The Skein We Wind.
It you ami |, to-day
f hotiM atop and lay
Onr lifework down, and lot our hand* fall
whom they will—
Fall down to lio quit© still
And if aomo other hand should como and
atoop to tiiul
The tlimuds wo carried, ©o that it ooald wind
BegUming wboro wo stopped; if it should
ootno to keep
Our lifowork going, sook
To carry out the good design,
Distinctively niado yours or tnino,
What would it tlndT
Some work wo must bo doing, true or lalsc;
Some tin ends wo wind; some purpose so
exalts
Itself that wo look up to it, or down,
As to a crown
To bow before, and wo wonvo threads
Of ilifl • rent length and thickness—some uiero
shreds—
And wind them round
Till ull the skein of lilo is t>oun<l,
Sometimes forgetting all the time
To ask
The raluo ot the threads, or chooio
Strong stuff to use.
No hand hut winds some thread;
It cannot stand quite still till it is dead
Bo' what it spins ami winds a little skein.
God made each hand for work—r.ot toil-stain
Is required, but every hand
Spins, though hut n>|>cs of sand.
It lovo should come,
Stooping ulxivo when wo are done
To find bright threads
That we have he] 1, that it may spin them
longer—find but shreds
That break when touched —how cold,
Sad, "hireling, portionless, the hand will hold
The broken shreds, and know
Fresh cause for more.
{TRAM'S VISIT.
"Going to git married, bo von,
Hiram?" •
Hiram Honeydew colored at the alr
rupt question, but he answered, trutlu
fully:
'•I don't see what else I kin do,
Aunt l'eggy. Sister Susan is bent on
a-marryin' the school-teacher an'
a-goin' off totlio Black Hills or sont'eres
away out of all creation. An' here's
all the fall work a-comin' on—that
medder hay to stack, an' cm to cut,
pumkins to gcther an' all them wind
fall" an' Siberian crabs to make up in
ciiler fur the apple-butter, an' no help
to be got fur lovo or money. An' it
stands to reason I can't tend the farm
and ciH'k the vittles, too. S 1 thought
soon as 11) rash in' was over you've
promise.l to stay till then. Aunt l'eggy
—an' then 1 thought I'd go round
•om'eres nigh about (.'lover ('reek
wh ere some of our kinfolks live, an'
stay a week or so, an' git a a—some
body that ■ an housekeep an' the like—
do the milkin' an' churnln', 'tend to
puttin' up fruit, makin' apple-1 utter,
take keer of the chickens an' ducks,
an" do the cookin' an' clcanin'. Sister
Susan was a powerful gixx! housekeep
er, an' she couldn't 1*; leat a-cookln',
either. If I could llnd a g<xxlsort of a
Woman that 'ud c<x.k ekal to Susan, I
wouldn't mind a-marryin' lier."
"Humph! >o you expert to git a
wife an' a good ..ne, t<>o, in a week or
two, liev? You're a gump, Hiram
Honeydew, an' notliin' else; Besides,
you'd ought to git a wife you could
keer fur. as well as a good housekeep.
er. Housekeepin' an' cookin' ain't
even tiling, I tell you. There's sech a
thing as afleckshin between man and
wife."
But Hiram scouted at this idea
"One woman is the same as another
to me," he returned, loftily. "I want
a housekeeper, an' that's why I'm
a-goin' to marry at all."
"W.il then. Hiram, if you're bound
an' determined to go an' hunt up a
wife that a-way,rnebbe I kin help you a
little. I knowed the folks altout
Clover Creek like a lwmk when yer
Uncle Eli was alive, an' we lived on
the old Honeydew farm. An' thar
was Mahnla Xutter, she married Job
Perky, an' they bought a farm on
Clover llill. t'other aide the creek-
There wan't nolxxly could beat Mahnla
a housekeepin* them da>s. an' most
likely her darter, Marthy Jane, hes
tuck after her. They are sort o' kin
folks o' yourn, too. Mahaly was yer
Uncle Eli's own cousin. An' ef you
like, I'll write 'em a few lines, an' telj
'em you're a-comin, an' sort o' perpare
'em. fur nobody likes to hev comp'ny
•nexpected."
And so it was settled, much to
Hiram's relief, and lie whetted his
scythe and went out to mow a feed of
green clover for his horses with a
lighter heart than ho had hod for a
week.
For he had made up his mind that if
Martha Jane was as good a
housekeeper as Aunt l'eggy said, he
would bring her home with liin, as
Mrs. Iloneydow in a week's time, if
•he was willing.
And no doubt she would be, for
Hiram was quite a good-looking man i
with pleasant brown eyes, curly brown
hair, and a thick, brown moustache.
Moreover lie was "well-to-do," and
almost any of the girls in his own
neighborhood would have jumped at
the chance of presiding over Ids broad
acres and picturesque cottage farm*
house, half burled in sugar-maples and
tall bollard poplar-trees.
But to Hiram, as to most others,
distance lent enchantment to the view,
and he was "bound and determined, as
Aunt Peggy bad said, to seek bis fate
in some of the wide old farm-houses
dotting the fertile borders of (.'lover
Creek.
♦ ♦ J * * 4
"He'll lie a mighty good ketch fur
you an' no mistake, Marthy Jane,"
commented Mrs. Perky, when Aunt
Peggy's letter had been duly received
and read. "A mighty good keteh, am
you must do your best to ketch him,
'Tain't often a gal has socli a chance
throwed at tier head, an' if you've got
a mite ' pluck about you, you won't
let them stuck-up Briggses git ahead
of you. Delilah l!riggs would give
her ears to git ahead of you, I'll bet a
button!"
To which bit of logic Martha Jane
assented, with a toss of her head, and
the assurance that Delilah Briggs, nor
no one else, wasn't a-goin' to git ahead
of her.
Consequently, when farmer Perky
i drove his gray team to the gate, with
Hiram Honeydew on the seat beside
him. the necessary preparations had al.
ready been made -tloors scoured,
baking done, and a substantial country
dinner, with a dessert of apple-dump,
lings and sweet-cream sauce, ready to
be served.
While Martha Jane, in a pink plaid
frock, with tinted ruffles, stisxl waiting
to welcome the exported guest.
"She's ©aortal hutnly," thought
Hiram, as lie sat smoking, after din
j nor, on the porch, and mentally review.
} ing Martha Jane's narrow forehead
: hard black eyes and high-colored
cheeks. "But, then. I ain't u-lookin'
| out fur beauty, an' if she suits me
other ways, I re kin 'tain't no great
matter how she looks. A girl with
them kind of eyes an' a mahogany
1 colons! skin kin do the chores an
i make butter, an' se< h, as gxl as if site
I had blue eves an" goldy-lookin' hair,
like that girl they rail Hitty. that
' brought in the dumplin's an' passed
J round the dip fur "em at dinner to-day.
Nhe's tho hir.d girl, I rock in. 'T any
rate I ain't got time to hunt round
much, an" 1 reckin Marthy Jane won'
mind ehangin' her name to Honeydew
afore long, an' I've got to hurry up
I ain't got no time to waste a- urtin'.
I I reckin if notliin' happens we kin be
married in a week, an' git back home,
' I don't like to stay hero a-settin' round
doin' nothin', with all the fall work
a-gittin' behind at ttie farm."
* • © © •
"Oh, dear!"
Down through the long grass and
crims .a clover-bobs, under scrubby
| haw sand tall persimmon trees, went
Hitty Mavis, a deep-caped sunUmnet
shading tier violet eyes and tnngbsi
yellow curls.
Nhe was after tiie cows, standing
knee-dts'p in the tall aftermath, where
they had I sen turned for pasturage
after tho meadow hay was cut
I "Oh, dear!" sighed Hitty again, "I'm
, no tired, arid here's the cows to drive
home, milking to do, sponge t<> set for
tho baking to-morrow, and goodness
i knows what else, and—Oh!"
She started hack, with a little scream
for seated on tiie fence, under the
shadow of a crimson-leafixl saasafraa
treo, sat Hiram Honeydew, coolly
j watching her.
Hitty'n cheeks turned from pink to
scarlet as she met tho admiring glances
of his frank, brown eyes, and be r
heart beat fns er than common.
But Hitty was a sensible girl, so
she said, "(iiwxl evening. Mr. Honey,
dew !' quite coolly, arid hogan driving
home tho cows.
But Hiram sprang down from his
I perch on the rail fence arid followed
i her.
"Let me help you, Miss Hitty!" he
I-egged. "I ain't used to loailn'
around, doin' nothin', like I've been
fur some days now; and it'll be n treat
to drive home the cows, even."
S they walked together through the
velvety aftermath, dotted with scarlet
butterfly-weed, and critnaon-jietaled
"nigger-heads," the lowing cows filing
slowly home, lazily chewing their cuds,
and switching their tails at the flies.
Hiram let down the bars, and turn*
ed the cows into the yard, while Hitty
brought out the milk-pails from under
a bunch of burdock-leaves, where she
I bad left thein.
And somehow, in spite of the milk
ing and setting the swinge, and doing
up the chores, Hitty'a heart lieat more
lightly than It had for many a day.
And Instead of one week Hiram
Honeydew stayed two. but still Martha
Jane had not been invited to change
her name.
"Nhe's a mighty good housekeeper,"
thought Hiram, meditatively. "if
little Hitty could only cook an' house-
I keep as good jih her. I—don't—
" know—"
I lie ended hy building a costlo in the
air, wherein Ilitty Mavis, with iter vio
. lot oyes,nnd"goldy "colored hair,wan the
, chief figure.
* * * * * *
J "Ilitty Mavis!"
* Martha .lane's hard, black eyes look
: ed liarder than ever, and her sharp
features seemed sharper still as slio
I ton need wrath fully Into the kitchen
where Ilitty sat slicing n bowl of
yellow Crawford peaches for supper.
"You kin pack up your duds and
go! You a-settin' up to ketch a beau,
as if Hiram Iloneydow would look at
you."
"I— Martha Jano, what on earth do
you mean?"
I titty's eyes expanded, and the pink
in her cheeks deepened to a glowing
scarlet.
"You know well enough what I
mean!" sneered Martha. "You
needn't to look so innercent, like butter
wouldn't melt in your mouth, an'you
a-strainin' every nerve to ketch Hiram
Iloneydow u-cujoliu' him to help you
milk, an' drive up the cows, an' the
like. It's jest like your owdaeloun
doin's, an' you Kin pack up an' leave
right away, tool"
"Hut 1 don't know whereto go!"
llitty's heart beat like a frightened
robin's at the thought of being driven
friendless into the world, but Martha
Jane was implacable.
I "It's nothin' to me where you go, ho
you leave here," she sniffed, as she
flounced angrily away.
"tio with me, Ilitty!" said a tender
j voice; and Hiram Honeydew stepped
suddenly into the little kitchen, "tio
with me, Ilitty. and be my wife."
llitty's cbc.ks grew redder than
I before, hut she did not draw away
from his offered em I race.
"N >t gone yet ?" < ried a shrill voice,
as the door was jerked viciously open.
"Uidn't I tell yu to pack up < >h.
1 Mr. Iloneydow, you here? Come and
i have tea— we're a-waitin' fur you."
"Kxcuse me!" was the cold reply.
"I shall Just have time to take my
wife that is to be over to the par.
nonage. Will you come to the we.l,
j 'ling
Hut. with a scornful sniff and b>ss
I of her head. Martha Jane llounced off
again
• * * *
"An' so you didn't marry Mahala's
darter, after all!" cried Aunt I'eggy,
: who was waiting to rreeive them.
"N-no!" stainim-red Hiram. Hitty
kin learn to keep house, 1 reck In—"
"Learn?" cried ilitty. "Why, I did
all the housekeeping at Aunt Mahala's.
' Bha is my aunt, th<nigh they wouldn't
let me call her so. Marthy Jane never
■ did a In k of Work in her life."
! And so Hiram Ilon*ydew got a wife
and a housekeeper all in one, after aIL
' Harvesting Throughout the World.
That the harvest of the world, or
the reaping of the cereal crops ou the
f earth, t.iki-s pl.e e in different p< ri.sln.
' j on account of the different latitudes
and consequent different S'..<>n*. Is a
well known fact; that th periods
1 embrace altogether more than three
fourths of the year might not l*j
i known. In Australia, New Zealand,
the greater part of Chili, and some dis
tri'ts of Argentine Itepublic. the liar
vest takes pla< e In January; in the
month of February it r->miiicncos in
Last India, and progri-smg toward the
north, terminates in March Mexico
Kgypt, Hernia and Syria harvest in
April; the north Asia Minor, China,
Japan, Tunis. Algeria, Morocco, and
Texas in May. The following coun
tries reap their harvests in June: Cali
fornia. -pain. Portugal, Italy, Greece
i and the south of France. In the other
' parts of France, in Austro-Hunga*
rv, the soutli ..f Russia, and the great
er |iart of thct'nitcd Mates the crop is
gathered in July. In the month of
August the following countries har
vest: Helgium, Germany, Kngland. the
Netherlands, and Denmark; in £ejr
temlier, Motlanil, Sweden, Norway
Canada, the north of Russia, the latter
continuing until in Octotier.
A lien llalehes Snakes.
f)n the farm of George Logan, neat
Lebanon, in tlie county of Warren, I
Ohio, a hen lias long evinced an ardent
deaire to become a mother, by persis- j
tent efforts to hatch door-knot* and I
anything elm- that Itore the remotest
resemblance to an egg, that her owner
finally had pity on her, and placed in
her favorite barrel fourteen curious
eggs that he had discovered In turning
a furrow. Then he went off to camp-
meeting ami thought no more aliout
the matter until his return, when he
i wan amazed to find that the hen hnd
i hatched into this wicked world four
s teen little snakes for which she was
caring with the utmost affection and
solicitude and from which she received
f constant demonstrations of filial affec.
- tion. Next
THE TAI'IJ AMONG MAORIS.
WrriUiiH anil I,a until am 111 hurrti rial'
of Noma Slaaaacraa lirum versus Can
nibalism.
The Maoris are a people wiio not
only weep in church at the patiietic
passages, luit laugh uproariously at
anything in lessons or sermon that
tickles their fancy. Mr. Hay has seen
a church full of them waving their
arms, stamping their feet, grinding
their teeth with rage, when tin: treach
ery of Judas was being related. To
such people Christianity came as anew
form of tapu (taboo). They are ready
for any number of rites and ceremonies,
and it was only when they began to
l read for themselves, and to contrast the
teachings of the lt<Nik with the conduct
t of the land-grabbing pakebas round
i them; when, moreover, their implicit
| faith in the missionary had been weak
i ened by the coming in of rival faiths,
each claiming to be the only true way,
thai they got to be eclectic, giving up
the New Testament, in its practical
mid sticking by the Old, lac
. cause it allowed polygamy and revenge |
and strictly forbade the alienation of
land.
This tapu had many uses. A river ]
was tapu at certain season-, mi as to !
give a close time for fish; a wood was
tapu when birds were nesting, fruit
ripening, or rats (dele ciex in the old
Maori cuisine) multiplying. To tapu
a garden answered till Captain Co .k
brought in pigs far better than the
strongest fence. A girl, tupued,
would be as safe amid the wild license
of unmarried Maori life as if she had
been in a nunnery. Tapu wa• proba
bly never intentionally broken, so weird
was the horror which surrounded it
Hut in this i,i . sinning in ignorance
was no excuse; and the most furious
wars were those whieh arose from
breaking it. The sign of tapu wis
easily si t up a bun h of ihax or hair,
a bom-, n rag on a earvisl lick, thai
was enough. 'I" 1. ft it w.w much
liarder, needing the intervention of the
tohung.i (prie- ! , who. by muttering
incarnations, arid, ab v< all, by making
the talsKMs! man eat a sweet potato
(kumera i charmed It aw av.
Many a massacre of whites was due
b> an unwitting infringement of the
tapu. The historic massacre of Dii
l restne and his crew was brought about
bv a delilierate i-reacb of tapu; and
such outrages on native feeling were
so dangerous that Govi rnof Ma quarie
of "-ydney. in 1 -!fl, tried to make every
skipper in the Ni w Zealand trade sign
a bon-l for t'l'"ftnot to ill-treat Maoris,
not to break tapu.' not to trespass on
burial grinds, not to kidnap men or
women. His efforts were fruitless.
Maoris were fine, sturdy fellow s, and
though there was. a vet, no Kanaka
lab- r market in ipx-en-Und. no Queen**
Inn ! at all in fact, a ship that was
short-handed was very glad to get some
of them on 1-i.ir! hv any kind of device
The worst thing connected with the
carry ing off of native wonxn was that
the poor creatures weie generally !>ut
Ashore in some vlier part of the islands
—i. v.. among enemies. There slavery
or w r-e, was sure to l>e their fate.
Another cause for bloody reprisal- was
the treatment < f the men who were
taken on l-ard. "I'm a chief." said
one, who was U-ing driven by a p-pie's,
end, w hen incapable through seasick
ness. I.- •-■•(< menial work. "You
a chief!" scofiinglv replied the master
of the Hoyd. for tiiat was the name of
the lil-fatisi ship. "When you come
to my country you'll find I'm a chief.'
Was the reply. The Hovd bajqiennl to
sail into the harlmr of Whargaron, the
very place to which the flogged chief
belonged. He showed bis triliesmen
his score! back, and they vowed ven- !
geanre, for cm n a Mow to a chief is!
an insult that can only l>e wiped out
with blood. The captain and part of
the crew, leaving some fifty souls in
the ship, went ashore to sebvt tim
ber. The Maoris waylaid ami mur
dered them, dressing themselves In
their victim's clothes, went at dusk to
the ship, climbed on lmanl, ami killed
every one except a woman, her child
ren, and a lsiy who hail l>een kind to
the chief during his distress. The
I vessel was plundered, and the chiefs
I father, delighted at securing some llre-
I arms, nnapprd a musket over an open
; barrel of powder and was blown to
i pieces with a dozen of his men.
Tapu was successfully broken by
the early missionaries in the Hay of
Island*. One of their settlements was
up the Kerikeri river, the tapu of
which for fish during the close months
was very vexatious to them, for it
blocked up their only road to Te I'una
the h°ad station. Stores must lie had;
and at last, in defiance of tapu, they
manned a I mat and rowed down, amid
the rage and terror of the Maoris, who
exjHrted to see them exterminated by
the offended atua (spirits). When
the mission lsat came laek it was
seized, and the crew hound ready to be
slain and eaten. Happily, to eat the
stores seemed the proper way of begin, f
nlng, ami those stores were partly tin*
nod-meat, jams, etc., and partly drugs,'
Having greedily devoured the former,
the plunderers duly fell upon the latter,
finishing off the jalap, castor-oil, salts
and so forth, as part of the ceremony.
Ihe result may b- guessed. The
"inana" of the missionaries began to
work mightily, and with grovelling
supplications the anguished Maoris ro-
Icasod their prisoners and sought re*
lief. The whole tribe was converted.
How could they help it? Had not the
gods of the stranger proved ti.elr |
superior might t.y utterly disabling
those who had stood forth as the
avengers of their own insulted deities?
Wonderful I'recoc If-
Oliver Madox Hrown, a son of the
well-known artist, was lmm in lh. r >s.
lie seems to have been a precocious
child, tiiougli his precocity never took
tin- form of book-learning in any shape,
and it was riot till lie was -ix that lie
I began to read. Hut if backward with
! his books he was a born artist, with
pern-il and paint-brush first, as after.
■ ward with his pen. When he w.ia
| 1
eight lie had completed his first picture
I in water-colors, and when he was four
teen in- exhibited "f'hiron Deceiving
the Infant Jason from the Have" at
the Dudley gallery. He painted three
other notable pictures: "Olwtinacy,"
'•lTospcro and Miranda" and "Silas
Marner." Hut Oliver Madox Hrown
was beginning to show himself as an
artist In the world of letters Hcfore
ho was fourteen he had written some
sonm-ts of singular beauty, and at sev
enteen he had written a tale called
, "The Hlack Swan." which was first
given to the world as "Gabriel 1 lea
ver." The history of this book is
rattier curious. Oliver had shown it
to Mr. Williams, who was connected
with the firm of Smlin, Khb-r \
and Mr. Williams had t*-en much im
pressed with It and was anxious to as
sist in its publication. Nothing could
have Is-en kinder, but nothing le-s ju
i li< ioi;v, than Mr. Williams'• conducts
He lirst insisted ~n the singularly pic
turesque name of "The Hlack Swan"
U-ing altcrel into the \cry unmeaning
one d "Gabriel Denver." ID-then in
sisted on tie- ln-ginning of the story
U.-ing altered: on a deserted
changed, on grounds of propriety, Into
a descrt'-d cousin, and on the terrible
tragidy at the end becoming a coin
- forts I-le marriage in short, wr:th tlie
iiest intentions. tie did everything pos
sible to sjhiil the I ->ok. lie wati red it
and toned it down, but tlx strange,
, fierce power of the plot and the vigor
of the writing still remained. It was
greatly injure! as a Work of art, but
as a work of imagination it was a re
markable pn-dui tx.n. It was not, how
ever it could never Is-—an agreeable
liook. It was too crude and violent.
None of tlie scene* wore simply horri
ble, and some of the incidental re_
marks veinisl t-osbow a strange kn--w 1.
edge which repelled sympathy. Hut
wlxn it was known that this was the
w -rk of a mere l>y the feeling of dis
like p.i- •! off into a stronger filing
of w m-ler and ivlmiration. What waa
painful and repuLsive was the fault of
an unfortunate st rv. The essential
matter was the literary power, which
might prove it-elf equal to very groat
effort* and might produce works of
lasting value.
Stock Speculation in Japan.
The Japanese government forbids
stock speculating, and the authorities
recently determined to arrest at the
*nme moment all offenders on the stock
exchanges at Osaka, Yokohama and
! KoW, as well a.* on the rice exchanges
at Toklo and s me other important
centers. The police received their or.
dcrs only on the morning of the day ;
fixed, and in strong force, all wearing
some sort of disguise, proceeded to the
vicinity of the exchanges and mingled
with the crowd so as to escape obser.
vation. At a little after 11 o'clock all
was in readiness, a sign was given, and
IM-tore the amazixl s|ectators could
make out what was going on the ex
changes were in possession of the pa j
lire, tlie doors lockiil and the prisoners
secured. All the books, papers, etc.,
were then taken |>os*es.ion of, and the
|M>llce*s w hole "haul" removed to the
central police station. Over 700 de
linquents were sent to prison, thcii
offense >eing "speculating in margins.''
The Strongest Electric Light.
The strongest single light that burns
in tho I'nlted States is suspended In
front of the ITiiladelphia Record build
ing. ninety-five feet al*ve the ('beat
nut street sidewalk. Its power Is
equal to 10,000 candles. At nigbt the
ehtlreblock l<etween Ninth and Tenth
streets, is mode so light that under the
powerful rays of the lamp a person
standing anywhere within these limits
can rend editorial print with ease.
Loveliness.
Oi< I knew a little girl,
Very plain; .
You might Uy her h&lr to carl,
All in vein;
On her cheek no lint of roue'
I'ahvl en'l hhmlxyl, or nought repoeej
Hhe m | 'lulu*
Hut tiie thought* that through her brsla |
Came ari went,
A* a ruoornpenee lor {win.
Angel* Kent;
Ho full many a Ixwuteoiu thing,
In her young aoul hloaaonuing,
Oave content
Kvery thought waa lull of grace,
I'lirn and true;
And in time the homely face , m
ITe)ier grew
With a heavenly radiance bright,
Kroin the aoul'a reflected light
Hhining through.
So 1 toll you, little child,
Ilxin or poor,
II your thought* are undefiled,
You are euro
Of the lovellneaa ot worth;
And thin heauty not of earth
Will endure.
lIIMOKOI'H.
flreen corn—a young bunion.
High-toned—The screech of as
eagle.
When does a tr•*<- feel contented? i
When its sappy.
The only difference tretwaen one
yard and two is a fence.
Just so long an w.man retains her
maiden name, her ma.den aim is to
change it.
"Krnile," asked tlx teacher, "which
Animal atta> hesbimself most to man?"
Kiiiile, after some reflection—"The
leech, sir."
Tiie tailor's apprentice, a lien com
mencing id* trade, finds there is truth
in the text that "What a man sews he
shall also rip."
Simpson savs that when h" aked
the girl xsh<> . ic>w his wife to marry
hirn sbo said, "1 d- n't mind," and she
never has minded.
A Lowell man liad liis head frac
tured hv a hath t ;b falling upon him.
This will teach hirn hereafter not to
fod around a contrivance that he Is
not familiar with.
"Yes," said the father. "I like to
have rm daughter hav< a beau on the
•oonofe oootny. If she didn't, some
ne <>f the family w dd occupy the
parlor and burn the gas."
A voting man who went into the
kitchen, where he saw his girl baking i
and inadvertently sat d wn on a hot
pie just from the oven, now leasts
tliat he "descended from the up[>er
crust."
"What are you g"ing to do when
you grow up if you d< n't know how
to cipher?" asked a teacher of a slow
Uiv. "I'm going to be a school teach
' r anil make the loys do the cipher
ing." was the reply.
The Popuhr SH> net Monthly ask:
••What are crowds ?" It is not quite
certain how-science will handle this
question, but the average common
sense educated man kn-ws that under
some circumstances three is corn-id
ere] a crowd.
Sending Their Head Hack to China.
Wong Foci, the editor of the Chinese
American, ptiblislied in New York, ex.
plains why Chinamen wish to l<e
buried in their own country. He say*:
"If anyone going 1 a< k to the old
country lias dead friends here ho takes
them along. I do not believe that
more than live jier cent, of the China,
men who die in the United Mates art
permanently buried here. Friendless
Celestials are left here, and no one
cares whether they go- to heaven or
not." "Cannot one of your race gel
into I'aradise unless his bones rest in
Chinese soil?" "No, sir; Chinamen
lelieve that the only road to heaven
lies through their country." "Hut if a
good, virtuous Chinaman who has
kept his pigtail and his conscience in
tact dies in a strange land, will he bt
excluded from heaven because he Is
poor and friendless?" "That's tha
doctrine," said Mr. Wong. "Aeooixl
ing to Christians, no man can be saved
except through a certain lielief, no
matter how good he is; according to
Chinamen, there is no salvation outside
of China. One lielief is about as
rational as the other." "When you dig
up the remains of your countrymen do
you have any services at the grave?"
j "We burn a little incehse-paper, maybe, <
and take a drink, just as Americans do
on all occasions." "Whst doea the
drink signify r "It's whst you would
call a toast. IV e drink ]>eace to the
sul of the departed, and a prosperous
journey to the body. We use any
liquor that comes handy. Sometime*
tea. or whisky, or in extreme casta,
water " "llow are the bodies pr*
pared for shipment?" "They are em
balmed if they are fresh enough. If
not, the meat Is scra|>cd off and the
bona* only are carried away."