EAOTEB' DEPARTMENT. A ( liliifir Among the many elegant present 9 Daniel Leech, of the Smithsonian Institution, recently brought his charming wife anl family from Cali fornia is a remarkably beautiful and elaborately embroidered Chinese bed spread, with pillow shams to match. The materials are pale blue and shrimp pink silks, neatly quilted. Richly embroidered in appropriate colors are groups of storks forming center and corner pieces, while a graceful border is formed of delicately tinted tlowers in the fine needle work so deftly wrought by the skillful fingers of the Chinese. Heavy cords and tassels of blue ami pink silk make a substantial finish to these beautiful articles.— 1 Vnshinyton litpnbliirin. 01.l Ilrform I "or I It is, perhaps, not generally known that dress reform was suggested in En gland at lisist In personal experience. I think there are few girls whoscexpenses for clothing exceed US >0 annul lly. My expenses do not j amount to more than that, and I have to hire nearly all my sewing done. The items would be: Two tailor made lressos. a silk dress. #:$0; under clothing. |l5; that is to say, the ma terials OOuld |be bought for that; hats j and lionnets. #35; gloves, #10; shoes. #l4; Incidentals -collars, cuffs, late-, stockings and other articles—would | not amount to inure than #>>. Some years the expenses might run up a little higher, as a new circular or cloak wirtild liocome necessary, but the cost of the average young lady's apparel will not exceed #2' to very often."— Clevelanrl (Ohio) HerabU I ••hlnti Large collars, capes and pelerines are much worn. Pleated brim and cap-crown tmnnets are much worn. The short, glace kid glove is almost a thing of the past. Long wristed, tan-colored and buff gloves are all the rage. Wats with eccentric brims are worn to a limited extent. French gray and Egyptian red com bine well In costume. Lace is the corroet trimming for all one-fabric thin dresses. Hats are, worn far back in the head, bonnet* tip-tilted forward. Hurano lace cloth is very fashionable in F ranee and England. Children's muslin caps have wide brims or borders of embroidery. Waistcoats for ladies are revived, and worn under cut-away jackets. Dresses all of one fabric are more in favor than combination costumes. Medium-sized bats or tionaets are more worn than very large or very am all ones. Skirt* trimmed with lace, put on In half-moon shapes, will be very fashion aide. An inside waist of the same shade should always lie worn under every Jersey. A new llama laco of very fine qual ify is coming into use for black lace bonnets. Mousquetairc gloves have been im proved by a series of elastics on the inner side of the wrists. Muslin bonnets with rap crowns and pleated lace btiins appear among other millinery novelties. All the newist hosiery for both ladies and children are in solid colors, dark shades generally preferred. The fancy for using yellow in all sorts of odd ways seems to increase as the season advances. Tailor-made street suits usually in browns or deep grays remain the most fashionable. The much-worn tcrra-cotta and crushed-strawberry shades are on the wane. Bonnet-string* noiv tie under the chin, instead of across the back. 11 is a fancy with French dress makers to cut the bottom of the skirt into turret blocks, and under these to place a pleated ruflle. The small colons 1 batiste pocket handkerchief, trimmed with lace and worn in the front of the bodice, is a pretty English fashion. A new London bonnet is called the Jumbo. The crown is of gold braid, pirated on gold cord, and the brim is a thick, soft pleating of eream-colored velvet. The frames of fine fans are of tor toise shell, mother of pearl, black carved or brown polished wood, some times varnished and ornamented with small pictures. The economical will be glad to barn that silks will Is* cheaper than ever in the fall, as thousands of pieces of last year's silks have lately been pur chased at Lyons at cost prices. The Ibtzar says that independent young women select some simple style that is becoming to them, and have all their dresses, of INIUI rich and plain fabrics, made by one pattern. The Sitrniiu? of the Declaration. In thinking of that instrument one is apt to call up before him an august assemblage gravely seated around a table, with the Deelaration spread out upon it. and each member of the Con tinental Congress in turn taking a pen and with great dignity affixing to it his name. Nothing, however, can be ' further from that which actually took place. Very few of the delegates, if indeed any, signed the original docu ment on the 4th, and none signal the present one now in Indejiendence Hall, for the very good reason that it was not then in existence. f>n July I'd Congress voted that the Declaration IK> engrossel on parch ment. Jefferson, however, says that New York signed on July 15. Conse quently New York must have signed the original copy of the Declaration liefore it had gone into the hands of the engrosser. On what day the work was done by the copyist is not known. All that is certainly known is that on the 2d of August Congress had the document as engrossed. This is the document in existence now in Inde pendence Hall. It is on parchment, or something that the trade rails parch ment. On that day (August it was signed by all the riiemU-r* present. The original Declaration is lost, or rather was probably only purposely destroyed by Congress. All the signa tures were made anew. When the business of signing was ended is nof known. One. Matthew Thornton, from New Hampshire, signed it in No vetnlier. when he became a member for the first time; and Thomas McKcan, from Delaware, as he says himself, did not sign till January. 1777. Indeed, this signing was, in effect, what at the present ne of the ls-st rules in conversa tion is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish he had left unsaid. Brunkcn Itusdun Peasants. Moujks are curious when drunk. They hardly ever quarrel, but become affectionate and embrace e.u-h other. Their idea of drinking is to imbibe until they are quite insensible. When I w ,ts in Kusxia I had a coach man, who once a month used to come and a.- t* a drinking-hou.se, show the proprietor his money and state how long he might remain there. Then lie would sit down at a table with some spirits ls-f.ir him. Gradually and solemnly he would get drunk, place his arms before him on the table and recline on them. Thus he would remain for two days and nights, the proprietor supplying him with more liquor whenever he lisikisl up. His time up, the proprie tor would drag him outside the house and set him up in the snow against the wall, having first filled his cap with snow. Every charitably disposed brother coachman passing by would lx his ears. In about half an hour this discipline would noter liiui: b® would get up. shake himself together and resume hlsdutles.— Inn-tun Truth t What Causes the Timber Line. The causes of what is known as the tirnlsT line on high mountains eontin. lies to Is* discussed In scientific period icals. and the attempt to connect the line in some degree with mean annual temperature. The writer of this par agraph has had the matter in mind when on th<* high elevations, and' the explanation seemed very simple. On all these high peaks there is a con tinuous. though in some rases slow, de scent of the soil from the summit to the base of the hill. He has neve r seen • case where there was soil en ongli to grow a tree where trees were not growing. As the wash from rain or melting snow will Ih nearly uni form in a given range, there will Ik* of 1 necessity some uniformity in the tim- 1 ber line. On Mount Washington and | other high places little plots of dark vegetable earth can often lw* found far almvß the present timl**r line the re mains of trees which existsl lie fore the earth was washed away. What is called the timber line seldom shows graduated sizes, as a mere mAlter of temperature would call for. General ly the line is formed of very tall trees, and immediately scrubby plants, from the atisence of deep soil, hiigin.—AVto York IntUpmdent, Hints r Passage. "How many dnkey# have you In Austin, my little man?" asked a pas senger on the South hound train, pro truding his head through the car window at the depot "O, we've got some few donkeys here in Austin, but most of them keep right on through to San An tonfa" The stranger bumped the back of his head on the car window and ! buck In hia scat. —' Si/ling*. FKKFFJIES FROM FLO WE KM. | Noutr f I lie I'avnrlUa itl the I'lanta by Which They ure Mnpplled* "Hood perfumes are inarle directly from flowers, and not out of cheese, I coal tar, and so on, as people have been lead to suppose," said a New York chemist to a Nun reporter. "Take th'* J Jessamine, for instance; that's always a favorite, and is used in the make-up of many perfumes. Two different specimens of the flower are used, bu the perfume is made principally from the Jasminum grandillorum. In France the cultivation of this plant for the perfumery trade is an impor tant industry, though the plant is Homewhat difficult to raise. Very hot seasons are most favorable for it the hotter the weather, the richer the per fume. Old ladies take to lavender in any shape, and the lavender shrub pro duces a powerful volatile oil that is used not only in perfumery and for flavoring dishes, but in medicine also. Lavender produces three distinct oils knotfn to the. trade. The poorest Is commonly called spike oil. Two other kinds are distilled from a species of the shrub which is common in England ' and the French mountains. The Eng lish oil is the best worth ten times as much as the French. The v illagers aliout Itcdington and Wellington, Eng land, and other places, at one time raised the entire supply. The supply is now growing less, and consequently the price is going up, and the business r, f raising lavender is a paying one. The English crop, if you call it a crop, is gathered in July and August. Then the flowers are in full bloom and do not require any cleaning or trimming. Boys and girls pick them, and flowers tnd stalks are distilhsl together, every fifty pounds giving about ten ounces if oil. The imjKirtisl oil mines mostly fruin France, though a great deal mines from Algeria and north Italy. Lavender water finds an enormous sale iiuotig barbers, many of whom make their own di-coction* out of anything Ihey can get hold of. Heal lavender water is made from lavender oil mixed with rose and orange water. A cheap kind is c albs I usseii-e d'aspic, and is listillisl from a wild plant and doctor al with turpentine and camphor. "Thyme is an old-fasliiouod sort of a plant, but thymus vulgaris, common in France, Greece, und many countries gives us a valuable perfumery oil. In France they take from it two entirely different oils, r-d and white, the gath ering twing done in the summer months. In the same localities the rosemary is cultivated, and, being a (Mipular perfumery, is in great demand at a high price. Patchouli comes from the oil of the rogogteneon patchouli, a plant collected by the natives of the Malay islands. It is extremely power ful, a little of it going a great ways when the wind is fair. It is always in f.tshion and is ussl with the attar of rose. "In attar of ruse there is probably more dis-eption than in any other jxjrfume Certain kinds come front Turkey, done up in curious lsittles; but I learmsl some time ago, on good authority, that these I Kittles and their contents were manufactured in a Connecticut town, and the profits were about seventy five cents on a dollar. Even In the east, where the genuine attar of rose is made, it is ad nitrated with oil of rose geranium and the oil of a grass found in India, and so great is the cheating that the trade in this grass alone is an lm|Kirtarit one. The head. I quarters of the trade are in Turkey The genuine thing comes from Turkey and Bulgaria Smyrna furnishes a great ileal. The nativ-s of the valley of the (binges also produce a good deal for home consumption, and some is produced in France. Any one who know s the business can tell the genu ine article at a glance. The rose from which this valuable oil is taken is the i rosa Damascena, and rose water is I made from a decoction of the leaves of , the same plant. The |M>tals of rosa Gallba. grown in Asia Minor and vari ous parts of Knglaud and Europe, are greatly valued, and the leaves also bring -a high price. The same decep | tion is found in these, those imported from France Iwing often dyed with some nniline. A drop of ammonia, however, detects the fraud. "The funeral tuberose produces a powerful perfume, but the violet Is most esteemed for its chaste odor. The viola odorata is the one we use, and in France its cultivation gives em ployment to hundreds of men, women, and children. The harvest of violets is from February to April. "Verliena was at one time a favorite perfume. It comes from thf leiuon grass plant, common at Singa|>ore. In Provence the cultivation of the rose geranium U an important business. From this plant also eomes the famous essence of African geranium, valued as an adultraat for attar of rose, it being nearly as expensive, 2,' MO poinds of the raw material producing only twd pounds of tin; essence. "Mignonette is liked .-is a perfume, anil Is variously imitated. Hergamut also has its admirers. The latter is an oil taken, not from a flower, hut from the fruit of the lemon like citrus ber gatnia. In .Sicily the tns-s are culti. vated when green, about 2',0 prod no. ing six ounces of oil. Most of the oil is shipped from Palermo and Messina. "One of the most popular perfumes 's hellothrope, but it does not come from the flower of that name, as one might suppose, but is made from a combination of violet and vanilla. The beautiful lily of the valley is largely used In l'ram e for making perfumery. The daffodil, which is found every where, is also much used. The lemon also is used in perfumery, and so is the orange." "Torpedoing" an Oil Well. In his article on "Striking Oil," in the Century, E. V. final ley says "When a well falls it is usually 'torpe doed' to start the flow afresh. A long tin tube, containing six or eight quarts of nitro glycerine, is lowered into the hole and exploded by dropping a weight upon it. The tremendous force of the powerful ex plosive tears the sand and rock apart ami loosens the imprisoned oil and gas. Nothing is heard on the surface save a sharp report like a pistol shot, hut the ground heaves perceptibly, and pretty M*,n the oil eomes spurting out In a jet that breaks In spray alsive the lofty derrick. The 'torpedo man' is one of the interesting jwrsonages of the nil region who is seen with most satisfac tion from a distance. He travels about in a light vehicle with his tubes and bis nitro-glvcerine can, traversing rough roads at a jolly round trot, tak. ing the chances of an accidental explo sion, and whistling or singing as he g'M-s. Sometimes the chance# are against him, and a blow of a wheej against a stone sets free the terrible force imprisoned in the white fluid in his can. There is no occasion for a funeral after such an accident, for there is nothing to bury. Man. horse arid 'buggy' are annihilated in a Hash, and an ugly hole in the ground and a cloud of sinokc are all that is left to show what has hajq>crifd. The tor|>odo company buys a new horse and hires a new man, and there is no more difficul ty alHiut one transaction than the other. The business of *tnrjK.*loing* w.-lls is in the hands of a single com pany, which has made n large amount of money from a patent covering the process of using explosive# under a fluid. Most oil producers regard the patent as invalid, because nature sup plies the fluid in the well into which the nitro-glycerine tule {glowered; but the courts have sustained the patent. nonetimes well-owners 'torpedo' their wells stealthily by night to avoid pay ing the high price charged by the com pany. This operation is called 'moon lighting.' and many lawsuits havo grown out of it." Houses and Homes in the Great f'lfy. The population of New York city is now nearly l/g 10,000, and for dwelling purpose in w hole or in part, says the Sf irntijlr Atiwri'iiii there are said to be T5.368 houses. Of these 4'.',.Vm are exclusively occupied as dwellings- The total numlxTof families is 2<>o,(si and of this number only 32,100 own their houses. The . remainder pay nnts. Within a comparatively brief period large numWrs of what are known .as apartment houses or Hats haxe been erected. For the most part they consist of large buildings alwuit *0 f.-et wide, '.*t feet deep, and (> stories high. Through the centre is a hall and stairway. On each side of the hall way on each story, tho space is oc copied by a series of connected rooms small in sire, ordinarily intended to consist of a parlor, kitchen, dining room, bath room, and three lied rooms with sundry closets. These apart ments, collet lively railed "a flat," are cranijted and contracted, affording but a limited amount of light and air. The rentals run from s.'k' to $7O per month, de|>ending upon the location of the building. For I tetter flats the rents arp front $lOO to S.VNi jcr month; for the latter sum large and superior apartments, in a ten story fireproof building may )• had, with passenger elevator, etc. For entire dweJling houses, of three or four stories, with nine to thirteen 1 rooms, the rentals vary from ftiOO a year to $3000; the finer houses cost ing much more. The opening of tha great bridge l iptween New York and 1 Brooklyn will, it is supposed, lie of I great advantage to the working people of New York, by enabling them to se cure new and comfortable homea at moderate prices, without the necessity of the close rmwdirg to which they are now subjected. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. It Is stated that the rare metal that riuui has been obtained in some quan tity and in a pure elate by Nelson. The use, or rather the abuse of min eral waters, it is said, is liable to pro duce atonic dyspepsia. The result it an undue dilution of the stomach and a harassing malady. It should always be carefully borne In rnind that in bare wires, out of d>orH, erect'-d for the purpose of con ducting electricity, there is always more or less danger to person or , property. What facts were noted of several water-spouts seen iri the Pacific ocean have been examined by Mr. George At wood, and lie concludes as follows: The waterspouts on tie- Pacific were caus-d by a cloud heavily charged with cool moisture drifting from the high mountains of Costa itica coming into contact with air currents and clouds traveling in a different direction and of a warmer temperature, hy which font.vt the clouds surcharged with aqueous vapor a< quired a rotary rno tion, causing them to discharge a part of thHr moisture and make them assume a cylindrical form,which finally fell by its own gravity into the ocean. Neith America is rich in woods for engineering purpose*. The yanduhay Is exceedingly hard and durable; the couroupay is also very hard and rich in tannin. The quebracho is, how. ever, more interesting than any, and grows abundantly in the forests of I.a Plata and I'ra/il. it resembles oak in the trunk, arid is used for railway slccjx rs, telegraph jmles, pibs, and SO on. It is heavier than water, its spe cific gravity varying between 1.203 and 1..333. The color at first is redtlish, like mahogany, but grows darker with time, being rich in tannin it is em ployed for tanning leather in IJra/il. and has recently In-en introduced for that purpose into France. A mixture tif one-third of |>owdered quebracho and two-thirds of ordinary tan gives good results. The baling j*>int of wat'-r Is ordi narily 213 degrees, but every liquid has a jsiint of its own. Thus sulphu ric ether 1-oils at degrees, alcohol at 170 degrees, oil of turpentine 316 de grees. sulphuric acid 020 degrees and mercury 002 degrees. The President's Joke. President Artnur is fond of playing practical jokes. An incident occurred at the White House recently that afforded considerable amusement. A party of Mr. Arthur's friends were here on a visit from New York. The I'resident had show n them through the White House. The party were loud in their praise of the improve ments in the presidential mansion. Coining through the cast room, or gen eral reception room. Mr. Arthur halted and said in the most serious manner: "I *o you see that colored man stand, ing over there?'* pointing to a well preserved specimen of the African race. "Well," continued the host, "ho has a most remarkable history." "How so?" "Guess," said Mr. Arthur. "An exiled king?" said a bewitching young lady member of the party. "An ex-Str-et Commissioner?" ob served a practical Wall street broker. "Neither," said the President, "Lis ten; he has l>een sold into slavery ovct "<* times. "Impossible." "Fact, I assure you," said Mr. Ar thur. The colored man was call-sl over and questioned. "Mv good man." said the Wall-street broker, "is it true that you have 1-een sold in slavery more than 7<> times?" The colored representative show-sl his whit" teeth and bowed. "Remarkable!" was the general re sponse. "What are you doing now?" was asked. "Well. boss. I'm travelling with an I'ncle Tom's cabin company. I am put on tlie auction block every night and sold."— Washington Capital. Janet Home from Church. Janet was not comely, but an ex cellent servant and especially devout. One Sunday afternoon, on returning from the kirk, she mentioned to the ladies of the family how much she had enjoyed the services. Shortly after ward. they heard her scolding at • great rate, and one of the ladies rw nionstrated with her: "Why, Janet, I'm afraid the service did you very little good, after all. as you seem to have lost your t mper." "Ah, wed,* said Janet. "1 left Willum to look after things, and everything's so upset it'n enough to take the taste o' prsyer ou|£ ©' one's mouth."