LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Sin kin if I.ldle .'<> a i,rrl v. It is not generally known, of course, that many women, considered most extravagant dressers, manage with clever finesse to look extremely stylish on small allowances. Nothing can he of greater interest to the average woman than the secret of how to look well at a small expense. Some ladles own themselves that they buy inces santly, yet are nover stylishly dressed. In the first place it is tedious to wear one hat with all costumes. Therefore procure one becoming in shape, trim med for exigencies, (let a black hat with a handsome feather as a utility hat, one which can be worn at various points of the compass; then when buy ing a new silk buy a spray of tlowers to suit, and utterly change the aspect of the hat. If possessing any skill, get a capote frame and cover with the dress goods. Learn to make collarettes and fichus; get reversible ribbons and alter at pleasure. Always get dresses whose waists will interchange; this is the best of the black Jersey. Do not go out on successive days dressed the pame way some slight change will suggest a variety of toilets. Comb the hair differently when the hat is placed back to form a puke. Always carry a handkerchief to suit the dress, and as they are cheap this is within possibility always. Above all, get nothing so striking that it will always be recog nized on the street. Do not vitiate a black anil white ensemble by an oddly colored Imw or handkerchief, strive for a general effect. Cut overdresses full enough to allow of different drap ings. (let a black parasol, all black < which will suit any costume. St. Louis lit j >ll hi in in. "Xrw n ml for %%'oiiirn. The average life of French women Is said to be thirteen years longer than that of French men. Washing t lie hands twice a day with Indiau corn-meal, and rubbing on a little glycerine at night>, will keep them Soft and white. Queen Victoria has received a woman ; physician. Mrs. Scharlieb, with un usual favor at Windsor castle, given i her a likeness of her royal self, and , encouraged her to excel in her profes sion. A cotton plantation, a few miles from Monroe, La., has l>een run for the last four years by Mis.f Adah Par ker, supporting her mother and two ' young brothers, and overseeing the work in person. The first woman to arrive in Car- j bonate. Col., received an ovation, markisl by such snlstantial tokens of welcome as a town lot, a mining claim and the money with which to buy a silk dress. A local statesman of Marion, Kan. ! offered s■'> for a l>oU-quilt produced in silence, rather than stitched in g'>ssip, after the usual fashion of sewing soci eties. Twenty-three women perform ed the work in two hours, without speaking a word. The Princess de Segun has given to an interviewer of the Fi'jnm, as the sum necessary for the toilet of a fash ionable Paris woman,for dress-making, 1-1200; millinery, t"kN); linen, $W)0; boots, shoes and slippers, f'100; gloves, hosiery, ribbons, ties and other tritles, 11200; lace,s'>oo; hair-dressing and per fumery, s'.*<>; umbrellas and parasols, 1100; total, fsTOO. There are two women now living In Ohio whose husbands fought in the war of the Revolution, fine of these Is Mrs. Davis, of Perry county; the other, Mrs. Catherine Cline, of Cincin nati, now eighty-three years of age. whose first husband, Hubert Cumming, was a soldier in Washington's army. Bho is a native of I'enn's valley. Pa. Fifteen Chinese ladies at Canton, assigned by their parents to husbands they did not like, and to whom they were to have been respectively and Bimultaneously married on a certain festive day. entered their protests, which availed them nothing; but on the eve of the feast they plunged to gether Into tho river and became the brldc9 of death. I'aihlnn Sum The coffee colors are revived. Copper color and mignonette are again fashionable. Suits of terra-cotta color arc fast losing their popularity. A dress entirely of silk is no longer correct for street wear. Pretty table-cloths have a band of flowered satlne down the center. Taffetas aro In favor to make up In combination with other materials. The fashion of dressing the hair high is becoming more and more gen eral. For evening wear are wide sash rib bons In gold and wblte, or silver and white, Some dresses have two nnd even three vests, only one of which, how over, buttons. A suggestion of silver throughout an entire bluck suit is popular for second mourning. Lace fichus are in demand. Favor ite stylos aro known as tho Fedora and tho Mario Antoinette. The now brocades have corded edges around the figures or tlowers In tho style of the ICseurial laces. Dresses entirely of silk are, as they should be, relegated to carriage wear by women of taste and fashion. Much attention is now paid to *af>- estry, which has come largely into use in the decoration of fine houses. Canvas belts are worn with the llan nel and cloth dresses. These come in a variety of colors, as well as in white. The most elegant French dresses, made of the richest India, changeable Venetla and Lyons silks, have blouse bodices and cutaway over-jackets. Among new fall goods aro woven tapestry patterns with borders of an tique designs and in blocks, bars, checks and plaids, the fabric rough but soft camel's-hair. Sashes aro still greatly in favor for the adornment of young ladles' festival and dinner dresses, those with chine patterns, or flowered centers with satin edges, being preferred. For trimming hats and bonnets, for garden parties and other dressy occa sions, New York milliners are using Turkish muslin embroideries, pinks, greens, blues and whites, with gold and silver tinscL School Life In China. Very much is thought of education in I 'hina, and if a poor hoy takes liter ary honors ho can fill as high a posi tion ;us though he were a boy of rank. All I toys, especially in the south of Chi na, are expected to go to school, but beside the mission schools there are not many for girls. A tutor has not only to teach lMys bow to re:id and write, but jMiliteness forms the basis of Chinese education, and the many cere monies belonging both to public and private life have to l>e learned at school. Very much trouble Is also taken with the writing lessons, "an elegant pencil" being thought of great conse quence, and all the mistakes made in writing the master corrects with red ink. Like boys of Japan, the Chinese barn their lessons out loud, and sometimes make a great < latter in the school ro>m while doing so. llut lews may not talk together in school, and to prevent their doing this the desks are arranged some distance from one another. When a lesson is known the 1 >oy tak-s his D-.k to the master, lows, turns his hack and repeats it. This is called poychou or "hacking the lMmk," and is to pre vent the l>oy from reading the lesson, dthn h the large characters make it very easy for him to do. The way that the Chinese are taught is on a very differ ent system from ours. They learn i>y heart first, anil then have explained to them what they have learned. Their first lesson is on filial piety, and throughout life the Chinese, lew, and girl, and man, and woman, are noted for their love toward parents. They then learn the sacred tritnetricnl Imnk, which treats of the nature of man, moles of education, social duties and many other things. Next come the four classical hooks, and then the five sacred, so when Chinese lews go to school they are well set to work. I'n likc the Japanese, however, they do not think that they have anything left to learn from other nations. The Care of n Watch. Few persons who wear a watch know how to take rare of it. It is a most delicate piece of machinery, and yet more is expected of it, without care and attention, than of a steain en gine or any other piece of machinery. We oil the engine or sewing machine, or whatever it may le, keep it free and clean from dirt and exposure, but our watches are frequently let run as long as they will keep ticking, and then when they suddenly cea-o to beat we wonder why they have stopped. Could an engine or sewing machine !e run five, six or even eight years with out oil, or cleaning,or attention? Cer tainly not. A watch should be clean ed and oiled not less frequently than once in two years, once a year Is not too often. If this is done it will last a life time, nnd. If a good article, may be handed down to several generations. Neglected, It will wear out and become worthless In a few years. Just think of your watch making 18,000 beats an hour, 432,000 a day, and 168,680,000 a year. Is there any other piece of ma. chtnery doing the same amount of work that really has so little rare and attention and costs so tittle to keep in order ? 'l'll I'M) Flt-STOIIMN. Thf llral I'lnrr for Nafty when the Tliuiuler Holla nml (he l.lultt olnu Klaihci* AH tho human body Is a good com ductor for the fluid, it becomes over.' one in a heavy thunder-Hhower to seek a place of Hafety. A thunder-bolt, though seemingly at "the sport of cir cumstances," does move really in obe dience to most perfect law. In descend ing from a surcharged cloud, it seeks the nearest and best conductor. I*, makes a zig-zag movement through the air, because this element is a bad conductor, and does all it can to resist the intruder. The lire of the bolt it self is but tho consequence of its battle with the air through which it lights its way. Sometimes a bolt passes from one cloud to another, and then the thunder-peal is one long-continued re verberation. Hut when a holt strikes the earth, the peal Is sudden, solid, sometimes deafening. As sound travels at the rate of 1120 feet per second, ami light with such velocity that we need not here con sider it, the distance between the ob server and the s|>ot struck by the Ixilt may be readily estimated. It is done by counting tin- seconds intervening between the flash and the report Thus: If ten seconds elapse, ttie dis tance is 11,200 feet; if thirty seconds, or half a minute, 33,' Mi feet. In caw of near and heavy die charges of electricity, it is always un safe to stand beneath a tree, la-cause it is a g>M>d conductor, or near a large risk, or mass of iron, or Ixxly of water, for tie- same reason. It is also unsafe to stand in an open fie ld at a considerable distance from any promi nent object which might serve as a protector. If alone in smli a place, it were well, in an electric battle, to draw near, but not too near, to some rock or tree-, or l-udy of water which would be likely in your stead to take the ls.lt. Refuge in a barn, especially when filled with hay and grain and cattle, should always be avoided. If in a house in a heavy thunder storm, the doors and windows should be closed, for lightning tends to follow an atmospheric current, and licm c so many persons are killed while standing in a doorway, or while sitting at an open window. When lightning strikes a dwelling-house, it usually goesdown the chimney, or a corner of the build ing, runs along tho walls, biking 1m 11- uires. looking-glasses, lamps and other metallic artirh-s in its course. Hence it is always dangerous, when the storm Is near, to remain in the corner of a room, or to rest against the walls, or near a stove, or lamp.or 1<-king-glass, or. indeed, any g<**l conductor of < !■<■. tricity. A tall tree standing close by a dwell ing-house serves as a kind of light ning-rod; yet, sometimes, the fluid leaves the tree, as it d-s-s a r r. A Tramp's Mistake. A tramp passed through Flatliush, Long Island, a few days ago. Next door to the Reformed church is the parsonage. A man with a big straw hat. a linen duster ami ecclesiastical pants was pulling weeds in the garden. "Oh, yes!" remarked the tramp, over the fence; "you're a nice kind of a man, ain't you? Pull your own weeds, don't you? You'll get up In the pulpit < n Sunday and lteg for the heathens in Klamshatka and Hinder stand and Cannonball islands, while there's heathens nearer home wot can't git work. I'd like to come over there anil mash you all to pieces." And then the big straw* hat and the linen duster and the ecclesiastical pants got up, crawled over the fence, and knocked the tramp into the mud. The "minister" was the hired man, who had just l*-on told that he could leave on the first of the month. A s'otcl Dnel. While gentlemen shoot each othei with pistols or pierce each other wilb swords, the common folk settle theii troubles in their own way. Recently near Kalish two Polish peasants, blacksmiths by trade, had to settle th question which one of them should have a girl with whom lx>th were in love. Without much ado they armed themselves with the heaviest hammer* they had and Itegan the flght The one swung his dreadful weapon straight at the head of his antagonist, but the latter skilfully avoided the blow, and then in his turn he swung his hammer and crushed the head of his rival. He got tho girL rOPIt'M OF TIIE DAY. It Is a curious coincidence that If the cholera should break out In thin country thlH year It will lai tho third time it lias done ho at intervals of sev enteen ycurH. In 1832 it raged vio lently lu re, so it did in 1840, and again, hut more mildly, in 18fi0. A physician said that leprosy was a comparatively common disease among the Norwegian settlers of northwes tern Wisconsin, and the statement was widely copied. The Milwaukee Hintl- U'/ has been unable to find a case In tho state after a protracted search. Is tho poor bachelor to be driven from tho face of the earth? In Mani toba he is subjected to an extra tax, and in Prance such military discrimi nations arc to be made against him as to threaten to destroy him and ids li!>- crty-loving tribe amid tho hardships and carnage of horrid war. This is the iron age. The value of all the gold and silver mined In the I'nited States in the year l s -2 was not equal to that of iron. The amount of silver (coining value) mined was j (If.,8<(t,000; of gold, (32.500,0U0; of pig iron manufactured, (l<>(i,3fifi,42'.t. The value of coal mined during the year was (14fi,fi32,581. It is seriously proposed that several of tin- Kuropean powers shoul 1 unite in the suppression of Mohammedan pilgrimages to Mecca by the occupa tion of the Holy City, which is so charged with |x*tilencealmost always, and which sends so frequently the scourge of cholera over Egypt and the Past. The remedy suggested is a dar ing one. It might cause a terrible war. Hut something has to lie done very st>on. A man who has kept an account of the weather, claims that it invariably ' repeats itself, and gives the following a- the result of his observations: All years ending in "or 1, are extreme- I ly dry. Those ending in 2, 3, 4, 5 or C, are extremely, wet. Those ending | in 7 or 8, are ordinarily well balanced, j Those ending in fi have extremely cold winters. Those ending in 2 have an early spring. Those ending in 3 or 4 are subject to great floods. The intensity of the struggle for a j livelihood in Kngland is illustrated by the statement of a magazine writer that there are ,qi *),(*• families in Lon don who are in the habit of pawning small articles and that more than ' C.I*MSI unclailllisl pledge- are Sold every year in that city,while over 270,- (i.mio are taken in pledge in the course of the year throughout the country. <>f course, some of these phdgcs are of st . n gids. but the > writer estimate* that they do not cx rcd more than one in 11, 1 M•. Eight million acres of government land was taken up by settlers in Dako ta last year, acci.rdlng to the rcjxirt of the land commissioner at Washington. As no person can tak more than three hundred and twenty acres (a pre-emp tion or holm si ad and a timber claim), this means that not le.-s than twenty- . five thousand, and probably thirty-live thousand farmers locatd in Dakota, I during the fiscal year ending .June 30, 18*3, upon government lands alone, without taking into calculation the millions of acres sold fnun the railroad j land grants. In Mexico nearly every one is a smoker. The school children who have i done well in their studies are reward- | ed by being allowed to smoke a cigar ! as they stand or sit at their lessons. The schoolmaster is seldom without a 1 cigar in his mouth. In the law courts all |K-rs< ms commonly enjoy their to-; barro freely, and even the accused in a criminal trial is not denied this in dulgence, hut is allowed, if his cigar ette goes out in the heat of the argu ment, to light it again by borrowing that of the officer who stands at his side to guard him. The National railroad company of Japan, incorporated with a capital of (20,(100,000, under the auspices of the Japanese government, two years ago, has adopted the American system of building railroads and is now con structing the main line which extends from Tokio to Anderson, the northern seaport of Japan, a distance of 450 miles. A part of the main line, about fifty miles in length, has already been finished and will lie open to the public this month or next The terminus of the line is the commercial center of a province where silk culture is the principal occupation of the people. The silk raised in this province is highly esteemed In foreign markets and is exported to America as well as to Europe in large quantities every year. It la expected that the whole | lino will be finished within thre years. Leonard Case of Cleveland, a bache lor millionaire and the munificent founder of the Case School of Applied Science, was a man of amiable charac ter, of fine culture arid of remarkable abilities, but his life was so clouded by constant ill health and by a singular constitutional shyness that his talents were unknown even to his own towns people, and hardly appreciated by ids few intimate friends. He wrote poems, sketches and tales for his own amusement, rarely publishing anything but an occasional mathematical paper in the transactions of tin- Smithsonian Institution. The manuscript of a complete novel, said to be excellent, was found after his death in a mass of documents and is running now in the ' '< ntury. Dakota's aristocrat, the Count de Mores, is a thoroughly practical man of business. Securing a large tract of land in the valley of the Little Mis souri, in a region bounded by limitless stock ranges and buffalo and deer walks, he set to work erecting houses, offices, stables, barns, and corrals f"T bis cattle, gathered in a settlement of farmers, provided their families with a church and school-house, and to,o(>o, and ge kept invio late. Hence the saying "sub rosa" among them, and since among Chris tian nations. ' The Evil Eye. The Russians are great believers in the evil eye; and foreigners, on Rus sian children being introduced to them, should lieware of praising their lieauty, or of showing for them any of that admiration which, under like cir cumstances would be expected in western Europe. To praise the child is to hew Itch it, to bring it ill-luck—to Infect it, In short, with "the evil eyes." Charms and incantations must then lie resorted to, and in serious cases the priest is called in. Hy humility and prayer the influence of tho evil eye may be averted; but It is desirable that the stranger, on seeing for the i first time thec-.ildiwn of any family he Is visiting, shall not allow himself to exclaim; "What a prett/ girl t- ) "Whst f flna hoy f" FEAHLH OF THOUGHT. No man should part with til* owrf Individuality and become that of a®*, other. lit! who in not earnestly Binder# liv 4* in hut half his being, Bclf-mutila'ed, self-par aiyzed. The l>ost society and conversation is that In which the heart baa a greatef share than the head. It Is often owing to a consciousnaß of a designing temper In ourselve* that we are led to suspect others. He courageous and noble-minded; our own heart, and not other men's opinions of us, forms our true honor. Opposition is what we want and must have, to he good for anything. Hardship is the native soil of manhood and self-reliance. A clear conscience is worth more than gold or silver. Hence itlsnecee sary to live so that our acts and daily life will indicate it. Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words or in good or der. If you devote your time to study you will avoid all the irksormsness of life; nor will you long for the approach of night, licing tired of the day; nor will you la.* a burden to yourself, nor your society unsupportable to others. Esthetic Cremation. The new crematory in the Campo Verano at Rome w as used for the first time a few days ago and the corpse of hignor Cipriani, an Italian senator was reduced to ashes in two hours and a half. The three other existing cre matories of importance are at Got La* Milan and Washington, Fa, respective ly. In s< me of them gas is used as fuel, hut in Rome the body, enveloped In a specially made shroud, rests on an iron frame above a fire of wood and mal; and it is la-lieved that no other method of cremation is so simple and at the same time so cheap and unot* jectionable. The new crematory is a handsome building in the Egyptian atyle, arid consists of three chamber* two of which are above the ground In one of these latter the actual incin eration takes place, and in the other Is kej t a regmt- r for the j reservation of full ] artirulars of every corpse that Is burned. Ik-math these rooms is a spa. do us vault, in which on shelves are ranged ornamental urns of jiorcelain. bronze and silver, to contain the ashes of the dead. The establishment is, in sh< rt. i well found and luxuriously a) jfintM that it almost seems that we might If entering upen an era in which a Mio tic cremation shall If as fashionable as {esthetic dress and fur niture l ave la-en during the last dec ade. Indian Workers on n Railroad. A wnter In theOmaha(Xeb. )Bee was riding t<> Dmaha from Sioux city over the- Minneapolis and Omaha railway, The roadtfd had suffered soine from rain and swollen streams, and scatter ed along the- way w ere greiups of men repairing the damage by filling in with earth. The swarthy features of many of th<>s<-thus e-mploye-d attracted the attention of passenger*, and some one asked if they were not Indians, lie was told they were. "How comes it they are working here as section hands?" .asked the writer of a train hand. "Why, they appear to be stuck on the work," he replied. "They come and hang around the section houses and insist on being hired whenever there is any extra work to be done, and every regular gang has both Winnebagoes and Omahas in it. They see in to think they are entitled to this employment" "Are they effi cient workmen, or do they sometimes try to shirk?" "You better hellers they work just as good as any of 'em. Talk alout the Chinese section hands on the Union Pacific; they are nowhere "longside of them Indians. They'd soon get bounced if they didn't do s full day. As it is they make as much as any of 'em." All the Time. Mr. .Tales was talking to his oldest daughter about a visitor who was at their house. "How long will he remain?" the young lady asked. "I guess he will stay here all the time." "Good heavens, we don't want him f* "But he told me he was going to stay." "Did ho positively aay so?" "Well, not exactly, but he said he'd remain until your mother got in good humor, and If he really meant what he said, I guess we might as well prepare for a permanent boarder. At least, daughter, that has been my experience for the thirty-five years I've been r*. malning."