FKKAKS OF LIHHTNINO. The Itev. J. B. Evans and his son-in law, of Brookville, Pa., wero killed while planting corn. 1 In a storm at Ist Hullo, 111., ono man, thirteen head of stock and a largo amount of farm machinery wore de stroyed by lightning. There were twelve horses in a barn in Bloomington, 111., when it was struck by lightning. A WiOOO stallion, the % only animal of value, was killed. At Lynn, Mass., lightning entered the honso of Mrs. Charles llawkes, ripped up the carpets, upset the furniture and set clothing in a closet on lire. Two brothers named Bowen, plow ing in a tleld near Clarksville, Ark., wero instantly killed by lightning. Every bone in their bodies was broken. Mra. Alexander and her three chil dren were instantly killed at their home at Habersham, (a., and John Lanuone, of Calloway county, Ky.. aged twenty years, was killed while standing beside a crib with arms folded. During a recent storm at Troy, N. Y., Jacob Thersduetrof went to the tel ephone to answer a call. As lie was replacing the receiver on the hook the lightning struck his hand, mangling it terribly and paralyzing his arm. The first death by lightning ever re corded in Nevada occurred recently in \ irgiuia City, the victim being a China man. In the same storm a bolt chipped out fifty tons of rook from a cliff and sent it down the mountain into the valley. Robert Burns, living near Now Hamp ton, lowa, while planting corn, was struck by lightning and instantly killed. John Pry, while herding cattle near M illiamsport, Pa., hid just reached a tree for shelter when a lightning flash 1 struck him dead. While Frank Patterson, u bachelor residing on Big Creek, Kansas, was cooking his breakfast his clothes were peeled from him in an iustant and he was hnrled naked upon the Hoor. The same l>olt passed ont of his heels through the flo >r and killed five chick ens. Patterson recovered. When lightning struck the residence 1 of Dr. M. F. Baldwin, of Genesoeville, | Mich., every window in the house was shattered. The bolt entered the chim ney, followed the stovepipes and mine 1 ' every stove in the house. The doctor had a two-year-old child in his arms. The fluid struck him on the shonider, passed down between him and the child, scorched his entire side and went into his boot and tore it into pieces. As it left his foot a cloud of smoke burst from it. Color of Lightning. The color of lightning is altogether tine to the nature of the substance which is made incandescent in its track. The blue, red, purple or silver tints, which are ordinarily much more bril liantly marked in warm climates and intertropical countries than they ever are in England, are due to the" same circumstances as the color which is de signedly commnnicated to the light of different kinds of fireworks. It is a result of the intrinsic natures of the vaporized particles which are made to shine. The vapor from iron has one kind of sheen and the vajior of snlphnr another. Each different foreign ingredient that floats in the air has its own proper hue, which it can communi cate to the lightning. I he broad flashes of light that appear in the clouds during a thunder-storm, and that are distinguished as sheet lightning, are very often merely the re flections from the clond mist of the dis charges that pass from ono part to another with each redistribution of the internal rharge, as the tension at the onter surface is changed bv an external flash. This redistribution of the internal charge is sometimes also marked by very beautiful lines of corrnseation plying npon the dark lwckgronnd as the storm drifts away. There is a table mountain a few miles away from Piertermaritzburg, in Natal, over which this kind of display is con tinually exhibited. The retreating storm clouds linger over the flat top of this mountain, where tbey can be seen from thecitv in the advancing night. In this dark canopy of the mountain bright corrnacat ions, accomjwny ing each redistribution of the electric charge, can be watched for honrs at a time— now assuming the form of coronals of electric Are, now running along in mn chiolated horizontal lines just above the flat top of the mountain, and now radiating out in all directioua from a central loop, like the cracks of starred glass. A IHme-Novel Hero. The dime-novel readers would rejoice in Buckshot Bill, of Nevada. He speaks twenty-five Indian tongues. Ouoo he saw eleven comrades burned alive by the Comanches, signed with bia blood a vow to have the scalps of eleven Indians who killod bis brother and stole bis dia mond pin, and has on exhibition 117 scalps taken by his own hands. He is a scout after the boy'a own heart. " MOONLIUHTINM." Our of iSr Peculiar Inrtsulrlra or Ihi- I'rnn •OUIIIIIII Oil Itrulon*. " Moonlighting" is a peculiar indus try that owes its existence to the patent laws. The late Colonel E. A. Roberts introduced the use of nitro-glycerine torpedoes in increasing tho yield of oil wells. When tho great flowing wells of Oil Creek, after draining tho petroleum pools of the lower Held for three years, h"t, was carried through all the State courts and to the I'nitixl States supreme court. Roberts won in every court, and nearly a mil lion dollars in royalties was recovered. The monopoly in nitro glycerine tor pedoes led to the illicit use of them in wells. Men without fear of death or regard for law went into the business of "shooting" wells for producers who did not care to pay tribute to Roberts. \nv ono has a right to manr.'i -turn nitro glycerine and to place torpedoes in wells. In the '• ploding of them li s the liability to prosecution ami penu'ty. The moonlighter is alw iv-* ready to con tract for the shooting of a well. He carries his nitro-glycerine in wagons made especially for the purpose. They are backboards, with cushioned apart ments under the seat, into which the cans are placed. The roads of tho oil regions would scarcely be called roads elsewhere. When not hub deep with mud, they are stretches of deep nits and galleys and projecting roeks. Drawn by powerful horses, theso wagons, loaded with sixty or a hundred quarts of one of tho most destructive explo sives known, and which a sadden jar is at any moment likely to explode, are driven ly their reckless owner* over these roads in the darkest nights at the top of their horses' speed. The men work at night always. Th y are called moolighters, but the ah- nee of the moon does not prevent them from un dertaking a job. The Itoberts company has a wonderfnl detective system, which is constantly employed in ferreting out the trespassers in the torpedo patent. It frequently happens that a moonlighter is spotted as he starts nut on one of hi* nocturnal missions. The in<> edightcr rarely fails to be awaro of the fact when he is followed by one of Koborts' men. Then it is a race between tho two. If the moonshiner cannot evade the detec tive and finish bis job, ho manages to secrete his nitro glycerine in the bushes, old buildings, liarns, or other outbuild ings of farms, or in any place where he is most likely to recover it for use on a more auspicious occasion Tims it hap pen* that these dangerous storehouses are liable to !>e come upon nt any time by people ]>a*aing through the woods or along the M reams, or by tho farmers whose premises have lieen utilised. The cost of tor]>cdoing a well under the ltoWrts patent averages $250. The moonlighter will shoot it for less than half of that. Tims the saving e flee ted if the work is not discovered is a great temptation to a certain class of producer*. If detected, however, tho penalty is heavy. The ltoWrts price for torpedoing must be paid, and what ever damages may be assessed. If the well is an old one and has been shot to increase its yield the value of the in creased yield up to tho time the dam ages arc a*sc**<*l is added to the cost of detected illicit torpedoing. When Colonel ltoWrts died recently ■ hi* income was about tl,ooo a day. Ho had Wen serrated from bis wife and family for several years. Mm. ltoWrts had Wgnn proceedings against him and they were pending at the tune |of his death. A nephew of the deceased man, a resident of Bradford, Pa., was made his heir. Tho nephew volun tarily transferred at bird of the wealth , be inherited to each of the two children of the dead inventor, keeping the other third himself. Appraisers of the estate of Colonel Itoberts have been seven weeks engaged in fixing its value. Their duties are accompanied with a risk tliat flie appraisers of no dead man's property ever rsn Wfore. They are obliged to visit all the nltro-gly uerine safes in tho oil region, examine and place s value on their contents. There are thirty of these magazine* | connected with the estate in the Brad* -,,\ . r ■ t • 1 •" 5 ford field alone. These magazines each contain from 1,000 to 10,000 pounds of tlio explosive. While tlio appraisers were cautiously creeping about in one of them which contained 2,000 pounds a driver of a Bobcrts nitro-glycorine wagon came tearing np to the safe with his team at the usual break-neck rate. He lmd been out torpedoing wells. Ho had seven twenty-pound cons left. These ho brought into the magazine carrying two under each arm, one in each hand and rolling the other along on the floor of the safe with his foot. The six cans ho tumbled on the floor as if tlicy wero (dicks of wood. Tlio ap praisers lost no time in getting out of that magazino. When a nilro-glyccrino wagon is met on the road every other vehicle gives it all the way its driver sees fit to ask. The carrying of this oxplosivo in any but the wagons arranged for its trans portation in forbidden by law, but it is not an uncommon thing to see some dare-devil driver jolting over the rough roads with cans of it knocking about in the bottom of an ordinary wagon. Car rying uitro glycorine through towns iH punishable by heavy tines; but as it re quires a rather bold officer to chase n man who is carrying with him material that may explode at any moment, it is not an exceedingly rare right to see drivers on their way t > \. !.* luking a short and easier cut through towns and villages with tlu-ir stock of nitr - glycer ine, A driver wax some time ago dis covered passing through one of the Bradford suburbs with a load of nitro glycerine. The residents protested, and an officer halted the man to arrest him. The driver took one of hix cans, r.x <-d it above bis head, and informed the crowd that if any one attempted to in terfere with him ho woul I throw tin can against a rock by the roadside not three feet away* The ma i wax a moon lighter, and fnm Lis imputation th<- . crowd believed that he would like noth ing better than blowing i p the town and its inhabitants, even if he disap peared in pieces at the same time; so they allowed him to pass on. \e>r : I 'irk Sun. I'EAKLS OF TIIIM l.nr. Belief i-i not in our power but tmtip fulness is. Life is too short for its possessors to I wear long faces A sensual disposition deforms the Landsonicst feature*. Divino xengeciice comes with feet of lead, but strikes with hands of iron. He need* no other i osary whose thread of life is strung with beads of love and thought. He who, with good health, ha* a true friend, ma;, laugh adversity to ■■ ru and defy the world. Tree benevolence i* to lovo all men 1 Uccompetixo injury with justice, and kindness with kindness. Thi i- the present reward of virtnou" conduct that no unlucky eonM-qnf nc< can oblige its to regret it. Flowers sweeten the air, rejoice tin eye, link n witli nature and innocence, ami are something to love. Venture not into the company of those j that arc iufected with the plague; no, i though thou think thyself guarded with ! an antidote. To pronounce a man happy merely Iwcanse he is rich, is just a- absurd a* j to pronounce a man healthy merely be cause lie has enough to eat. No man ought *o complain if the ' world measures him as lie measures ; others. To measure one with his own 1 yardstick may Is- hard, but it is fair. Sw hunting. Every !>oy and girl should h„ taught ■ to swim, and be trained to it. Most boys learn of themselves, while the re- ' verse is true of most girls. This latter fact is a grave mistake. Tlio mistake is more serious than formerly, liecatise so large a portion of onr population S|>end weeks or months every year at onr i watering-places, and because travel on river, lake and ocean, and sailing in Imataand yachts for pleasure have in creased to snch an extent. For these reasons as well as others a knowledge of the art has become a necessity. The lives that were recently lost in conse quence of the collisions and burning of steamboats might most of them have lawn saved had all the jiasnrngers known how to swim. The mere consciousneas of ability to swim and the feeling of familiarity with deep water that it creates, would either prevent or greatly diminiah the panica that are so disastrous in cases of acci dents on the sea. Besides this the in ability to swim of persons who are in the wstor when a disaster has occurred, greatly imperils the lives of those who can swim and are abundantly able to care for themselves; for the swimmers are often overpowered by the wild clinging to them of the luckless persona who are drowning near liy. The time to learn to awim is in childhood and youth, and every parent should aee to it that all his children beoome experts in the art. It is an easy art to learn. There are people who live in boats whose children even swim like kittens. LADIES' DEPARTMENT. (ilavr*. In gloves for summer wear the mitts of black and colored sewing silk, netted and embroidered, are exceedingly popular and are duplicated in mohair and cotton for those who cannot afford the more expensive grades. Hilk and lisle thread gloves and mitts come in all the new lace designs, and are either with long or short wrists, as may bo most desired. Homo liavo long, loose rumpled wrists, without buttons or elastic, that are never expected to he in place, but nre considered very stylish. * Very I'rrlly Srrnii tins. One of the prettiest scrap-bags for sit ling-room or bedroom is made in a simple manner by taking a good-sized Japanese parasol, or small umbrella, take a piece of fine wire and make in a ring, catch it to the partly-opened par asol with thread, tie a bright ribbon to the handle. Of course this ih service able only .for bits of paper and light scraps. % Noti l Ihf < ue of the ladies at < ( >ueon Victoria's latest drawing room was dressed like a pursnivuiit or herald, emblazoned all over with her own coat-of-arms. Ib-r gown was of a sort of lavender satin, v-ith a train of the same lined with block velvet. All down her bark was heraldic devices—coat, supporters, ••rest, motto and all. Across her breast she wore a sash, rejieating the coat-of arms smaller. The whole turn out is said to have been " a trifle loud." Xew itnd Nofr lot Wornrn. Two girls at Waupaca, <>r , tossed np for a lover, and the loser acted as bride maid at the wedding. A sentimental woman at Mayvillo, Canada, has put a strong iron fence aronml the tree wherein a sweetheart of youthful days once carved her name. A woman of fifty seven isapplying for her third divorce from a man of sixty four, in Davenport, lowa, the grounds l-i:ig the aui" ax in two previous cose" cruel treatment. A mat! jiistilies his meanness toward hi* wife by asserting that h<- and *ho an nuo, and, therefore-, by r< fnsin • to fur ni-di her money he practice* the heroic Iv.rtne of self-denial. In Tdnis, as elsewhere in Africa, ex , ceosire stoutness is considered a mark of female ls-auty. Women are fed for this purpose like cattle when training for an agricultural show. A sixteen-year Id daughter of Eichard Misner, of Griffin's Corners, N. Y., weigh* only thirty pound*. She is only three fee' in height, and peak* in such a jiecnliar manner that few except her parents can understand her. A Washington girl has highly inter esting hair. Its color ti-- I(„ J*. „ light blonde. Dr. I). W. Trenti-* reportK to tbo Smithsonian institution that he gave her jaborandi. a Brazilian plant, as a cure for blood poisoning. Her hair ' soon l>egan t<> darken, and in four months ##< almost black Pn*hlnn FtNfif*. Blue and white mattings are liked ! for Ix-drooms by ladies who are tired of green anj white and red and white I checks. China crape dresses with printed border* are made up over slip* of silk matching the crape, and over white • satin slips. Hoftnes* is essential in black ailka this summer. A gown that can stand alone is usually left t* stand without being worn by any woman. Fans match the costume and are made of the same material of the dress. Very often this idea is carried ont with regard to the shoe* or sandals. pins are mors necessity than ever this season, for nearly all of the innumerably pretty things worn al>out the neck require somo fastening. Evening dresses for yonng misses are made prinoesse style, laced np the l>ack, and are worn high in the neck with a Htnart collar and short sleeves. The summer woolen stuffs with wide stripes liear a more painful resemblance to furniture covers than any material that has appeared for some time. The high Medicis collars shown upon imported costumes are covered with a seed pearl, jet, cashmere or iris-tented beads, or rich embroidery, and are stiffened with fine wire to keep them in place. Ijadio* who posooas the lace sacks of thread or lama, at present so completely ont of style, are making them over into the pretty Htnart collars, pointed fichus, and antiqne shoulder capes now in vogue. . Crape draperies and waists of crape appear on the colored dresses made for yonng ladies to wear in the evening. The idea originated with a dressmaker who appreciated the beoomingness of the crape waists worn for mourning. Muslin is msde into soft pnffa with sberringa in the oenter for oollarettes, which ere exceedingly liecoming, sod ss they require no ironing, needing only to be washed and to here a pencil paused through thorn in order to ronton- them to their printino freshness, they are likely to be favorites with ladies who do not like to pay heavy laundry bill*. There in a new quality of natoen called nateon foulard, which greatly resemble* Indian nilk in its appearance. It corn ex in a variety of designs, Egyptian, baya dere stripes, check* and plaidn- multi colored over grounds of almond, gray, pale blue, etc. I'rincen.Hc polonainenare mode of these fabric*, trimmed with fancy lace. They are worn over linen : skirt* of a monochrome color, tlie skirt* being trimmed with tiny rallies of the i name goods. American an well ax European ladies are scintillating in a perfect armor of 1 jctn and beadn. Whole cuirass bodice*, j tabliern, skirts, panels, dolmans, xlioul der capes, bonnets and slipper* arc ! covered with beaded embroidery. Ele- j gant costumes of black arc sparkling ' like "coats of mail " with a dense cov- i ering of jet and steel, and delicate toilets of white brocade, satin and tulle, are embellished with marvelous designs wrought in beads of pearl, gold, silver, crystal and other beads resembling costly gems. Tabliers, panels and por- ! tions of the corsage are each worked with a special design composed to suit its particular shape although uniform on the whole. Why Persons Snore. It may not Is- generally known that it is the vibration of the velnm pendu- \ Inm palati which causes snoring, but it is no less a matter of interest to a great many people who either snore them- j selves or are annoyed by snorera. lJr. Lewis 11. Havre, of Fifth avenue, New York, was asked by a > vibrate or flap in the two currents of | the air which enter at the same time , through the nostrils and the month. Besides the vibration of the velum pen dulum palati or soft palate there is also a vibration of the column of air itself. , Thus is produced the rasping, snorting ; noise so well known anil s<> unpleasant to every one within earshot of tb< placid ; snorer himself. I>r. Hayre was asked what caused snoring. " When a man is fatigued." he said, : "and hi* self-control is unusually re j laxed in sleep, he i apt to let his lower jaw drop down. No man was ever seen or heard to snore with his mouth shut | The moral is obvious. The soft palate flaps like a sheet in the wind, and the near neighlmrs of the snoring slee;>er are correspondingly disturbed. Now. | the Indians never snore. They think it a disgrace. An Indian believes that if he anores when he is young lie will grow up to lc oveu leas handsome at maturity than nature originally intend ed. His vanity, therefore, is enough to make a savage sleep in a proper po | sition." A well-known physician uptown, whose practice largely in rases of affection of the respiratory system, was asked whether snoring is a disease. "Not so much a diaeaae a* a bail habit," he said; "but I am frequently called upon to prescrile for its cure." "Can it be cured ?" "Easily." "Why do elderly or corpulent people commonly snore?" " Beranso their systems are generally more relaxed in sleep, and their months then fall open. Any one will be I'kely to snore if he aleejis with his month j open, and no one will if he shuts it." " How can .the habit be cured ?" "First, yon must give s person a chance to breathe through the nose, and then make him do so. If there is any obstruction in the nasal passage that must l> remove*] by treatment. Then if a snorer can't keep his month shut np by force of will, his jsw must |be tied up. A harness for the lower jaw is sometimes employed in bad cases of snoring A skull cap worn upon the j head serves to hold a system of straps under the chin and keep the month shut until the patient can form a habit of j sleeping on his side, or with his head sufficiently elevated to hold his jaw." "Ia it an easy matter to hold one'* jaw when asleep V "Hardly more so than when awake." " Why is snoring, than, so common if it is so easily cored V " Because catarrhal troubles are so common, which prevent free inspiration through the nostrils. In sleeping-car* 1 and in hotels one frequently hears the , resonant more, became people in those places usually go to sleep tired out An old doctor used to advocate sleeping on the face to guanl against the possibility of snoring." Mr. Edwin Booth dined with the Prince of Wales. HCIE.NTIPIC HfBAPH. <'arbonic acid forme about 1-1000 of the entire atmosphere. < bernical ac tion is always accom by increase of temperature. Bet WOOD WJO and 700 different forms have been distinguished in snow cry* tula. Pure water may bo obtained from that I which i* impure, or from brine, by dis : tiiliition. i Article* of food which won Id noon de cay if exposed to the air uuiv be long i preserved in a vacuum. In Switzerland thetemperature of the bottom of deep, snow-fed lake* remain a uniform during tbo year. Inspiration in alow combuation, in which carbon and other ingredients of | the blood combine with oxygen. To produce a change in the pitch of notes we have only to make a difference | of 1-1200 of an inch in the vocal chorda. A composition of two move, spanning the sane strait. It took five years, and train* crossed it in 1850. It ha* four spans, the tan in the middle Ireing itiO feet wide each, and the whole bridge is alsiut I,K|O feet long. It is 123 feet al>ove high-water mark, and cost $3,000,000. The Niagara snspension bridge, liuilt by lioebling in 1852, cost only e-VKI.- 000, i* 800 feet long, 2 50 feet above the river, and its towers are about eighty j four feet high. The Niagara foot bridge, built in- IH<®, cost $175,000, and was said t,O(X) feel. It is one of the widest bridges in the world, eighty -five feet, with a promenade thirteen feet wide, two railroad tracks and four car riage and two home-oar tracks. It is 135 feet in the center aWvv the water. The rock on which the towers rest is sbotit ninety feet Wlow the surface of the water on the New York side, and half that depth on the Brooklyn side— the moet stupendous thing about the structure. Each tower is 134 feet long • by fifty-six wide, and at the top theae dimensions are reduced to 190 feet by forty, or the siae of a very Urge house. Each tower ia 208 feet aWve high Water. It ia 1,336 feet from the beginning of, the causeway on I'bat liam street out to the anchorage on the New York shore. The architect of the bridge received his death wound almost at ita inception.— Balda in'* Monthly. ..ML ■