MIX-LEUUKI) POLICEMEN. Thr Airrat of n Hriiitkru Ant "on* thlaitf A limit Animal I'rUoiia *il l*rl ■ (Mil l ■ "Just cast your eye over this," Huif course they are a little different, bit we must allow for a difference in tastes. Everybody knows how ants make prisoners of various species of aphides, and slaves of their own kind. One of the most remarkable cases of imprisonment is that of the bird horn bill, so called from the wonderful de velopment of its bill, which is only used in crushing fruit. The breeding season is probably not looked forward to with any great degree of pleasure by the birds, as it is a period of close imprisonment for the mother and of great labor for the father 1 inl. As the time approaches the female search es for a hollow tree. and. having form ed a rude nest. tak-s her place within. The male now flies away and returns with its bill full of mud. which it plasters about the opening of the nest. Load after load is thus brought and laid on until the i revics is completely plastered up, with the exception of a single oritiee large enough to admit the bill of the prisoner. The mud soon hardens, a&d.the bird is firmly en closed. and so remains until the young are hatched ami well grown. The male bird is not a hard jailer, however, but works to obtain food for its mate, so that she comes out of prison in much better condition than her unfor tunate jailer. "Trees are not the only prisons," continued the speaker. "In marine life there is no end of prisons ami prisoners. For example, here is the beautiful sponge called Venus's llower basket which grows in eastern se.is. They are unsightly objects when first taken up. the rich sheeny silvery framework that we see being merely the skeleton of the sponge, so to speak. So much like basket work is this skel eton that when they w ere first brought to Europe they were supposed to !*• the worn of men, and so brought fabu lous prices. In this one that 1 have you see there are two prisoner crabs, but how did they get in ? Each Is as large as the end of your little finger, and the largest hole in the skeleton is not larger than a pinhead." "The reporter gave it up. "The truth is," said the naturalist, I "that the crabs are prisoners for life, and have served out a life sentence. If their younger days these cral are dMled by different names, and in one the zoea—Miey ar extremely small, and live a roaming sort of life. During this time our craha must have crawled through the minute window of the living sponge, ami were unable to get out. The sponge grew, and so did the crabs. Finally the s|>onge was fished up, and the animal matter was washed away, b-aving the bright, silvery prison with the two great prisoners crawling about—as great a puzzle as the egg in the liottle."—yew York Sun. f ■ 1 Lang Service. John Qutncy Adams received a sala ■rj from the United States government ■ for sixty-nine years, and the sum total HP must have amounted to one-half a million. At the close of his presiden tial term he had had fifty-two years of office-holding, and bis salary had ag gregated $425,000; still, he had seven teen years of congress after this, and died at the capitol at a congressional session. At the ago of fourteen ho went to llussia as tlio private secreta ry id the American legation,and he was in after years minister to England, • ,'i ritiuny, Portugal, Russia ami the Netherlands. Wisdom That Comes Only W illi Years. It is a singular analogy which is of fered with the life ot human (lowers by the gmwth of those of a frailer and more perishable t. Fair and sweet and delicate are youth and maidenhood, as the straw bell and anemone and twin linn.can; rieh and beautiful are the early years of life as roses ami car nations are; but in the riper, maltirer life is strength for \ithl work that needs must exhaust the earth, so soon is it to be followed by mild decay, iMir statesmen do their greut work in this season; our poets try their wings in May and June, but their larger (light is now; our novelists write from intuition only till the ripeness of experienee eomes; our young lawyers may have talent and acutnen, but they have not the power that is theirs later with rounded Intellect ami com pleter knowledge of life; our young physicians may !>•■ fresh from walking famous hospitals abroad, but they have not the habits and memories of twenty years by night and day at the side of sick beds to make their wisdom seem like genius; our young preachers may tickle the fancy with their airy eloquence and gift of words, but they will not touch the heart as they do when they have tasted all the springs of sorrow and sympathy, the draught that added years, and they alone, shall proffer them. It has needed what is equivalent to the fervent and accumu lated heats which belong to that mid dle of hie as of the year, to "all out the full force of what is in them, and the (lame burns then with all it.- might, for presently it must fall in ashes, presently the beats will all be gone; no more will the \it.il efflux of the ris ceding sun send its Impulse through the nuts of life, no ui"re will soul or flower expand to the r: h light of day, but the autumn damps and the chill of the grave will rise round them.—Har per's ]ter, I" 4 11, lieing then fourteen years of age, and was almost inline I ately ordered t> the I*. >. steamer North Carolina, anchor ed "tr New York. When he went to Issl in the evening a surprise awaited him b>r which he was totally unpre pared. "Up to this time." he says, "I li t 1 sufTerel much with earache, and my mother can >-l me to wear night caps. My caps were of many colors, blue, red. green, etc., for they were made of remnants of my sister's dresses. Now, as I made my final preparations for repose I open*-1 my trunk and put on a < lose fitting night cap. It was the signal for indescriba ble confusion. If 1 had put on a suit mail it cotiid not have caused more astonishment among those light-headed reefers. They rushed at my trunk, seizeff the caps, put them on. and join ed in a wild dance on the deck, in which were mingled blue caps and white caps and all colors of caps in pleasing variety. I had to take mine off before turning in, as it really did seem to me too much for their feel" ings, but I managed to smuggle it under my pillow, and, when all was quiet I put it on again. Hut, when the midshipman came down at mid night to call the relief, he spied it and we haecame disgusted, there )>etng no market for camels just then, and turned the camels loose upon the deeert near Mar icopa wells, and to-day they and their descendants are roaming through the Gila Valley, Increasing and multiply ing and getting fat upon the succu lent sagebrush and grease-wood with which the country abounds.—Tomb itonr Epitaph. CLIPPINGS FOR THE CUKIOIJN It Is an honor in Morocco to receive from the Sultan a lonf of black bread. An ancient and venerable mulber ry tree, its trunk propped up with stones, marks the spot in .Jerusalem where Manasseh earned the prophet Isaiah to lie sawn in two. i A distinguished botanist has found that by simply soaking the stems of cut (lowers In a weak dye solution, their colors can be altered at will with out the perfume and the freshness j being destroyed. Asan illustration of the strength <>f paper, it Is said that a Hank of Kng land note twisted into n kind of rope, can sustain as much as ;i2*.t pounds avoirdupois suspended to it, and not be injured in the least. In Donegal, Ireland, there is a rock cavity into which the tide rushes with great force, producing a sound which can be heard twenty or thirty miles, and sending a torrent of water several hundred feet into the air. It is called McNwine's dun. A curiosity in Irwin county, tlenrgia, is a large pine tree witli two distinct bodies and <>nh one top. The two trunks grew out "f the ground about live feet from each other, but at forty feet bigli grew together, and from thence made only one tree ami top. The remains of certain mushrooms whi' h make excellent tinder are found in lo aiiv all the ancient Swiss laeua trine dwellings, and it is Mip|H> ed that their inhabitants either u-e them to kindle i n* or jxiumhsl them and em ployed them us snuff, as some Asiatics do to this day. An ear of corn <>n exhibit!, n at San Louis i ibispo, < 'a!., gn w in the • xai t form of a hand of a child, showing the wrist, hand, thumb ami lingi rs, all p-r -ft* t excepting the little linger, which double. It is rovergd with a small grain of corn to near the tip of the lingers, which are bare prongs of cob, giving the a| prarance of a band dad With a mitt An extraordinary pearl has l>een found at Xichoi Hay. It iscomposed of nine distinct pearls about the sire of pi .is, of a line lustre and lirmly bed drsl together in the form of a perfect i r<>** aU.ut an inch and a half long. It is a perfectly unique curiosity, and is expected rays the Mellxnirne A rj/u. to fet< ha fabulous price, ow ing to the ex traordinary coincidence of its perfectly rej.resenting the sy ml>ol c>f Christian ity- ' In a Persian Pltjr. Hesht contains over ten Hum-an ! in habitants, and is ini]>ortant as being the principal Persian city ..n the CjL*- . pian. ays a orrespondenL It is noted for its tobace.i, whi' h is very dellrate and iiii'al. and for as rt of embroidery on broadcloth ralb*l R-*ht work, which is sometimes seen in America in the shape .if tablc-o .vers and *"fa cushions. The city is very unhealthy, lowing to malaria from the low grounds and the stagnant pools of water which cover the numerous rice-fields. The streets are narrow and winding; the houses low and built for the most part of mud and sun-dried brick, and thatched with mud and straw. Some of the summer places in the neighlxir hood are very pleasantly surrounded by rose gardens, and have tine avenues of shade trees. In a visit to one of these in company with a Persian of high rank, we were both amused and disgusted at the absolute control he had. not only over his servants, hut over all inferiors as well. As we came to a party of boys bathing in a small ! river the humor seized him to make one of his servants bathe, and. not con tent with this, he mad" other servants throw several of their fellows Into the water with their clothes on, and was (juite delighted at the sorry plight , they were In as they ramr ashore. He hail the Ixiys, who came up begging for a "shia's," thrown heels over head from a high bank into the water. One little fellow was seriously hurt. The gentleman thought, when his fun was over, that he hail settled all scores by , tossing a few silver pieces among them. Quern Victoria's Proposal. Mrs. Oliphant w rite* In the Century. "There was a story current at the time, that at a state ball, very near the period of their lietrothal. the young lady gave her princely suitor a rose, which he, without a luitton-hole in his close-fitting uniform, slit the breast of his coat to And a place for, and that this was a token to all the court of the tinal determination of the great event —her Majesty, as it is pleasant to hear, having shown herself a little coy and disposed to put off the explanation, aa happy girls are wont to do. No more perfect marriage haa ever been record ed; the Queen herself attributes the formation of her character to it, and all that la raoet excellent In her Ufa** LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Bt.i Qtiilia. A Georgia woman hits finished a silk ipiilt containing 2,400 pieces, and over i i, Colors. Illue is a in. ky color lor daughters to wear, they say in the south of Eng land, while green is very unlucky. < Tli"e lire,mm) ,1. 1.1 US lln\ • overt true; In green an-! whito ForMlken quit*. In the northeast of Scotland we have: Dins 'f* I'iTii Irnej 1 Green '8 lo\ c .loan, Yellow \S ft,molten. In sonic portions of New England sixty years ago, the man who had been jilted and was not inclined to mourn over it won gr. -ri. to annoy the fair on" who had jilted him. A I! rati into Dnrlrr.. Al. read. Mrs. Ainandihal .loslne of Nsrain* dll.al, a 11ined by niv religion. There will IN- a meeting of the principal Ilraliniins when I return, who will al>- aolvc. as it were, from my transgres sions." "I>o you exjs-ct to remain here though the entire course?" "Ye*. I shall take the complete four years" course and then return to Seram. pore to practice. I think there may possibly l>e a few other high < ;t*t Hrah min women coma to Europe and America to study during the next few years, but very soon i hope we ahall have colleges of our own in India, which will obviate tlie necessity of so doing. My cousin. I hear, has just ar rived In London, where she will take a complete medical er cloud for month* and months unbroken, and where those crystal mountains called iceberg* are lri< need hun ter to shoot it. When approached, it seem* to have no fe-ar at all, but sit* up, apparently waiting for the coining hunter. Just, however, as the probably hungry man lx*gins to finger the trigger "f |u* gun, and to eat in anticq at.on of the xav.v ry stew, the liar* turns alxut ami bounds actively away to a safe dis tance, and, once more rising njxm its haunches, sit* with a provoking air of seeming unconsciousness until th<- hunter is again nearly within gun shot, when It once more jumps away. This must le tantalizing enough to a well-fed sportsman, but how heart, freaking to the man who knows that not only his own life, but the lives of aii his commies as well, dejiend upon the capture of the pretty creature. Notwithstanding, however, the aj>- parent impossibility of approaching near enough to the har<- to shoot it* there is in reality a very simple way to accomplish it This plan is practiced by the natives, who no doubt have learned it after many a hungry fail ure. It consists in walking in a circle around the animal, gradually narrow ing the circle until within the proper distance. Simple as this plan is, it is so effective that, with care, the hunter may get within fifty yards of the hare* which seeins completely bewildered by his circular course. I'erhaps the sad story of the heroic suffering and final loss of t'aptain I>e Long and his brave comrade might never have had to bo told, had it not been for their probable ignorance of a matter of no more importance than this of how to shoot a polar hare. When they left their ship, the"Jean nette," they tok with them only rifles, thinking, no doubt* that they would only fall in with such large game as 1 wars, reindeer and wolrea. As a matter of fact* such large ani mals were very scarce* while ptarmi gan, a species of grouse, were plentiful, and would have supplied food in abun dance to the whole brave band had there been shot-guns with which to •hoot them As It was, the rifles brought down but a few of the blrda. and thus, in the midst of comparative plenty, U> brave feUowa starved.—SL ißdMu. • J FOOD OP THF CELFATIALH. I'ork mnit lit f at lh Mead of ihr < hlIM •lilt of K>r c-f an grasshopper*, spiders, worms, 1 eoeoons, sea cucur/iliers, swallowV nests, etc. Once, while living in a villa near IVkin, I saw a very strange H"-ne. There appeared a cloud of grasshop(ent. Suddenly the field was < overed with < hinanien, who ran fran ti<-.tlly hither and thitl er gathering them in. They filled large sacks and bags with the inw tn. They carried portable stoves, on which they to acted their eurious game, Other Chinamen greedily devoured the grasshoppers, paying a penny for ten. At the heal of all meat* Chinamen put, of eiuirae, p..rk. In their opinion, to the hog la-long* thehrst place m the liit of domestic animals. If you ask a (hinaman why, he will answer yon proudly: "Ibsause it was the hog from whom the < hinaman descended H* Don't you *<• the < cleat ials have le-aten Darwin on the theory of the decent of man. it i* only natural, then, that among < binatrien hogs should enjoy full rights of citizenship. Like dog*, they wander wherever they please. A ! Chinese street without a number of : bogs is an iiiifs>Hsibility. Are th'-re many bogs in China? 1 should thing so. (o a ingle holiday in memory of their ancestors not the original ances tors. the hogs, hut merely human an i est or s the Ceb-stials eat fully h.V ".ObO hogs. 1 must admit that Chinese j-ork is superior to any found elsewhere'-n the globe- Poor Chinamen, who can i not afford to buy pork, eat m at of dogs, assm. horses, rats, mice., rabbits, bares, g at- and sheep. Hut i never saw them i ating < ats. Of birds the Chinese eat silver pheasants, ducks, geese, chickens, jack dawk, cp .w* and many others. < 'urious ly enough, the Recalled < ochin-China fowls are very rarely seen here Among the cb' ice deli caries of the hin<*' niut be ii ent.onod the fins of sharks and the n-st* of sea-swallow a. I ii'ler the latter is understs>od D"t the whole iiet. but only the mucilaginous i inner coating of the newts It is be lieved that the swallows who build their nest.* on the sea-roeks cover their nests and glue them to the rocks with the mice .d sea-cane, which on l*-ing dried looks like mucilaginous mem brane, ee. yet no wine is prepared there. The Chinese make two kinds of whisky—of ag