TOPICS OF THE DAT.
Look out not to got Htuok with a lot
of three-cent postage stamps on tho
Ist of next October, when the new
two-cent postage law, passed by the
last Congress, goes into effect. A
letter sent to any part of the country
after that date will require only two
cents.
The supreme court of California has
affirmed the decision of a lower court,
that drunkenness is no excuse for
crime, and that a man who volunta
rily made himself drunk would lose no
responsibility liecause he committed a
crime while laboring under this self
imposed insanity.
The first instance in America, prole
ably, where a lady officiated as clergy
man at a wedding ceremony was at
Columbus, (>., a short time ago, when
.Mrs. Lvdia (!. Hntnick, the evangelist,
performed the marriage service for
Charles l*im, of Damascus, <>,, and
Miss Emma Hryant. Hotli bride and
groom are members of the .Society oi
Friends.
The sorrow which intemperance
causes was sadly illustrated in a New
York court when a drunken mother
was sentenced to the island for six
months. One of the little girls
begged the father in piteous tones:
"Oh, papa, don't send mamma away!"
The husband, however, would not re
lent, and the mother was taken into
the prison with a baby in her arms.
A mule at Stockton, Cal., recently
suffered a fracture of the fourth, fifth
and sixth vertebra of the neck, and
was about to be killed when a veter- j
inary surgeon concluded to experiment
with him. The animal was placed in
slings, and a tackle fastened to the
head. A number of men manned the
rope, and after several strong pulls
the dislocated vertebra* slipped into
place. The rear extremetics of that
mule are as dangerous t<winy as they
were before it met with the mishap.
In IS7"> Harney Thomas killed
Joseph Deal, a clerk at the Maxwell
house in Nashville, Tenn., for insult
ing a young woman to whom he
(Thomas) was engaged tola* inarrbsl.
lie was sent to the penitentiary for
twenty-one years, but his sentence!
was commuted to ten years by Gov*!
ernor Porter, and the term having
been again reduced for good behavior j
he has just been released. The young
woman has remained faithful to her
avenger, and their marriage will sa.n
complete the tragic romance.
An anecdote is related by Mr.
llarnum in illustration of the axiom
that drinking is a habit that grows:
Last winter two of my elephants
began shaking with chills one morn
ing; the keeper ran down into the
village and got six gallons of whisky.
Hastily returning, three gallons were
given to twli elephant. They lacked
the artificial warmth it superinduced.
Next morning when the keeper came
to them he found lsith elephants shak
ing with might and main. "No you
don't," he shouted, "you are well
enough to-day," and they stopped
shaking.
Morrison Heady, the blind and
deaf Kentucky poet, has been visiting
New Orleans and astonishing his
acquaintances there by Ids extraordi
nary skill as a chess player. He plays
upon a board so contrived that the
pieces lit into sockets, and by the aid
of touch alone he plans Ingenious
campaigns, repulses attacks, and
analyzes the most intricate situations.
A glove upon his band with the alpha
bet printed upon it, is the means by
which he receives communications.
To converse with him one must spell
out his words by touching the letters
on the glove.
It is stated on good authority that
there are WOO tenement and apart
ment houses in New York City, of
which 4500 have been erected in the
past four years. Some of these tower
ing hives of humanity, a metropolitan
paper says, are thirteen stories high,
and one immense apartment house
now building east of Central Park,
will have thirteen stories, and the
owner expects to have no difficulty in
renting these flats amid the clouds.
If this sort of thing goes on, the
Tower of Halwl will one day be dis
tanced, ami New York will in this
respect the architectural wonder of
the world.
Agricultural education is not
neglected abroad. Austria snpjs.rts
seventy schools of agriculture with
2200 students, and 174 agricultural
evening schools with 5500 students.
France has forty-three farm schools
with thirty to forty pupils at each.
/
The government pays the board of
each pupil and allows him seventy
francs a year for clothing. Paris has
three department schools of agricul
ture ami a national agricultural
institute. Germany has over I.SO
schools of agriculture, horticulture,
arboriculture and viticulture. Their
lirst experimental agricultural station
was established in IHW; upward of
sixty arc now in operation, each one
having a special line of research.
So many promising movements for
monuments to eminent men end in
dismal failures, that it Is pleasant to
have assurance of a lifting memorial
to the poet Longfellow. An associa
tion was organized last year, which
proposed to secure the land lying
between his old home at Cambridge,
Mass., and the Charles river, and erect
upon it a worthy monument. About
S!SIH.MI has already been raised, no small
share of it in small subscriptions by
children, and the poet's children have
now made a present of the land which
was to be purchased. This leaves no
ground for apprehension that enough
money will not be raised to carrv out
the original scheme, which, with its
beautiful garden, tine view, and statue
on the bank of fav< rite
river, will prove a most appropriate
memorial of the poet whose verse
charms the world.
Even in Siam the course of true
love does not run smooth. A Siamese
paper tells the following "o'er true
tale" of that distant land: "Ai Saun,
aged twenty-one, became attached to
Amdaang Waun, and requested elders
to solicit the girl in marriage from
her parents. The parents declined the
proposals. Saun, however, knew that
Amdaang Waun was attached to a
man who was in the priesthood,named
t liu'ey, and, therefore entertained
bitter enmity to ("liu'ey. (in August
17, 1 1, Saun, Saang and Itaut cm
barked in a Isiat and concealed them
selves at tlie temple Wat I.aht. Haut
was stationed to watch the I mat.
Saang was stationed by the wall of
the temple t'i guard the passage, while
Saun, with bis flint-lock gun, loaded
with shot, advanced to the room of
the priest Chu'ey and tired upon him.
The priest survived the wounds in
tlicted only one day. The criminality
of all parties was proved in court,
llaut and Saang were each sentenced
to sixty strokes of the rattan and con
finement in the penitentiary. Saun
was sentenced to ninety strokes of the
rattan and decapitation at the temple
Wat Hlapl.ichai. lie was executed
on December l',
A curious fact in connection with
the "land war" in Ireland is. that the
operations of both tenants and land
lords have been sustained from outside
sources. America has contributed the
bulk of the money to the land league,
and England has contributed the bulk
of the money to the landlord's defense
association. Last year it cost I.'Mi.OOU
to keep the machinery of the defense
in successful motion. It supplied
agents for the service of writs which
otherwise could not have lieen served.
Some of the men engaged in this work
narrowly escaped with their lives, but
they achieved what they set out to do.
The association provided buyers at
sheriff's sales which would have failed
but for this precaution. No man re
siding in the vicinity of a forced sale
for arrears of rent could afford to even
make a bid, much less t<> purchase 1 .
The property-defense man, on the
other hand, were ready to purchase,
and to remove the rattle if necessary.
At first they were permitted to do so;
but, w hen it was found that they were
able, the farmers arranged to have the
rattle bought in. Had it not been for
the property-defense association the
Irish landlords could not have collected
much from the tenants during the last
few years.
How Canada Got Its Name.
Ttie origin of the word Canada is cu
rious enough. The Spaniards visited
that country previous to the French,
and made partial searches for gold and
silver, and finding none, they often
said among themselves "A can nada"
(There is nothing here). The Indians,
who watched elosely, learned the sen
tence and its meaning. After the de
parture of the Spaniards the French
arrived, and the Indians, who wanted
none of their company, and supposed
they also were Spaniards come on the
same errand, were anxious to inform
them that their lalmr was lost by tarry
rying in that country, and frequently
related to them the Spanish sentence
"A can nada." The French, who knew
its little of Spanish as the Indians, sup
poeed this incessantly-recurring sound
was the name of the country and gave
it the name of Canada, which it hai
; borne ever since,
LA IMKS' OK TART* KM.
An InlrrrniMril tV4dlii|.
A most remarkable hitch took place
at a wedding ceremony in the town of
Aastad, Minn., which is than described
by a correspondent of the St. Paul /'/>-
ncer-l'rexx: A large party of friends
had assembled at tb house of one of
the town's wealthy farmers to witness
the ceremony of a couple about to be
married. The Lutheran minister was
to perform the rites, and, in accord
ance with the rules of the church
asked the groom if lie was heart-free.
"Yes," came the answer, when the
company were thrown Into consterna
tion by the voice of a young lady pres
ent. "You lie, sir," eri<sl she, in ac
cents not to be mistaken. The words
acted like a bombshell thrown among
the former happy throng, and when
the minister asked for an explanation,
letters wen products! to prove that she
was also engaged to the young man,
and the atTair looked rather eritieal for
the tillie being. The rejected sweet
heart, however, after expostulation,
consented to the ceremony being per
formed, if the gentleman would apolo
gize ami ask to be forgiven, which lie
humbly did; but the minister had by
tliis time left in disgust, and trouble
again stared thcui in the face until a
justice of the peace was found among
the invited guests, and the fond lovers
were made one according to the laws
of Minnesota,
llouarbrrping S< hooll.
Two interesting and very successful
"housekeeping schools" in the kingdom
of Wurtemburg have something of the
character of a secondary school or col
lege, 110 girl being admitted to them
till she has passed through the ordinary
schools. The general aim of the c ourse
of lectures and of the practical work
at these schools, is the cultivation of
"cleanliness, order, punctuality and < f
fleiency in housework and farm work."
All the work of the house is done bv
the pupils during the day hours. The
evening is devoted to lectures on vari
ous subjects, singing and drawing. In
both institutions the programme is di
vided into three branches of instruc
tion housekeeping, woman's work,
and continuation of the teaching ac
quired in the primary school. The tirst
of these hrnnrhen includes cooking,
bread-making, washing, lr>ning,
clothes-making, gardening, the man
agement of ail articles of ordinary
food, such as milk, frnit, meat, etc.
I'nder the second branch are taught
the use of the sewing machine, em
broidery and even cobbling, with in
struction in the manufacture and char
acter of the various stuffs and materi
als, such as wool, silk, cotton arid lace.
The third division embraces mental
arithmetic, dictation, liook-kceping.
singing and lc-sons on health. There
are two terms in each year, occupying
lictween five and six months, during
which the complete course of instruc
tion is carried through from beginning
to end. From eighteen to twenty-live
cents is charged for daily board and
lodging, ami the fee for the entire plan
of instruction is only six dollars and a
half.
Kftlhlntt
All laces are fashionable.
This is to be a larc season.
brocaded silks have not gone out of
vogue.
Buttons are small for dresses, large
for wraps.
Royal satins combine l>eauti fully
with brocades.
The palm-leaf pattern crops out in
all the new goods.
Combinations in costumes are as
much in vogue as ever.
Overdresses are made eccentric and
irregular in the draping.
Gold braid, cord, anil gold effects in
millinery goods, arc a feature in hats
ami Imnnet*.
Among the designs in the new sat
leens are red and green pepper (capsi
cum) pods, with foliage and sterns.
Very handsome fancy petticoats are
now made in French moire, and
trimmed with satin and embroidery.
Kmbroidered costumes of black
casbmerc w ill be still more dressy with
trimmings of the new soutache laces.
Silk skirts that cling like jersry
webbing will replace the chamois skirt
of the esthetic woman as the season
advances.
Corn flower and royal French blue,
orange, flame and gold yellow, ox blood
and cardinal red crop out in most of
the new fabrics.
Large palm-leaf patterns appear In
involved designs, covering the entire
surface of new cashmere broches of
the finest quality.
The leading feature In ladies' gar
ments Is the tailor cut and flnish; all
new jackets, redingntes, jielissc*, coats,
etc., are in this style.
Jfetted chenille, In very artistic pat
terns, now decorates the fronts of
dresses, arid also the crowns of the
lion nets to correspond.
A most stylish and appropriate suit
for a little girl is in dark-blue knitted
cloth, a jersey waist, and kilted skirt,
with a sash knit of light-blue wool.
'I he varied shades of green and yel
low are to be preferred for evening
dresses, the pale pinks and blues giving
way to delicate tints of these colors.
Japonlca, prawn and strawberry pink
are the pale shades to be used to com
bine with all the dark fashionable reds,
such an claret, garnet, strawberry and
terracotta.
The high Bernhardt collar, stiffened
by line wires, is worn with a narrow
square opening below the throat, which
is lilled in with larc. This is becom
ing to very thin ladies.
New baliuornl skirts have two or
three steels inserted in the hack widths
to form a tournure. Moreen balnio
rals are gored perfectly plain from side
to side, and the back breadth lias two
thick IMI.X pleats tied back to make
them very full.
Stylish basques are sharply (minted
in front and hack, with very shallow
side pieces. The shoulder seams are
short and exactly in a line with the
shoulder; the sleeves are close to the
arm except at the arm-hole, where
they are slightly iKiuffant.
A pretty fabric, intended fur jackets
and parts of Khiha cloth suits, con
sists of the admired small checks In
the Khiha cloth colors and combina
tions fur the grounds, while on the sur
face are small hrocadi-d velvet leaves
in dark, rich shades of maroon, gri-cn,
olive and brown.
Value of Boiled Wafer.
In an article in Kwnrlut /> .*i scien
tific cookery, W. Mattieu Williams
calls attention to the danger of drink
ing water full of organic impurities.
Such water, he says, supplies nutri
ment to those microscopic alsnnina
tions, the micrococci, bacilli, 1 a< teria,
etc., which are now shown t<> lie ron
neetisl with Mood jmisoning possibly
do tiie whole of the poisoning business.
I tiese little jsnts are harmless, and
probably nutritious when cooked, hut
In their raw and wriggling st ate an*
horribly prolific in the Mood of people
who are in certain states of what is
called "receptivity." They (the bacte
ria, etc. j apjsar to !• jniisoned or
somehow kilhsl off by tbc digestive se
cretions of tbe blood of Some people,
and nourished luxuriously in tie- blow]
of others. As nobody enn b quite
sure as to which class he ix-longs, or
may presently Is-long. or whether the
water supplied to his household is free
from the blood-poisoning organism,
cooked water is a safer leverage than
raw water. "Reflecting on the sale
ject," says Mr. Williams, "I have leen
strurk with a curious fact that has
hitherto no apsl notice, viz., that in
the country which over all others com
bines a very large population with a
very small allowance of cleanliness,
the ordinary drink of the people is
Milled water flavored with an infusion
of leave s. These people, the Chinese,
seem, in fact, to have been the invent
ors of Iniihsl water beverages. Judg
ing from travelers' accounts of the
state of the rivers, rivulets, and gen
eral drainage and irrigation arrange
ment of China, its population could
scarcely have reached its present densi
ty if Chinamen were drinkers of raw
instead of cookisl water."
Life In a Russian Prison.
Prince Krapotkine, in his account of
life in the Central prison, Russia, says
these prisons are in some sort invaria
Me all over Russia. If we know that
the jail was built for 1 .VI inmates, and
actually contained 4<NI, we do not need
to inquire more alxuit sanitary condi
tions. In like manner, the food was
neither letter nor worse than else
where. Seven kopeks (1 |d,) a day is
a very poor allowance per prisoner,
and the jailer and eeonome Wing fam
ily men, of course they save as much
as they can. A quarter of a pound of
Mack rye bread for breakfast; a soup
male of bull's beart and liver or of
seven pounds of meat, twenty pounds
of waste oats, twenty pounds of sour
cabbage, and plenty of water—many
Russian prisoners would consider it as
an enviable food- The moral condi
tions of life are not so satisfying. All
day long there Is nothing to do—for
weeks, months, and years on to the end.
There are workshops, it is true; but to
these only skilled craftsmen (whose
achievement is the prison-keeper's per
quisite) are admitted. For the others
there is neither work, nor hojie of
work, unless It is in stormy weather,
when the governor may set one-half of
them to shovel the snow into heaps,
and the other half to shovel It flat
again. The blank monotony of their
lives is only varied by chastisement.
In the particular prison of which 1 am
writing, the punishments were varied
and ingenious. For smoking, and
minor offenses of that sort, a prisoner
could get a two hours' kneeling on the
hare flags, in a sjiot the thoroughfare
of ley winter winds selected dill (gent
ly ad hoc. The next punishment for
the same minor offenses was the black
holes- -the warm one and the cold one,
underground, with a temperature at
freezing point. In both, prisoners
slept on the stones, arid the term of
durance depended on the will of the
governor.
The Chief* Overdose.
Seamen have to encounter the perils
of the land as well as those of the
ocean. When sailing among tin- islets
of the Southern I'acifie, whose super- j
j st it ions inhabitants an- as fickle as the j
inconstant wind, they wear their lives
on their sleeves. The slightest mis- j
take may turn the friends of to-day
into the foes of to-morrow .
Not many years ago, a whaler, 'Tuls- !
mg in tho South I'aeitic, luffed lip to |
a little island in order to till tbe almost ,
empty water casks. The natives, who ,
were on the shore in great numbers, j
wa-re seen beating their breasts and ,
littering mournful cries. >i*veral of
them swam off to the ship and made
the captain understand that some im
portant person was sick and In need
of medical treatment. He, being a
kind-hearted man. invited them by
signs to firing the sick person on board.
They hcijded tie- invitation an I brought
ofT tie- king of the island, who had
riot lieen ill long enough for the wail
ing and the beating of tom-toms to ,
produce fatal results.
The captain gave the chief a small .
dose of one of tieisi* "cure-alls," usual
ly kept in a ship's mcdi< inc chest.
The medicine, the absence of tom-toms,
and the faith of the sufferer wrought
;; sjM'iih improvement. On the fallow
ing i'Vi ning th- < apt an tt .ught ;• -afe
to allow him to return, not. howa-ver,
until he ha 1 gi VI M him a bottle of the
medicine to lie u-I'd in a return
of the sickness.
That night the chief hail another
atta* k. Thinking that if a small dose |
had partly relieved him, a larger one
would effis t a • oiuplete cure, he poured
tire ( .uteri's of the !. .trie down his
t }> rc i.at.
Ala-' the calculations even of the
gr- at "f tio- world are not alw ,n s i.,r
ro't, The next morning the chief wa
a corpse.
The captain, suspecting, fraii the
ominous stillnevs. that something was
wrong, took the precaution of stowing
firearms into the l*at that was t". t■ • w
off tfie water-ra.sk.*. It bad man ely
tombed the shore when the natives 1
attacked the crew, who by the greatest
expedition were Scarcely aide t • regain
the ship; whb h at on< c set - ul and <b
parted.
The captain never revisited the
island. He learned that another
w hah r. putting in there for water, w a-,
mistaken for ins vessel, and several
of it* crew severely wound**!, le-f .re
the native* discovered their error.
The natives had carefully kept the
Imttle, thinking it an Instrument of
sorcery, because, though heavy, it
could not lie made to -ink.
Fxcentrlrltici of the Nobility,
If the secret history of the European
aristocracy could be written, it would
form a series of stories that would
eclipse the fame of the Arabian Night?
Entertainments. The Tlchliorne cast
is only one of a large nuinler in which
the heirs to titles and estates have
voluntarily disappeared, and often
times without suffering their friends
to learn their after fate, A distin- j
guished living English peer and .states
man cannot dine at a friend's house
without picketing the silver, and his
clothes are searched every night by Ids
valet, in order that spoons, forks and
salt-cellars may be returned to their
owners.
The Earl of Stamfutl recently died.
His successor in the earldom has for
years been living at Cape Town, or its
vicinity, and his present wife Is a Hot
tentot, by whom he has three children-
The London Truth states that the earl
lives in an iron hut and busies himself
gathering stieks for the fire, although
jhe insists upon lwing called by his
title. It would le interesting to see a
j Hottentot countess introduced into
English society and take her stand
according to her rank at a Court
Drawing Room.
In France a probate suit grows out
I of the fancy of the Vicotnte de Hri
niont, after his separation from his
wife, fifteen or twenty years ago. to
adopt "a little fair girl." A woman
who was commissioned to find such a
child olitained one in England, and
the vicotnte when he died two years
ago bequeathed the girl, now sweet
seventeen, $600,000. Of course the
relatives of the deceased tried to break
the will, but they did not succeed, and
the young waif gets the roor.ey.—
Sew York Journal.
THE FAMILY DOCTOR.
Tht I'M . A I, HI* nt luthlnr
I)r. Dudley A. Hargent, medical <ll
rector of tin' Boston Union gymna*i>
inn, gave In one of hi* talk* on
f-al training, general rule* for bathing
a* follow*: "A warm hath, with literal
us<- ot Castile soap is l**,t for r Wnll
nw*. and night the lw-*t time. Twice
awok is often enough. T<x> frequent
warm hatha debilitate the system. A
cool sponge or wet cloth hath should
he taken daily for it* tonic effect and
alway* in a warm room. If strong
arid vigorous, the b<-*t time is the
morning; if not strong, the cold hath
had better Is; omitted and the tepid
substituted. After exercise, if greatly
fatigued, take no hath, hut ruh down
vigorously with a dry towel. Jf thor
oughly warmed up, hut not tired, take
a tepid sponge hath standing. Never
ake a tuh hath, except when Lathing
for cleanliness. A warm shower hath
followed hy a cool sprinkling i* prefer
able to a cold hath after exercise.
Vigorous exercise render-.Turkish and
hot baths unnecessary; those should
|.e for nnsliiid <ases. s>kiu
disorders are frequently caused by ex
c*shive bathing and the use of too
mii'h soap. Although general rules
for bathing could he given, every man
must lie guided hy his own physical
condition and his occupation."
< alitm 9l*r 1.1.1 than Plifao.
I*r. I. 11. Ho* worth in a lecture on
"( olds and their ("onsequences," given
in New York, said:
Neglected colds, if we could trace
them through all tln-ir insidious influ
ences to their ultimate result, have
been ri-sponsildc for a far greater loss
of life than ha- been causid by any of
the terrible scourges which, in the
f rin of epidemic*, have decimated
< ritincnts, carried terror and dismay
throughout whole states and have
called forth tlie active sympathy and
generous charities of continent.
11 .- may sec-ma s niewhat startling
stateinc nt, that this simple cohl should
out weigh in its consequene e-s the
ni"rt.iliiy of those terrible visitations
hef-Tc wluili the- bravest heart uncon-
S' jously shudders; and yet I lielieve it
i-> r.o overdrawn picture, no exaggera
te:!. One ne cli tcsi cohi follows ujion
another, each recurring with increased
frequency, the ji.irts involved approach
ing in arc r to the vital organs, and
finally some Late nt tendency is devel
oped, some constitutional weakness
make-* itself manifest. It does not
-trike its victims with the sudden blow
of the scourge, hut working its ill
effects through months, and perhaps
y. ir-. still -tribe- with a nolcss certain
.1.111 in tlie ~ne case- than in the other.
I do ret come lie fore you as an alarm
ist. nor do I intend to draw an exag
gerated picture, yet that it i* a true
no I think cannot be quest iuntsL That
we survive colds and moreover main
ton our h'alth, is not an extremely
difhcult matter. It depends in a large
jtart ■ n certain common sense in mat
te t- of personal hygiene. Perhaps in
the se none i* so important as the pro
j-: regulation of the clothing.
The Bee's Sting.
If we press the alslomenen of the
bee w asp, so as to cause the sting to
protude. it is but natural to think that
the sharp, dark-colored instrument was
the sting itself. This, however, is noj,
the case. The real sting is a very
slender instrument, and annul on one
fsigo wit ha row of barbs S . exactly does
the sting resemble the manv-harbedar.
row of certain savage tribes that, if the
savages had possessed microscopes, we
should certainly have conjectured that
they borrowed the iclea of the barb from
the insect. What we see with the un
aidcsl eye is simply the sheath of tho
sting. Many savages poison their
arrows and spears, and here also they
have leen anticipated by the insect.
Hut the sting is infinitely superior to
the arrow poison. No poison that has
yet b>en made, not even the terrible
wourali. or curare, as it is sonwtiniea
called, ran retain its strength after
long exposure to air. The upas poison
of Borneo, for example, loses its poten
cy in two or three hours. But the
venom of the sting is never txposed to
the air at all. It Is secreted hy two
long, thread-like glands, not nearly so
thirk as a human hair, and i then re
ceived into a little bag at the base of
the sting. When the insect uses its
weapon it contracts the aid omen,
thereby forcing the sting out and com
pressing the venom-bag. By the force
of the stroke which drives the sting
into the foe its base is pn-sscsl against
the vn<mi-hag nd a staall amount of
the piAson driven into the wound. Aa
a rule, if the bee or wasp lie allown! to
vemain quiet, it will withdraw its sting,
but as the pain generally causes a sud
den Jerk, the hartal weapon eaunot b
withdrawn, and the whole apparatus
of sting, poison-liag. and glands, is torn
out of tho insect, thereby causing (ita
4 eat h.— Good Word*.