, for their genuine grief, mortification and self-abasement were s rebuke to our thoughtless joke, the only excuse for which was the fact that no such real istic results had been expected. Will, being a good-natured, generous fellow, sal red his conscience by giving pecuni ary aid in several instances where in vestigation proved that aid was needed. While glancing over the second hatch of letters. Will suddenly cried ont: "By (ieorge! here's a prise, and a jolly one, too, after this alternate mass of slosh and sorrow; just listen to it, will yon. and benr in mind it's my booty, as I made the Had." Me then reads as follows. MiLWAtma, Wis., March IS. Ma. KDWASO CLAMS■ TT T T—l believe joe*re a real hinabag, Bad, and that you're M* (fed si all, nor s widower, nor anything tin Waled in that personal. After caretully atedylag jrowr little reissues, I have made up tnr "in I that yon are owe at two evils; oilher a designing wratdh ol A man, who wishea to laugh nl and expose the tollies of lilly womanhood, or else, and that's a great leal worso, a scandal-loving leinale who would tickle hor goasipy palato with tho discovered weaknesses ol her own sex. II you am tho litter, I doapiao you, lor I can't get any lun out ola flirtation with a woman; but it you am tho termor, I'll excuse your enormitioa it you'll only make yourself amusing. What you aro time may discover; what 1 am you ahull now hear. In tho flrat place—you tnon alwuya tuke that into flrat oonaideration —I'm a decided brunette and batter looking than the average woman, at least, ao my friends and my glass tell me. I am iu my nineteenth year; to be exact, was eighteen laat January, ami am not the lenat bit aeatimentul, but lull ol mischief as any poor cooped-mi girl you over saw. Now isn't it a shame?—l'm not out ol boarding-school yet—and that's tho rials on you get this letter; lor I'm older than most of the other girls, and leel liko doing something that isn't real laid, you know, but that's |ust a little restless, and they'll think it's awlully wicked when they And out that I'm corre sponding with n man I don't kuow. It you are a woman—but I don't think any woman could luivo published suoli a thing, so we'll pretend you are not a woman—il you are a man, then, and put that piece in tho |siper just tor a lark—isn't tlrnt an awful word for me to use?—why I will promise to answer your letters so long as they are pleasant and polite; lor you must not think I am not a lady be cause I have written this letter. Ol course, I have no idea ot marrying anybody, and espe cially not you, for 1 am rather fond ol some body else and he likes me, at least he sonds me boxes ot candy and the sweetest flowers; but I'm tired ol this poky lite and need some soit ol it tonic. If you wish you can writ e to Yours, suspiciously, Josu: MASOM, Box —-, Milwaukee, Wis. P. S. —This isn't my real name, you see, any more than yours is Kdwiird Clarke; hut it is tho only name you must know mo by. And if by nay chance your advertisement should Ist in earnest, 1 should lie dreiidlully sorry to , linvo written to you in this way, but I'm sure that in that cnao you'll forgive a harmless joko trom a young girl who has scarcely any amuse ments. "Tliat girl's a little trump," said Will, when he had finished reading the letter, " and I'm just the boy to help Iter drive the hlues away. You can have all the rest of the letters, but this one drops to my ink." It struck me that there might be more fun in this correspondence than in any of the others that offered, so I mildly suggested the impropriety and possible ! risk of epistolary ventures on the ptu-t of a married man. My friend detected tiie motive, however, and laughingly remarked that a man engaged would run more danger than a man mnrried ; so lie stuck to his prize, and then ar.d there answered it in a bright and spark ling letter, which overflowed with fun. ana yet bore murks of prudence and of ! respect for the young lady. In it be | acknowledged the falsity of that per -1 annul, and declared that bis object was J gained in securing so jovial, and proba- I lily so pretty a correspondent, vowed 1 that he would write to none of the other i damsels who hail answered the matri monial card, and prorai ed, on ail the ! honor air unknown man eould possess, i that he would make no attempt to riis • cover the identity of "Josie Mason." He took precious good pains, the scamp, , not to say apythtng about bis ir.cura | branees, and cheerfully avoided touch ing upon his personal affairs A voluminous correspondence ensued between these two lunatics, to which I was a party, In so far that Will always 1 read me the letters from both sides. I After some months of this sort of thing had passed, I noticed, and remarked the tact to him, that Josie's style had i greatly changed since her first letter: she was less flippant, nnd Evidently ! strove to appear more womanly, ft I could also be seen that she regretted her mention of the young man of flowers and 1 candy boxes, for several times she 1 hinted that she invented that swoet ; gifted youth os a convincing argument to the unknown correspondent tliat she was in search of amusement, not of a husband. Her photograph sent about this time showed a very pretty and rather intellectual face, and in return Fowler enclosed the likeness of a good looking Eastern friend of his. About this time I again urged upon him the propriety of stopping a correspondence which afford him hut littio more pleas i ure, nnd which might lead to I able results, hinting, at the same lime. my belie! that the fgirl was becoming too I much interested in him* lie treated j this advice cavalierly, and spoke in so caustic a manner about the virtue of non-interference that I neither asked to i see, nor did he offer to show me, anj ' more of the letters; and although werc j mnincd as good friends ns ever, tliat I matrimonial card wns, by tacit consent, dropped from our list of conversational subjects. My correspondence with ; three of the unknown fair had ceased : long since. Some six weeks after our "Josie Ma son" tiff. Will suddenly said to me: " It was very considerate of you. old j fellow, not to flare up when I got so huffy the other day about your advice ;in that corresf>ondence matter. The fact is, 1 was beginning to feel uncom fortable aUiut it myself, and didn't find ' my temper improve at recalling of your | forhodings, which hnve been flying ■ around me like evil •mens ever since I ' began this affair. It is coming too close home now, however, and I must ae ! knowledge the fear that you are right, I and that I have been wrong since the ! first " " What s up now?" I asked. "Well, nothing in particular, but ust a sort of feeling that Tve been making an ass of myself. I like that little girl first-rate, but, confound it all, she's coming in a wee bit too strong. Not that she It as'writ ten anything very Kinted, you know, but there's a simer c air of spoons and danger about her letters *f late. At all events I'm re solved to pull out of it, so 1 have written this letter to her on the subject." " This letter" proved tm be a half and-half sort of epistle, full of regrets for what had been and of regrets for what must no longer be, full of apolo gies and praises, fuil of hopes that they might never meet for fear of the possible result yet hinting ata desire to see her. if only for once. In faet, it was a bundle of incoherent nonsense from beginning to end, the only sensible thing in it be ing the statement that he returned her letters by tliat day's mail, and hoped she would do as much witii ids. "Well," said I, after reading this Ercisus document, "you have proba ly nhnwn me this with the idea that I will advise you about it, but all 1 can say is that it sounds more like a love letter than any that I have yet seen of yours." "Tee, I know it does; but what would von havef I cant throw her overboard like an old handkerchief. If the poor thing is in love with me. all I can do Is to let her down as easily as possible, and to accomplish that I must recipro cate her affection, after a fashion." Two days latter I found Will gloom* ily pondering over the answer. He did I not hand me the letter to read, but said, | aa he folded it up "By Jove! I feel like a thief. Not one word of recrimination, not an ex pression that is unladylike, and Htill a mixture of semi-pleading and semi-con tempt that make* 'mo feel like a cur. Well, the affair is ended now, thank heaven!" "So much the bettor," I replied. " But how al>ot your letters?" "She says she will send them back alter reading them over. By the way, I for/rot to inclose her photograph, and she old n't mention it, SJ I'll keep it as a souvenir." Saying this, he took the picture from his pocketbook, and after looking at it for a wldlc in a dreamy sort of way, carefully replaced it, and then walked out of the room without a word of part ing; but the fag end of a sigh reached me through the closing door. About a week later Fowler came into my room, saying: " Here's a nice pieco of business. Just read that, will you?"—handing mo a letter. It wns this: MILWAUKLK, September Oth. Siu: I ain a brother ol the young lady whom you know as Joaio Mason. she IIHH not been well lor some time, poor child, ami has biul to keep her bed during the past week, Thin morning including your correspondence, 1 also found the cause ol her ill spirits. I will not waste time at present in discussing your blank guard ly conduct—that can wait. A lew letters |sissd between you byway ol joke, would have mattered little; bat when your words grew warmer in euch auoceaaive letter, is it strange that an inexperienced child fell into your snare? Now, sir, my busi ness is to tlnd who you arc lor the purpose ol getting sntistaction; and il I can t get it in one way, why i am a Southerner, and 1 11 get it in another. I write this that you may lee I uncomlortahlo while 1 am 1 miking lor you, as you certainly will when I have tounil you. Oar. WHOM YOU WILL KNOW. " Phew! This is :t nice Berapc. What arc you going to do about it. Will?" "What can I do about it except await developments? I really wish it j would turn out to be a blackmailing j scheme; for thin, although I woulu | perhaps feel more like a fool, there'd j im less of the knave in it." " I wouldn't worry about it any more i than I could help, old fellow." said I, | " for this may be only a first explosion ! on the part of the brother, which will | amount to nothing. It sounds to me j like a genuine letter; there's the true : ring of indignation in it, and. therefore, j there is the least to be feared. If the i parties meant blackmailing it would ! pay them to employ detectives, but if it is a true hill, why family pride ought to act as a check upon publicity." After thinking a bit. Fowler said : "I'm going to writ* to him find ex plain that no hartn WILH intended, and that I am extremely sorry if any harm has come of it. That's the way I feel, find it will do no iiurt to send the letter, you know." " How will it reach him?" " Hum-m-m, didn't think of that. Yes ! I'll send it to her address and write ' for her brother' on it." The letter was forwarded that even ing. nnd aeleverer bit of composition I have rarely seen. The writer expressed regret for what had happ'-ned, and apologized for his share in it; nt the same time he delicately insinuated that it would be mortifying to expose a fam ily secret, especially when no benrfit could possibly accrue to tiny member in terested. Five or six days Inter came the following reply; SIR : Curse your regie!* and a flg lor jronr r logins. Those matter* should hare I wen ight of eurlier in jroar correspondence with my family. I al* dcrline your adtirc a* to whnt are thr twst intcnwtsol thit family, considering myself Inlly competent to bulge upon that question. My detective think* he him spotted you. ami if you are thr man hr point* out, you nrr n wcirw scoundrel than even I had nirrn you credit for bring. I' it possible that you have a wilr and children, Outrun are a man ot respectable poeition in the community, and yet that merely for the aakc ot a laugh, you ran trifle with the inno cent affection o| a child. who know* nothing ot the world * Yon will hear again noon Irom OIA WHOM Yot" Wild. Ktnw. "What the deuce shall I do?" naked Will, after I littd read this cheerful effusion. "Harl I better leave town until it has blown over, if there is go ing to be a scandal?" "Certainly not " I ad vised; " there's no clear proof that he litis found you, and if tie has, what can you gain hy leaving? The best way to get out of a row is to face the music, and if you do it now it may prove, after all. that there is a bluff game being played. lam partially to blame in this matter, and I will certainly stand ly you to the best of my ability." It was so decider). Fowler bought a revolver and a savage-looking club, and spent most of his time with me; this was the more easily done as our offices adjoined each otlier, and his fam ily were still absent at a watering place. We did not talk much about the affair as he evidently shrank from any mention I made of it; hut it left his mind, as could be seen by hi* innttontion to business and his furtive shoalder-wntching when lie was in the street. At last, after a week of pro longed suspense, the bolt fell. We were sitting in Fowler's office one day, when the door opened and a voice said: "This is Mr. Fowler, I believe." "That is my name." said Will, as his hand slid to his revolver, and he eyed the speaker—a tall, well-built and rather handsome-looking man, appar ently under thirty. "I should like to speak with you a few moments in private," continued the new-comer, with a bland, ambassa dorial air, at the same time giving me a get-out-of-the-room look. "This gentleman is connected with me," rpplied Fowler, "and anything you may have to say may be said in his presence." "I am not here on a business errand, Mr. Fowler, but to speak with you about a purely personal matter. I reler to certAin letters which you hr ve lately written. You understand what I mean. Would it not be better under the cir cumstances to IM by ourselves?" " Whatever question you have to dis cuss with me. sir," answered Will, " will bo none the worse for ventilation before a witness." " If that is your decision. I most, of course, comply with it. To come to the point then, sir, I am here to represent my ft-iend, George Travers, of Milwau. kee, who claims that you have grossly insulted him by sending objectionable letter* to a member of bis family. I)o you admit the fact that yon wrote those letters? and will yon grant Mr. Travers the ratisfartiou which one gn tlcman expects from another in snch " I admit nothing and d*ny nothing, but If by 'saUsfcoiioo' yon mean willl give some unknown- 6r for that matter. ' well-known—man an opportunity to murder me, I shall unquestionably an swer. No!" " Mr. Fowler, my friend and I w ire officers in the same Confederate regi ment, and from long acquaintance with him I can nssuro you that he is a man of his word. His directions and my in clinations were to treat you as court eously as possible, and I only employ positive action il it became positively necessary. Your reply forces that alter native; so 1 must inform you that he has absolute proof that you arc the man whom he has been seeking, that lie is determined to treat you as he believes you deserve, and that no evasion or quibble will turn him frm his purpose —which purpose is explained in this letter." Will blanched a little on he read the document, hut he handed it to m<' and quietly said to the stranger: "If you'll return in nnlf an hour I will give you an answer, or, if you pre fer it, I will send you one through a friend." The man of war accepted the first ar ticle and retired. The letter read as follows: SIR: Keeling sure Hint, although you hold the position ola gentleman, yon do not pos t sens Ihe spirit ol one, and will not he willing, I therefore, to offer the redress naturally ex | peeled Irotn one, I send you the following hint in writing, that my Irinml tnay he relieved | Imm the disagreonhlu task ol delivering it ' personally. If you have n spark ol manhood ! you will accept the proposition whieb he ha* | delivered to you verbally, and I will treat you | us though 1 lielievcd you to lie a man of eour iage; hut il you refuse 1 solemnly swear that 1 will horsewhip you in the public streets, and brand you us a coward. ( The MM, Whom Yon Know) UKOKUK TKAVKIIS. We looked blankly at each other for a few moments, and then Will said: "(ircat heaven! This is the devil's ! own. What am I to do? The fellow I seems to be in earnest, and his deputy certainly doesn't look like a black | mailer, and it's a nice pickle, anyhow. 1 If I accept the challenge I'm sure to be ; disgraced, for, of course, the whole muddle will get out in the tinners, and by the law in this State f will forfeit all cfinnce of promotion, officially or'pro fewionally. If. on the other hand, f re fused to have anything to do wit It this absurd business. I run the chance of be \ ing attacked on the street, in which ease, I as I have no great physical strength, I shall certainly shoot the man. and either he shot myself or lw hauled into court dripping with scandal." The situation certainly was not en couraging. and I felt quite sorry for Will as he raved along in an incoherent jura , bin of " ifs " and " anils," until finally I said: "Brace up, old fellow! This sort of thing won't do. The chief need now is time for consideration; so why don't you put a bold fronton the matter and accept his challenge, referring him t<> me lor the arrangements? Il there is anything fisliv ir. the business this will stop their little game, and il it prove to be what it seems, a rcai ease, why a compromise may be effected, and if that should fail, you'll be no worse off than you are now. and can tight or decline, as you see fit." Fowler adopted my suggestion, and when Powder and-Balls returned. Will said to him. in a <juietly fierce manner; "You will be kind enough to inform Mr. Travers that it will give me great satisfaction to lodge a bullet in bis im- f indent body. My friend, Mr. , ins kintlly undertaken the management of the affair, so for further particulars I must refer you to him." The nmha*ador looked at me rather curiously, nnd asked if I could call on him at the aherman house in an hour. Receiving an affirmative reply, lie de part cn. I did not find him at the Sherman house, nor did we ever hear again iroin either him or his principal, nor could we find their names in the Milwaukee directory. It was a decidedly curious affair, ar.d Will puzzled over it im mensely, even going so far ss to write another letter to ".fosie Mason," asking for an explanation; hut none came. A montli later I went to lowa on a long chicken hunt. From the first sta tion I sent lawk a package by express to Fowler. Among Its contents was this letter: Htm tVIIJ,: Yon hare played a practical joke on ma, lor which I have long been vonr debtor; now I lliink we can cry quit*. Here with I inclnee the entire ftorrnvpnndcnee he tween yourcell anil " Jneie Msson " and her fiery brolber. Her lellers and his were the ' joint com|>o*ition of Mm* and myself, anil much trouble it has given na to please your critical literary lastc. It was good prao -1 ticc, however, and not snch had Inn. so wedid not grudge the labor. The challenge was brought by a cousin ol her*. Allow ine to re pent the ail vice which yon so enrt'y rejected at the beginning ol litis little experience, via.: the impropriety and possible risk of -oi'tolary ! venture* on the part ola inert ie I man II you'll take the joke kindly we'll promise ' not to peach. Your sincere friend ami old chnm, • • e Our handsomest wedding present came from Will. It was a large secre tary. beautifully inlaid, and fitted with a gorgeous array of writing material.— 11. T. IsUhrop, tn Hcribncr's Monthly. Historical Facts of Interest. Cards were invented in France in 1390. France abolished the slave trade, so far as in iter power, in 1815. Windmills were first known in Spain, France and Germany in 1899. Crucifixion, as a criminal punishment was very common four or five hundred years B. C. The first building of the Kgyptitui f yramidi is supposed to have been about 500 years before Christ. Excess in dress was restrained by law in England under Edward IV., 14A5. and again in the reign of Elisabeth in 1574 No wine was produced in France in the lime of the Roman occupancy. The art of making wine was produced from India. Alabama was originally a portion of Georgia. It was admitted into the Union in 1890, with a population ot 198,000. Sir John Chardin. in his "Travel* in Persia," says that the Persian* smoked tobacco long before the disoovery o America. The llatwas Corpus —the people's writ of right- passed for the security of individual right—was made a law May 97. t79. Wheat sufficient lor the food of one hundred men for one day, was worth but one shilling in the year 1190, and a | sheep coat but fourpeooe. TIMELY TOPICS. An American physician who has ? liven attention to the study of alcohol- Bin, said in tlie course of nn address re cently delivered before a learned HO eiety: "There are constantly crowd ing into our insane asylums person* fifty to eighty yearn of age, who in early life were addicted to the uhc of alcoholic liquors, but who had reformed, and for ten, twenty or thirty years have never touched a drop. The injury which the liouor did to their bodies seemed lo have all disappeared, being triumphed over by the full vigor of their manhood, hut when their natural force begah to de crease. then the concealed mischief showed itself in insanity, clearly dem-n- Htrating that the injury to their bodies was of a permanent character." (ien. Tom Harrison's Texas brigade, composed of two Texas, one Tennessee and one Arkansas regiment, was proba bly the last brigade under fire during the war, as it was engaged witli Northern : troops between Raleigh and Salisbury. | N. C.. just above Chapel Hill, on April 14, 1805. the day that the armistice was ! declared. The flag carried on that day by one of the Texan regiments (the Eleventh Texas volunteers) is now in the possession of .John Halford.of Deni | son, Texas, who was a member of that regiment at t lie time, and who concealed , it and brought it home with liim in the ' back of his Jacket This is probably the last Southern flag fired at by United States troopi. It is a small, silk Con federate llag, and stiJl in good condition, there being only one small tear in it, and that was done the last day it was under fire. Wlien Mi Gladstone was making his great speeches in the British parlia ment on tic uaeign policy of the gov j eminent, lie used fo furnish much inno l ••eih merriment to the members aoout him by the production of what looked : like a pomatum-pot. the contents of i whieli tie from time to time absorbed. Night after night lie brought this crockery with him. formally produced it from his coat-tail pocket, and placed it within reach on the tabic. Then ; everyone knew that he was going td . make a great speech. After much dis cussion and an agony of curiosity, one of his parliamentry brothers ventured to ask what the mysterious mixture might lie. Mr. Gladstone very frankly | told him lii.it it was simply an egg beaten up in a glass of sherry, though why it should have been carried about in a pomatum-|M>t remains unexplained to this day. There has come up a discussion in tlie press tiie world over, on the system of bridging large space* of water in a simi lar manner to the Frith of Tay. in Scot land, tlie s-eneofthe dreadful railroad disaster, and no doubt most learned opinions will be expressed on the sub: ject. Tlie bridge where the awful ac cident happened is built on a precisely analogous plan to the Victoria bridge across the St. Lawrence and the bridge across the Menai straits, running be tween Wales and the Isle of Man. These bridges have stood many years, whereas the Tay bridge is only two years old. But, says a New York paper, we must not forget that the Sixth Ave nue elevated road is merely an elongated Tay bridge, built on tlie same plan and made of iron as that was. if any part of that structure gave way we should have another just su' li an accident. Tlie only difference is tint in place of falling into the water tlie unfortunate victims would fall on land. We cannot contem plate witiiout a shudder the possibility of such an accident at sucti a spot a* 110 th street and Eighth avenue, where the road curves at the height of lOOfjet from tlie ground, that is to say twenty feet higher than the bridge over the Tay We trust a calamity of this sort may not happen, but the fenrful experi ence in Scotland soould prove a lesson to the directors of the Metropolitan road. Not a day should be allowed to pass without testing the entire track from one end to the other. Immensity ol the Stars. It is known that the stars are true suns, that some of them are larger than our own sun. and that around these enormous centers of heat and light re volve planets on which life certainly exists. Our sun is distant from us 3ft,- 000.00 ft leagues, but these star* are dis tant at leat 500,000 times as far—a dis tance that, in fact, is incommensurable and unimaginable for us. Viewed with the unaided eye. tliestarsand the planet* look soke; that is, appear to have the same diameter. But, viewed through a telescope, while tlie planets are seen to possess clearly appreciable diameters, the stars are still only mere luminous points The most poweifulof existing telescopes, that of Melbourne, which magnifies ft 000 times, gives us an image of one of our planets possessing an ap parent diameter of several degrees. •Jupiter, Jor instance, which seen with lbs naked eye, appears as a star of the first I agnitude, with a diameter of forty-five degrees at the will in the telescope have its diameter multi plied ft.ooo times, and will be seen a* if it occupied in the heavens an angle of 100 degrees. Meanwhile a star along side of Jupiter, and which to the eye is n* bright as that planet, will still be a simple dimensionless point. Neverthe less, that star is thousands of times more voluminous than the planet. Divide tlie distance between us and that plnnet by 8.000, and you have for result a dis tance relatively very small; but divide by 8.000 the enormous number of leagues which represents the distance of a star, and there remain a number of leagues too great to permit of the stars being seen by us in a perceptible form. In considering Jupiter r any of the planets, we are filled with wonder at the thought that this little luminous point might hide not ofih all the visible stars, but a number 5,000 fold greater—for of stars visible to our eyes there are only about 5,000. All tlie stars of these many con stellations, as the Great Bear, Cassi opeia, Orion. Andromeda, all the stars or the aodiac, even all the stars which are visible only from the earth's south ern hemisphere, might be set in one EK side by side, with no one over tig another, even witiiout the test contact between star and star, and yet they would occupy so small a space that, were it to be multiplied by 5.000 fold, that space would be entirely covered by the disk of Jupiter, albeit that disk to us seems to be an inappre ciable point.—/W- J. Vinci. A gypsy camp was recently found be tween Loslan and Rybink, with all ita inmates, numbering eleven persons, frosen to death In n sitting posture around nn szptring firs. RKLieiOt'H SEWS AMI NOTES. Spurgeon has not missed a SumUv sermon in I .500 consecutive Sundays. Mr. Moody, the evangelist, has rented a house in St. I*>uig, Mo., for si* months. A Chinese boy in i'ekin hn* recited the whole of tfie N w Testament in his na tive language. Four stuoejitsof the Richmond Jnsti. tute in \ irginiadesir. to Jieeonie mi* sionaries in Africa. Revivals have occurred in Norti Carolina in the c o operation rn<-Ai n , of Friends and Methodists. The Hev Thorn.** ''nr.|<r <f j, ri ind., has ac cepted a <-ailto a Co'ngrcga tional c hurc h at Tiverton, England. A Vermont church annually nuts ut at auction the post of sexton. Tie „ m „ wiio offers to do the work for the money is the successful bidder. Miss Mary Travis, of Cottingham Yorksliire, a Quakeress, three after celebrating Iter hundredth birth day, lias just been baptized (j ' f the Episcopalian church. The New York 06*crwr offer a pri//- of sl'H for the best essay of from two to three columns in length, designed to counteract anyone of the many forms of assault upon Christianity by modem in fidelity. A room under the <Eil de 80-uf, the palace of Ixrtli* XIV . at V<-r-iiij. used as a place of worship by I*rotet:int until a church can he eiected. M ,Fuhis Favre, French minister of puloie instruction, who has married a l'rotes tuit wife, attends tlie services. According to statistic*, up to .Ju •• last, the Methodist Episcopal church loid ninety-six annual conf-renee*. n . 453 itinerant preachers, and | -y --mc-mbers anci nrobalioners. Since the organization of the church 444 presiding eiders and t(34,96? members lihv. died. The Boston Y. M.C. Union ha- re ceived from .Joseph B. Eaton, E-q., the sum of 980,000, promised it by him if it Would raise the $20,00(1 mor< which was necessary to remove ali it - obliga tions. and it now rejoices in entire Jn <. doni from debt. The Methodist church, of < anada. has forty-four missions among tlie Indi.ins of the Northwest Territory, with thirty missionaries and bn assistants, and 3.115 members. There r<- a.-o six Methodist missionaries tx-twe.-n i'ugct sound and Alaska, and a number of teachers among the Indians. The missionary society of th< Protest ant Epucopal church employs twelve white Ltid eleven native missionaries among the Indians, with twenty.seven helpers and catec-hists. In the home field it supports wholly or in part 330 workers, including ten bishops: abroad it lias 230 workers, including live bish ops. A compilation of the number of < x ist ing sects in England has Ixs-n made. Tli correct number, it i stated, is 164, from which deductions must further be made for eight or nine foreign congre gations and such duplications as 'Primi tive M"lhoclisLs " and " Renters."' Tak ing the Protestant churches, there are declared to be 25,163 Episcopal ministers in Great Britain (including the Mor avians), s.246Congregational (including Baptists). 4,051 Presbyterian and Methodist. Prof. .James Lcgge. Ciiinese professor at Oxford, says in a late Ar/vUmy that the number of Buddliists in China is greatly over-estimated. Rhys Davids, in his " Buddhism," etimnt<-s the num ber at 445,000.000 in China and Japan. Says l*rof. I>-gge: "If we lop off 400,- ooo,noo from tins aggregate we slia no! be doing injustice to Buddhism. <f ail religious svstems, Goihciuiim, per haps, lias tlie greatest following: then Christianity, then Hinduism, then Mo hammedanism. and we wnu'd platd Buddhism in tlie fifth place." Edison's Electric Eight. 1 The New York .San publishes tlie fol lowing questions, the replies to which were written by Mr. Edison himself: " Tlien you consider your work on tlie electric light finished?"' i "Practically done, though lam thl experimenting with a Mew of reducing its cost." " What does it cost now?" " You wiil have to ask that question of the officer* of the company in New York." " How many fights, each equal to a gas jet, do you get to one-horse power ? "My lights are on a ratio of ten g.u jets per horse power per hour." " What is the power of y our engine'"' " Eighty-horse power." " What doesiteostto run your eighty horse power engine one hour?" "Seventy-five cents." " How long do your fight* maintain their power without injury!" " Twenly-threc were burning continu ously (him Friday last to Wednesday, and thirty-three from Wednesday to t<n o'clock on Thursday nigiit. Dunrgthis time tlie engine w:ui stooped for an hour to take water. Not a light was injured, all were regulated at U.e central sta tion " "What was the distance of the tur thost iigiit that was burning live days?" "Three lights liave been burning tnat time one-fifth of a mile away." " Were tlie twenty-three all con nected with one main wire?" " Yes." "And more oouid have been put on the same main win* without increasing the power of the engine or diminishtog the fight oi ihese twenty-three?" "Yes, five hundred." Nothing Like Paper. The old adage used to be, " nothing like leather." It should now be, " noth ing like paper." Paper is used for al most everything. Among tlie things made of wiper exiiltdted at the B*rhn exliibition not long since, were paper buckets. " bronses. ams. asphalt roof ing. water cans, oarpcts. skirts, suits of clothing, jewelry, material for garden walks, window curtains, lan terns and pocket-handkerchiefs. The most striking of the many objects ex hibited in this material was. perhaps, a fire-stove, with a cheerful five burning In it. There were newly-invented rail way carriages and chimney pots, flour barrels, cottage walls, roofing tiles, and bricks and dies for stamping, all made of paper. Attention has frequently been oalleo to the value of ordinary sheet* of paper as a substitute for bedclothes, or, at least, an addition to bedclothes. The idea seems to hart suggested the fabrication of " blankets" from tlie cheap material, and If all thai is said of them is true, they ought to be extra • Mvcly used,- Detroit Free /Vess.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers