Centre Democrat. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, June 28, 1883, Image 7
Tones OF THE DAY Many of the farmers who spend Har vest tinio on the prairies of thu North west aro residents of other states. They attend to business at tjieir homes winter and summer, and at seeding and harvest visit their prairie farms -and work with a will. A Louisiana convict made a saw from the buckle on his vest, and con structed a key from a splinter of wood with which he unlocked the chain that bound him to tho door. The ingenu ity that is expended in evil - doing would, if properly directed, make this world an abode of bliss; but nobody ever makes saws out of vest-buckles, in a good cause. To Belgium we must look for one of the most stupendous engineering works of modern times—the new Antwerp docks, which will 1* completed In 1884. There is to be a quay two miles long ami 3(K) feet wide. The uniform waterway will be 10. r 0 feet wide and 20 feet deep. It is calculated that fifty Atlantic liners will be aide to lie broadside on the quay at once. Somebody unkindly reminds us that It is just a century sinco the Washing ton monument business began. Con gress in 1783 ordered an equestrian statue of Washington erected, the gen eral died before anything was done, and then the monument was decided ujxin, and not until 1*33 was the first step taken by organizing an association to collect subscriptions. The fame of an American ladv doc t>r is declared by Suture to have "spread far and wide over North China" Her name is Miss Howard. Some time ago she attended the moth er of Li Hung Chang, the great vice roy, and now she is treating his wife. She is said to have a great number of applications for assistance and advice from the women of wealthy families, "who would die rather than l>e treated by a foreign male physician." ' Siberia now ranks only barely below the United States and Australia as a gold - producing country. The best ' Russian authorities think its mines will yield nearly or quite 125,000,000 worth of'the metal this year, and the output is steadily increasing. The great mineral richness of that land of cold and convicts offers some encour agement to those who believe in Alas ka's underground wealth. The diffi culties of location and climate will hinder miniag n the Yukon little, if j any, more than on the headwaters of the Lena and tho A moor. Oregon farmers have been raising what they rail goose-wheat, because all of that kind grown in the state came from wheat found in the craw of a wild goose that a sportsman had brought low. It was a peculiar wheat and made a peculiar grade of flour. Nothing like it was known in this country, and the mystery remained a mystery which the Oregonians vainly endeavored to solve, until the agricul tural department, in examining its samples of foreign wheat, found the xact duplicate of the goose wheat of Oregon, which came from a small province in Spain, the only place w here it had ever grow n until it was smug gled into this country by a goose that died In the act. The statistics of the German empire for 1883 prow quite interesting when compared with this country. The pop ulation of the empire is a little below ihat of the United States, lieing 45,- bOO.OOO against our 52,000,000. It has forty separate political comtnuni tiee, about the same number of our states and territories. In area it is about one - fifteenth of the United States, and not quite equal to the stale .of Texas alone. The higher require ments of the Germans regarding the acquirements of their physicians are shown by the fact that Germany has to attend upon the 45,000,000 inhabi ♦ tants but 17,000 physicians, or one to each 2600 people, while this country has 85,500, or one to every GOO. Ger many's annual increase of population is about 500,000, ours 1,500,000. Her capital. Merlin, has over 1,000,000 peo ple, though our commercial capital. New York, exceeds In population, with lfs environs, that of Merlin and its surroundings. Four other cities of k Germany have a jtopulation of over 200,000; this country has a round dozen of thetn. It Is a good sign when so many are engaged In originating new varieties of fruits. While some may do this wholly for the money they expect to e make therefrom (and there is money in new fruit if It has meritorious qual ties), there are still others who strive to improve small fruits for the pleas- ure tneir work gives them and for this benefit of generations to come. It was for this latter reason that tho venerable horticulturist, Marshall I*. Wilder, was led to say, "I would rath er bo the man who shall originate a luscious fruit, suited to cultivation throughout our land, and of which successive generations shall piytake long after I am consigned to the bosom of mother earth, than to wear the crown of tho proudest conqueror who has triumphed over his fellow-men." We are not all ready to say this yet, but some are upproaching it. it takes trouble, time, patience and care to suc ceed in producing a variety worthy to be cultivated; but, when done, w hat a rich legacy to future generations. An Interesting fact about Russia is that in many of its coldest provinces fruit-growing is an important branch of industry. In the province of Kazan, which is 350 miles further north than Winnepeg, and where the mercury in winter sometimes falls as low as sixty degrees below zero, apples are grown at a profit. In the province of Val dimir, which is almost as cold its Ka zan, cherries of excellent quality are raised in great abundance. Moth apples and cherries arc shipped from these provinces in large quantities. In these i high latitudes, fruit trees are usually small, being not over eight feet In hight, and are planted in clumps like stalks of corn. Their low branching limbs arc usually loaded with the ncs l luscious fruit. A gn at trade in dried or jerked )>ecf is being carried on in South America. Thousands of tons are exported yearly from Montevideo, Rosario, and other parts of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic. In certain of the saladeros or factories upward of 100" • cattle are ! killisl daily in the season, one man be ing usually the executioner of the whole, and despatching them by puno- f taring the spinal cord at the 1 .• k of head. The animals are cut up and the i tle--.li pih-d in great heaps, with layers of salt, by semi-naked savages, half Masque, half Indian, who have a pecu liar knack of causing the flesh to d<~ taeh itsrlf in (lakes from the bone by giving it a stroke with Uuir broad. ' cutlass-like kni\es. Wonderful quick ness and dexterity are exhibited in every department of the process, but the whole is said to form one of the most disgusting spectacles imaginable. Mixed with black beans and farina, or cassava meal it becomes the staple food of the lower orders throughout the coasts of South and Central America Here is material for a dime novel of three volumes. The story is from a F.ureka.i Nev.) paper: "For some years there lias been an Indian called Tybo Frank ranging aleiut this section of the country. He was l<H>ked upon as a terror among In- j - pie and three years ago killisl one of his tribe. He also hail a longing (or the horses of white men. The Indians being greatly annoyed by Frank determined to get rid of him, and three weeks ago held a council on Muby Hill to Revise means for that end. Four braves were af* pointed executioners. They invited Frank to go on a hunt with them fourteen miles from Eureka While sitting around a camp fire one of the braves caught Frank bv the hair and pulled him to the ground, while anoth er bravo with a large knife jumped ii|w>n the victim and cut his head off. The body and head were thrown on the fire anil burned. Tho braves then made their way to Joe Allison's ranch, where they went through- the process of washing the blood from their hands. The father and squaw of Frank were (net at the ranch, but they were un moved by the particulars of the trage dy." The Znlas'. With regard to the Zulu's fighting power, says an English officer, there can lie but one opinion. I've seen two hundred Zulus rush upon a Gatling gun, and they actually got within fif teen yards of it, with the shot mowing them down by dozens all the time. I don't think you'd got many Etiro|ean troops to do the like. The bluest blooded Spanish hidalgo of Philip II had not a stronger pride of race or a haughtier contempt for danger and death than the bare limticd savage of southeastern Africa. The very name of Zulu is a vaunt in itself, meaning literally, "the heavens," and metaphori - cally suggesting the hight and extent of the nation's power. All their w a songs teem with tioasting allusions to the inferiority of the surrounding races and the ease with whirh the latter have been overthrown by the Zulu spear. One of their favorite choruses runs thus: "W* op th* A manwßxt foray*U.i* Amnpondi. Wbmfwr w* •'••n# in atftlit arary oat 100 to tWK ♦ 'Pot flown yoor tbial !•/ " Electric Wire Trunmuj. "Telpherage" Is the name given by Fleeming Jenkin, the well-known electriciun and professor of civil engi neering in the University of Edin burgh, to a system which he hasdevised for transporting vehicles, containing goods ami passengers, to a distance by the electric current, independently of any control exercised from tho vehicles themselves. Prof. Jenkin's idea is to employ strained metal cables, which will servo both to sustain the load and convey the electric current The frames or trucks supporting the load run along the cable on wheels, and the cars or loads are suspended below tin-in from the axles of the wheels. In the simplest arrangement of tho line there is a break of continuity at each post supporting it; and the sections of cable are themselves insulated from each other ami tho earth. They however, capable of being connected bv movable coupling-pieces, actuated by the train, so that all the sections re ceive the exciting current and form part of the general circuit. The cur rent is supplied to the line by a station ary dynamo-electric machine driven by a steam engine or other motor; and since the line is elevated from the ground on insulating standards, tht same dynamo will supply a considera ble length of line, as the leakage need not be excessive if proper precautions are taken. With ground lines of elec tric railroad, like that of He-mens or | Edison, the leakage is very marked, i and Mr. Edison ,ias adopted the plan I of dividing the whole line into short secti'itis of a few miles, with stations and feeding dynamos at each. Dr. Wer ner Memens favors the use of an insu lated conductor supported beside tht line, and giving current to the motoi on the train by means of a running connection pulled by the train. I'rofs. Ayrton ami Perry ha\A as is well known, sought to overcome the leak ' age difficulty by making tho line in short sections, each of which is put in circuit with the dynamo in turn as the train.progresses, by an automatic ac tion of the train itself. In this way, there is only on<- section electrified at a time, namely, that over which tho , train is running and the leakage on ' the whole line is consequently very small The loads or cars on the telpherage line are connected together in trains, and the length of a train is nearly the length of a section of the cable a con ductor. On passing either of the mov able coupling pieces between two sec tions. tht- train throws it out of action, disconne* ting the two sections at that jH.int; but.the circuit between these ststions is maintained through the wheeLs of the train itself ami a con ductor on the train. In circuit with this conductor is a dynamo-electric motor, which is actuated by the cur rent, and.propels the train by driving the wheels. The power provided is more than sufficient to keep up a max imum speed, and the train is provided with a governor which, when the speed it sufficient, closes a shunt and allows the current to pass without traversing the coil* of the electro-motor. The governor acts directly to check the i train if the Sjassl la-comcs excessive, I by short-circuiting tho electro-motor, or otherwise bringing electric brakes into operation. To further Insure that one train shall not overtake another- Prof. Jenkin provides an automatic telegraphic communication along tin line, and the trains in passing chew and open the telegraphic circuits. This automatic telegraph ia tuates circuit ed osert between the different sections of the main cable or conductor so as to maintain connection l>etween the sec tions for a certain distance behind tho train quite* independently, it may IK-, of the movable coupling pieces. It is obvious that a follow ing train entering ' u|H>n a part of the line in which the sections are thus connected will have its speed checked, as the application of the power upon the train depends upon there being a break in the electrical coupling bet ween the two sections <>n which the train is for the moment supported. A new life-boat, built wholly of cork and cane, was trb-d for the first time at Liverpool, recently, and was found to 1m- in many respects an improve ment on the lioats generally in use. It weighs only one-third as much s a the boats constructed out of ordinary materials Its strength and elasticity are such that it cannot be broken by rough usage. It is self-emptying, and can- I not 1-e capsized jn any sea. It can be launched without the aid of davit* ami tackle, and it is less costly than any other so-called life boat, Since this century started in, Eng land has. according to John liright'a figures, s|K-nt $22,000,000,000 for vvat 1 and only ♦4,000.|>00.000 for clvll.gov eminent and Improvement*. LADIES' DEPARTMENT. George If expected his daughters to be satisfied with two dozen cambric handkerchiefs every other year. A modern novelist gives one of his heroine 12 dozen as a part of her wed ding outfit. A few years ago a plain handkerchief for morning and • the lace one for evening were all the variety required, but a French author ity now says there should be handker chiefs for morning toilets, for walking, for church going, for theater, for opera, for court, for visits of charity, and for boudoir use, to say nothing of the handkerchiefs to be lost, the one to be given away and the handker chief to be stolen. A ami ltiiiil fteaut)'. Mrs. lb-11, the wife of the telephone Inventor, is deaf and dumb. That is why her husband is so fond of her- For in contriving an audiphone for her infirmity he hit upon the idea of the telephone. She is a very beautiful woman, and her face has proven a small fortune to a Cincinnati artist who earne to Washington and lived in obscurity until she gave hirn a sitting, w hen he had the good lu- k to make a beautiful picture, which at trivets irowds to the t'orcoran gallery and patronage to the painter. Woinen can learn from this how inueh good they can do by being deaf and dumb. Troy TOnu. An Artlat'a Vlrllrntt Hint. Mr. ID-aley of New York, had some time since as a subject for a portrait a young lady who came to his studio so dedizzen.sl with paint an-1 powder that every characteristic line was obliter ated. Mr. Henley was, of course in a dilemma. He could not order the girl to go and wash her face. He would lose his .commission, and he is too polite a gentleman. He could not lay the same paint on canvas that there was on her face; it would not he satis factory to the family. When tie sketch was lined in he rose from his seat, sat down beside his subject, and kindly asked her if she was feeling as well as uanal. Surprised of course.slie replied that she was. "Rut, Miss Jones, you walked from your hotel, did you not?"' "Y<-s." "And you came hurriedly up stairs without stopping to rest ?" "Why yes, of course." "Ah. yes. Miss Jones, but you see, though you may not be feverish, you have exertsl yourself so severely that there is so much <■..].-r in your face that I fear it would mislead me. Now tomorrow, if you will IK- SO good, plea.se bathe your cheeks in cool water the last thing, come in a close carriage, ami stop and rest yourself upon the sofa you w-ill find on every landing. In that way I am sure we shall have no more trouble." His speech had the desired effect. The faint flash on her face when she < aim- the next day, was perfectly natural and did not at all retard the picture.— Waihington Capi tal. > athlon Dig buckles are all the rage. Leather fans are in high favor. Mourning fans are edged with crape. Even mantles are male of plaid stuffs. Gay colors in costumes are worn only in the house. French dresses are again made with the high puffed sleeve. Strawberry velvet trims white cos tumes of cashmere and vigogne and nuns' veiling. Dale mauve and pale yellow embroid ery on white kid appears as a trimming for evening toilets. lied in moderate quantities gives a fine daah of bright color to black, gray, pale blue, and ecru dresses. Ihuk brown, green, black or blue velvet is the most elegant trimming for light-colored cashmere dresses. • Gigot sleeves and epaulettes of ribbon or niching are considered cor rect and good form for indoor dresses. Bridal toilets of "Puritanic plain ness" are worn at weddings in fashion able New York society. A novelty for country hats is the use of brown and ecru canvas ribbons, edged with gilt cord for bows aud strings. Lawn-tennis stripes display the new colon of French terra-cotta, sorreb green, onnge, strawberry, tomato-red, primroaa, and bronze d'or. Simple dresses of dark green Surah have deep pleating on the skirt edged with ecru lace. The fitted in Jersey style and the ecru lace forms a yoke-sha|>el collar. The small bonnet Is of green straw trunml with Mat thai Neil rosebuds. It Is the fashion of the season to use figured goods for the lower, skirt and plain goods for the waist and over- j skirt. The exception that proves this rule is when W attend over dresses are made of guy figured sateens with plain skirt* flounced with lace. Black satin and silk suits for sum | mer wear are made nji in the simplest j style-v imitating the woolen costuirms 1 made by the tailors. The Wack draperies fall in wing-like points on very light pleatings or even on skirts that are quite plain in the back breadths and the aprons are un trimmed. The trimmings for dress skirts ure not elaborate, yet are very effective. To finish the foot of Ottoman silk or Hieilienne skirts are four bias gathered frills, made quite scant, an eighth of a yard wide tVhen finished, and sewed j on to lap half their depth to give a | bunchy appearance; these have a self binding or milliner's fold on the lower edge. Thread lace flounces, or imitation of thread lace, and the old-fashioned llama laces nearly cover skirts of cofijred satin Surah—red, green or yellow—to be worn with black grena dine polonaises, trimmed with colored Surah. The new coaching bats for this year include the Sir Peter Lely, Sir Joshua Reynolds and other larg<- picturesque shapes, copied from Flemish, Spanish, and French pictures. Some of the hrims are immensely wide, and have for trimming a wreath of strawberries and green leaves set into a bed of dark wood moss. t ISIT TO A HAREM. aim til' Wlf* <>r -*r link *llnlatr taw In On*. The ladies of the literary Ms letv of the Madison Avenue < .iiigreg;itionai church, New York, listened in 'he churcli lecture r<*>nt to a description by Mrs. John P. Newman, the wife of the clergyman, of her M*lt to (lie harem of the pasha of Ilillah, IJahy lon. Mrs. Newman's visit was made ten years ago, when she was traveling with her husband, who was not per mitted to accompany her into the in terior of the harem. "The gates of the 'Ab -d-- of Bliss," " said Mrs. Newman, "closed instantly after I entered the building. A 1<• rg corridor opened into the main apart ' inent of the harem. It was furni-les with gorgeous tapestry hangings, and sumptuous --atin furniture of curious design, ni" curtained windows 1-•< -k-,l out upon blooming gardens. Range 1 . alrout the chamber in various attitude* were a score of women, t"-o.ne w-r watl on divans and some were kneel ing. Thirteen <>f them were the wives of the pasha. A cloud of negro servants attended to their wants I could sjK-ak but a few words of Arabic, but we were at home on the subject of drirss. which has a universal language of its own atnong women. All the women had large, long-lashed and lustrous eyes, and dark, finely chiseled features. Their costumes were magnificent and strangely fash ioned of rich satins and loaded with , ornaments of gold and jewels and gar lands of |>carLs. Their head-dresses w ere of silxen gauze, held by bands of gold, and surmounted by graceful ostrich feathers. They wore silk trousers and silver slippers, and their finger nails were ting<*l with yellow. To an elderly lady, very queenly in her movements, implicit obedience was yielded by the others. The air of the apartment was heavy with the per fume of sandal wood. A crowd of colored servants brought in cigarettes ami sweetmeats and coffee, and of these delicacies 1 was pressed to par- I take. "The eating of these dainties and I gossiping with each other the whole j day long Is the sole occupation of these women of the harem. They live in luxurious bondage, in blissful igno rance of the outside world. I longed to reveal its beauties and possibilities to them, but could converse only by gestures, lb-fore 1 left a baby pasha was shown to rue. Its mother looked like n veritable "Sleeping lleauty.' The j babe was wrapped in folds of line linen, and its wardrobe consisted of , over fifty different articles of apparel. The interest shown in the baby | the mother by the other women of the harem was to me a beautiful evidence |of the universal sisterhood of i women." Vine culture ceases at various points of altitude in various countries. In Wurtemberg at 10t>0 to 1500 feet; in Switzerland and Tyrol it reachcs 1700. owing to the heat-attracting, narrow valleys; on the southern slope of the Alps 2000 feet, in Sicily .1000 feet, in Tcneriffe .1000 feet, on the Himalayas 10,000 feet. ______ In Great Britain the large sum of ♦lO,- 000,000,000 is invested in railways. Some of the engines weigh 45 tons and take a load of 'JO tone at a speed of from 70 to 50 miles an hour. Tantalooni. ■•ran you remember tnn styles of |.ant iloo tut that have prevailed In this country?" * ••L< t mi* see," said the tailor ; **yi. liny are all before m in my mind's ~yi.. There win* tin- breeches of the period immediately succeeding the Rev olution. They were abort, reaching only to the knees, mostly made of cloth, buttoning at the sides. The wealthy wore them of velvet, or cord |iroy, as the fancy seized them, or of floe cloth. The first long pantaloons,' M-s I have told you were merely com fortable bags, and this was principally ; flue to the fact that they were homo rj.nn—male by willing, but unskillful, hands. The first improvement was wit en they were so altered in construe* ; tion as to button elsewhere than at the ride. Suspenders were not used until I comparatively recent times, somewhere ' about 18-10, I believe. 4 " distinctive styles in breeches daU from the cpsie of the war. Then there '•ante the garments tight at the waist and to the knees, where they bagged enormously, giving the appearance of Swilled joints. The junkets were called • t >ji jns ketK.'and could 1m; reached only by [lulling the vest up to the chin. Later they were cut high in the waist atul medium in the legs. This was a return to iirst principles. The next i • achieve popularity were those miser able 'tights.' They fitted the nether extremities like eelskins, and suddenly swelled to awful proportions at the I itt'.m. They w ere the invention of a r c.vdy. and it was a shame decent peo ]>l- IM r wore them. I'm glad they're ! gone. The hiji pockets caine ipto fashion a! mg x. ith the 'tights.' Young U . *1- f.tin would carry jiistds, and, it lieingfound cumin rs imetoivld another j. n ket t! the coat, the inoffensivW hrei-chi - were suhjei't to the gross ira p .-iti-.n. At first the buttons of these garments were made of bone, then of rubber, later of metal, and now of metal in the shape of rivets, that decay only when the breeches themselves he me deceased. The present styles are elegant, and a di*idod advance on any that have jirecMcd. The trousers of t—<lay i> as comjilete an institution as an be wisheil for. There are well! ; cuntriveil recesses for the watch, the pistol, the whisky flask, keys, knife* • mh, handkerchief, po< ket-bo-jk ; in di'irt, i .erUbing that the most fastid ious man could desire u> have about him. The only thing left for man to do i- to learn how to wear breeches. Tall, slim men, with spider legs, should wear < lose, hut not tight-fitting, gar ments ; fat men look l>est in tight pantaloons ; swells wear stripes ; gamb lers. plaids; Quakers, quiet colors; ministers, plain black cloth. Reporters glory in broadcloth, much to the disgust of the tailors."— Philadelphia Pre*s. The Poise of Animals. In horses the pulse at rest l>eats forty times, in an ox from fifty to fifty-five, and in sheep and pigs alout seventy to eighty l>eats per minute. It may l>e felt wherever a large artery J cranes a bone, for instance. It is in the horse on the cord which crosses nvi r the Ixme of the lower jaw in front of its curved position, or in the bony ridge alove the eye; and in cattls over the middle of the first rib, and In sheep hv placing the hand on the left side, where the Isating of the heart may be felt. Any material variation ) of the pulse from the figures given a!>ve may he considered a Sign of dis ease. If rapid, hard, and full, it is an In dication of high fever or inflammation; if raj'id, small, and weak, low fever,' loss of blood, or weakness. If alow, the prollabilities point to brain dls j ease, and if irregular, to heart troubles. This is one of the principal and sur tests of the health of an animal I ons Finger Halls. According to the writer of an article on "Extraordinary Finger Nails" in the World of Wonders, it is the custom of | the Chinese, Siamese, and Annaincsete allow the nails on ail their finger*, ex cept the fore finger, to grow to a great length, and among the former they sometimes attain the incredible length of from 16 to IS Inches. Among the ! Siamese so distinctive a mark of nobil ity are long nails esteemed that tha belles and beaux wear silver cases; either to protect their nails or else to make people tollers they are there, whereas in reality they are not. As regards the little finger, the writer tells us that "Ambassadors and visitors of distinction from Asiatic states to Eu* roje are often observed to j>ermlt the excessive growth of the nail of the lit tie finger, and this is also a common occurrence with many of the people of India and other parts of Asia" The aggregate value of the property of colored people throughout Tenn essee Is set down at #6.478,951. being an increase of #Gsl,l~9 over the prn> feeding year.