FAMOUS FIATS OF STBKNOTH. KM •' u WsaMtrk.bl. SthlitM #r A ot.nt Md Htdera Tim... Among the Greeks the successful ath lete was crowned with laurels and loaded down with wealth and hon ors. When Egenetus, in the ninety second Olympiad, triumphant in games, entered Agrigentum, Ids native Lome, be was attended by an escort of 300 cha riots, each drawn by two white horses, and followed by tt\e populace, cheering and waving banners. Milo six times won the paim at both the Olympic and Pythian games. Ho is sain to have run a mite with a four-year-old ox upon his shoulders, nnd afterward killed the animal with a blow of his lis*, and ate the entire carcass in one day! So great was his muscular power that he would sometimes hind a cord round his head and break it by the swelling and pres sure of the veins. An ordinary meal for Milo was twenty pounds of meat, as much bread, and fifteen pints of wine. Polydamus, of Thessalia, was of prodig ious strength and colossal height, and, it is said, alone and without weapons, killed an enormous and enraged lion. One day (it is so recorded) he seized a bull by one of its hind feet, and the ani mal escaped onh by leaving the hoof in the grasp of the athlete. The Roman Emperor Maximinus was upward of sight feet in height, and like Milo, of Crotone, could squeeze to powder the hardest stone with his fingers and break the leg or jaw of a horse by a kick. His wife's bracelet served him as a ring, nnd his every day meal was sixty pounds of meat and an amphora of wine. . While a prisoner in Gerinany, Richard I. accepted an invitation to a boxing match with the son of his jailer. He received the first blow, wiiieh him stagger; but. recovering, with a blow of the fist killed his antagonist on the spot. Topham, who was born in I/on don in 1710, was possessed of astonish ingBtrength. His armpits, hollow in the •use of ordinary men, were with him full of muscles and tendons. He would take a bar of iron, with its two ends held in his bands, place the middle of the bar behind his neck, and then bend the extremities by main force until they met together, and bend back the iron straight again. One night, perceiving a watchman asleep in his box, lie carried noth the man and his shell to a great distance, and drposited t hem on the wall of a churchyard. Owing to domestic troubles, ho committed suicide in the prime of life. The famous Scanderberg, King of Albania, who was born in 1414, was a man of great stature, and his feats in sword exercise have never been equaled. On one occasion, with ascimi tar, he struck his antagonist suca a terri ble blow that its tremendous force •leaved him to the waist. He in said to have often cloven in two men who were sladjin armor from head to foot. On one occasion the brother and nephew of a oertain Ballaban, who had been con victed of cruelties toward the Alban ians, were brought to him, bound to gether. Transported with rage, he cut them in two with one stroke of his wea pon. Maurice, Count of Saxony, the hero of Fontenoy. inherited the physical vigor of his father, and was especially noted for the surprising muscular power, or " grip," of his hands. On one occa sion, needing a corkscrew, he twisted a long iron nail round into the inquired shape with his fingers, and with this extemporized implement opened a half dozen bottles of wine. Another time, when stopping at a village blacksmith shop to have his horse shod, he picked up a number of new horseshoes, and with his hands snapped them in two as readily as if made of glass, much to the surprise and disgust of the smith. If history is to oe believed, Phayllus. of Crotona, could jump n distance of fifty six feet. The exercise was practiced at the Olympic games and formed part of the coarse of the Pentathlon. Strutt. an English authority on games and amusements, speaks of a Yorkish jumper named Ireland, whose powers were something marvelous. He was six feet high, and at the age of eighteen leaped, without the aid of a spring-board, over nine horses ranged side (>y side. He •leared a cord extended fourteen feet from the ground with a bound, crushed with his foot a bladder suspended at a height of sixteen feet, and on another occasion lightly cleared a large wagon eovered with an awning. Col. Iron side, who lived in India early in this scntury, relates that he met in his travels an old white-haired man who with one leap sprang over the back of an enor mous elephant flanked by six camels of the largest breed. A curious French work, published in Paris in 1746, en titled " The Tracts Toward the History of Wonders Performed at Fairs," men tions an Englishman, who at the fair of St. < iermain in 1794, leaped over forty people without touching one of them. In our own day we are familiar with many remarkable expositions of strength and endurance. Dr. Winship, with the aid of straps, lifted a weight of 3,500 pounds, and with the little finger of his right hand cjuld raise his body a con siderable distance from the ground. Diner With Arrapahoes, My first dinner with the Arrapahoes was by invitation of Six Feathers, a very hospitable and friendly Indian. It was served upon common white china, and '•qmprihed stewed dog,' boiled rice, slightly sweetened, bread baked by re flection, and tea. Observing that my host shook the contents of a perforated 'in box into his cup, and supposing it. was sugar I followed his example, and found it was black pepper—not, how ever, an unpalatable mixture in ex tremely cola weather. Dog meat is co: sidercd a great luxury, and is re served for feast* and special occasions. After dinner Six Feathers seated me upon a couch of buffalo robes and bright red blankets, spread upon a willow mat that lay upon the ground and against two poles of a tripod, to which could be given any inclination. This formed a support for the back when sitting, and for the head when lying down. My hostess now presented me with a pair of moccasins uniquely embroidered with colored porcupine quills, which 1 was gratified to observe fitted perfectly, and I expressed my pleasure and thanks to the dusky donor in my choicest Arra paho. Cigarettes, of which they are exceedingly fond, being produced, we complacently smoked, while the fire ■nirned brightly in the center of the lodge, maintaining a comfortable and uniform temperature, and tho smoke gracefully curled through its appointed — I,U>utennrd H. D. Ltmly, U- S. A., in Harper. * The universal material for men's and boys' suits in Sootland is the celebrated " Bannoekburn cloth," so called from we factories which now turn it out in immense quenttties on the site of the famous fttte field. A Deg with i Diamond Cellar. An advertisement in a New York paper offered a reward of $6OO for the return of a " black and tan, with a dia mond collar," and a city reporter ob tained the following facts in regard to the loss of so valuable a canine: No. 939 West Thirty-fourth street is the residence of Mr. John Lynch, tho well known diamond merchant- A ring at tho door- bell by the reporter brought out a pretty, dark-eyed llttlo miss of ten or twelve, who inquired eagerly if Nel lie had been found. When answered " No," she looked very sad indeed. From a member of the family the fol lowing history of the lost dog and col lar was obtained: A year ago last fall Mr. Lynch's little daughter, Miss Irene, was at a board ing schoel in Paris. Among her school mates was another little girl, the daughter of a wealthy merchant of Chicago, named Madison. The two children becoming fast friends, Irene confided to her companion the fact that there was one thing sho wanted more than dolls' dresses, sweetmeats, or any of the other things that little girls usually liko, and that was a small black and tan dog, with crimped ears and a gold collar, sucli as tho ladies carried on their laps as thoy drove out in the Bois. Miss Madison remem bered that her father had one of these pet dogs at home, which had shortly before had a litter of puppies, and promised Irene that when sho got home she should have her pick of tho lot. Last year Irene returned, and when Inst Novemlier, her brother, Afr. George Lynch, went to Chi cago on business, sheromind< d him that he must be sure and stop at Mr. Modi* son's and get the little black and tan, Mr. Lynch did so, and picked up Nellie then eighteen months old and weighing one pound and twelve ounces. She was so small that he could easily stand her up on all fours in the palm of his hand, and carry her in his overcoat pocket. Nellie's ears were duly crimped, and site was provided with a collar in the form of a gold chain bearing a gold shield with the letters of her name in small diamonds. At the topof the shield were a rubv and diamond, both of large size and the finest water, and at the bottom was a sapphire, tiiis making the three mw tional colors—red, white and blue. The dog was also furnished with a receptacle or nest lined with blue velvet, into which it crept at night, and was carrier, round durinv the day. Mr. George M. Lynch took Nellie with him in ids overcoat pocket on a trip to Leadville, returning by way of Cincinnati and Pittsburg. While at the latter place he went to the opera, having Nellie with him as usual. Some unexpected noise aroused the little creature, and itbogan barking fuiiously. No one could find the animal, and the people around began to think the stranger a ventriloquist, until he finally displayed the animal on the plant of his hand, and exposed the cause of the up roar. Nellie was lost while the children were at church. Irene almost cried her eyes out when she returned home and found the little creatuie gone, collar and all, and nothing hut its empty velvet nest left. It is supposed that Nellie being so small, crept out under the servant's dress while the latter was answering a ring a>the door bell. Mr. George Lynch said that it wns quite possible that pro fessional dog thieves had caught sight of Nellie somewhere in public, tracked her to the house in West Thirty-fourth street and then laid their plans for getting her away unnoticed in the absence of the family. The jewels in the collar were worth ffioo or $7<K), but he valued the canine mite chiefly for the reason that it was his sister's pet. The Diamond Widow. Altogether diamonds are very much ( like a jealous beauty, exacting much 'more attention than they give comfort. Once at a big up-tnwn botel where lie was rooming, the AVic* reporter noticed a stout old lady with a brown wig. who always carried a leather satchel. They were inseparable. No matter where she was, tncre was the satchel, too. It lay under her feet at the dinner table, and in her lap in the parlor. Bhecarried it to the hath with Iter, and when she stepped out into the hall to call a pass ing servant she gripped the bag with a firm clutch. It contained, the reporter learned, her diamonds. She had lived at the hotel nearly two years, and had never been seen without it. When tho servants cleaned her room up she grabbed and held it till they were gone. Once, when she had been sick and a doctor had been called in, she had clutched her precious satchel with one weak hand, while she held the other out to have her pulse counted. At various weddings and even ing parties at the hotel she had appeared wearing some ornaments of antique shape, but considerable value, hut she stiii carried the bag, so tiie report had got abroad that she owned a large num ber of dinmondsof immense value. The proprietor endeavored to induce her to deposit them in the office safe, hut sho stubbornly relused. So at last the dia mond widow, the servants called bar, and her bag bcoame familiar fixtures of the hotel. Late one night a firo broke out in a building adjoining the botel, and a pane among the guests ensued. Among the first guests to uppcar in the hall was the diamond widow. She had not gone through any formality in the way of costume, but she bed the bag safe. After h short tims, the fire died down nnd the frightened guests, who had gathered in the hotel"parlor, were informed that they could return to their rooms If they wanted to. This information wm hardly imparted, when the diamond widow gave a shrill shriek and fainted. She had been listening to the land lord, her neighbor said, with her satchel In her lap, when her eyes had fallen on it, and she had screamed, " My God t it's the wrong one?" and tumbled from her chair. And it WM tho wrong one. In her fright, she bad seised a valueless bag and left the other behind. And what is more, some one had found it out, for her room had been entered in tho con fusion of the panic, and tho empty satchel was afterward found down one of the hotel ash shaft*.-- New York Newt. A carpenter who was always prog nosticating evil to himself was one day upon the roof of a five-story building upon which rain had fallen The roof being slippery he lost his footing, and as he was descending toward the < avea, he exclaimed,. "Just as I told yooi" Catching, however, in an an Iron spout, hs kicked off hia shoos and regained a place of safety, when be thus delivered himself: " I know'd It; there's a pair ef hoes goneT A Brave BaclUh Woman. A Constantinople letter to the Phila delphia Ttlegrnvh says: The quiet Greek village of Kadekem, on the Asiatic shore of the sea of Marmora, some four miles from here, was the scene the other night of wild excitement and alarm. At dusk, while the family of Mr. 8., a re spectable English resident, were about sitting down to a comfortable supper, a knock, timidly repeated after an instant, was heard at the door. Tho wind was how ling around the angles of tho house, and as Mr. B. opened tho door, a gust of sleet and rain took him in the face and almost prevented him from perceiving his nocturnal visitor. It was a wretched woman, bent nenrly double with age and clothed scantily with filthy rags, who, in quivering accents, beggod food and shelter for the night. After some hesitation tho spirit of the good Samaritan prevailed over the natu ral suspicions aroused by such n visit. The hag's story was a plausible one. Having, owing to her infirmities, missed the last steamer back to town, and being left with only her return ticket in her pocket, she was exposed to pass that bitter night out in ttie open air unless some charitable person lent his roof to shelter her. Already she had been turned away from several dwellings when she knocked despairingly at Mr. B.'s door. Thus ran her talc. Resolved, when once "in for it." as Mr. B. said, " to do the tiling up brown," hot food and drink was given to the wanderer, who, complaining soon after of great fatigue, wa* led into an empty room on the third floor, where a sort of shake-down was provided her. The family stayed together some time after in the parlor, cnatting over the fire about the incident, then separated for the night. A mysterious anxiety, however, hung over Mrs. 8., kept her awake and cul minated in a determination to visit the guest room and see how the guest was filing. Arriving at the door, which, as a precaution, had been locked, noise lessly in her bare feet, a narrow ray of light stream ing from the keyhole aroused her suspicion, and an unwonted noise of steps. Peeping in, the first object that met her gaze was a bundle of rags, sole relic of the pitiful hag that they had" i rescued from the elements, while in her I place stood a tall, brawny Circassian in I full dress, his leather belt st ;tk full of , pistols, while he tried on his thumb the j edge of a " cama " or long, curved dag | ger. His face was turned toward Mrs. 8., and she saw in his set mouth and . rascally face such murderous purpose | that she with difficulty restrained a j scream of fright. However, she crept ! down the stairs, trembling with excite ment, aroused her slumbering lord, and told what sho had seen. A short con sultation followed, in which the strange decision was arrived at that the husband should run at once to the nearest corps de garde for policemen, while the wife, armed with fier husband's revolver, would stand behind and hear the at tack. A few minutes after B. had slip ped on his clothes, and closed the street door, that sound found its echo upstairs in the crash of the guest room door, which yielded to the battering-ram blows of the Circassian's shoulder. Heavy but rapid steps came down the stairs. Mrs. B stood, with a dressing frowa thrown over her, admirably cool, icr right hand grasping a revolver. The steps came nearer, and the ruffian, after trying the door of the parlor in which the lady was standing, hurst it open, and rushed in. His headlong course was stopped by four shots in rapid succession, two of which took effect in bis arm and neck, and rolled him on the ground al most at Mrs. B.'s feet. Tho nouse ser vant then appeared, aroused by the fir,ng. and Mrs. 8., for whom the air was just then full of Circassian murder ers. greeted him with a flesh wound in the leg. Luckily for the rest of the household, who began pouring in, the inevitable revulsion of feeling came, and the courageous woman fainted. Just aliout then the husband, with six zap tiebs or poliesmen, arrived, as usual, too late to be cf much use. How Girls Go to Sleep. We had wandered out under the moonlit larches, and we all talked and laughed at nothing, in that silly, happy way young popple have. We told rid dies and sung the old college songs till finally sleep, with his bright colored mantle of dreams called us. and we re tired to what we /ondly supposed would be repose. But if you have ever oc cupied a room with six girls, you will know that sleep is not always to be ob tained at once. One young lady was an hour and a half by theciocx in brushing and braiding her hair, in putting up her j crimps, in cleaning and polishing her finger nails, in running a piece of silk floes between each pair of her thirty-two teeth, in polishing each one with a little stick and some powder, in giving them a vigorous brushing with sonp and water, in washing her hands slid in ap plying glycerine to them, in putting on a wash good for the complexion, in reading her Bible, in kissing everybody good-night, and in getting into her ham mock, which everybody who has ever tried it knows isa work-of time. .Just as we thought we were almost asleep she recollected that sho had not taken her mix rnmicn, and she argued a long time with another young lady to try to got her to take mix vomim, quoting at great length from I>r. Pulte and other eminent hommopatic physicians to prove that she and everybody needed mix vomica occasionally. When, to get peace, the poor girl swallowed the glob ules, we thought that we bad earned repose; hut then another young woman remarked in a cheerful tone that she was cold and one of the windows must come This occasioned what seemed to the sleepy ones an endless con troversy, an somebody else " was burn ing up with heat" and wanted another opened. This was finally settled. Every thing wan quiet for at least five minutes, and we were all at length giving up to "tired nature's sweet restorer" when suddenly an awfal sound was heard. A great weight fell suddenly on the hare Door, the shrill shriek of a woman leaped upon the midnight air, quick questions and exclamations were heard. A light was struck, and it was discov ered not that robbers and murderers were upon us, but that somebody's ham mock had broken down. This was re constructed, and again we addressed ourselves to persuading Morpheus to knit up our sleeve of care, which by this time was very much raveled indeed. Ten minutes of utter quiet passed away; nothing was beard but the gen tle breathing of tha sleepers, when on< affectionate girl, turning over, called ont. " Well, I'm going to sleep; good night everybody. UppsnroMs Maga rfn*. la * Ftt WMI flmoklag-Car. Mr. Snla, the English journalist, writes as follows about his experience in a smoking-car during a trip from Chicago to San Francisco: As misery is said to make a man acquainted with strange bed-fellows, so the habit of flbtoking brings all sorts and conditions of people together, and I have made the oddest of acquaintances and listened to the drollest of conversation among the omnium gatherum of humanity horded together in an American smoking-car. As for the possible "rough," therelsnot much need for you to troublo yourself any about him. If you refrain from adopting the asinine practice of carrying a revolver under peaceable conditions of traveling, it is with the extrcmest rarity that you will find a revolver drawn upon you. It is. as a rule, those who needlessly talk about shooting who run the greatest risk of getting shot. It is not by any means certain that you will get into a quarrel by refusing to drink with the first possible rough who accosts you, whereas I have been told over and over again tliat to accept a drink from a total stranger is a sine qua non in the West. It is a case of "inside or out," I was assured. Either you must swallow the dram or i un the risk of ulterior consequences in the way of steel or lead. Frequent experience, however, leads me to the conclusion that if you civilly tell your unknown friend that you 1 ave "sworn off,"or that "you are not equal to anything else lie fore supper," he will take your refusal in thoroughly good part. Of course there aiv exceptions to the rule, but of one tiling lie certain, that if by ill-luck you do fall across a rough American who is wholly or partially tigkt, and proportionately fractious or prone to exhibit tendencies of an ugly or violent j nature, the vast majority of your fellow travelers will lie peaceable and law abiding persons, whose interest lie in the direction of the rough being "run out" or "chucked off" at the earliest oossible opportunity. Be not afraid, then, to mingle with the many sr>ntcd in the smoker. Keep yourself to yourself as reasonable discrimination shall die- 1 tatc, but speak when you are spoken to shortly and courteously, and you will j get along very comfortably. You j may or may not be somewhat of a j physiognomist, thus you must use your own discretion in the application of Juvenal's warning against trusting to 1 facial appearance, but I would entreat you not to judge traveling A mericons in the West from the clothes they wear aboard the cars. For example, in the "smoker" between Chicago and the important manufacturing city of Cedar Rapids I was addressed its "partner" and offered a plug of " tcrbackcr " by a gaunt youth, seemingly of some nine teen summers, with lank, hay-colored hair, whose coarse, homespun coat and vest, red flannel undershirt—overshirt he had none—misshapen felt hat, and pantaloons tucked into boots reaching knee-high and quite innocent oi black ing ostensibly bespoke him to lie a rough of the roughs. He wu nothing whatever of the kind. He was a grad uate of the university of his State, iiad taken high honors in the department of minerslogy and was now on his way far West, with a view to " prospecting around" in the mining regions. He thought that he could get a job, he told me, nnd from his sul>sequent oon vcrsUion I WAS led to infer that he was ready te inspect and report upon any new metalliferous deposits which he might encounter, to form a new mining company, to speculate in mining stocks or to become the conductor of a freight train. In fact he was ready for any thing in the conduct of which pluck, energy and pracli. al knowledge coul 1 be made available. He had an elder brother, he casually mentioned, who was doing very well as a portrait painter somewhere in Nebraska. His parents had in the outset strongly ob leoted to this young man's following the arts and had placed h'.rn in the office of a lawyer—wishing, as his brother tersely put it —" to bring him up to something respectable." hut the apprentice of the Jaw could not abide tne profession cbslked out for him; so the old folks at home, making the best of a bad barg-vln. mortgaged some land and with the proceeds sent the artistic young hopeful to study for two or three years in Franc* and Italy. Then he had gone West, and was at E resent getting as much as t75 for n all-length in oil. "It wasn t a very good trade," luy informant added apolo getically. " hut some day, perhaps, his brother would bo able to get up to 'Frisco and start in the photograph line, and so make bis pile." I hope ke may make it with all my heart. Light in the llomr The eminent English writer, Dr. Richardeon, ha* wri.tonau articlecalled " Health at Home," which is replete with wisdom. A most important point, and one on which he dwells, is the fact that so many people are afraid of the light. "In a dark and gloomy house you never can see the dirt that pollutes It. Dirt accumulates on dirt, and the mind soon learns to apologise for this condition because the gloom conceals it." Accordingly, when a house is dark and &ingy, the air becomes impure, not only on account of the absence of light, but from the impurities which sre ac cumulated. Now, as Dr. Richardson cleverly pats It. we nlnce flowers in our windows that they tnay have the light. If this be the case, why should we de prive ourselves of the sunshine and ex pect to gain health and vigorP Light, and plenty of it, is not only a purifier of things inanimate, but ft absolutely stimulates our brains. It is in regard to sick rooms that this excellent authority Is particularly impressive. It used to be the habit of physicians in old times to sedulously darken the rooms, and this practice continues to some extent even to-day. In certain very acute cases of nervous diseases, where light, the least ray of it, disturbs in over exciting the visual organs, this darkening of the room may be permitted, but ordinarily to krep the out of the room is to deprive the patient of sne of the vital forces. Children or old people con demned to livo in darkness arc pale and wan. exactly like thase plants which, deprived of light, grow white. Bare ness in the daytime undoubtedly makes tho blood flow less strongly ana checks the beating of the heart, and these con ditions are precisely such as bring con stitutional suffering and disease. The suppression of the light of day actually Increases those contagious maladies which feed on unclesnllness. Dr. Rich ardson states: " I once found by experi ment that certain organic poisons, analogous to the poisons which propa gate these diseases, are rendered innoc uous by exposure to Ught." Beefsteak. r T, he York Obntrvtr says: If Miss Juliet Corson succeeds in teaching this feneration bow to cook a beefsteak ton er and savory, she will deserve a monument more durable than bronze or marble, and every one who frequents a hotel or boarding-house, and every one who lives in a farm-house, should con tribute liberally to it. If the following directions, which she prepared for a meeting at Willimantic, Conn., will produce the desired end—a tender steak —she will at least secure the gratitude of thousands, whether she ever hears of it or not. We hope our readers will see what can be done in this way, and so help on the desired reform: HOW TO rUCI'ARK A STEAK. We hear a great deal about that " abomination called fried steak." I will tell you how to make tough steak tender, and how to fry it so that it will be juicy, I)o not pound it, either with a rolling-pin or a potato-masher, or even with that jagged piece of metal or crockery ware wiiich house-furnishing dcalcra will trv to delude you into buy ing. If you do pound it you will only batter its fibers and let out all ita juices. Pour into the bottom of a dish three tahlespoonfuls each of vinegar and salad-oil, sprinkle on them half a salt spoonfui of pepper (and a tahlespoonful of chopped parsley, if you have it). Do not use any salt. The action of the oil and vinegar will be to soften and dis integrate the tough fibers of the meat without drawing out its juices. The salt would do Unit most effectually and harden the fibers beside. You may add a teaspoonful of chopped onion if you like its flavor. Lay the steak on the oil and vinegar for three or four hours, turning it over every half hour, and then mule, or half-fry it quickly; season it with salt after it is cooked, and serte it with a vry little fresh butter, or with the gravy from the frying-pan. If you follow these directions and do not try to improve upon them you can have ten der steaks hereafter at will. now TO BKOII. A BTKAK. Do not season it before cooking, as the action of salt upon its cut fibers is to ex tract their juices. Have the lire hot and clear, the gridiron perfectly clean, and after the meat has been put upon it. tip it towards the hack of the fire (unless it is provided with a ledge to hold the drippings); other vise the fat dropping directly under the meat will burn up and blacken it with smoko. Expose one side of the meat lo the fire, as close as it is possible to hold it without burning, un til the surface is so completely seared that the juices do not escape; then turn the meat and carbonize or scar the other side; after that finish cooking it at a little distance from thecoals. until it has reached the desired point. To ascertain this do not cut into the meat, or yon will let out the juices; press your fingers upon its surface, lightly and quickly; if it is ijuite rare, the fibers will still be so elastic as to spring up qnickly the in stant the pressure is removed; if it is medium rare, the fibers will be so far hardened that they will partly resist the pressure at first, and when the fingers are removed,will rise again very slowly; If it is well done, it will seem quite firm under the touch, and will not rise again when the fingers are lifted. In turning the meat do not stick a fork into it, be cause the holes ma le by the prongs af ford an outlet for the juices; use a double gridiron or broiler, so that yon can turn that and the meat at once; if the gridiron is one of the open kind, take the meat between the blades of two knives or spoons to tarn it; or use steak tongs, if you have such an instru ment. A SEd Rtery of a Wrecked Life. The most thrilling and sadly sugges tive temperance lecture is the sight of a once noble, talented roan, left in ruins by intoxicating drink. A Washington paper tells oi a ragged beggar, well known in the streets of that city. who once held an important command in the army, having been promoted, for per sonal bravery, from a cavalry lieutenant to nearly the highest rank in military service. One night recently, when he had been too successful In begging liauor to sate his craving, and while lying helplessly drunk in the rear part of a Third street saloon, some men thought to play a ioke on him by steal ing his shirt, and proceeded to strip him. Underneath his shirt, and suspended by a string from his neck, was a small canvas hag, which the men opened and found it contained his commission as brevet mgjor-gencral. two congratula tory letters—one from General Grant and one from President Lincoln—a photograph of a little girl, and a curl <>t hair—a " chestnut shadow" that doubt less one day crept over the brow of some loved one. When these things were discovered, even the half-drunken men who fonnd them felt a respect for the man's former greatness, and pity for his fallen condi tion, and quietly returned the hag and its contents to where Uiey found tbem. and replaced the sleeper's clothes upon him. When a reporter tried to interview the man, and endeavored to learn some thing of his life in the past few years, be declined to communicate anything. He cried like a child when told how his right n me and former position were ascertained, and with tears trickling down his checks, said: " Far God's sake, sir. don't publish my degradation, or m.v name, at least, il you are determined to say something altout it. It is enough that I know my self how low I have become. Will you promise that muchf It will do no good, but will do my friends a great deal of harm, as, fortunately, they think I died in South America, where I wont at the close of the war." Intemperance and the gaming-table, •he said, had wrought his ruin. - The Sellable San. The reliable man Is a man of good judgment. He doee not inmp at con clusions. He is not a frivolous man. He is thoughtful. He turns over a subject in his mind and looks at it all around. He is not a partial or one-sided man. He sees through a thing. He is apt to be a very reticent man. He does not have to talk n great deal. Ho is a mod erate man not only in habits of body, but also in mind. He is not a passionate man s if so by natnrc. ho has overcome it. He is a sincere man, not a plotter ir schemer. What he says may be re lied on. He is a trustworthy man. You fel safe with vour property or the administration of affairs in his hands. Ho is a brave man, for his conclusions are logically deduced from the sure basis of truth, and he does not fear to maintain them. He is a good man, for no one can be thoroughly boneet and truthtu 1 w'thout being good. wi ni ym i A ChiatM Bnitir la Putt. The wile o! tne Chinese ambassador appeared at a ball in Parte for the firet time unveiled in any European assembly, describing her appearance a correspon dent iave: A little, quaint woman,with her hair plastered down to the aides of a whitewashed face, was seen blinking n the gaslight as bate are said to blink in the sun. She tottered through the rooms on her small, mutilated feet, won dering even more than she was won dered at. Never before in Chinese his tory had the wife of a high official been seen even by her own countrymen, mncb less by the foreigner. An Ameriean may take credit for the conversion of his excellency to common sense, Mr. Hilt, of the American legation, having pre vai'ed upon the ambassador to visit his house to see the great feU of the repub lic. The sight of this Chinese beauty was a little disappointing. Bhe was very handsome or the reverse according to your way of looking at it. I have heard the most contradictory verdicts from different people. Her oily skin was cov ered with powder laid on as thickly as if it were a clown's face at pantomime time. SJie toddled about the rooms for a short time on her poor mutilated feet and then went home, no doubt to dream of what the sun and moon and morning Itars would say next day on this awful innovation of all the Confucian proprie ties. The great anxiety of the minister here is to do as the rest do, to follow the immemorial customs. Sitting at dinner the other day, he was observed to do precisely what was done by the gentle man who sat next to him. He ate of the same dishes in precisely the same proportions, and when the other asked the servant for another piece of bread he made a sign to h ve bread, 190. The European—something of an amateur in porcelain—at length turned up one of the dessert plates, just to sec the mark of the fabric. The Chinese minister im mediately did the same. gram Jennie June'iß.n York Faahisn Letter. The basques, jackets and the like fol low the outlines of the "Jersey," an artistic bodice of silk which is woven to fit the form, has no scam, and adapts itself to any skirt or ur.derwaist. In England tins bodic has become a rage, ancfit is used to complete costumes ny attaching it to a short kilted skirt and draping a scarf about it. The Jersey is simply a woven bodice of what is called "spun" silk, and looks likp a silk under vest in color. It is finisned w ! th deep fine elastic ribbing at the throat and wrists and requires a trimming such as a circular collar of finely plaited silk or lace at the neck and wrists to cover and supplement the ribbing unless the wearer prefers, a- some ladies do, tin pure outlines. T.e price is twelve dol lars, which is not ,-reatly in advance of the cost in London, duty added. This settles the question of hoops and hustles and bunchy draperv. The styles will be varied, of course, but the natural out lines will still be preserved, and drapery will be low. caught to one side and ir regularly rather than festooned on both sides like window curtains. Ught tints in contrast with dark rich stuffs are in demand, and the lighter, the nearer the white, the more elegant they are. Ivory camel's hair cloth is made into a skirt with mountings of hroeaded stuff, striped in red, gold and blue, upon an olive ground. This bro- I cade forms 'the jacket, which fits close I to the figure, has collar, pocket and ruflfc I of the same, and no contrast in color or I materials save buttons, which are of riridescent pearl. Ol course, popular costumes will be made of dark materials—gray, brown, shades ol mastic and stone, or gensdarme blue; but the combinations arc always Indian or Persian mixtures, and they are • used very much as last season, as bands, pockets, vests, scaifs, diagonal folds, half cuffs, half pockets, collars and the like. There is this difference between wool and cotton costume materials; that whereas, the body of the woolen 00s- I tume is plain, and the material for trim ming figured, the new drees cottons are all figured and represent expensive brocaded fabrics in pattern as well as blended coloring. Among the novelties arc ootton crapes; a rronkled, almost transparent cotton fabric; figured in colors upon light and dark grounds, but principally dark. ThereTs, also, a new cotton *• faille," a silky sort of corded cotton, printed in delicate colors upon light tinted ground, and exactly adapted for making up into dainty summer costumes, with white lace and ribbons for garden parties and such. It is comparatively expensive, though—seventy-five cents per yard; and its appearance after pass ing through the hands of the ordinary laurdrrss is problematical, for if colon would stand such a test, texture might not Brown sateens and " momic " cloths reappear in very much the same designs and coloring of isst year, hat the Madisr ginghams are in charming blue and white checks vrry suitable for the wear of children and young ladies, and there is a novelty in Cbambcry striped cotton which is striking, and considered by some very stylish, though the brown stripes on the unbleached white is more suggestive of bath towels than any thing else. It is, however, to be used in conjunction with sheeting, as well as by itself, and when rat on the bias and employed as a trimming for a "fish wife" tunic. It may seem to he quite a part ot the natural order of things. Summer fans have made their appear ance, and brown stems sad fibers thrown half way across the outer edge, the tiny leaflets or blossoms, the bi sects or birds flyinf toward it or near ins the center. Straw bead-wofk and straw trimmings generally will be a feature of the spring millinery, and suit well the pretty prim rose, heliotrope, and mulberry tints which appear in silks, satins, game, lace and crepe. Street garments are at two kinds. They are either very long or very short. The stylish raglan rsanhss In toe basis. The fichu cape scarcely covers lbs shoulders. B'tweea these is the jacket, very plain but well out into the Agora ana with a strait Jersey skirt. It is praph'Sied that summer drosses of muslin will be very simplo. A single skirt flminced, a straight bodice, a wtsh or libbon belt, sleeves half short, and a lace or muslin fiohu with ends fastened in the belt. Speaking ot diflcolMss, the Modem Jrpa says that a wasp or a well-organ ised hornet is the only chap on record that em (jack out of aeerions difficulty : At hie own sweet will.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers