POB THE FAIR SEX.
ruklra HMm.
I Surah is the fashionable silk.
I Velvet will be the rage next winter.
I Many narrow flounces are among the
styles.
K Black wood furniture and brass orna-
Hkncnls are all the rage on the other
Hpide.
B Black toilets are as much worn at
weddings as colored or white
B Instead of Valenciennes the durable
laces are used for plain gar
| Brocaded plush is shown in designs
to those imported in velvet, but
Hrith longer pile.
■ Peignoirs of muslin or cambric arc
made with a tucked yoke in back
front, and arc quite full, so that
conceal the figure.
B Gold colored stockinet is made into
Pftersey tunics that are rather too striking
Gso be worn by a quiet woman, but are
■fery elegant, nevertheless.
K Ribbons of three different widths are
Bmc<! to trim the waists of dresses, the
m widest forming sash bows, the narrowest
Iplrosctte at the front of the waist, and
■bnt of medium width making the bows
Hpcr the neck and sleeves.
B Fine white muslin dresses having the
lined with Jacqueminot silk and a
■plaiting of Jaqueminot about the skirt,
made up for very young girls.
B Imported thin dresses are often com-
with sashes made of Surah silk,
dark red or peacock blue, and
■be ends terminate with spikes—gilt
on red, silver spikes on blue.
sashes are easily made. The
is cut in two lengthwise and then
■own together double, th^er's of the
are gathered and the spike put on.
A Drcaay Toilet Described.
Bla very dressy toilet is of cream-colored
and bands embroidered witli
; Wed. The skirt has a narrow plaited
JBouncc, with a red balayeuse under-
Above the plaiting is a deep
embroidered with red and scal-
Bfeped on the border. Above this, in
BBont of the skirt, is a deep creaui-
Hwlori'd plaiting fastened down. The
Hglouble tunic is bordered with an em
■koidt red band, with a very narrow
plaiting falling below.
|Kbe lower part is raised in the middle,
Ppflbl the upper part is draped diagonally
■hd raised on the side. The back forms
* three loops, the lowest one falling
flfanble over the plaiting on the skirt.
HBhe waist opens in heart-shape. The
■Basque is cut up in front to show a caroa-
Her surah plaited plastron vest. The
■N't is trimmed with embroidered
placed on flat. Around the open
"collarette Medlcii," made of
■pree rows of white lace. The sleeves
at the elbow, with deep em
■pidrml revers. On the left side of
IKb Waist is a bunch of red roses. Tho
jflHpir is dressed low on the head and
■■ilirt over the forehead, The back
a simple twist, fastened up by a
/ toOd comb.— Philadelphia Times.
|: The Remit of Kotlng Araeale.
A young lady of Indianapolis has
If v bMn for some years eating arsenic in
■■Mfer to improve her complexion. The
consequences are now reached,
her sight is almost gone. The
man to whom she was engaged,
who was possibly captured by her
skin, declines to keep the con
■pct— that is, he says if she becomes
he will not wed her. The doctors
Bps doing all they can to restore her
but with small hopes of success.
Exaggeration. '
■ome habits are so unconsciously
that a movement to mend
is the only way to detect them,
beam in one's own eye is less no-
than the mote in another person's
family while at the breakfast table
■p morning pledged to observe the
veracity for that day. A mem
■k ol the family tells the "conse
■is a first fruit of the resolve, we asked
who suggested it:
■VFhat made you so late at breacfast
morning?"
■She hesitated, began with, " Bsc use
" and then, true to her com
said: " The truth is, 1 was iazy
■■didn't hurry, or I might have been
nßyn long ago."
one of them remarked that
been very cold, adding: "I
was so cold in my life."
Hp inquiring looa caused the last
to modify this statement in-
with: "Oh, I don't think it was
HBtoold, after all."
jm third remark to the effect that
■piss So-and-So was the homeliest girl
■ the city," was recalled as|soon as
■pde, the speaker being compelled to
that Miss Boand-8o was only
■pier plain, instead of being excea-
homely.
it went on throughout the day,
much merriment, which was
accepted by the sub-
HB*b, and giving rise to constant oor
■ptlonA in the interest of truth.
■One thing became more and more sur.
IHjlsing, however, to each one of us, and
was the amount ol cutting down
our moat careless statements de
■Bbnded under this new law.
Khc Rev. Phillips Brooks is said to b
■je first American who has preached in
Abbey before the queen.
Emigration Figaros.
Up to 1890 no statistics of emigration
into this country were kept officially,
but the numbers were trivial, only 8,385
foreign emigrants being reported for
that year. In 1830 the number was 23 .
$00; in 1810, 84,000; 1849, 104.500; 1880
806,000; 1854, 497,800. That was the
maximum number for nearly twenty
years. In 1855 and 1850 the number
was but about 200,000 each; it rose to
251,000 in 1857; was 153,040 in 1800; in
1801 and 1809,f0r the obvious reason that
our war was a deterrent, fell to 91,000;
the labor demand so far overcame this
that the number arose to 176 000 in 1803,
193,400 in 1864, and 249,000 in 1805.
From 1805 to 1873, during the term of
post-war paper prosperity, when labor
was immensely in demand, emigration
was heavy, reaching the highest tigurc
in 1873, 459.800. It fell to 313,000 in
1874, 227,000 in 1875, 170,000 in 1876,
142,000 in 1877, 138,000 in |B7B, but rose
to l/H.ooo in 1879, and was, of course,
very much increased in 1880.. England
and Ireland (taking 1873 as a stand
ard) sent about one-third, 152,000
out of 467,000; it may surprise most
readers, however, to know that those
two countries send al out an equal num
ber, and that in 1872, 1875 and 1876-9,
England sent more than Ireland. Thus!
for 1879, 24,000 emigrants' were of
English nationality, and 20,000 were
Irish. Scotland contributed 13,000 in
18,3. Germany sends nearly ns many
as England and Ireland combined—
-150,000 in 1873, against 152,000, 'ana
34,000 in 1879, against 44,000. Among
the |other European countries, Sweden
stands next; then Norway; then France,
Italy and Austria. Not China u me,
but all Asia, overwhelms us with
hordes as 20,000 in 1873, and 9,800 in
1879. In itho twenty-three years, 1855-
77, almost 200,000 Chinamen came in,
of whom not more than onc-hnlf have
since gone back. It would be interest
ing if the outward as well as the in
ward movement were recorded. In
1876, according to British statistics.
54,554 ' persons went from'the United
Kingdom to this country, and 54,697
went thither from this country; to Can
ada, 9,335, and 6,229 from Canada;
to Australia, 32,196, and 9,579 from
Australia; total emigration. 109,4G9.and
71,404 total immigration. The total
movement of Irish from May, 1851, to
the end of 1876, according to these re
ports wns 2,415,000 leaving Ireland
direct, of whom ninetcen-twentieths
came to this country; 67 per cent of the
whole numbgr leaving the United King
dom from 1853 to 1876 also nunc here.
It is perhaps a hopeful that
the human tide which will for yet many
years set to these Western shores con
tains a larger proportion of skilled or
half-skilled laborers, and a smaller pro
portion ol the least desirable class than
used to be the case.
Bonnets and Jewelry as Necessaries
of Lire.
This is difficult to answer, because the
amount allotted varies with the styles of
living, the husband's means and other
circumstances. A Maine lady recently
took her little child and went to Europe
on an extended pleasure trip, and the
husband's lawyer objected that pleasure
travel abroad could not be deemed neces
sary. The judge refused to decide this,
and said it was for the jury to deter
mine whether.taking into view the means
of the husband and the health of the
wife and child, they would allow the
expenses of such a journey. Not many
years ago a wife bought a gold watch
and other jewelry to the amount of 9175.
The husband argued that these things
were ornaments, not necessaries; but
the jewelers proved that the husband
kept a fast horse and wore diamonds,
and the court decided that if a man
marries he engages to support a wife ac
cording to his social conditions and
wealth; and if they enable him to keep
a horse and wear diamonds they may
well make it necessary that she should
have some moderate ornaments. A
Georgia milliner sued the husband of a
lady for a bonnet which she had refused
to take because it was a " botch." The
husband proved that she was well sup
plied with bonnets, and that she had in
tended to give thirfone to a iriend. The
oourt said he was justified in refusing
to pay for it. A bat might be neces
sary to a lady herself, but making pres
ents to one's triends was not necessary.
But how about Christmas, New Year,
and birthday presents? If a lady in
society orders these little things, can
her husband refuse to pay for themf
Hiding Money.
The fact that Spain, though chrono
logically in the nineteenth century, is
really living in the seventeenth, is illus
trated by the following from Templt
Bar. In old Spanish houses there is
generally a very cleverly-contrived
secret receptacle for money, akin to the
"secret drawer" of the English desk.
Even now this secret cupboard is much
used, the Spanish idea of security b Ing
(an idea founded on bitter experience ol
many years) to cage the windows in
iron bars, lock up the house at night in
winter, look at thf money, and then say
in security and self-congratulation:
" Why, I am very safe; all I love and
all I need is oontained within the four
walls of my casa."
There is a vast deal ol distrust ol
banks and government securities, and
great holding to the proverb: "No
friend save God, and a dollar in yout
pocket." And now with the middle
class there is no hanking of money.
The bankers, to begin with, give no
interest as a rule; and so, just an in
Scotland in the troubled year of 1650
the goldsmiths were the only bankers, no
now, in Spain, the gentry constantly
hoard their money in their own houses;
some put their jewelry and plate in the
monies de pied ad."
FARM, HARDER AND HOUSEHOLD.
Value of rut Turnips.
Many farmers will not grow any of
the best varieties of roots for cattle on
account of the expenses of weeding and
proper cultivation, and it may not be
out of place to remind them that after
any grain crop some kind of manure
can be applied, and a great many tur
nips grown to feed to sheep, to calves
and to any cattle excepting cows giving
milk, lurnips will do well sown
broadcast, if the soil is well prepared
and the seed evenly and not too thickly
distributed; but a drill that will not run
the seed more than is required, without
thinning, will be better, because there
are so few men who can sow at all regu
larly. Turnips must be singled out and
the ground hoed thoroughly, but the
very mention of doing any labor to a
root crop will deter hundreds from try
ing them. I can well remember the
old-fashioned English farmers growing
turnips about the year 1820, and some
being had between the rows of horse
beans, which crop grows and ripens
like corn in the United States, much
later than grain; but labor being
cheaper in England, there were men
who would thin them out and cut all
weeds for from two up to three dollars
an acre. Farmers should consider the
advantage of growing turnips, because
of the difference it makes to young
stock, if they have them every day in
sufficient quantity to distend the
stomach, not in a "pot-bellied" way,
but by bowing out the ribs in a barrel
shape. It is the absence of roots and
thejfeeding of too much meal and rich
food that causes the degeneration of
many pure-bred animals.
I nm not recommending the cultiva
tion and growth of the common turnip
in preference to other roots, but in con
sequence of the difficulty of persuading
farmers to go to the trouble of produc
ing the better sorts, f have myself been
hindered from growing carrots for
more than twenty years, excepting in
very small plats, but this year I have
nearly three acres of great promise.
These carrots arc from four pounds of
seed bought of Landreth, and at least
ten plants have been cutor pulled outfoi
every one left. It is of essential conse
quence to obtain all varieties of
agricultural seeds from reliable sources.
Common turnips, although of less
value per ton, and not proper to give
to milch cows on account of the un
pleasant flavor to the butter, are yet of
great service; for as they can be cheaply
grown, a farmer can well afford to give
a little meal shaken over the cut
or pulped mess fed to the animals
which it is desired should most increase
in flesh.
It is admitted that Indian corn Is to
a certain extent an equivalent, but for
young cattle, and sheep especially, tbcre
is a decided advantage in feeding both,
on the score of health. If all the labor
and attendance on a corn crop u
reckoned, it will be found to fall little
short of the cost of raising a good root
crop, and certainly an equal number of
acres in roots and corn would be quite
an advantage on every stock farm, and
the manure is always much increased
where there is an abundance of roots.
Therefore let common turnips be grown,
which will lead to the growth of other
roots and the increase of fertility gener
ally, which of course means prosperity
to the proprietor George Gardiner, in
Gounlry Gc nil mum.
Small Karmi BM.
Apropos of this subject, the Spring
field (Mass.) Union says: There has
been some lament over the tendency in
this country to mass great arena of rem
estate under one management, and fears
have been expressed that, in the West
at least, we shall some time experience
the evils of landlordism which have
cursed older parts of the world. But
such fears appear to be groundless. We
have no law of entAil, and the prob
ability that these vast areas will remain
under a single management for more
than one or two generations is rather
small. The big farms of the West are
proving comparative failures. I>al
rymplc, the Dakota farmer, and Glenn,
the California nabob, have not suc
ceeded well. The Sullivan farm in
Illinois has been cut up, and the work
of subdivision is more likely to go on
than that of accumulation. The To
ronto Globe points out that great farms
require a vast amount of machinery,
which, to be made profitable, must' be
kept at the same work year after year.
The most successful farmers of the West
are those who own comparatively small
farms, which they can keep entirely
under their own supervision and man
age with little help, and improve rather
than deteriorate, by a proper rotation of
crops.
A still better example of the superior
ity of small farms over big ones, is
found nearer home, in the market gar
dens near the great cities. Some or the
finest of these we know of are in the
vicinity of Boston. For an example,
there is one of five or six acres within
the limits of that city which produces
its owner a clear annual income of from
93,000 to SO,OOO. Instead of spending
his money for machinery and labor, the
fanner devotes his capital largely to the
enrichment of his ground. The amount
of manure he applies to his few acres
seems almost wasteful, but the results
prove his wisdom. Within two or three
weeks he has marketed from a small
patch 0170 worth of string beans. His
early potatoes are already dug and have
brought him something like 99,00 ft, and
the ground where they grew is already
at work producing a second crop of
vegetables. The amount of ttuck
which he maneges to secure from his
few acres, which lie about his house
and barns, is really marvelous, but the
secret is high cultivation and a scion
tlflc method. The same method may be
applied anywhere in Massachusetts, and
the dawdling away over hundreds of
acres, and getting only half a crop, and
at tbe same time impoverishing tbe soil,
is the sheerest folly.
Clean Cereal rood.
While ingenuity seems almost to have
exhausted its<fff in devises to secure the
entire purification of tho grain of w heat
before it is ground into flne flour, it is
strange that so little care is taken with
other grains in the preparation for bread
making. Even wheat designed for Gra
ham flour is rarely cleansed as it ought
to be, and it is notorious that for this
kind of flour the lower grades of wheat
are commonly used. When it comes to
rye and buckwheat, and especially to
corn, we may say that they are, as a rule,
ground in their filth, original and ac
quired, and so oomc to the table for hu
man food. Wheat must be cleansed to
make white flour. This whiteness is a
prime element in the price, and there
fore of main consequence to the miller.
The cleanliness or otherwise of other
flours and meals is not so manifest to
the eye of the purchaser, and the miller
handle them as though it made no dif
ference what is ground up with the
grain. This fact is known to many, and
prevents them from eating what they
would otherwise regard as wholesome
an d agreeable food. Tb ee x tent to w h ich
this disregard of cleanliness concerning
an important class of our food materials
is carried, is so great that it is often de
tected by tlic taste, and people who are
fond of bread made from tho coarse
meals are given a disgust toward them
which endures through life.
It is difficult to designate a remedy for
an evil like this, so far as the people of
towns and cities are concerned; but
fanmrs carrying their own "grists"
to mill can inaugurate the reform by in
sisting upon the thorough cleansing of
all grain before grinding. If they will
do this they will establish a standard
and secure a general use of the proper
apparatus in all custom mills, which
will extend in time to merchant mills,
and be a wonderful boon to all bread
eaters. — Rural New Yorker.
Pasture for Hoes.
The subject of good pastures for hog*
in summer is becoming one of special
interest to farmers. So also the provid
ing of a supply of roots for them during
the winter is beginning to receive de
served attention from the more progres
sive and successful farmers. The con
tinuous and excessive use of corn has
long been deemed wrong both in theory
and in practice, although comparatively
few feeders ever seem to have considered
who it might be avoided. The light,
however, is breaking, and a radical
change in the management of hogs as
regards feeding seems fast goingon. This
change, we doubt not, will result in a
very marked decrease of disease among
swine. Of the grasses most suitable for ;
hog pastures may be mentioned timothy. I
red clover, blue grass and orchard grass,
in tlmtwr pasture, wlint red bovor
would not do so well on account of the
■hade, white clover will be found valua
ble. The best pasture is one containing
several kinds; but it is no easy matter
to keep a variety of grasses on the same
ground. The more hardy will sooner or
later crowd the others out. We arc
sure more hogs arc being grass fed this
year than ever before, and men inter
ested in pork production arc closely
watching the results. We shall be glad
to have readers of the Ruralint report
regarding any experiment in this way
they have made, and give their views on
the subject of grass for hogs in summer,
or the raising of roots for them in win
ter.— Ruralid.
Health lllnls.
I/cmon juice wiil aiiay tbe irritation
caused by bites of gnats and flies.
A weak solution of carbolic acid in
rain water will cure pimples and simple
eruptions.
Ammonia, saleratus water, and other
alkaline washes are the usual remedies
for bee stings. A fresh tomato leaf
crushed and rubbed on the puncture is
recommended as an easy and sovereign
cure.
A oormpondent residing at Honolulu,
Sandwich islands, says that a good
health preservative is to sponge the
! l>ody in cold water, containing a small
; percentage of some alkali, such as am
monia. The ammonia combines with
the oil or grease thrown out by the
perspiration, forming a soap, which is
easily removed from the skin, leaving
the pores open, thus promoting health
and comfort.
Milk far Ckkktsi.
Sloppy food is unfit for chickens.
Their stomachs are formed to grind
hard substances, and if given soft food
he gixsard, a portion of the stomach—
which is mutiple in fowls as in cattle
is weakened, and does not perform its
partial digestive functions. Milk may
be given with coarse cornmeal, both
being scalded together until it is a stiff
mass, or it may be curdled and separated
from the whey, and given dry. But it
must not be sour. Sour food is sure to
bring on intestinal disorders and pre
pare such a weakened condition of the
system as will offer favorable oppor
tunities for contracting infectious dis
eases, as poultry cholera.
A Paris merchant, who has been sev
eral times robbed by unfaithful csshiero,
has invented an infallible test of com
petency. The casbier presents himself,
offer his services, shows his reference*.
Then tbe merchant: "Show me how
you would erase a mistake in your
figures.'" The aspiring cashier sets to
work with scraper, ink-eraser, and what
not, and if be succeeds in destroying
nil trace of the erasure he is invited to
take his hat and leave.
The Spider.
The spider has never been at school a
day in his life, he has' never learned a
trade or read a book, yet he con make
the Blratghtest lines, most perfect circles,
beaut iful little bridges, and many of bis
family can spin and weave, some of them
can hunt and swim and dive and do
mason work almost as well as if they
had a trowel and mortar. There is a
spider in my garden that makes so many
lines and circlet you'd think it had been
all through geometry. It makes circles,
every one a little larger than the other,
about twelve of them, and then from the
smallest circle begins and makes about
twenty-eight straight lines, going to the
outside circle, like the whalebones in an
umbrella. It makes its web so perfect
and regular that it is called the geomet
ric spider. You'd see late in sum
mer, clusters of its eggs on bushes and
hedges. When hatched the spiders all
keep together in a little ball. You touch
this ball and the little spiders will scat
ter in all directions, but as soon as they
can they'll get together again, as
I Iclt my silk dress last night hanging
over a chair near the wall, and this
morning I found that Mrs. Spider had
been there in the nightand made a beau
tiful little bridge of spider silk between
my dress and the wall. The spider that
made this bridge for me had eight eyes.
It can't move any of these eyes; each eye
lias but one lens and can only see what
is just in front of it. It has a pair of
sharp claws in the forepart of the head;
with these little pincers it catches other
small spiders. When the spider is at
rest it folds these little claws one over
the other like the parts of scissors. The
spider has eight feet; most insects, you
know, have six. At the end of each
foot is a movable hook. It has five
little spinners, or spinnerets.wilh which
it maks its web. Each of these spint
ners has an opening which it can make
large or small as it likes. There is a
tube like a little hall communicating
into each of there little openings. In
this tube are four little reservoirs,which
holds the "gluey substance of which
the thread is spun." As soon as this
liquid comes to the air it becomes a
tough and strong thread. I suppose the
air acts upon it in some way.
How GrAln Corners are Made.
The process of cornering in wheat is
brought about by an unlimited number
of falsehoods told by those who would
not ordinarily be charged with them,
hence they work better. The house of
(lorn. Barley & Co. conceive the idea
that it is its time to make a corner in
grain. It proceeds at once to torm a
ring within a ring. This ring, consist
ing of A, B. C and I), proceeds in August |
to quietly buy September wheat, not
directly, but through brokers. Belore
the end of August this ring, without any
Excitement, secures the control of the
wheat in market deliverable in Septcm
t*r E his sold to these parties, and
finds himself unable to extricate himself
from the position into which the forced
rise iu September wheat places him
without buying of A. This completes
the ring, and it only remains for E to
give his check to A for the difference
between the price of wheat bought and
the price of wheat sold. This is a mar
gin, and that margin is obtained by A,
not by the investment of capital, neither
by the exercise of brain power, success
fully applied to the forecasting of the
probabilities of the market, based upon
the varying influence of supply and de
mand, or the still more effectual influ
ence of a favorable season or an adverse
one. Now this corner upon unsuspect
ing E is accomplished by the four coad
jutors, which like four gamblers fleece
a victim in the game known as draw
poker. B bets, C raises the bet, D and
Edo the same. A. who deals either in
cards or wheat, raises the bet, B raises
also, until poor E often "planks up" his
last dollar on 'change or in a gambling
hell, without having had a single chance
to win in any contingency.
An Interesting Cave.
Crystal Hill cave, near Stroudsburg,
Pa., has just been carefully explored by
Pro feasors and Porter. The bot
tom was found to be covered with clay,
on the top of which was a deposit of a
dark substance, and cm this is an in
crustation of lime, which has fallen
from the roof of the cave. It is the de
posit of rich, dark material that par
ticularly interests the scientists. The
explorers found many indications of the
presence in the cave at one time or an
other of many animals, some of which
were doubtless brought there by ani
mals of prey, and others used it for their
dens. Among the bones of animals
were the jawbones of the raccoon,
skunk, weasel, beaver, squirrel, porcu
pine, woodchuck, fox, wildcat, elk,
deer and bison; the shells of two or
more turtles, the bones of wild turkeys,
and the vertebras of snakes In large
quantities. The most interesting speci
mens found, however, were the bead
and teeth of a gigantic beaver and a
large peccary, neither of which have
ever I een found before in Pennsylvania.
Besides these were bones which had
been burned and split—evidently the
work of the aborigines, who sought tbe
marrow. Indian reiios>rere also found.
A flint spear head was picked up far
hack in the cave, imbedded in tbe clay.
How it came there is a mystery, unless
some Indians, entering the cave and
finding a wild beast there, attacked it,
and this spear, hurled at the animal,
missing its aim, sped far back into the
recesses, and there remained. No other
traces of any kind indicate that the
portion of the cave hac been .visited by
man or beast.
H<inattr Lire la Hew Yerk.
The metropolis abounds with con
trasts of splendid intentions and mis
carried achievements. Prinoeiineas of
space and brilliance of architecture are
confronted by dilapidation and OA
cleanliness, and even on Murray hip,
that pinnacle of all earthly ambition,
disreputable little taverns ■/< tene
ments exist in sight of the fashionable
mansions with their carved balustrades
and ample porticoes. But these con
trasts, which have led one writer to de
scribe New York as Paris with a touch
of the backwoods, and another to say
that the city is more like a savage, the
resplendence of his trinkets, war-paint
and chromatic blanket only half cover
ing his abundant dirt—these anomalies
arc nowhere so apparent as above the
southern borders of Central Park.
Beaching as far as Manhattanvilic on
the west, and to Harlem on the east, the
land lias nearly all been graded, and
many streets have been iaid out, and in
some instances paved, curbed and il
luminated. Ten years ago or more,
when the imperial Tweed was seated
with apparent firmness on the municipal
throne, this region, with tfie splendid
park as a center, was seized upon by
real cptatc speculators, and predictions
were made that in a very few years it
would be covered with handsome
dwellings. But the tide of success
turned another way, with what ef
fect, as concerns Tweed and his ambi
tions, is well known; and though on
the east side some of the vacant spaces
have become populous, and some nota
ble churches, hospitals, armories and
houses have been put up, the west side
has altered so little that it lias seemed
to be lifeless. The new museum of
natural history, with its imposing
facade looking over the hill and dale of
the park, glances from its rear upon a
neighborhood which!'in my experience,
is quite unique. It is not to be precisely
described as city, nor as suburb, nor as
the unsettled but broken territory that
outlies most cities while waiting to be
absorbed in their advance. The antici
pations that led to the grading
and paving of the streets have had a
very limited fruition in isolated rows of
pretentious and rectangular "brown
stone fronts," which seemed oddly out
of place. Here and there a vestige of
old times remains in a pre-metropolitan
homestead, with an impoverished
orchard around it, or in a grand mansion
with a classic front of Doric columns,
and a genesis tar antedating
Fifth avenue. But it is not
the new buildings, premonitory
oi the city's advance, nor the old ones
reflecting the past, nor these two in
contrast, that give the region its charac
teristics and peculiar interest. All
down in the hollows between the graded
streets, and in spaces where, no streets
having been opened, the gray Laurcn
tian rock I'tando with trot a superficial
layer of soil upon it, thousands of acres
are under cultivation by squatters, and
without other inclosure to the land than
the embankments formed around the
hollows by the trap-rock foundations of
the streets. Agriculture is carried ou
with a primitive simplicity of life and
under a picturesqueness of condition
that set an artist on the edge of desire.
Many square miles are green with vege
tables. You see the gardeners with their
wives and mothers bending to their
work; you hear the querulous call of
geese and the contentions of pigs; and if
you oould shutout from the view the
immature streets and the precursory
dwellings, you would never realise that
you are within the limits of the city, or
that immense steamers are loading with
grain by the river-side a quarter of a
mile away, and that the buzzing which
vibrates in the air comes from an ele
vated railway.
The holdings are o! various propor
tions, sometimes being limited to an
irregular strip, and sometimes embrac
ing three or four blocks in. possession of
one man. It is not an occasional load,
the product of one patch, that goes to
Washington market, but a large pro
poUiou of all the green stuff consumed
in the city is grown in these hollows—
the lettuce, the parsley, the celery, the
cabbages, and the potatoes. But though
one man trebles the quantity his aeigh
bor produces, he is no better off nor
more ambitious In the matter of archi
tecture than the poorest; and in the
corners, or in the center of the hollows,
or perched high np on the wintry
gneiss, is found s grotesque variety of
makeshift dwellings, mere concessions
to exigencies in many cases, which by
no means indicate the pecuniary re
sources of the occupants. Some of
them are simply squalid, bat upon
others the sunshine and the rain haw
brought out a soft color, and the scraps
of which they are built haw borrowed
a quaint graos from the weathering,
i; is scarcely safe to Ist an artist looss
among them. They abound with pictu
resque " bits," which b# dee lane it
next to impossible to exhaust; and not
long ago, when I soared into the sky
ward region where C has his studio,
I found him biaok to the wrists with
ink. with which he was printing etch
ings of some things that be had dis
covered among these shanties.—Bt
peg's Magmmm.
There are hard .times in England, and
yet there Is plenty ot mousy. It Is m
ii mated that SI,OOO 009,000 its at imwat
out of employment there. This Is greatly
to be regretted, especially as Urns an
hundreds of men la this country also
out of employment—who would;gladly
take charge of somebody's surplus cash.