IIS THE FAIR BX.
ruklOß IVolra.
cloaks are very long,
evail in all autumn goods,
g cloaks are again worn.
1 chcnc fabrics are all the
Ims dresses, cloaks and hon
-1 dresses are made immensely
fad crops out in the new black
is used on all light wool
will not go out of fashion
i.
iguedoc lace appears in coffee
irts and corsages grow more
apes of cloth were the first
rs go with black silk and vcl
les.
plaids take precedence over
ans.
ruehings are| for
I cloaks.
'gray are fashionable oc.on
itions.
Hlfatd lace veils will be worn by a few
HHptric. ladies.
belts, pointed front and back,
ionable.
RryWhrliri tapestry borders are seen upon
■MMy of the autumn dresses.
Light wool materials will be de
BHsur until cola weather.
fabrics of velvet. Bilk and
M|Bbl will be in high favor.
appear on many sacks, as well
||b can cloaks and mantles.
fabrics trimmed with
||stßah appear amon fall costumes.
KgPhlsh will be more used than fur for
BMbC cloaks and wraps this winter.
Velvet brocades take precedence of all
S Atees fabrics for the present season.
I Plain skirts, with a single narrow I
fcttgeuM' flounce will be much worn.
Amber satin bonnets embroidered
beads and pretty novelties.
figgPikin velvet and tiger plush arc
Ekfgnd among the new trimming ma-
Klpox-plaited balayeuse flounces are
HB|gc fashionable than make-plaited
I'.White mousseline de I'lnde is the
most used for bridesmaids'
IT Valvet brocade dresses are made per-
Kfltetly plain, without any looping or
gsjphe new sfiades of red are Titian,
■MjKaant, garnet, cinnamon, copper and
Mkroubier.
HBthito satin, white nun's veiling and
■fig make a lovely combination for
dresses.
Hflfcad, heliotrope and shades of ecru and
are the favorite colors of the
linings of cloaks.
HRpaort* of pelerines, fichns, shoulder
■pili. round capes and mantles are worn
Hmßtßiet wraps.
■Hpiver and gold thread and tinsel
many of the now white and
I Aiseß Spanish blond laces.
rnHflpoertain shades of green and blue,
with every imaginable shade
■■lid, prevail in plaids.
■Spaae of tbe new French hooded
BHpps form a sort of overskirt, but are
HBpi too complicated to describe.
■■Mrbang of white and blue serge,
EUHpitd around the brim with red cash-
scarfs, will l>e worn by little chil
iflMls of lace and irrenadinc have large
chenille of the shade of the veil,
fire dotted with gold, silver, black,
■■fife or red.
Bltth large and small flower patterns
■■■lit in new brocades and damasses,
mere designs are more in vogue
■figgßMiy otbeis.
pjftta monkey, tbe parrot and the ele-
BBfitk are tbe three animals fashion
figLifc for ladies' cravat pins, in the
ptaNKh capital just at present.
§f Agfceat deal of gray is nsed again for
costumes, but it is invariably
by garnitures ol peacock
color or scarlet,
boys until tbey reach about
months wear close French
lace and needlework, the
|as those worn by little
mantle lambrequins are of
match curtains and furniture,
with pictures of real artistic
painted in oil or water colors.
the novelties of the season are
fißpt twilled silks, with Egyptian de
: such as are, lotus leaves, wad
f and hieroglyphics brocaded
surface.
or Veronese surcoats are being
by fashionable New York
but can never become popular on
....; HBnt of their expense. They are
by special measurement of the
woven to fit.
collars and dress puffs of
velvet richly embroidered is gold
stylish and becoming. Some-
Bti an edge of gold lsoe is added,
[are [also made ot garnet, purple,
or dark myrtle green velvet, or
satin de Lyon, and edged with
IB of creamy Languedoc lace.
Chinese style is very much af-
Bpfl by many Parisian ladies. The
Bh of quaint and brightly-hued
■besc goods are worn more and more
close to the figure, and are decidedly
short, showing the Chinese shoes,
which are pointed; at the toes. Both
Chinese and Japanese materials are
largely used for indoor robes.
Portia fans are greatly In favor at the
present moment In Paris. They arc
mnde of ostrich and peacock feathers,
and the plumage of the golden or Im
peyan pheasants. Other feathers are
employed, but these are the favorites.
The centers of these fans are sometimes
adorned with heads or wings of small
brilliant-colored birds.
Tho long cloaks worn last winter are
likely to be in general use next season.
There is much to be said in their favor,
but they have Borne disadvantages.
These cloaks completely cover the dress,
and are consequently very economical,
as old skirts can be worn under them.
This is, however, not an advantageous
fashion for dressmakers, ns there is no
demand for handsome walking suits
when these cloaks are fashionable.
The Law of M*rrlaee ID France.
As there are many American girls
who meditate or commit matrimony
with Frenchmen, it is well to have
the French law on marriages with
foreigners Btated. The case stands
thus: If an American woman marries
a Frenchman in this country in accord
ance with American law, and he be un
der tli of twenty-five, but of mar
riageable age according to our code, the
union may be declared invalid in
France, unless the bridegroom has ob
tained the permission of his parents to
marry. As it would not enter the mind
of an American girl to imagine that a
young man of four-ond-twenty required
the sanction ot his parents ere he could
be legally married, one need hardly say
inquiry on this point is seldom made.
The marriage is celebrated and children
are born. The family may after a time
find it convenient to go to France, and
then the unhappy lady who has formed
connection of this kind, discovers that
in tho native land of her husband she
is neither maid, wife nor widow. She
may be cast off a. any moment. In
deed, if the parents of her husband are
powerful and unscrupulous, she may,
on their representations, be expelled
from the country by the orders and
coercion of the police. Painful instances
of the working of this law have been
recently brought to notice—instances
in which ladies of respectable birtli and
gentle nurture suddenly found them
selves discarded, and thrust with little
ones on the cruel streets of Paris, home
less and friendless. But for the kindly
succor of one or two charitable organiz
ations in the capital of France, it is
impossible to say what end tney might
have come to. However, even after
charity lias rescued them from their
miserable plight, their condition is and
most remain infinitely painful. No
amount of benevolence can restore tbe
discarded matron to her honorable sta
tion.
Hlbtooaa.
Ribbons, which now form BO large a
part of every civilized woman's dress,
have become a very important article of
commerce, and are manufactured largely
both in Europe and America. Until
recently, however, they were entirely
of foreign product. Their manufacture
first attained consequence in France
during the seventeenth century. They
were variegated with showy patterns,
and, about 1680, embossed ribbons,
stamped with hot steel plates, each
piece having part of the pattern en
graved, came into fashion, and were for
a time the rage. Figured ribbons were
made principally at Paris, but also at
Lyons and Avignon until 1723, when
Paris secured most of the trade. Before
tbe revocation of tbe edict of Nantes
there were some 3,000 ribbon makers at
Tours; but that measure, by banishing
Protestants, broke up the industry there
and crippled it at Lyons. In England
ribbons are produced mostly at Coven
try with steam power looms. The ma
terial for tbe warp of the best ribbons is
Italian organzine silk, thrown from
Italian raw silk; and for inferior sorts
organxine silk from India pnd China.
The weaving has been done lately in
Jacquard looms. A fixed standaid of
width is adopted, marked by different
numbers of pence, probably tbe original
prices, though they no longer have any
such significance. The French desig
nate ribbons by numbers—from one to
to sixty. French ribbons are generally
lighter than tbe English; but they are
of better silk and better dressed. Rib
bon velvets are largely manufactured at
Kiefeld (Germany), Spitalfields (Eng
land), and Bt. Etienne (France). This
country is rapidly improving in making
ribbons, and some of them arc equal to
those of either France or England.
"i
Could Die When He Pleased.
In the earlier part of the last century
there lived in Sootland a Colonel Town
shend, who oould apparently die when
ever he choee, and come to life at will.
His frame would become rigid and co;d,
bis eyes dull and ghastly, and his fea
tures shrunk and waxy as in death.
In this state be would remain for sev
eral hours, and then would slowly re
vive. He once performed this strange
experiment In the presence of three phy
sicians, who. perceiving no pulsation of
the heart and no respiration, convinced
themselves that te was really dead.
But soon after they left him he revived.
It has been asserted that be actually
died while repeating tbe ghastly per
formance.
Never does a man believe so strongly
in the attraction of gravitation as when
hs sits down in a chair and finds it
COBS.
Turkish Domestic Lire.
Every Turk leads two lives. He may
be in the society of Europeans during
six hours everyday. He is then well
dressed, vivacious, perhaps intelligent.
But this part ot his lite is not the part
which forms his motives. It is not then
that the final causes are at work which
govern his acts. His life, when he is In
the busy whirl of the world, is super
ficial and unreal. How artificial it is
can bo seen in the alacrity with which,
on his return to his harem, he lays off
his broadcloth clothes or his public ex
istence, and dons the white baggy
trousers, the open-necked vest, and the
long gown dear to his heart. He isonly
ready to be at ease when he releases his
feet from patent leather and from
stockings, and thrusts them into un
heeled slippers. Then he is himself, for
he is at home. The harem is to every
Turk his haven of refuge. To it he may
flee from every care. About the harem
cling all the sweetest associations of his
life. All his best feelings find exercise
in that sacred place. His mother, per
haps, is there, or his sisters. There
only he enjoys the prattle of his chil
dren. There alone in all the word can
the tired man find the balm of sympathy.
There he has his books, and can study
tn peace if he will. There he enjoys
the riches of his splendid flower gar
den. In the domain of the women
with hills and vaies and moon-touched
sea before his eyes, he dreams away his
summer evenings under the subtle spell
of nature. And here he meets the con
rolling influences of his life. The
women of the harem, mother, sisters and
wives, wait upon the man coming
wearily home from his struggle with
life. They are to tiim humble servants
or merry companions, as his mood is.
They please him with his children, or
cave him alone with his books, at his
behest. Sooner or later, however, they
assert their woman's right of talking on
serious topics, and then they have him
at their mercy. Now these women who
make the home ot the Turks are rarely
his equals in mental acquirements. No
question blood rules the selection of
wives the Turks. A woman
bom n a mud hovel often rules in a
pasha's palace. At the very best, Turk
ish women rarely hnve any education
beyond the primer. They believe in
signs and wonders; in the active agency
of evil spirits; in the existence of a
great dragon who periodically attempts
to swallow the moon; in charms am 1
incantations. In short, they are as
superstitious as they can be after cen
turies of hereditary ignorance. But they
are positive in opinion, and intolerant of
opposition. Moreover, they are, above
all things else, ardent and bigoted
Mohammedans. Such are the in
tellectual surroundings of the Turks
during that part of his life
which he loves. And when the
women of bis house turn the conversa
tion upon public affairs, the poor man
is helpless in their hands, because he
knows the futility of logic in such dis
cussion. Often a pasha meets at home
a petition which he has refused in his
office, and yielding to sheer importunity
on the part of his women, he rewards
the shrewdness of the man who has
found means to invoke such aids. Often
it has happened that the pasha disap
points an ambassador, and violates his
promise to support a new measure, be
cause the women of his household object
to the deviation from custom. He must
yield to his home circle or break with
them entirely. These women are under
no influences by which their opinions
may be changed. They live in a world
of their own, and are entirely unaware
oi an existence preferable to their own,
and know nothing of that outs : de wond
to which they arc simply curiosities of
antique origin.
This glance at the home life of the
Turk and its influence upon him leaves
little to hope from the Turks in the
direction ot voluntary abandonment of
old systems and practices.— Uarptr't
Magatint.
flood Conversation.
The tone of good conversation is flow
ing or natural; it is neither heavy or
frivolous; it is learned without pedan
try, lively without noise, polished with
out equivocation. It is neither made
up of lectures nor epigrams. Those
who really converse, reason without
arguing, joke without punning, skill
fully unite wit and reason, maxims and
sallies, ingenious raillery and severe
morality. They speak of everything, in
order that every one may have some
thing to say; they do not investigate too
closely for fear of wearying; questions
are introduced ns if by-the-by. and are
treated with rapidity; precision leads
to elegance, each one giving his opinion,
and supporting it with few words. No
one attacks wantonly another's opinion;
no one supports his own obstinately.
They discuss in order to enlig bten them
selves, and leave off discussing when
dispute would begin; every one gains
information, every one recreates him
self, and all go away contented ; nay,
the sage himself may carry away from
what he has heard matter worthy oi
silent meditation.—# I '. F. Rotiueau.
Rats In a f'hureh.
The English parish church of Thirsk
has been infested with hats. Various
means have been tried to rid the edifice
of the pouts, but with little success until
a short time ago, when an owl was
placed in the church. If the owl did
not destroy them he had the effect of
compelling them to keep vi ry close
quarters. A few months ago the bats
did damage to the pipes of the new or
gan. They entered at the wide end, and
the pipes being narrow at the bottom,
found themselves nnable to get bacg.
As many as eight dead bate were found
in a tingle pipe.
•'Turning:- Point* !■ Life."
Rev. Frederick Arnold thus happily
illustrates the difference between the
• Providence (hat shapes our ends " and
what men call "luck''and "chance":
What we call the " turning-point" is
simply an occasion which sums up and
brings to result previous training. Ac
cidental circumstances are nothing ex
cept to men who have been", trained to
take advantage of them. Krskine made
himself famous when the chance came
to him of making a great forscnic dis
play; but unless he had trained himself
for the chance, the chance would only
have made him ridiculous.
There is a story told of some gentle
man, who, on a battlefield, happening
to bow with much grace to some officer
who addressed him, a cannon ball just
went through his hair, and took off the
head of one behind him. The officer,
when he saw the marvelous escape,
justly observed that no man ever lost by
politeness.
There is a man in Berkshire, Eng
land, who hits a park with a walled
frontage of seven miles, and he tells of
a beautiful little operation which made a
nice little addition to his fortune. He was
in Australia when the first discoveries
of gold were made. The miners brought
in their nuggets and brought them to
the local banks. The bankers were a
little nervous about the business, uncer
tain about the quality of the gold, and
waited to see its character established.
This man had a taste for natural sciences
and knew something about metallurgy,
lie tried each test, solid and fluids
satisfied himself of the quality of the
gold, and then, with all the money he
had or could borrow, he bought as much
gold as might be, and showed, as profit,
a hundred thousand pounds iD the
course of a day or two. His luck was
observation and knowledge, and a
happy tact in applying them.
The late .Joseph Hume went out to
India, nnd while be was still a young
man he accumulated a considerable for
tune. He applied himself to the work of
mastering the native languages, and
turned the knowledge to most profitable
account. On one occasion, when all the
gunpowder had failed the British army,
he succeeded in scraping together a
large amount of the neceasary materia),
and manufactured it for the troops.
When he returned to England he can
vassed with so much ability and.earncat
ness for a seat in the East India direc
torate, that he might carry out his
scheme of reform, that, though he failed
to get the vote of a certain large pro
| prietor of stock, he won his daughter's
heart, and mvle a prosperous marriage.
And marriage is, after all, the luckiest
bit of luck, when it is all it should be.
There is, then, in truth, no luck.
There are turning points in life, mo
ments. critical moments, that are worth
more than years; nevertheless a great
occasion is only worth to a man what
j his antecedents have e abled him to
I make of it, and our business in life is to
, prepare for these supreme moments,
these hours when life depends on the
decision of the instant. Whatever of
truth is veiled under the popular idea
of luck and chance is, rightly consid
ered, an incentive to the busiest indus
try, not aniexcuse for folded hands and
idle dreams.
Trades Unions In England.
Workingmcn's societies in England
grow to enormous proportions, possibly
because, in addition to their tiades
union features, they take the place of the
said mutual and beneficial associations
so common in this country. Four of the
great English societies—the engineers,
iron founders, boiler makers, and steam
engine makers—have nearly eight thou
and members, with incomes amount
ing to over one million dollars a year.
They paid out in 1879 more than twice
as much, chiefly for the benefit of mem
bers who were sick or out of work. A
million dollars were spent on the unem
ployed, mostly in form of donations,
but a large amount for traveling ex
penses. A quarter of a million was
awarded to men on strike, but this was
only one-eighth of the whole amount
distributed, the societies not encourag
ing struggles with employers, except in
rare cases. The administration of the
affairs of these and co-operative socie
ties in England is remarkable for econ
omy and honesty, vast corporations
being managed for workingmen for
years with quite as much success as at
tends the business ventures of merchants
and bankers supposed to be specially
qualified for such undertakings.
To-Day and Ts-*orrow.
To-day we gather bright and beauti
ful flowers—to-morrow they are faded
and dead.
To-day a wreath ol leaves shades us—
to-morrow sear, and. fallen, they crum
ble beneath our tread.
To-day the earth is covered with a
carpet of green—to morrow it is brown
with the withered grass.
To-d*y the vigorous stalk only bends
before the gale—to-morrow, leafless and
sapless, a child may break the brittle
stem.
To-dny the ripening fruit and waving
grain—to-morrow "the land is taking
its rest after toll."
To-day we hear sweet songsters of
meadows and forests, the buss and hum
of myriad insects—to-morrow breathe
softly, all nature is hushed and silent.
To-day there are cattle upon a thou
sand hills—to-morrow thay fall by
slaughter.
" Married—ln Chiliieotbe, Herbert L.
Kollingslone and Emma J. Moss.'
There now I Let's have a funeral for
that lying old proverb. New York
Graphic.
The Henate Pie Ntand.
Tue Senate pie stand, says the Wash
ington correspondent of the Hartford
Timet, was kept by a crippled lady
named Mary Burch. She has been
there lor many years, and has probably
made money. During the time Mary
has kept it she has had as customers
many of the leading men of the nation.
Senator MoCrary, of Kentucky, the most
humorous speaker that has been in the
Senate since the days of Nye, was a
regular customer ol Mary's stand; so
also was Zach Chandler. David Davis
could be seen there every day the Senate
was in session, drinking his glass of
milk and eating his piece of pie, for
which Mary charged eight cents.
Chandler was a grest pie-eater; Senator
Vest, of Missouri, was also a frequen
but not regular consumer of Mary's
famous pies. I remember one day of
bearing Senator McCrary invite Senator
Ransom, of North Carolina, up to
Mary's stand. Said McCrary, whose
strongest point was bis economy and
saving—he saved, it is said, $35,-
000 of the $40,000 he received as
salary for the eight years he was
in the Senate—"Ransom, you have
lunched me several times, now come
and take a lunch with me." Ransom
accompanied him, expecting, of course,
to be led down to the restaurant, but
McCrary walked direct to Mary's pie
stand " Mary," said he, " give us two
glassqg of milk "d five cents' worth of
ginger cakes. Turn'ng to Ransom, he
asked, innocently: "Ransom, do you
like ginger cakesP" Ransom said he
did, but he drank the milk only, while
McCrary consumed the five cakes. An
other day ho met Conkling walking
along the hall. Stopping him, he said:
"Conkling, have fomething." "Conk
]|ngsaid: "Certainly," McCrary went
over to the stand, and, Itanding Mary
two pennies, said: "Hive us two of
those long sticks of candy." Taking
the largest, he handed Conkling the
other, and the pair walked off- One
day M iry was asged if Senator Davis
ate in pioportion to his size. She an
swered: "No, lie don't eat much, but |
he is good pay, which is more than some i
of them." Senator Davis, besides bis I
million-dollar farm, has at least another !
million dollars lying around. Mary j
made a cake which was known as the
two-cent cake. It was mnde of better
material than the ordinary penny cake.
Chandler was noticed munching on j
them one day by a friend, who asked if
he could stand such food. "Stand it!"
he replied; "no, I don't stand it. My
liver is too active, and I eat these to slop
it a little."
(•am bet fa's Life.
The upper rooms at the Palais Bour- '
bon are less desolately grand than those
below; and here, in certain snug petit
nppartmenta, Gambetta truly lives. He
has had the place fitted up with a special
view to his peculiar needs. In one
room he revenges himself by the com
forts of his dinners on the occasional
desolation of the brrakfasts eaten below.
He is by no means indifferent to the I
pleasures of the table—as a Frenchman
of influence he cannot afford to be; but
he has learned to cpjoy these with more
moderation since his doctors warned
him that be was on the high-road to a
catastrophe. At one time he never
walked, but simply worked and fed,
fed and worked; now he does his given
number of miles on foot every day, al
ways with a companion, and as often as
not, with Coquelin, the great comic
actor of the Franc&ise. Moreover he
takes steady exercise in his gymnasium,
and finds the lime for it by getting his
secretary to read the morning papers
while is u 't ft on the bars. An
other part of his reg..., nof be . to
take cold douchra, the erase wit,.
Frenchmen —and. it may be added.
Frenchwomen—just now. The supreme
lion ton with the latter is to have
a gallop in the Bois, and then
jump off the horse, before they cool,
to be pumped on with almost ice-cold
water. A year or two it wss to rat
arsenic for health; hut, of course, the
fashions change. Gambetta lias even
taken to ie sport, and, whenever ,bo can
find time, is out w itli gun and dog. A''
t bis is understood to be part of his
physical training for the presidency ol
the republic; he has had his poiitkai
training long since in many a trying
scene.— 1/ondon Timet.
Lads and Ambition.
There is hardly a man, however mod
crate his abilities and energies, who
might not look forward to a fair share
of human happiness if he were early
taught to conform carefully his concep
tion of life to Ills powers, and to seek
nothing beyond what those powers en
title him to look for. And the same is
true of women. Weariness of life in
the young arises-in so far as it arises
from causes that are not purely moral—
chiefly from a great disproportion be
t veen the kind of career the young have
oeon taught to expect, and the kind ol
career for which they find themselves
fit. There is too much ol the idea that
it is good for all lads to be spurred into a
sort of ambition for which they are by no
means suited. A life of carefully-lim
ited desires—a life more or less approxi
mating in its reticence and moderateness
of aim to that which the old most usu
ally live, if they are to live happily at ail
—need be by no means an unhappy life
for a very large number of the young
people of our generation, if only they
were not to early taught to look upon
such a life with contempt, ae If It were
no life at all. In reality, it might be a
much more dignified and noble life than
the life of fretful competition, and ol
unsuccessful or half-successful ambi
tion.—Tlte Spectator.
Words of Wisdom.
Tlje flame of sorrow burns up some
hearts, whiie others it parities.
The world is satisfied with words;
few care to dive beneath ttie surface.
The covetous man makes two cento of
one, and a liberal man makes a shilling
of ft.
There is a right way and a wrong way
of rubbing a man's mind as well as a
cat's back.
Truth is always present; itonly needs
to lift the iron lids of the mind's eye to
read its oracles.
Taking a renny that does not belong
to one "emoves the barrier between in
tegrity and rascality.
ljivc of truth shows its'! f in discover
ing and appreciating what is good
wherever it may exist.
Never does a man believe so strongly
n the attraction of gravitation as when
he sits down in a chair and finds ft
gone.
Some peop'e are like peaches, soft
until you get at their hearts, and others
arc like chestnuts, pretty hard to get at,
but sweet inside.
The* harsh, hard world neither sees
nor tries to see>nen's hearts; but where
ever there is an opportunity of evil, sup
poses that evil exists.
It is hard to do anything simply be
cause it is your duty. Once make your
duty a pleasure and your whole life be
comes a quiet happiness.
If good people would but make good
ness agreeable, and smile instead o
frowning n their virtue, how many
would they win to tire good cause!
Whoever is an imitator by nature,
choice or necessity, has nothing stable;
the flexibility which affords Ibis apti
tude is inconsistent with strength.
A good moral character is the first
estential in a man. It is, therefore,
highly important to endeavor not only
to be learned, but to be virtuous.
To ft el much kr others and little fo
ourselves, to restrain our selfish and to
indulge our benevolent affections, con
stitute the pern ction of human nature.
It is your policy to count on the
riches which you expect to have. The
Italians say that the man who sells the
bearskin before he has caught the bear
is a fool.
You have plenty of this world's goods
if with your little you have content
ment. If you have not contentment
you can never have enough of anything.
Everybody in the world wants to ap
pear to be a gentleman, and yet every
body in the world forget# that the
easiest way to accomplish it is to really
bj a gentleman.
Firmness of purpose is one of the
most necessary sinews of iharacter, and
one of the best instruments of success.
Without it, genius wastes its efforts ig
a maze of inconsistencies.
.Seme Curlsns Facts.
Insects have no lungs, but breathe
i through spiracular tubes, in their sides.
Scientists believe that the lightning
rod principle was understood and ap
plied 500 years before Christ.
To purify the river Thames large
quantities of lime are daily thrown into
it near where the Ixmdoo sewers enter-
Scientists have discovered that the
mummied bull in the Egyptian museum,
London, is a specie of our common ox.
An ingenious instrument has been in
vented by the use of which the action of
pulse accurately measured and
photographed.
There are some very large animals in
the new aquarium at Manchester, Eng.
They comprise a sturgeon six feet iong,
three monk fish, each over five feet in
length, and numerous conger eels longer
still than these.
The English alphabet has twenty-six
letters, the French, twenty-five, the
Italian, twenty, Spanish, twenty-seven,
German, twenty-six, Slavonic, forty
two. Russian, thirty-five, I<atin, twenty
three, Greek, twenty-four (sixteen until
403 B. C., when the twenty-four lonic
•scters were introduced), lire He
brew. twenty-two, the Arabic, twenty
light, Persian, thirty-two, Turkish,
twentv-cight, Sanscrit, forty-four,
Chinese Sl4.
A plant of remarkable properties (is
described by Miyor Stuart in his report
on Hayti. Its narcotic properties are
so powerful that they can produce coma
j of any desired intensity and duration.
| A priest putting himself under the influ
ence of an extract of this plant can simu
late death and resurrection.
For the last fifty years a record of
hailstorms in Wurtemburg has been
kept at Stuttgart, the capital. From a
study of these observations it sppears
that there is a decided difference between
forests of beech and forests of pine In t
liability to be visited by hail. The
former suffer greatly, the latter hardly
at all. _____
A Tench si Satire.
Ladt< s in the habit of climbing on top
of tab! or sideboards when a timid
mouse appears in a room, might have
the grace to blush for their pusil
lanimity when they read of that sailor
on the Vera Cms. The sea was h warm
ing with rats driven from the sinking
ship, and one of the terrified creature
seised the ear of the swimming sailor,
without breaking the skin. "Ididnl
havs the heart to shake him off," said,
the soft-hearted fellow, who could even
pity n rat while death was staring him
in the face; "so I ict him hold on. bat
the next wave washed him away."
The largest quill of a golden eagle
weighs only sixty-five grains.