Do
BEHAVIOR WHICH SEEMS TO
TO THAT CONCLUSION,
POINT
“Venus’s Fly Trap” and Its Hapless
Prey--The Mimosa's Leaves Close
at the Sound of a Horse's Foot.
HE curious behavior of some
plants can scarcely be ex-
plained under any other sup-
Go position than that their ac-
tions are due to some connection be-
twosn senwation and conseanent me-!
tion that seems to be closely related
to the movements of animals. We
touch the skin of a person and the
person shrinks instantly; a similar
touch eanses 8 worm to shrink, and
the same effect precisely happens
when some plants are touched.
The common sundew, commonly
known as “Venus's fly trap,” is one of
the most curious of the sensitive
plants. Its leaves are thick and fleshy,
and are covered with spines. The
leaves are arranged in pairs like those
of a book, and exude a viscous matter,
by which flies are attracted.
once close down upon it and the leaves
fold together, inclosing the prey, an
it is said by some observers that the
. ’ . |
hapless insect is digested by an serid |
liquid that then exudes, and is ab-
sorbed as nutriment, much as the
toad, silently and stealthily hiding in |
the grass, perceives a fly alight ona
blade, and darts toward it, and with
its sticky tongue draws its prey into
its eapacious jaws; or more like the
lazy ant eater, which lies prone on the
anthill and projects its viscous tongue
on the ground, and when it is covered |
with ants, suddenly withdraws it into
its mouth and swallows the insects,
The sundew opens its leaves when
the fly is disposed of, and awaits an-
other victim. If you drop a shred of
raw meat on the leaf the same
formance is repeated, and if the leaf
is touched by a straw, the leaves shut
upon it, but, as if in disgust at the de-
ception, open again immediately.
The Western prairies are covered in
places with s beautifully feathered
leaved plant, a species of mimosa. This
is commonly known as the sensitive |
You stoop and draw the hand !
plant.
gently across one of the low bunches
of these plants. Instantly the deli-
cate pinnate leaves shrink and fold to- |
gether, and remain folded as long as
the intruder stays. But when he soft-
ly retires to a short distance the leaves
begin to unfold and spread out to the
sunshine. Some varieties of ths mi-
mosa in Brazil are still more sensitive,
elosing their leaves when the sound of
a horse's foot is heard, and shrink still
more the ground is
jarred by the tread of the animal near
it. One of these species, Mimosa sensi.
tiva, is so curiously organized that it
js rendered insensible by exposure to
chlorof It then to
until the effects of the anmsthetic are
worn off by evaporation
closely when
yn RON sleep
The sly opposam and the wily fox lie
low and simulate death, when cornered
by an enemy and escape appears hope
less : the human eriminal hides from
his pursuer.
between these similar actions of these
plants snd animals, sod, if so, are they |
pot due to the same cause? The at
tempt at deception is the same; it has
a purpose, and is the result of a caleu-
lation of chances, and it certainly
seems ns if it were the result of a pro
cess of thought.
Many other plants possess this acute
sensitiveness. We see the pig picking
up straws in its mouth and carrying
them about to find a place for a bed,
and we say, as the reenlt of observation
and experience: ‘‘Itisgoing to rain.”
The cats make their discordant eom-
plaints to the midnight moon, the
wolves howl, whine, the
and
feel the papilie of the skin shrizk and
our hair ro s and a curious ner-
vous nt makes us feel “all
the barometer is falling
the rain comes.
dogs
Crows at sundown, we
exeteme
over” when
an 1 before
Po tae HAL iia HE Pre re o- ay
and it shuts its The spurry
closes its petals, and a scientific obser
ver says a field that was white with
blossoms has suddenly become quite
changed by the mere passing over it
of a black thunder clond and the fall-
ing of a fow drops of rain. The com-
mon chickweed opens its blossoms only
when the sun is shining, and, like the
dial, counts only the bright hours
When ite little blossoms elds, rain in-
variably falls within a few hours. Rural
dwellers take note of this, and are
likely to say: ‘‘Hurry, we can get
back before it rains, for the chick
weeds are open yet.”
leaves,
The sea purslane has the same habit.
It never opens in cloudy weather and
closes when the sun is low in the after-
noon. The scarlet pimperhel of the
gardens, called the ‘shepherd's barom-
eter,” never exposes its pretty scarlet
flowers to a shower. The old herbalist
says of it: ‘It foretelleth what
weather will be the next day, and if
the flowers be shut it betokens foul
weather.” And one of the naturalists
of an Arctic expedition noticed that
although the summer sun shone
through the night the plants made no
mistake, but when the sun got round
to the west they droopsd their leaves
and closed their flowers as if the sun
had really set. An eclipoo of the sun
has had the same effect, and not onl
this plant, but several others whieh
the same instinet, as the con-
volyulug, shut up their petals as soon
as the sun was fully obeeured, and
opened when the shadow had passed.
The common our o'clock invariably
closes its bell-shaped flowers at the
hour named, and so many plants have
os similar instinet that tho gre bot
suist, L nnwas, made a clock of
flowering plants, each of which had
certain time for ite flowers.
SOME PLANIS THINK?
When a |
fly alights upon a leaf, the spines at |
per- |
Is there any connection :
cock |
ourselves !
»
A
purple-veinad bells when it rains, but
does the same if the ground near it is
struck with a stick. This whole fam.
Lily of Oxalis has this same habit,
Another plant, » species of snine
| froin, Hedysarum gyrans, thus named
| beeanse of its curious habit, is contin-
ually waving without any apparent
| ennse and is restless day and nicht.
| No wonder the Calabrian philosopher
| became insane by reason of his efforts
| to solve this question of the sensitive-
ness of plants and to account for the
| phenomena. He lived before the time
| when the true nature of the animal
tian became known, and hefora the
| fact was discovered
of cells or molecules produced sensa-
| tion, es the same kind of vibrations
| produce light, and that when a man
sees stars as the result of a concussion
| of his brain matter, the excessive vi-
| bration thus communicated to the |
| fibres of his brain is the cause of the
sensation of light in his eyes or at
| least in his optic nerve. New York
| Times.
em —
SELECT SIFTINGS.
The dargest bird is the condor.
Wasps get intoxicated on the fer-
| mented juices of rotten fruit on the
i trees.
About 8} per cent. of the men in the
| English army are anable to read and
write,
Envelopes were first made in 1839
and sold for ten cents to twenty-five
cents apiece.
The Australians have more churches
| in proportion to population than any
i other people.
i 3rown County, Kansas, has a man
who can husk and crib 135 bushels of
| corn in ten hours
Cashmere goods were invented in
the celebrated vale of which Moore
sings in “Lallah Rookh.”
A Maine man used the profits of his
pumkin field to pay the expenses of
himself and his wife to the World's
Fair.
Amber, often classed among gems,
is a fossil pro fuot Most of the spect-
mens inelosing insects are manufac-
| tured from gum copal.
In the fifteenth century the bishops
and monasteries of France, England
and Germany did an extensive busi-
ness in coining money under roysl
sanction.
There is s bold ridge of gray vol
canie mountains in the Cape Vende
Islands the crest of which is said to
form an exact likeness of George
! Washington.
A coon, with a leather strap around
its neck, which was lost by a young
woman Chester, W. Va, sbout
fifteen years ago, was found the other
day by a hunter in the near
Chester. The animal stall the
leather collar around its neck.
at
woods
had
Whigs were originally teamsters in
Seotiand, who used the term whiggam
to encourage their horses, Opponents
the Government in the restoration
the
of
period were derided ass favoring
Scotch © and hens
called Whiggems, afterwards whigs.
sYenanters, were
In the earlier periods of life trees
increase much faster than when adult
the oak, for instance, grows more
rapidly between the twentieth and
thirtieth vears—and when old the an-
nual deposits considerably diminish,
so that the strata are thinner and the
rings proportionately closer.
Relies of battles that accom-
panied Washington's retreat from New
York are still found in the Washing
ton Heights region. A police officer
long stationed in that part of the city
made an extremely interesting collec
tion of esnnon balls and military but-
tons and buckles picked up onthe bat
| tle field
the
In the west of France a cord is put
around the neck of this
cord is suspended horizontally in front
and heavy stick.
are bridled
ndead, we may call it bn Hing
Th
ject yu both cases is to keep the wai
mals om passing thr gh the hedges
| and esting the grass of neighbors,
geese, and t
of the breast a long
Goats in the same region
if,
exactly in the same fashion obe
The black kings of the African const |
press your middle finger three times as
a sign of salutation, the Japanese takes
| off his slipper, while the Laplander
pushes his nose vigorously against you.
| In Hindostan they salute a man by |
{ taking him by the beard, while the
| people of the Philippine Islands take
| your hand and rab their face with it
The King of Ternate rises to receive
his subjects, and they sit down to |
salute him.
nn —— —
i Involuntary Weather Prophets,
| The tortoise is not an animal one |
| would naturally fix upon as likely to |
| be afraid of rain, but it is singularly |
| 80. Twenty-four hours or more be-
| fore rain falls the Gallapagos tortoise
| makes for some convenient shelter. On
{a bright clear morning when not a
| elond is to be seen the denizens of a
| tortoise farm on the African coast may
| be seen sometimes heading for the
| noarest overhanging rocks; when that
| happens the proprietor knows that
| rain will come down during the day,
| and ae a rule it comes down in torrenta,
| The sign never fails. This pre-sense-
| tion, to coin a word, which exists in
many birds and beasts, may be ex-
plained partly from the increasing
weight of the atmosphere when rain is
forming, partly by habits of living
and y from the need of moisture
which is shared by 3/l. The American
eat-bird gives warning of an approach.
ing thunderstorm, by sitting on the
low branches of the dog-wcod tree
Bl er
of an im in the weather,
Of a id: |
‘that the vibration |
(whether this union of the feline with |
THE MERRY SIDE OF LIFE.
—————— S———
STORIES THAT ARE TOLD BY THE
FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. |
An Undoubted Fact—-She Knew What
Was the Matter The Human
Sponge, KEte., Ete,
That ‘one swallow’ sarily comer--
“Doesn't make for us a summer,”
Is & maxim which, of course, is known to all,
Yot one swallow--il a long one, |
And the liquor be a strong one
Will often of itself produce a fall,
Truth,
SiR ENEW WHAT WAS THE MATTER,
Maud (apropos of nothing) — ‘I wish
I were dead!”
Elaine — “Who
Record,
is he?" — Chicago
DELAYING
“This
ACTION,
He be
darling
She
ter."
mKy my last kiss,
“Then I give notice of filibus
~Cleveland Plain Dealer,
THE HUMAN SPONGE.
“No, 1 won't take water from any-!
{ one.
“Then you must be made different
from the ordinary sponge,”—Ray-
mond’s Monthly.
OF
The Wife “Yes, at first, my dear,
the doctor thought that your recent
sick spell had affected vour brain.”
The Husband —* ‘He still
from the bill
Truth
THAT OFINION STILL.
thinks so,
it he sent
vesterday,
HOSTS,
in
A TEST OF
Wife—'You
married, that
for me.
Husband — “Well,
Wife—' ‘Yet
your life in
Monthly.
LOVE
said. before
yon
we wers
were willing to die
"
go I am
refuse to
Raymond ’
you msure
my favor ”
A BEHAVE MAN
Editor— “Who wrote thes
Poet (proudly)—*‘1 did, sir
Editor—*"You are a brave man."
Poet (blushing) — “Thank you, sir.” |
Editor-—"'"Yes; brave man
would dare to acknowledge the deed.”
Detroit Free Press
verses?
3
oniy s
NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH
Magistrate What's busi
ness?’
Sandy Rhodes
Magistrate —
kind?”
Sandy Rhodes
Gets six months
your
“Railroad man.”
‘What particular
“Track walker!”
Hallo.
A DIFFERENT BIRD,
Mrs
admiringly
bonnet?”
Mr “It's more like a pel |
jean of a bounet.”
“What do you mean, dear?”
“The bill is too big for & duck.”
Cumso (holding up the article
‘Jsn't it 8 duck of a
Cuamso
EXPRESSIVE GRIP
She “If Mr. Wiggins is in mourn
ng why does he WORT such loud trou
{ sors?"
He ""Boeanse Wiggins is extreme |
— most men 1 be satisfied with
quiet mourning, but his trousers are
lamentations Elmira Ga
would
positive
zette
IN THE HANDS OF JUSTICR
The Poet Did you receive those
verses I sent you last week?”
The Editor—*‘1 did.’
“I haven't received anything for |
them yer -
“No; but you will. The court will
not convene until next week. "States
MAL.
A BOYISH PREROGATIVE
Tom ‘Hullo, Ned. Have you heard
the news?
Ned—*No. What's that?’
Tom “The people have just moved
ont of that factory building down on
the river bank. Let's go down and |
stone the windows out.”-—Somerville
Journal
— .
EMPLOYMENT.
“What business are
IDEAL FEMININE
First Female
you engaged in?”
Second Female
agent.”
F. “What have you to do?
8. F.—"*Nothing but talk.”
FP. F.-""How delightful." Boston
Oourier,
“I am a book
A KEEN INTELLECT,
Chawley— ‘That fellah Jonesy hass |
vewy analytical mind.”
Fwod— "How's that?"
Chawley— “Why, this mawning he |
saw a feliah out of the club window |
oawwying sn umbrellas and he said: |
‘It must be waining.' He did, by
Jove "Chicago Record.
A REFORMER,
First Burglar—'"‘Let’'s quit this
business and become reformers.”
Second —*1I'm a reformer now.”
First— "Come off.”
Becond-—'Yes, I am; a chloro:
former.”
And he proceeded to saturate the
Songs ws the vietim slept. — Detroit
ree Prosa.
ETIQUETTE FOR THE GRERDY,
Mother (returning to the lunch
table after a temporary absence).
“Why, where are the jumbles, Tom-
my? How many did you eat while I
was vat
Tommy (aged seven) I don't
know, mamms. You toid me Ii was
very rude to count what was eaten at
the table." -~New York Telegram.
WUMANITY'S TORTURER.
Se: Seo vauive
are yon
attorney.
| man's
what we were before?
| and put out, we die daily.
| as wine the strongest heads
“Yeu, sir,”
witness box,
“May I ask yonr ocenpation ?”
“Y am a mannfacturer of ealliope
replied the man in the
| whistles,”
“That's all,” rejoined the attorney,
C80 far mAs we Are concerned, your
Honor, the case is ready to go to the
jury. ”—Chieago Tribune,
CURIORITY,
Prisoner
your honor to adjourn the esse.”
Judge-- “Why, you were eaught in
the act of stealing a gold watch from
the person of a gentleman,
yon admitted the charge I am euri
ons to know what, ander these cireum-
Desides,
| the entrance examination
Fo :
“As my connsel has failed |
| to put in his sppearance, I wonld usk |
"Black net is wrought with silver.
|
i
i
|
1
i
{
|
England is said to have over 1,000,« |
| 000 widows, 1
Shoe strings and corset laces
now tipped with gold.
| much as usual this winter.
stances, your counsel could have to |
say in your defense
Prisoner ~**So em I,
and therefore I should
him. "Vogue.
vour
like
honor,
to hear
————
DANGEROUS TO BE AT LARGE,
“Why are they hanging this man?"
asked the new arrival
“Fer shootin’ a feller in
explained Alkali Ike,
of ceremonies
the
Wis
nig,"
who master
“Good gracious! Would you take
the life of &fellow-creature for so small
a matter as that?"
“You
missed the feller
Yon
shootin’
his
nt
would
he
and hit the innercent man in the laig
A feller that can't handle a gun’
bet wo
was
hont
| endangerin’ the lives of eve rybody who
happens to be on the street is too dan
gerous to have around, besides bein’ a
to the ¢ nity." -~Indi-
anapolis Journal,
dis FTROK
HER DREAM CAME
A bashful rauth o
5 Was pay Ing
voung lads who had |
Kins
spaired of bringing things to a
One night he ealled snd they
Cris
sat in the
their hearts pulsating with
After setting the
girl looks |
f her tim}
gloasming,
the tender passion
merits of the weather the
shyly into the face «
and exclaimed :
“1 dreamed of you last night
“Did you? Why, m
“Yas, 1 dreamed that you
me
“Why, ne
your mother said?”
“Oh, I dreamed that
from home."
A light dawned
intellect A
broke the surrounding stillness, and in
less than a month they will be married
Memphis Commercial.
—
WISE WORDS,
Ww
yw, what did yor
upon the
singular sound
The highest friendship
lead us to the highest pile
Yon, friends,
J
meanly to follow after those oi a !
must always
TL IR
who forget your own
er degree, are a snob
To be of noble parentage and not to
be endowed with noble qualities 31s
rather a defamation than a glory.
Gentle words, quiet words, are, after
all, the most powerful words, They
AT¢ More convineing, more com willing,
more prevailing.
Charity and go yd nature
sanction to the most common actions;
and pride and ill nature make our best
virtues despicable
A noble life,
death, rises above
pride and pomp
mightiest empire «
give on
heroie
and outlives the
nd glory
{ the earth
It is astonishing how soon thew
crowned with
the
of
hole
: : " -
| eonscience begins to nnrsvel i asingie
stiteh drops; one little sin indulged
makes a hole vou could put your head
through.
What is death but a ceasing to be
We are kindled
Nature
that begot us expels us, and a better
and a safer place is provided for us
Woman is the highest, holiest, most
precious gift to man, Her mission an 1
throne is the family, and if anything
is withbeld that would make her more
oful or happy in that sphere
ood and has not her rurhits
efficient,
el id
ns
abs "
Power will intoxicate the best hearts,
No man
is wise enough, nor good enough,
be trusted with unlimited power | for,
whatever qualifications he may have
evinced to entitle him to the posses
sion of so dangerous a privilege, yet
when possessed, others ean no longer
for him, because he can no
longer answer for himself,
i——
Close Dealing.
AnSWer
A woman sold a pig to a buteher the
other day and he killed it on the prem- |
jses. Now it is a» superstition with
some butchers that to cut off a pig's
tail insures the preservation of the
meat. The pig's little tail was cut off.
But the woman was on the watch
picked up the tail and gave it to the
butcher to be weighed, saying: “I
want pay for the whole of him."
Bat the butcher got even with hor.
The reckoning came to hall » cent,
probably because of the sddition of
the tail
coarse; she always
So
does,
She |
She wanted the helf cont, of |
the |
butcher placed a cent on the block, |
cut it in two with his cleaver, and gave |
her the
Press,
half
LL ——————
Herole Work by a Servant Girl
SW ———
The heroism of a servant girl saved
a span of valuable horses for John
Moser, of Perkiomenville, The large
barn on the farm was «tt on fire, and
the wen, when they wversd the
fines, feared to enve tue stables to
release the horses sad four hewd of
cattle, The darin ri, however,
dashed into the nr, milling and
frood the plang ©
barned on the hai
cent. Portland (Me) |
"nn a I LE | , Fo | 2
A OWAS AAA WEEE GRE LE AE AD Ja YT JADE
to Yale Col-
lege,
tefore long women will be admitted
to German universities on sn equal
footing.
A German lady of wealth and posi-
tion has founded a school of garden
ing for women.
The Duchess of Fife recently landed
in one day seven salmon, weighing from
six to ten pounds,
That phenomenal young sculptor,
Theo Alice Ruggles, is now the wife of
Henry Kitson, himself a worker in the
plastic art.
Persian lamb, sastrachan. mink, bear,
monkey, lynx, marten and beaver are
sll popular furs for trimming use or
for whole garments,
Hereafter the junior fellowship of
Dublin (Ireland) University will be
open to female and mule students on
the same conditions,
There are 600 women journalists,
editors and suthors in England and
Wales, according to the British census
reports just published.
The new medical school of Tufts Col
lege, College Hill, Mass. , open to both
sexes, has been formally opened in
Boston with a class of sixty assured
Mrs. Hermann Oehlrichs,
New York lady, 18 a
Guild,”
garments for the poor and
tute
Black silks, especially
soft-finished silks, are coming into
competition with satin-duchesse for
combinations for velvets, black or col-
ored.
a rich
member of the
which makes
the desti-
“Needlework
the thick,
Narrow elongated half-moons in dis-
monds make pretty brooches, and these
pinned into the hair sat the top of a
coil have all the appearance of a dia
mond eomb
A decided novelty in Dresden china
is & fruit knife stand. In shape 1
somewhat resembles a little bottleloss
caster with receptacies for knives in
the upper band
Swedish women often work as farm
laborers. Those who have babies carry
them on their backs in a leather bag,
earry their young. This
plan permits the mother to use both
hands st her farm work
Ee MJURAWS
The Czarins of Bussia, although em-
houseful of seamstresses,
makes nearly all the clothing for ber
youngest « hildren, and also takes their
new hats to pieces and trims them sc
cording §
ploying =»
her own AS.
The Empress of Austria has to give
a written receipt for the State jewels
every time she wears them, and her
majesty, as a result, usually contents
herself with her private collection,
which is worth $1,500, 00x,
A novel feature introduced at a wed-
ding recently was that all of the house
guests inscribed their names on a roll
which was afterwards in-
seried in a filigree silver tube,
was presented to the bride
Mz=. RE Willard is an enterpris-
ing Chicago woman. She is the pro-
prietor of a barber shop which boasts
six chairs, each one in charge of a wo-
man barber. Esch of the assistants
makes 812 a week and half of all they
take 23
in over $23
of vellum,
which
The very newest fashion among the
ladies of St. Petersburg, i® to
arm themselves with long canes when
they go abroad. Some of these canes
measure six to feet in length,
and as the ladies stalk along they seem
tussin,
seven
at a distance stalwart amazons who
have supplied the mselves with small
scaffolding poles or pluck d up young
trees
The gold bonnets, with
erowns of bullion embroidery, are very
effective with pleated brims of brown
velvet trimmed with parrots’ wings
standing out from choux of white chif-
fon with gold picot loops
White satin ribbon strings twe inches
1
so-called
edged,
are |
| In the
| You
Mink collarettes are to be worn as | tamed,
SUBDUING WILD BEASTS.
NOT 2¥ KINDNESS, BUT THAROUGK
FEAR ARE THEY TAMYED.
A Trainer Tells How He Handles the
Heasts When First Piaced Under
His Charge Nerve Required,
IT EAD KEEPER CONKLIN,
in charge of a large men
ngerie, tells the New York
Herald how wild beasts are
He says:
“We have a tremendons amonnt of
work to do with the wild animals pp
winter quarters in Bridgeport
of which the public knows nothing.
pee we are getting new wild ani-
.
| mals all the time, and as they come to
us there is nots man living who would
dare to go into the cages with them,
During the winter we have to break
those beasts so that we can handle
them as you see us handle them on the
| road. 4
“And how do you do it?”
“Well, when they come to us they
have thick leather collars around their
necks, with heavy chains sttached
They sre more savage then than they
were before capture, their capture
1
| only having served to bring out all
thet is ugly in them. They will spit
| and growl st anybody who gets near
their cage and jump st the bars until
they exhaust themselves. We begin
to teach them manners the very day
we get them, snd they take a lesson in
etiquette every day after thet until
| the show starts ont.”
“What do you do to them?”
“My men estch the end of the chain
fastened to the collar around the new
beast's neck and fasten it to the bars
inn such a manner that the beast can
mly move a short distance. Then 1
whip and stout
enter the cage. 1 take a
chair and sit down in the corner.”
“Feeling perfectly cool, 1 suppose?”
“Yes, so Jong as 1 know that chain
is solid and securely fastened. Well,
the instant I get in the beast will give
a roar and spring for me. I would be
torn to shreds if I was within reach,
but the chain holds, and instead of
getting at me the lion, tiger, panther
or leopard simply comas to the end of
his rope, as it were, is brought up
with a shock that sends him in s heap
to the floor of the cage, aud I give him
a lash with the rawhide. The beast is
at me again in an instant, and agsin
he goes down and I lash him. I never
have used the club on an animal, but
I always keep it handy in case it 18
needed. 1 keep drawing my chair a
little closer to him as this goes on un-~
til I get so close that they can touch
me with their but cannot bite
me. Then I just sit there and talk to
them, and vou would be surprised st
the power the human voice will finally
be made to exercise over wild beasts.”
“While I sit talking to one, just out
of his teeth, if he gets ugly
and attempts to spring si me I give lim
1 keep this up and after
a dozen or fifteen lessons they get so
that they only snarl and growl at my
As soon as I think it safe I
try the beast without a chain. Itisa
little ticklish business st firet, bot I
have plenty of help ready for the first
effort. If it is a success the fir time
you generally have your besst mas
tered, although once in a while abrute
that has been tractable enough will
break out and go for his keeper. We
had such a case here in the Garden
take a good rawhide
club and
noses
of reach
the rawhide
entrance,
| two years ago, when Joseph Foster an
| death on that occasion if
wide start from the back, and are tied |
under the chin ina stiff bow,
The death is announced of Miss E
E. J. Crop, the first woman who
orossed the Atlantic frem England in
a steamer, On April 8, 1838. she
sailed from Bristol in
tern, under the command of Captain
Hosken, Royal Navy,
special commitsion
merchant vessel.
to command a
she Great Wes. |
who obtained |
The voyage was ac- |
complished in fifteen days. She was |
the only female passenger on board,
Amateur skirt dancing has been
ousted in Australia by the skipping
now in fashionable circles, Mrs. Rae
pert Clarke is responsible for intro-
ducing this fascinating form of enter
tainment to Melbourne society, Tour-
paments are held on to the ssphalt
tennis courts, and valuable prizes are
offered by many hostesses for the Indy
who skips most gracefully and most
sucoossfully. :
Miss Cleveland, of South Pasadena,
Oal., & cousin of Prosident Cleveland,
Las started a charity of her own in
that city. She is fitsing up & house
she owns as a home for children whose
nis are too poor fo provide for
il Miss Cleveland is »
She Joes
experienced lion tamer, wis clawed by
a lioness and nearly killed.
Mr. Conklin modestly refrained
from adding that Keeper Foster would
unquestionably have met a terrible
it had not
been for the fearless and prompt men-
ner in which he attacked the lioness
with an iron prod.
“Generally in the course of a winter
we oan get a beast so that he will not
attack his keeper when he enters the
cage,” Mr. Conklin continued “Wa
not only have to get them so that they
will not attack their keepers, though,
but so that they will not attack each
other. and that is a mighty hard job.
wé can never do that,
There is an old tiger there, one of the
most savage brutes I ever handled,
and I conld take you into his cage
with him now without the slightest
danger. If I dared to put him in the
same compartment with thet big Dene
gal there, though, I would haves dead
tiger on my hands in two seconds,
Notice the long mask on the beily.
That is where the Bengal ripped him
two years ago, when I tried to put
them together, as they would show
better that way. If the Bengal'sclaws
had not been clipped he would have
ripped open the other one and killed
him."
«What truth is there in the story of
the power of the human eye over wild
beasts?”
“It is =» pretty thing to say, and
that is about all,” Mr, Conklin re-
plied. “A man who wants to sabdoe
a wild boast has got to bo fearless aud
go about it in a courageous way, and
the eye plays its part. The man who
Sometimes
parties, which are all the craze just attempted to handle a wild beast wha
| was not chained with nothing else
than a fearless eye would be in &
pretty bad hole, though. What a man
must have isa good heart, plenty of
plack—lots of sand in his neck, as the
fighters say. The secret of suo~
cessfully handling wild beasts is to
become imbued with a confidence that
sll wild beasts are really cowardly,
especially if they belong to the oat
family. If you are not afraid sod
you w how to do it it is easy
enough.”
An interesting find is a library of
800 volumes, inclading seventy manu