HOUHC Cleaning Belles. Bee the wild houao-oloaners, a* ihey scrub, llow the paint and woodwork now they rub I Ilow they splosh the soap and water Over things they hadn't onght'or— And the flics and spiders slaughter, As they rids nib, nil), dipping brush Into a tub And vehemently they scrub, While the huidiand or the father Whose patience thus they bother Takes his dinner and his supper at the club. Sec them mop, and splash around the smls. And from every nook or cranny, bring old duds, Tilings that were long slneo forgotten, Oanneiits spnn from wool or cotton, Worn and torn, in rags and rotten. While they sweep, sweep, sweep, everything into a heap; And the house in uproar keep, "Till the faithful husband's passion Vexed at treatment of this fashion, Into righteous wrath doth leap. Martit/wn hultjx ndent. WINIFREDS SECRET. " There's only one thing wanting now, Arnold dear, to make onr little house perfect," said Winifred Moreton, as she clung eoaxinglv to her young husband's arm; " and that is a conservator.—a wee conservatory to keep us in flowers all the year round. Look here, in this comer now, there are really three sides of it ready built; we should only want a front and a roof, and that old door we took from between the lower rooms and the shelves inside." "And the apparatus to warm it, and ; the plants to stock it," added Arnold, with a smile. "Oh, as for those, my friend, Mrs. Wodehonse, has promised to send me j most of hers; she is going abroad shortly, and doesn't care al>out them, she says; and she appears anxious that | I should have them." "So—so you are jealous of your dear ] friend's conservatory, is that it? Yon forget, little woman, that the Wode houses are rich folks, while you have been foolish enough to marry a poor | young fellow in a government oflk-e. ! However, have your conservatory, my Winnie, only don't lie extravagant alsmt j it." A month later the conservatory is finished, and Winnie is superintending the arrangement of a cargo of fine plants jnst sent by Mrs. Wodehonse. All have ! as usual a label affixed to a little peg at the side of the pot, on which the ' botanical name of the flower is written; I but she suddenly observes that this, in the ease of the finest plant, is not a ! label merely, but a carefully-folded and sealed note directed to herself. She opens it, and her blue eyes grow first round with astonishment then moist with pity as she reads. Finally she sits down among the flower pots, and looks at them as they stand jnst where the men have left them, and there is a sort of superstitious awe depicted on her face, as if she fears lest the arrival of these pots of flowers is also the arrival of a great misery in her home. All her pleasure, her almost infantine delight over the new conserv atory is gone ; it seems to have passed away as rapidly as the short exclamation of joy with which she has hailed the advent of these floral treasnies. In her hand she still holds the note containing the cloud which, wreathing itself al>ont her mind, is already beginning to dim the clear horizon of Winifred Mnreton's bright young life. She is reading it once again with much intentness, when ahe hears her hnsliand open the outer door with a latch-key. She thrusts it into her pocket with hurried eagerness, and then strives, but rather vainly, to compose her face into an apjs-atance of creditable tranquillity. The first secret has sprung up between her and Arnold, and Mie keeping of it then and in the fotnre will prove a heavy tax on Wini fred's candid nature. He cannot avoid [noticing that some thing is amiss, and exclaims : " Why, little wife, how grave you look over your new toy I Yon have got your conservatory; yon have some lovely flowers to put in it—very kind of Mrs. Wodehonse to send them—and still you look as if you hail some heavy care on your mind. What is the matter, my dear Winnie?" " Please, Arnold, let me send for old RoflTey, the carpenter, to put up some abutters and a liar across here, and a couple of boita to the door." "Foolish Winnie, do you think yonr plants so very precious that all the burglars in town will lie after them ? However, have your way. Bend for that old carpenter with a face like a battered halfpenny, and make your floral treas ures quite secure. Meanwhile, perhnps you will treat me to a amile and a kiss." Days passed into weeks, and the con servatory was never out of Winifred's thoughts. Her plaything had become her Ixl* >nr*, nor could all the care and solicitude of her hnsliand, whom she loved to adoration, lay the ghost which seemed to be wandering about her heart. Arnold had some thoughts of sending for a physioian, as he positively was tie ginning to fear that Winifred had some mental disease, which was developing into a phase which ho wo* pleased to call " plan toman is," and not a littlo do lighted was ho to receive a telegram from his brother-in-law, who had been for some time absent, saying that " ho is coming homo as fast as ship and rail way can bring him, and that he may be expected any dny." •• Ho will perhaps bo able to throw sorno light," he thinks, " on this extra ordinary infatuation of Winnie's, not only for watching and tending her plants, but for locking them up and thinking about them ceaselessly." But Captain Verschoylo is not more able to account for Ins sister's peculiar mania than is her perplexed husband, and after many conversations between them on the subject and much confabu lation they agree to consult the familv doetor. Dr. Jones, however, laughs nt their surmises and pooh-poohs their fears. " He has known Winnie since she was a baby; he'll guarantee his reputation that there is nothing mad about her." Ho he says; but when he comes to see her, at her husband's suggestion, the pained, anxious expression of her face, once so bright and smiling, the restraint of her manner, once so lively and gay, staggers even the belief of the faithful old Hippocrates. What can it possibly mean ? "Look here, Mrs. Winifred"—he had always called her Mrs. Winifred since she married—" look here.Mrs. Winifred, I believe the odor of these flowers is making yon look thin and wan. I shall tell your husband to have thorn all carried away and that littlo # ugly conserv atory pulled down." " No, Dr. Jones, no. I wish to heaven that it had never been built, but to take it down would be worse than death to me." "I do not understand," said he.' watching her keenly ns lie spoke. " No, ]erliaps not; but plants arc such a worry; they always die when you want them to flower. lam very sorry I asked for them. I was so much happierliefore I had them." The doctor wits nonplussed and began to think, with her husband and brother, that the worry these flowers occasioned her ninst ho the result of a weak mind. To his repeated suggestion, however, that if they were troublesome to her the wiser course would 1> to get rid of them, she persistently ottered the most deter mines] opposition. Altogether, Winifred's conservatory was a puzzle t<> these three men's heads, the like of which they hail never previously been called on to solve. She was perfectly sane, perfectly coherent, perfectly wise on every subject, except alsmt these carefully-tended plants. What conrse. then, remained to those who were interested in her. save to imagine she was afflicted with mono mama ? In the first week in May there was a splendid ball given by Lady Olive l-'amliam. The Moretons were there; and Winifred, in a pale pink crepe, which Arnold hail insisted on ordering from Paris for the occasion. was sur rounded by admirers; in fact, she was on the straight jth for liecoming a fashionable beauty—a state of affairs to which Arnold would especially have objected, hail he not been in the frame of mind to hail with joy any event which would make Winnie forget to devote herself to that hateful conservatory. Hho seemed to lie enjoying herself to the very utmost; and Arnold felt quiet happy. While she was standing talking to a distinguished French diplomat the color snddenly forsook her cheeks, and she looked as if she was going to faint. Arnold, who had lieen watching her at a little distance, was at her side in a moment. "My dearest Winnie, what is the matter f he exclaimed. "Oh, Arnold, the Wodehonses—how dreadfnl!" , He looked round, hut he saw no one; heard nothing that could give him any clew to her meaning. "Would you like to go home?" he asked. "Yes, please." He took her downstair* and called for the carriage. It was not till they were sen ted in it that she told him that while she was talking to M. do Mcrinan, she overheard, from a conversation that was going on behind her, that Mr. ■ Wodehonse was locked up in a French j prison for some bubble-share transac tions in which he had Wen concerned I in connection with a Houth American railway, and that Mrs. Wodehonse was ) -lead. Arnold Morton was not an unfeeling man, and he was truly sorry for this heavy affliction which had fallen on the family of his old friends, Htill he i could not W brought to understand why Winifred should W so des|>rately 1 upset by it; for no sooner had she been released from her finery by her maid than she threw herself on her sofa, sole bing convulsively, and by turns rejoic ing and lamenting over what had hap | poned. Arnold grew angry for the first time in lus life, really angry with his little wife. Dr. Jones had more than once recom mended a certain amount of discreet wrath ; for the Unit time, to-night lie felt inclined to follow his advice. He represented to Winifred thut she was by no means fulfilling the mission that either love or duty imposed, wound ing lior sensitiveness, too, not a littlo by telling her that, while le did every thing lie could to give her pleasure, she seemed to take a tacit delight in re ceiving all his advances with indif ference nay, almost with contempt. Ilis words went like a sharp dagger into poor Winnie's lie-art; but still she of fered no word of explanation; only after u while she raised her tcar-staine d face from the sofa cushion on which she had hidden it, and looked at Arnold with her largo, swollen eyes. "One more favor, dearest. I know 1 do not deserve it: but you will grant mo one more, will you not?' " What is it. my love? You know I shall be delighted to give you anything in reason that will make you happy." "Send for Blanche Wodebouse and let her come and stay with us." Arnold's brow contracted into a frown. It was not that he objected to Blanehe Wodi-houso coming to stay with them, | but thut lie was totally at a loss to con jeeturo what the affinity was that exist ed between bis young wife and those people, even to the extent of rendering her unlit for all her home duties. She saw his hesitation, almost amounting to displeasure, and threw herself into his j arms with a sudden outburst of affeo- i tion. "Arnold, dear, grant nte this request j —do, there's a darling Arnold—if you i don't I shall he compelled to go off to i the continent myself, in search of Blanche!" You, \\ iuifrcd ! Yon must lie quite ; moil!" "<>h, no, I am not in the least mad, , only I have a terrible secret to keep, aml the keeping of it nearly sends me mad, Arnold dear. Oh. ho* I wish I could till yon all about it T "A si-cret in connection with the | W'nit-houses ?" " Yes; and you will let Blsm-lie come, will yon not ?" " I do nut object to your having I Blanche Wodebouse to stay for a little 1 while, if her coming is at all likely to remove the ineubaa which has lain over you of late.'' "It will, Indeed it will; at least 1 liojio so. ()h, you dear, darling old pet, yon are mm h kinder to your little wife than she deserves, though she is not such a bail little woman as I know you have been thinking her of iifii " "Now let us to lied," he said, "or you will look so jaded to morro* yon will no longer merit the name of my pretty Winnie." To led for Arnold Moreton *.-i* not to sleep. He was js-rjilexisl beyond every thing to imagine what this extraordinary secret could l* which had so changed Wirnie. That the flowers in that con servatory had something to do with it lie felt sure ; luit turn the mutter in his mind bow lie might be could make nothing of it; and after thinking it over inSll its varied phases for hours bede villed that it was |*-rliaps as well lie had given permission for an invitation to lie sent to Blanche Wodebouse, since her i presence in the house might throw some light on the matter. At last Mr. Moreton fell ash-op, to awake after a while with the sort of nightmarish conviction that some one i lind arrived, anil that this some one was Miss Blanche Wodehnnse. It was 8 \ o'clock, and the sun was streaming gladly into the room. He was not dream ing then, and it was actually the voice of the butler outside the door, inform ing him that a young lady in deep mourning bail arrived irom abroad ami wanted to see Mrs. Moreton immedi ately. Of course it was Blanche Wode bouse, and of course Winnie, in her dressing-gown, rushed off without further delay to receive her ; and " moat extraordinary," muttered Arnold, as be |>cc|iod over tho stairease to see them meet, " they bavo actually gone into the conservatory and locked tho door." He went into his dressing-room to perform his morning toilet with a sort of desper ate resolution to give up attempts at guessing the very difficult ennnndnim that had lieen presented to him. He did not hurry himself in the least ; having resolved to give tho matter up, he wrapjied himself in a sort of gloomy resignation. finite an hour later, when he came out of his mom. thinking that if possi ble he would get a little breakfast and go straight to his office ont of the way, he met Winnie at the door. She had dressed very quickly, and appeared in the freshest and prettiest of morning dresses, a glad atnile on her lovely face, an open letter'in her hand. "Oh, you great, dear, nanghty Ar nold, you look as grave as if you had the weight of the whole world on your ahontdera 1" The cloud partly passed from his brow when he saw the changed look on her face, and he held out his hand for the letter. It wan the same that hod been attach ed to the largeat of Mrs. Wodehouse's flpwcr-pot*. With no small astonish ntcnt Arnold read aa follows: " Forgive mo, my dearest friend, for the subterfuge to which I nm compelled to have recourse; for the truHt and re sponsibility with which, without oven ilaring previously to ask permission, I am ulKiut to burden you. Sooner or later you must know the ami secret of my life; my husband is u continued and dei)]ierate gambler. Thin fatal passion ban gradually mr.de our whole life one miserable acted lie. It was necessary to keep up appearances in order to avoid suspicion and retain his business credit. The more deeply we sank in debt, the more wildly lie sought to retrieve his fortunes at the gaming-table. Ib-uven only knows how soon and desperately this may end. My own little fortune, which by the culpable carelessness of my guardian was left in his power, has been dissipated. The only thing left for me and my poor daughter when the crash comes, as come it must, is the handsome pamre of diamonds I inherit ed from my mother. These are indeed, by every right, my own, but already my infatuated husband has his eye on them, and I dread lest any moment they may be gambled away. For my child's sake, I entreat you, help me to save them. They may some day realize a sum which to her will be invaluable. Deep down in the mold of the flower-pot* you w ill thai them buried. There, for the pres ent, lot them remain; keep them till a day comes when I or my daughter may recluim them. Do not betray mv sis-ret even to your huslnmd. I trust entirely to your goodness and your loyalty. Your unhappy friend, " MAUI AN Woni.iioi -in." " So," exclaimed Arnold, putting his nnu round his wife, " this is the t< rri hie secret, little woman, which has been wearing your life away, I do not feel obliged to Mrs. Wodebouse for not let ting you confide in me." " Oh. Arnold dear, |*>or Mrs. Wodo house, she is dead." He shrugged his shoulder and fol lowed Winnie downstairs into the eon servatory. where they found Blanche, a rather sad-looking, tearful b--.uty of seventeen, whom Winnie's brother, Captain Verschoylo, was not altogether quite unsuccessfully seeking to console os they stood together taking the plants out of the flower pits and shaking the diamonds from their roots. Arnold looked at Winnie and smiled as In- saw the picture; perhaps he had a vision Of a matrimonial pendant. A few minutes later they all four w. Nt down to breakfast together. Blanche's dot lying before them in lustrous Ix-auty on the white cloth. Mr Moreton l>eing a busy man. Cap tain Versi-lioyh- undcrt**h the sale of the diamonds; but though lie was always on the point of clinching a good offer somehow or other lie never quite achieved it. and already Blanche Wodc house had lieeu nearly a month ntiiler the Moreton'* hospitable roof, when she rushed into Winnie's conservatory one morning n--w. since the finding of the diamonds, become oni-c more the voung wife's plaything and threw her-elf into her arms. " Dh, Winifred, he has asked me to marry him. and says I am not to sell the diamonds after all. as he has quite enough money for ns Isith " '■ My dear Blanche, 1 am so very glad. Yon will make the sweetest, dearest little sister in law Only fancy a marriage arising out of my building a conservatory, and then having, as Dr. Jones says. ' diamonds on the brain*' Finland Dairy Maids. In Finland dairying is taught the women in the most tborongfi style at government expense.* In !*"• traveling dairy maids were appoiqfed throughout the country, and, being paid from pub lip treasnrieis, every inhabitant had a right to claim instruction or assistance. The next step was the founding of seventeen dairy-sohools, of which ten were established by owners of private dairies. Each school hail a teacher at its head, who gave theoretical instruc tion and a female teacher, who taught the principal part of the work. Each school is calculated for eight pupils who are admitted by the teacher, and required to lie able to read and write. After a course of two years they have to pass a formal examination in the pres ence of memls-rs of the agricultural society. The instruction given them during tho first year comprises animal physiology, tending of animals in gen eral, the most common diseases of cattle and their treatment, the nse of the thermometer, the different methods of cooling milk and their effect as to the formatio> of cream,.the treatment of tho cream and the making of butter, the manufacture of cheese from skimmed and unskimmed milk, and, finally, hook keeping by single entry. The contract for the erection of a dairy-school with the owner of a dairy applying for one is generally made for five years. During the first year only four pupils are re ceived ; none during the last. Hence, only sixteen pupils can be fully edu cated during the term of contract. Tlitee firms are now engaged in can ning Boston baked beans, and their an ntial production is not less than 4,000,- 000 or 5,000,000 cans. SMF.NTIKIC SfRAFN. A line specimen of the aerolite dis covered at Cohahuilo, Mexieo, in 18W, has been purchased from Professor J. Lawrence Smith, of Lonisville, Ky., for the University of Rochester, New- York. Dr. W. Beigler suvs tlmt the ed up around plants ha. during the day, a higher tempera ture than earth not ao treated. Dnring the night the hilled earth 1 ieromi-s colder. The explanation advanced is that earth which is heaped up around plants dries much more rapid);- than level soil. At the instance of the sern-lary of state for tin- colonies of Great Britain, Professor K. Ray Lankcstcr has pre pared a report on the artitleial growth of sponges, which shows that thev (4>uhl Is-grown in localities where none* now exist. I'.xjicriments in the Adriatic sea were rnadc by sinking small bits of sjsinge in suitable localities, and in the course of seven vests tbe-e fragments of a single sponge bad each grown into a sjKinge itself, large enough to lie salable. < .itching Woodnlpe In ( tiili. In tin- interior of the Province Val di via. South Chili, a species of wood snijie is often caught by the natives in tin- following manner: When the bird flic* into one of tin- low bushes, which in sjiots of about three to six meters in diameter are found frequently in the nod-mi-adows there, twomen on horse back go round it in tho same direction, swinging their lazos over the bush. After ten or more rounds one man slips down from bis horse, while the other continues, leading his companion's horse behind. Carefully, then, the first man creeps on to the jioint where tin- woodsni|x is sitting nearly motion less or stnjiefieil with the rider's circn lar movements, and kills it by n quick blow of a stick. When I first was told so I would not believe it; but in IKY.'! or 1854 I took jart myself in this kind of capture in the hacienda San Juan, in Yaldivia. In-lunging to my chief. Dr. Pliilippi, now professor in the univer sity and director of the museum in Santiago. I had left the house without gun. accompanied by a native servant, when, in a part of the wood called Qnemas. I observed a wood*ni|H' falling into a dense but low bush of the above mentioned kind. Desiring to obtain a good specimen of this not very common bin! for our collection. 1 expressed my regret at not having the gun. but the servant replied: "Never mind, if yon wiah we will get the bird." And he caught it, with my assistance, in the atwive way without injuring it.—AVitare. The Sulphur Slaves of Slelh. The sulphur is extracted and brought to the anrfacc by tinman I icings, and, indeed, chiefly by children. Mrs. Browning's " Cry of the Children' might have lieen written in the sulphur mines of Sicily. Hundreds and hun dreds of children who hare scarcely the form of human lieinga, are sent down theatecp. slipjiery stairs into themnddy. watery depths. Here they are laden with aa much material as they can sus tain. and they must reoaccnd with it on their backs, stumbling at every step, often falling 4iack into the bettom of the pit with broken limbs, or even dead. The elder ones, writes an eye-witness, arrive at the pit's month shrieking, the little onee crying and sobbing. Tbe mortality exceeds that of any other province of Italy: the statistics of the leva show an incredible number of lame and deformed, and of young men of one-and-twenty totally unfit for military service. Maudlin? bun*. A fcj>ort*man, who thought himself very careful in handling firearm*, tell* of an accident which made him enter tain a more humble opinion of hi* thonghtfnlnesH. Ho write* to ni "/,oint somewhere, ami 1 did not prove myself to 1- an exception to what 1 believe to be a* .1 rule. One day in the spring I lael been out hunting for half a day without succe**, and wa* going home when I met a team that wa* taking a party to a lake to fish. J made up my mind to accompany thorn and see if I couldn't find a few duck*, and so laid my gun in Ijcliind the seats and then sat on top of it. Now, it never occurred to me that tl.i gun wa* in danger of going ofr during that entire ride, but if it laid the only damage would be no end-board in the buggy, HO we will leave that "weak point" and |>as* on. When we arrived at our destination 1 jumped out and reached for my gun. I rawed the gun up with the muzzle pointed sideways, and thought it wa* coming out proj*-rly, but one of the trigger* Htrnek thecneing engaged at work some distance from the house. The savory odor'of tin bacon was scented by a couple "f young bears that were ranging on the premise*, and enticed them to follow the direction from which it came. Tlu v kept tin scent until it even drew them into the house where the meat was on the fry The holy of the IIOUM secured the *tra.ige visitors, and her knowledge of bears led her to think that these young one* Lad strayed from their maternal parent, which would aoon follow then trail and hunt them up. Her judgment j was correct. for it wa* l>at a few i moment* Wforo the ol>l she Isvir came j in sight—an enormous le*r keeled over, under side topmost, and yielded np the ghost. Tin- cnbs. we are told, sold at Independ ence, the county seat of Grayson, for 826. and the skin of the liear, which was very large, brought the sum of $8 at the same place.— WylhetiU* (11a.) AVr prim. The ** Boss** System Among Equi mans Ibtgs^ There is always one bnlly in every team, who gets all the choice bits that are stolen by the others, and generally manages to keep fat. no matter how short they are of provisions. He wait# for the others to make the raid, and then stands on the ontaide to take it away from them. These bullies are in several grades. There is the chief, of whom all are afraid, and then there is the next in rank, of whom all arc afraid but the chief; a thiol, of whom all are afraid bat the two, and so on down. Sometimes the food is out into small pieces and thrown out upon the ice for all to help themselves, and then there is a rough-and-tumble fight, and snarl ing and growling, as if a whole cage of hyenas hail broken loose. But here the bullies have no advantage ; indeed, the 4 advantage is with the small, lively fel lows that alip in and get the meat while the big ones are fighting. When a dog manages to steal a piece of meat he has a lively time of it, for soon every dog in camp is after him, and he has to eat it on the n>fi all, headed off at every torn by one of the bollioa, and wh'ning and choking at the same time. It cer tainly is one of the most oomical exhibi tions ever witnessed,— Scribnm.