t MeBigpfcg. ESTABLISHED FEBRUARY 5. 1818, VoU , o. ZS. Entcretf at Pittsburg Postolflce. JovembcrH, lss?. as second-class matter. Business OfficeCorner Smithfield and Diamond Streets. News Rooms and Publishing House 75, 77 and 79 Diamond Street EASTEUN ADVERTISING OFFlCft, ROOMS, TK1BUM. BUILU13iG. SEW YOKR, where complete files of T11E DISPATCH can always be Sound. Foreign aaTertliers appreciate the con venience. Home advertisers and friends or THE DIM'ATCU, while In ew York, are also made welcome. THE DISPATCH U regularly on sale a Mrentano's. S Union Square, Hew York, and 17 Ave. de rOpcra. Paru. .France, where any one who has been disappointed at a hotel newt ttand ran obtain ft TERMS OF THE DIkPATCH. fUSTACE FREE IX TUB TOOTED STATES. DJhLT DisrATCn, One Year. IS 00 liArLV DisrATCH, FerQoarter ZOO .Daily Dispatch, One Month 0 Daily Dispatch, lncludingSunday, lyear. 1000 Daily IUsrtTCn, inclndingbnndar.sm'ths. V50 Daily Dispatch, including Sunday.lmonta so Scsdat Dispatch, One Year 150 W ecklt Dispatch, One Year 125 The Daili Dispatch is dellTered by carriers at ;irenuccr neeL. or Including bunday edition, tt St cents per week. PITTSBURG. MONDAY. SEPF. 22. 169a THE INDEPENDENT MOVEVIENT. The movement of the outside petroleum producers to organize competition against the Standard is steadily crystallizing in the direction of definite organization. Inter views with the operators show the opinion to be universal that the oil interests outside of the Standard must organize to secure competing pipe-line facilities, the only dif ferences of opinion being as to the form of organization required. "With that object steadily held in view, and with the producers fully determined that the Standard emissaries shall not swerve them from their purpose, the solution of the difficulty is certain. Every one who stud ies the oil situation knows that competition in pipe-line transportation is the key of the situation. Any plan which provides that full v, will release the producers from the Standard's supremacy. To provide pipe line competition reaching to all parts of the field, will require combined action on the part of the producers, although different companies might be organized ior different districts. "With pipe-line transportation provided, outside of the Standard, individual enter prise would doubtless engage in the inde pendent refining interest. If an inde pendent interest, refining 20 per centjof the product, can exist with the Standard in control of pipe-line transportation, what doubt is there that with competing pipe lines, the independent interest would very soon refine 50 per cent of the output? The producers would doubtless strengthen their position by owning refineries that cannot be sold out without their consent; but they may also be certain that with equal chances pro vided for the transportation of petroleum, the independent refineries will spring up as if by magic. Pittsburg's interest in such projects is clear and definite. When the city was not by any means such a center of oil produc tion as at present, it was the third refining city of the country. If competing pipe lines should center the production of the southern districts here, the refining indus- try, which has been twice crushed out by the Standard, would be revived into a new activity and give a fresh impetus to our population and prosperity. RE-CUING TnE CANAL. The efforts to stop the surrender of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to the railway interest is gaining so much force that there is good hope for the preservation of the canal as a water highway. The bearing at Hagers town, Sid., Saturday, brought out the strongest expressions ol opposition to the bargain yet hearJ. Leading lawyers, rep resenting important interests, presented propositions for the preservation of the canal which would put it in running order by April next With the matter put in that shape, it is difficult to see how the courts can refuse to preserve the canal for the original purpose of its charter. But the railroad in fluences are mighty, and we cannot be sure that the canal is sale until it is in operation once more. A SlIUNG TO IT. The educational qualification adopted by the Mississippi Constitutional Convention provides that after January 1, 1896, no person shall be qualified to vote in that State unless he can read a passage in the constitution of the State. This very commendable provis ion is modified by the following rider: "Or be able to understand it intelligently when read to him." This provision puts the con vention in the attitude of prescribing an ed ucational qualification, and then providing a loop hole by which it can be nullified in favor of those to whom the party in power desires to give the right to vote. A passage from almost any State constitution can be selected which would tax the powers of an intelligent man to understand when read to him at random and without the context; and on the other hand, one conld be selected of which the most ignorant man might profess an understanding. Perhaps the Mississip pians think that this provision of the con stitution cannot be understood intelligently by the majority of the people. It is to be hoped that the spirit of civilization will have force enough in Mississippi to require an impartial educational qualification. INVOLUNTARY USEFULNESS. Some people may have 'been inclined to regard Col. Elliot F. Shepard as presenting a puzzle, like that of the flea or mosquito, as to the purpose ot a wise Providence in creating him. His most characteristic per formances indicate that his function in pub lic affairs is to blurt out pieces of information which are more instructive than attractive. The old adage that "children and fools tell the truth" is a familiar one. The pious owner of tne New York Mail ant Express is not a child; but he has proved that he comes within the purview of the proverb by letting out some choice statements of facts, which the public would have lost had they been in the custody of a stronger brain. Col. Shepard's famous declaration after the election of 1888, that $150,000 was expended to purchase votes in New York which really did not pay for the investment gave a rather startling picture of the practice of politics among the ultra-Pharisaical plutocracy. He has just added a companion picture to this apropos of the divisions of New York politics and the necessity of keeping clear oi alliances with reform Democrats. The very religious editor frankly tells how the leader of New Yoik Eepublican ism made a bargain, with Mayor Grant by which the number of police justices was to be increased to fi'teen, and Mr. Piatt was to haveoneof the new justiceships forafollower. On this agreement, Piatt secured the passage of the bill, but the unscrupulous Grant J i - - .- . failed to deliver the goods and appointed a Democrat instead of Piatt' man. "There upon," says the approving representative of professed piety in politics, "Mr. Matt justly vowed vengeance against Mayor Grant, and the appointment and work of the Fassett Investigating Committee was the result of his just wrath." This sketch of the leader of the Repub lican party, through which, Col. Shepard in forms us, municipal reform can only be ob tained in New York, making a bargain with the Democracy for the creation of useless offices, is an instructive one. To learn in addition that the Fassett investigation was brought about, not for reform or the pun ishment of dishonesty, but for vengeance because the Republican leader was cheated out of his share of the political swag is an object-lesson as to the necessity of cutting loose from all political cliques in order to secure any reform. For the detailing of these political bar gains, in an approving tone, by the savory Shepard, the public must thank tbeinevi table decree which created him for the dis play of that variety or foolishness so epi grammatically described by the primary Yanderbilt GENERAL HASTINGS' ARGUMENT. The declaration attributed to General Hastings that, "even if it was true that the Republican leader had stolen money from the State Treasury he would still consider him better than the best Democrat," has been denied by him and is corrected by the papers which published the erroneous quota tion, to what is given in the official stenograph report as follows: "If the Republican party or Its representa tive had tat.cn from the Treasury every dollar, as he (Pattison) untruthfully alleges, I say to you that it would not amount In dollars and cents to one-half as much money as he (Fatti son) cost the people of this State by an extra session of the Legislature." The false quotation put in General Hast ings' mouth was doubtless produced by a confusion of what he did say with Senator Ingalls' declaration, at the same meeting, that "the worst Eepublican that ever lived is better by far than the best Democrat that ever lived." Senator Ingalls' sentiment sufficiently characterizes itself. Since Gen eral Hastings is rightfully acquitted of the brutal recklessness of the same assertion as applied to State politics, it is pertinent to point that what he did say carries with it im plications that he would not deliberately make except under the misleading inspira tion of partisan oratory. ' In the first place it implies that to steal the public money lor private advantage is no worse than to commit an error in public administration that costs something. One man may steal $50,000; another, as a public official, may perform an act within the range of his duty, ont of which he does not get a cent of pecuniary advan tage, but which costs the public treasury $100,000. OfcooTse General Hastings wonld not say at any other time that they are on.a par; but if the sentence quoted from his speech has any bearing on the campaign, it means that the honest official is worse than the thief because his act cost the people 5100,000, while the thief only stole $50,000. In the next place, it implies that when the Executive who summons the Legislature to perform a public duty which that body refuses to perform, the Executive, and not the Legislature, is responsible ior the waste of time and money. This is exactly the statement of that extra session trouble. The Constitution called for the re districting of the State. The Legislature refused to perform the work because the dis tricts could not be gerrymandered to suit the views of partv leaders. The history of that period is full of the efforts of Governor Pattison to get the Legislature to perform its work decently and economically, and of the reckless refusal ot that body to do so, and its determination to grab all the salary its members could obtain. If it were not for the campaign search after partisan argu ments General Hastings would not commit himself -to the proposition that because one man uses his legal authority to make an other do his duty, therefore the first is re sponsible for the second's refusal or failure to do what he should do. If the General, while in command at Johnstown, had or dered a body of the State militia to perform certain duties, and the regiment had boldly and defiantly refnsed to do the work, he would have had no difficulty in perceiving the injustice of charging him with the loss of money spent in maintaining the nseless and insubordinate bodies. Yet the exigen cies ot the Slate campaign lead him to make exactly that charge against Governor Patti son, for the wanton refusal of the State Leg islature to do its work. The mildest commentary that is possible upon such arguments, is that the Repub licans must be very hard up for campaign material when thev are resorted to. A STRIKE'S 7AILURE. The last echo of the New York Central strike was heard last week in the statement that the late strikers were flocking back to seek their former places; but that most of the positions have been filled. The Dis patch gave full attention to the refusal of the New York Ceutral management to arbi trate, and to its violation of the principle professed by Mr. Depew, that employes should not be discharged for belonging to labor organizations. It is pertinent, in view of the fact that the strke has lost some 3,300 men their positions, to point out the illustration of the principle often stated in these columns, that a strike without good assurance of success, is an offense against the interests of labor. The New York papers are teeming with the moral lessons of the strike and the folly of striking. They carefully conceal the fact brought out by the inquiry of the State Arbitration Board, that men were dis charged for their prominence in labor organizations, contrary to the profes sions of Mr. Depew; but they are not the less correct in saying that the sequel shows the strike to have been wrong. Labor leaders should understand the re sponsibility that rests upon them, not alone to be sure that a strike is founded in justice; but, beyond that, to refrain from that species of industrial war nnless there is at least a reasonable prospect that it will succeed. In this case, while the aggression on the part of the corporate management has been 'pretty well established, the strike has been even more hurtful. The men who vent on strike have lost wages, and the majority of them have suffered the more irretrievable loss of employment Nothing was gained by the strike to offset these losses. What ever construction may be placed on Mr. Powderly's letters in other respects, he was right in the view that if the Knights of Labor were obliged to fight the New York Central, they should wait until they could make the fight to the best advantage. The failure of the New York Central strike is a new illustration of the rule often demonstrated before, that in the interests of labor a strike should be not resorted to till every other means fails, and then only when there is a fighting chance .of success. The news cornea from the Salt Lake THE Tribune that the Mormons in Wyoming voted the Republican ticket on acconnt of a bargain with Republican leaders who promised to sup port the Mormon interests in Congress. If the Mormons did so they were very unwise In not requiring security from any Republican leader who made such a contract that ho would be able to deliver the goods. Really, after the time which has been devoted by the Republicans in the House, to making the Democrats leave their seats In voluntarily, is it not rather unreasonable to complain when the minority leaves the House in a body? Some people cannot be suited, any how. Mb. Delamateb makes the admission that he hat submitted the question of his eligi bility to office; on account of thoss State de posits in his bank, to a dozen eminent lawyers, and has their assurance that he, is eligible. It does not occur to him that the question whether a candidate who ignores constitutional require ments is a very eligible one for the votes of the people. A MAN ont in Ohio has' a house with a metal deposit under it, which has caused it to be struck by lightning eight times in three years. This news causes the Hon. Russell A. Alger to pursue his Presidental boom with re newed hope and confidence. Colonel Elliot F. Shepabd con tinues to vehemently assert that the Repub licans ot New York must take the straight way of nominating a Republican city ticket instead of giving their support to the independent reform movement The good colonel also points ont that a truly eligible candidate for the Republicans is named Elliot F. Shepard. The Pittsburgers who are going to the meeting of the Republican Leaguo propose to secure the indorsement of that organization tor the Erie canal project They will do well to do so. , It cannot hurt the canal and may do them much good. The opening of a new railroad which will add to Pittsburg's mineral supply is an event of general Interest The branch of the West Fenn road running up Buffalo creek will prove its right to existence by its contributions to our manufacturing materials, to say nothing of a possible addition to the list of manufacturing suburbs that it may make. The meeting of the survivors of the ar senal explosion, yesterday, shows that there are many people still living who were involved in that terrible calamity of a generation ago. The high and mighty Mayor of Phila delphia traveled to Washington last week to protest against the removal of duty from bind ing twine. When the Senate interferes with the Mayor's particular trust the municipal powers of Philadelphia must rally to the de fense of their imperiled profits. Thebe is good reason to hope that Mr. Balfour will In a short time realize the bad policy of throwing stones at a hornet's nest and remaining in the vicinity of the hornets. All the wards of the Third district in Philadelphia bnt one have instructed for Mc Aleer instead of Vaux. Vaux is a cieditable Congressman; bnt McAleer has the reputation of "always looking after the boys;" and the interests of "the boys" are always supreme In city politics. PROMINENT PEOPLE. General E. Kiebt Smith, President of the Sewanee College, Tennessee, is in New Or leans undergoing treatment for cancer. General W. T. Sherman and General Horace Porter have been elected honorary members of the Actors' Fund of America. Hobekt F. Porteb, Superintendent ot the Census, has been quito ill, as a result ot over work. His physician in Washington Dr. Stanton, enjoins absolute rest and quiet Miss Harriet Hosmer has been commis sioned to execute a lite-siza statue of Queen Isabella of Castile, for which a special pavilion will be erected in the Woman's Department of the Chicago Fair of 1893. Both General Merwin and Judge Morris, the candidates for Governor of Connecticut, are baldheaded. As the New Haven, Palladium poetically puts it "Time has worked like rav ages on" both their "talented pates.' Colonel Frederick A. Bee, Chinese Con sul to San Francisco, and said to be the only American, with the exception of. Anson Bur lingame, who held a diplomatic office under that Government, is on a vacation visit to Bar Harbor. The Republicans of the Ninth "Virginia (Mr. Buchanan's) district have nominated George T. Mills, of Pulaski City, for Congress. He is a Pennsylvania, but for the last 11 years has been largely interested in Virginia land devel opment and mineral industries. The decoration of Officer of Public Instruc tion has been conferred by France, through the French Legation at Washington, on Dr. Persifor Frazer, of Philadelphia, who was Vice President of the fourth session of the In ternational Geological Congress at Philadel phia. Jonjr Whistler, the wealthy Pottawotta mie, who died about a week ago. was the rich est man in Indian Territory. He was born in 1836, at Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, but had lived in Indian Territory for 22 years. He leaves an immense estate. His wife is a Sac and Fox of considerable celebrity. Two of the seven ladies In waiting of Queen Margaret of Italy are New York girls the Princess Vicovaro, who was Miss Eleanor Lor illard Spencer, and the Princess Braucaccio, who was Miss Hickson Field. The Prince Vicovaro is a Cenci, and still owns the stately palace which belonged to Lncrezia Fetroni, the stepmother of Beatrice Cenci, together with many memorials of the ill-fated beauty. DEATH OF A GOVERNOR, Charles Clark Stevenson, ofNevada, Carried Away by Typhoid Fever. Carson, Nev., September 2L Charles Clark Stevenson, Governor of Nevada, died of typhoid fever at bis residence in this city to-day. His attending physicians had entertained hopes of his recovery for the past ten days. Flags OTer Government and State buildings are at half mast capltol is draped in mourning; Funeral services will take place in Carson City. Tuesday, with military honors, and the bod; will be taken to Oakland, Cal., for Interment Governor Stevenson was 64 years of age and was born in Ontario county. New York. Lieu tenant Goveraor H, C. Davis dlod a little over a year ago. 8ISXEBS REUNITED, The Peculiar Manner In Which They Met for t!io"FIrt Tfme la 35 'Yours. rfiPECIAL TELEORAM TO THE DISPATCH. 1 Pio.ua, O., September 2L Thqwidow of Rev. Snyder, of Oklahoma, with three children, ar rived here a few days ago on their way to Lima, where Mrs. Snyder was going to look for a sis ter whom she had not beard of for 30 years. Money and health gave out here. John Weaver gave the desolate family shelter. Yesterday Mrs. Snyder started away, butsent a child back after a forgotten article. An acci dental question discovered that Mrs. Weaver and Mrs. Snyder were the separated sisters. A Baltimore Lnwjer Disbarred. Baltimore. Mr, September 21. John H. Handy was yesterday disbarred by the Supreme Bench for squandering trust funds. He ad mit ted his guilt but declared that he never in tended to do wrong. He entered a plea tor mercy, saying that if permitted to devote his efforts to bis profession he hoped to save his bondsmen and the creditors of the trust from loss. A Snllor'a Death From Lockjaw. Miltobd, Del., September 2L Fred Ross died to-day from lockjaw. While working on a vessel coming Into the Mispilllon river on August 25 he had his leg badly twisted between the hawser and windlass, causing injuries which superinduced the fatal disease. Ilofl Cholera In Ohio. Dayton, O., September 21. Farmers In the vicinity ot Spring Valley'are losing all their hogs by cholera and the presence of the disease is reported west of there toward the Big Miami river. If open weather continues the epidemic will become general for there la no known cure for hog cholera, : - PITTSBURG DISPATCH, THE HOME OF INDOLENCE. REV. GEORGE HODGES OESCRIBE3 THE CITY OF GONDOLAS. Features Which Are Most Striking to the Bye of the Wanderlust American St. Blnrks With Its Magnificent Olasicund Stalely Ceremonial. rwEITTElt FOB THE PISPATCH.J "These are no cabs In Venice. You get out of the train into a gondola. There is no other place like Venice anywhere, and Venice begins even at the door of the railway station, Down you go a marble step or two, and you are at the water, and a gondola is waiting. It is like crossing the threshold of a dream. We spent a week In Venice, and when we came away and leff the palaces and canals behind us, it seemed as If we had been out of the world somewhere, and were just getting hack again into the nineteenth century. All visits to Venice begin and end in a gon dola. You take a gondola to your hotel; and when you are ready to depart and the land lord, and the portler, and the bead waiter come out to bid you an affectionate farewell (and to receive your parting fees), you look your last upon them from the cushioned bench of a gon dola. The best thing in Venice is the gondola. From a rowboat, Venice wonld lose half its charm. But to sit softly in this gently swaying cradle, and be propelled by the silent oar of the gondolier, and look up at the marble palaces on either side, is to enjoy a sensation worth a trip across tho ocean. A Description of Ibe Craft. A gondola is a long and rather largo boat of the color of a pirate's flag. Every gon dola in Venlco is as black us a black hat Some centuries ago it seems tho rulers of the state noticed, with concern, that there was great em ulation among the citizens, each trvlng to make his gondola fairer than bis neighbor's, and to that end spending nolittleill-oonsidered money upon gay paints and trappings of metal and embroidery, wherenponalaw was passed that all gondolas should be henceforth of sober black, and black they have continued to this day. The station is left behind, the voices of tho legion of idlers on the bank beside the station door grow pleasantly dim in the distance, the gondolier stands in the stern and rows in his miraculous fashion with a single oar. On goes the long boat between the great old palaces, whose glory is now long departed; beneath the Rialto, Interesting for its associa tion with a certain Merchant, who bartered for a pound of flesh once here in Venice, and got deservedly defeated; around the sharp corners and sudden turns of the tangle of lesser canals which intersect the city in every direction; under the Bridge of Sighs at last between the palace and the prison, and so out into the open water where the lagoons meet the Adriatic, and up to tbe steps of the hotel. There is no journey equal to this in any itinerary. The Rhine is nothing to it The Grand Canal is tbe finest river in the world. A Festal Oceaaton. T WAS very fortunate In the time of my visit to Venice. The Sunday of my stay there was the Festa of the Redcntore. There was a great plague here in those old unsanitary days when plagues were cummon visitations. And when at last tbe plague ceased without destroying quite all the inhabitants, the rem nant put their money together and built a fine church as a tbankoiferlng for their preserva tion, and ever since upon a certain day they have held a high festival in solemn commemoration of that deliverance. All night on Saturday the streets were full of people walking up and down. On Sunday morning there were multitudes at the island called the Lido watching to see the sun rise. Thero was a bridge of boats built across the Grand Canal connecting tbe commemorative church with the Cathedral of St Mark. And at tbo time for morning service there was a great procession out of the church and across tbe wide square and over tbe bridge of boats. It was such a sight as one sees In Gentile Bellini's pictures. There was tbe beautiful church tbe most beautiful church in Europe with its uplifted domes, and its recessed fa cade gleaming with golden frescoes, and beside it the palace of tbo doges with its pillared por tico, and near by the great solitary campanile rising up tail and stately into the perfectly blue sky, and great flags tbe rlags of Italy were flying from the huge flagstatts before the churcb, and across the piazza moved this gor geous procession of ecclesiastics in Bplendid vestments, with singing men and singing boys, and banners and candles, chanting a litany. On Sunday evening a military band played in the Square of St Mark's. The music was ex cellent One bears good music on all sides over hero, even from tbe hand organs. Tbe selec tions made no pretense of being "sacred." It was frankly an instrumental concert After ward there were fireworks from the Grand Canal before the doges' palace, the most elabo rate and gorgeous pyrotechnics 1 ever saw. One falls naturally into superlatives in think ing or writing about Venice. No other expres sion seems quite adequate. - Lovely Music nod Stately Co-cmonlnl, Qn Monday, in St Mark's, 1 beard the most lovely music of voice and orchestra and organ, and saw the most glorious and stately ceremonial which the Roman Church can offer out of Rome. Giovanni "Battlste Soldini, a gentleman of Verona, dying a good many years ago, left a large bequest to found a homo for old women and old men, and having thus dis charged his duty toward his neighbor, provided for bis own eternal welfare bv a provision that every year upon a certain day or series of days masses should be said for the repose of bis soul, adding that in caso tho masses should ever be noglected or intermitted the sum bequeathed for them should go to a cer tain musical association in Milan. The masses have never yet failed of celebration, and tho Milanese musicians have never seen a penny or a centime of the 6,100 annual francs. One of the terms of tbe bequest was that new music shonld be composed for the masses every year, so that tho singing of tbe Soldini masses is the supremo musical event of tbo year in Venice. The cbnrch was full of priests in magnificent vestments; the great pillars of the nave were draped in black-velvet edged with gold; in tho middle of the church stood a monumental bier. It was like a cheerful funeral. The mass was sung with wonderful tenor ef fects and fine orchestral harmonics. The stately ceremonies were performed with digni ty and solemnity and a noticeable absence of tawdry and tinsel. Mr. Howells in his "Vene tian Life" notes how the conductor of the mu sic at tbe Soldini masses pounds with his baton on the stone rail before him. He ponnds as vigorously and as dtstractingly as ever. Rat-tat-tat goes the aggravating beating of the unmusical stick till one wishes that it were a stout rod cudgeling the obtrusive conductor. But there is no other discord. Outside at tbe gates of tho choir kneel the old men and the old women who have good reason to hlo-s Signor Soldmi's memory. The old men Wear blue coats and caps, and the old women wear white aprons and white linen capes over tbeirheads,and each old woman carries a red plaid handkerchief and a green fan. Inside the chancel, candles are lighted and blown out, and incense rises in fragrant 'clouds. St Mark's is full of people, coming and going, some with prayer books, some with guide books. Apparently n Devout re 3 pi?. Ct. Mask's is always full of people. I used to spend hours there, and all tho time people were kneeling at their prayers. Brown skinned gondoliers wonld come in and cross themselves and say a prayer or two, and look about a little while and go out again. Even tbe beggars, to whom the grand church is as free and open as it is to the wealthiest and noblest of the Venetians, say their paternosters and their aves. and pray perhaps that good Ameri cans will oo generous of Soldi, and go back to their begging. It ought to do even a Venetian beggar good to get under that gorgeous roof, and kneel on that floor of billowy marble. St Mark's clows with gold and color. Tho roof,fts you look up into its arcbes, is peopled with great figures of saints against a background which shines like the yellow sun. The walls gleam with alabaster. The floor lies, in great heaving waves of colored marble. Up and down; no two inches alike anywhere. Saints and apostles stand npon tbe great screen be tween tbe nave and the choir. The reredos Is of fair gold brought in old days from Constanti nople. And yet St Mark's does not impress one as over-colored, or as too much ornamented. All blends together into marvelous harmony. One never tires of it Hour after honr, in sunshine and in shadow, where the crowds are greatest or array in some silent corner as beside tho stone which came from the gate of Tyre in tbe old crusading times, and by which, they say, tbe Savior rest edeverywhere 8t Mark's Is lull of revelations and snrnrlses. It is never twice the same. Probably it is never tbe same precisely to any two beholders., Ceitalnit is that I could not find 'anywhere in Venice that St Mark's which Rnskin pictured in that magnificent paragraph of his which everybody reads. No donbt be saw it bearing its Easter message. But here, as everywhere, "as wo are, we see." Tbe Heart of tbe City. THE heart of Venice Is the Squaro of Bt Mark's. Here is that fine group of Cathe dral and palace and campanile which is unri valed anywhere. Hero besldo tne water stand the two great pillare, ono surmounted by the winged lion of St. Mark, the other by tbe figure ot St Theodore with his foot upon tbe croco dile. Here are the finest shops in Venice, tbe queer shops where the whole stock In trade is in the windows, and where tbe shopkeepers MONDAY, SEPTEMBER stand in the doors like spiders waiting to entrap the unwary flies. Here is Naya's. where tbe fine colored views are to be had, and Flonan's, where everybody goes at noon to get an ice. All Venice saunters about the piazza, seeking shady places, during the day; and all Venice come s back again after dinner and listens to the music of tbe military baud in tbe evening. In Europe, and in Venice especially, people live ont of doors. There are canals in Venice, it Is true, where we would have streets, bnt there are plenty of streets. There is no place in the whole town which cannot be reached on foot And as you wander through these narrow streets, which turn at all torts of angles, and in ail directions, yon see the whole population ot the city in the streets. The buying and the sell ing, the eating and the drinking, go, on under the sky. Tho Venetians are not beautiful people. Somo of tbe ugliest faces which we have seen in'Europe we saw in Venice. In the Ghetto, which we visited in memory of Shylock. we saw tbe raggedest and dirtiest and homllest of mankind and womankind. One morning In tbe Church of the Frari. where Titian's fine "Holy Family" Is and one of Bellini's charming Madonnas, tljey were making ready for some kind of function, and tbe men who were to take part were pub licly donning their red gowns. The gowns were dirty enough, but they were not half so dirty as the suspicious-looking pirates who were putting them on. Venice, with all Its incomparable and indescribable loveliness, is the saddest city in the world. Everything is of the past here. All tbe glory, as In tbe Mosaics at San Marco, is in the background. The palaces are deserted of their noble and courtly inhabitants. Many of them are let for lodgings. Some are converted into shops and ware bouses. They are still surpassingly beautiful : tbe colors still glow as reds and blues and yellows glow in Venice. Tbe pictures tell the truth; and the interest of history and romance gathers about tbe stately buildings; but (all their glory is of yesterday. Tho beauty is tbe pathetic beauty of tbe sunset, or of autumn lpftvps. Thprn la nnhodv hero to take the E laces of the fine old doges of tbo past Venice as played her part, and nothing seems to remain for her now but gradually to die of Ignoble poverty. At any rate, tbe town is poor, and beggars are many. Men by the score saunter abont with their hands in their idle pockets. There seems to be nothing now for anybody to do. Even the priests have but a pittance a day, and their cassocks ate thread bare and their big black hats are rusty. A Paradise for Idlers. tT'ESiCEis the city of indolence. It is tho capital and metropolis of the land of the lotus, eaters. One cannot well be so ignorant of Italian as not to be able to translate here in Venice the meaning of "dolce far niente." Even the American tourist who has been "doing" the continent at a double quick rate, seeing a town pr two a day and never sleeping two nights in the same place, falls under the spell of Venice and makes experiment of "sweet doing nothing." Nobody walks fart in Venice. Everybody saunters, idles, lingers, looks into shop windows, sits down in shady places and falls into dreams and dozings. The very doves which congregate in the Piazza are lazy, and move reluctantly to make room for the passerby. The gondola Is the fitting symbol of Venice. It is tho cradle ot absolute rest Jt is thetbroneof indolence. On you glide, softly, silently, between tbe rows of glowing palaces. Into Nirvana. Day by day the spirit of enervation, of aimlessness, of perfect content of absolutely serene idleness, more and more steals into the soul, till one departs in wholesome dread, lest the power of effort should be driven out of life, and all work be henceforth impossible. We visit the Academy, where Titian's "As sumption" outshines everything else, and S. Maria Formosa for Palma's stately St Bar bara. We go by gondolo to San Lazzaro where tbe Armenian monks live in their quiet monas tery. We spend an afternoon at the Lido, where we see the red and yellow sails of the fishing boats on tbe blue surface of tbe Adriatic. And then along tho Grand Canal, past the stranded palaces. We take our way toward tbe door which opens into the common world again. We board the train and leave tbe most beautiful and the most pathetic city in the world behind us. G. H. SOME LIVE TOPICS To be VotBd on nt the Exposition An Im portant Prize Essay Contest Tbe Exposition enters upon its fourth week to-day. Since opening day, visitors have had an opportunity to vote upon a variety of popular topics, and thousands have taken ad vantage of The Dispatch Foil Book to ex press their views thereon pro and con. This popular modo of gauging public opinion will be pursued by The Dispatch until tbe close of tho big show. For the opening days this week visitors are requested to cast their bal lots and make such remarks as they see fit on tbe following topics: MONDAY'S TOPICAL BALLOT. Should the Legislature Amend tho Blue Laws to fit the Present Day t Open to Lady and Gentlemen voters. TUESDAY'S TOPICAL BALLOT. Should the President of the United States be Chosen by Direct Vote of tbe People? Open to Gentlemen Voters Only. WEDNESDAY'S TOPICAL BALLOT. Should tbe Granting of Liquor Licenses be Placed in tbe Hands of a Commission? Open to Lady and Gentlemen Voteis. Vote Aye or Nay on the foregoing at Dis patch Headquarters, Brunswick-Balke-Col-lender Billiard Company's Space, Exhibition Building. On account of the bulk and variety of the competitions for the Frizes offered by The Dispatch for the best essay on the measures to be taken to promote the growth and prosper ity of Pittsburg, The Dispatch has decided not to detract from their Importance by another essay contest until after the pending awards have been made and the competitions pub lished. The topic is of vital importance, and he public must bo given opportunity to digest the views of tbe writers without being turned in other and lesser channels. CLOSE OF TEE CONFERENCE. Last Day of tboAHcgbcny Conference of tbe U. B. Cbnrch. rSFECIAL TELXOBAX TO THE DISPATCH.! Scottdale, September 21. The fifty-second annual convention of the Allegheny Conference ot tbe United Brethren Churcb, wound up to day after a four days' session. The ministers and delegates will leave for their respective homes in tbe morning. Last night's session was devoted to tho reading of tbe list of appoint ments as made out by the Standing Committee. Considerable of a surprise was created by the resignation of Rev. G. B. McKee. who was ap pointed to the pastorate of tbe church at Hunt ingdon, in tbe Altoona district. Tbe only reason assigned was his dissatisfaction with the ap pointment. Rev. A. Day was appointed to fill tbe vacancy. Memorial services were held in honor of the late Rev. De Long, who. during Ins connection with the conference, was pastor atBraddock and Johnstown. Tbe memorial sermon's were delivered by Bishop Dickson, Dr. Funkhousrer and Rev. Mr. Lesher. To-day the missionary anniversary and chil dren's jubilee were observed. Revs. Llcbleiter, Stewart, Burgess,IcCulloch and Cooke were ordained to-day by BiBhop Dickson, assisted by Revs. D. Shearer and J. H. Resher. Dr. I. U Kephart, ot Dayton, preached the sermon this evening. This has been the largest annual meeting ever known in the history of the con ference. Rev. Mr. McCloy is Chairman and H. T. Sbupe, Secretary, oi the Conference for tbo ensuing year. CAPTURED AH IRON PRINCESS. A Swedish Carpenter Weds His Rlcb Em plover's Dnagliter. Kansas ' Crrr; Mo., September 2L It be came known here yesterday for the first time that tbe daughter of Q. J. Shoop, tl)e iron man ufacturer, formerly of Dauphin and Harris burg, Pa., and who made the cars on which the Manhattan Beach Hotel was' moved, had se cretly married, nearly two months ago, a Swed ish carpenter employed about her father's shops. The girl Is very handsome and highly educated, while tbe man is barely able to speak English, and is not even a first-class me chanic The father of the girl, It is under stood, disowned her, DEATHS OF A DAY. Mrs. Pbllomenn Buss. Tbe funeral or Mrs. Pbilomena Buss, who died on Friday, at the residence of ber son-in-law, Jobn Kesslcr. in Edgewood, took place yesterday afternoon. The ceremonies were conducted by Kev. F. ltuoff. of the ttmithfltla street United Evangelical Protestant Church, lu the presence of a large number of friends of the deceased. The remains were Interred in Homewood Cemetery. Mrs. Buss was 90 years of age. Bhe was very well known and respected in Pittsburg, tibehadbcen confined to ber bed for nine months provlons to her death. John Hastings. "" John Hastings, a keeper at tbe Western Peni tentiary for 2S years, and who buried his wife abont a month ago, died yesterday at nis nome on lerraoQBTcnue, AitCKUcny, -He was a brother of Samuel). Hastings, the well-known Allegheny contractor, 22. 1890. SNAP SHOTS IN SEASON. Did Mr. Delamater kiss the Blarney Stone? The routine of life is exacting. Do you ever leave your office.house, room or workshop with a determination to go out of tbe beaten paths to or from your place of business? Of course yon do. After a few minutes don't you find yourself on the old track? To be sure you do. Have you ever given a thougbt to this habit of turning up in tbe same spots about the same hours every day, accidents or engagements barred; or, do you mentally say, "Pshaw, here I am again; but what's the odds so long as we're happy, old boy!" Perhaps you have, perhaps you have not However this may be, the fact remains that something draws us over tbe beaten paths. Your doctor says: "Seek new scenes; don't look at the same faces, the same buildings or tramp the same streets day in and day out; change is wbat you want and you must have it" That's all very well. Doctor, bnt unless we seek a new field we almost always stick to the well-known streets, meet the familiar faces, gazo npon the same rows of houses and business blocks. It's qneer. Isn't Jt? What draws our feet over the worn toepathswesk In and week 'out is a mystery which, possibly, few hare tried or cared to probe. Is this tbe Sixth Sense referred to by Mind-reader Johnstone Gravitation? Per haps it is. Who knows? If you want to see greased lightning watch tbe fellow who swabs off the trolley wire on a sleety day. The sun put on an overcoat Saturday. So did the folk who keep such articles in stock. A Maryland woman has a goose which was given her when she married 21 years ago. Lou of women still havo the goose they got on their wedding day. Pasteitb Is treatfng a woman for cat Nte. Catnip tea will not be prescribed. The Conger lard bill slipped through as easily as a conger eeL Undressed kid Is not as popular on the street as In the nursery. The college boys are talking more abont football than the course of studies. If they ex pect to follow statesmanship this Is probably the best course to study. The coming Congress man must be well up in rough-and-tumble tactics. Wanted A quorum. Apply to Thomas Bracken Reed, House end of Capitol, Wash ington, D. C. No kickers need apply. The fellow haunted by a smile may have a ghost of a chance after all. It's not the cigarette, but the thing at the end of It that causes the anxiety. The chief product of Mary Anderson's ranche now is coyotes and jack rabbits. Our Mary can handle a stock company more suc cessfully than a stock farm. The Czar must be preparing for a big hunt ing expedition. He has placed an order for fi00,O0O guns in France. Perhaps tbe beautiful blue Danube will be reddened after all. . It costs less to buy a title of nobility in Europe than to buy a title to real estate in Pittsburg. The hair ana whisker crops are the only ones up to th8 average this year. The ballot la the lottery ticket of the poli tician. The model housewife does not need to count her fruit jars and calculate how much jam she will put up this winter. She can take a rest and feed the visitors on gelatine and cake. Johnny seems to be getting his gun all over tbe land. THE New York Herald illustrated a rain Storm the other day. Thi3 is carrying the thing too far. How do they expect to get good re sults from a dry plate on a wet day, anyhow? Jay Gould says the country is all right other words, it's not a jay. In AN actress in one of New York's society theaters shocked the audience the other night in a studio scene. She appeared in pink flesh ings, stripped of all superfluities. Even tbe actors were staggered at the life-like model which unexpectedly appeared. Mr. Comstock will doubtless draw the drapery around this pink ot perfection and lower the box office re ceipts. These be scruples in drachms, but many a man takes bis dram without any scruples. In this age of misplaced switches, loose rail way ties, Flobert rifles, canned fruit unloaded guns, misfit prescriptions, cyclones, dynamite cans, new t explosives, cable cars and dead wires, it behooves every man. woman and child to have names and addresses tattooed on their bodies and stitched into their clothing, so as their friends can be notified and decent bunal assured. A damn will not stop the current of events. Perhaps Mind Reader Johnstone can tell an anxious world who struck Billy Patterson. The elephant has a roaming nose. Brother Shepabd, of tbe Mail and Ex press, is advertising an article in "Gay Paris" by Rev. Dr. Jobn Hall. What Brother John docs not know about the high jinks of the gay city would fill a book. Or has he been slumming? Judging from tho vote cast Friday at Dis patch Exposition headquarters on the ques tion whether fnnerals should have right of way over street cars, a good many people think the hearse should be turned into a hurry-up wagon. Talk is cheap, tut it takes money to build a pipe line. Collect tbe cash, Messrs. Pro ducers. Pittsburg will furnish the pipe If you pay the pipers. Reciprocity in the voting line seems to be quite popular in Pennsylvania this year. If Eve had known as much about tbe world as Sarah Bernhardt she could have handled a snake with Impunity, too. If tbe tariff bill could be so fixed as to keep tbe sand out of the sugar tbe consumer mlgbt stand tax without grumbling. AND now the Delamater organs are publish ing, "at tbe request of Democrats," the eulogy pronounced by Senator Quay over tbe late lamented Samuel J. Randall. Of course, the orders to print came from headquarters. Don't drag dead men or dead issues into it, managers. The people are wide awake this time, and they want live questions to digest THE widow who enters a cemetery after dark and places a wreath on the grass growing over the remains of another person instead of ber husband's, makes a' grave mistake. When the treasury is full money cannot help being tight Wrongs can be buried In the heart and car ried to the grave. In the plain language of the street, Eilgore got tbere with both feet. Drop all this talk about "gilded opium dens" In Pittsburg. Tbe msanest hovel in the slums iscleaner and sweeter than the best of them. Tho glitter Is all in the eye or the imagina tion. Diamonds will go up as soon as Jack Frost and tbe plumber commence operations. Irtbe calamity which overtook Lot's wire should befall a Nineteenth century woman, those who are to come after would have a fine ltlnie finding out wbat Is concealed in the pil ar. Pittsbuboess smile when they read abont tho smoke nuisance worry in Chicago, New York and other cities. We have solved the problem, sisters. Natural gas suits us, but don't soot us, you know. As a jailer, Speaker Reed is not a glittering success. ' Willis-Winkle. OUR MAIL POUCH. , How to Improve the Roods. To the Editor of Tbe DUpatcnt I have read your publications on the import ant subject of public roads with much interest during several months past I believe tbat a careful investigation of Shady avenue. East End, from Fifth avenue to Forbes street will furnish a solution of the difficulty that may be of great value to the people ot the United States. Shady avenue 13 but little else than a clay road. I havo used It 40 years, and have seen it id various conditions. Have used it when it was almost in-possible to move a load of thirty hundred with six fine horses; have seen them pulling in mud up to their bodies, the axles dragging and the mud running into the wheel boxes. Some folk call tbat impassable. Have also seen it with dust several inches deep, which is also nnpleasant several conditions existed under Supervisors, and also under city Commissioners of about tbe same These alleged Street ability. These things exist no longer. The same material (minus water) is there, but our present Street Commissioner understands his business and attends to it properly. My careful observa tion assures me tbat he spends less time and less money on it than tbe others did. For sev eral years past it has almost invariably been In fine condition, so much to tbat 1 blieo that the wear of horses, harness and wagons saved on three-quarters of a mile of .it is annually worth all of my city taxes, as compared with former condition. He keeps the water ditches about two and a half or three feet lower than tbe crest of the roadway, and smoothes it np into a neat arc or curve. Light rains some times make it soft on top for a short time, but heavy rains appear to wash it off clean, and it usually dries up in an hour or so after a storm. A few hours' work with two road scrapers put it in shape when the frost breaks it up in tbe spring. A few touches a short time afterward. to finish it up nice, and there is the road for all summer. I believe tbat all clay roads can be main tained m good passable condition by tbe same rules be works under. Our farmers have not got the means to macadamize or pave tbe thou sands of miles of country roans, but they have horses and time. Thus with plows to cnt tbe ditches down, and road scrapers to move the material up on the middle of the road and to trim it ud again after wagon travel has rolled it down, they can make the best roadway possible a roadway which I regard as a better average for either hard pulling or nice driving, summer and winter, than Forbes or Highland vulcanite pavements, which are sllpperv and treacherous in ram or winter and very difficult to haul a heavy load on In a hot day. I believe tbat if Commissioner F. were appointed a cblef State officer of highways for three years, with power to select bis assistants in each county, that even it he bad but little funds in addition to tbe general road tax, he would in that time put every clay road iu the State in as good condition as there is any necessity for, and farmers and others Interested would find life worth living. The important facts seem to be that a road way with three feet of drainage on each side keeps dry as a natural result: that a proper curve allows tbe rain to run off immediately; that sneb a body of clay has just about tbe proper amount of moisture to become more and more compact under travel, and tbat as a result it sheds the water and that all things work together to produce tbe desired result This at least seems to be the case on Shady avenue, East End. Very truly, John M. Bruce. PrnsBUBQ, September 2L Sshnrt Tolls Defended. To tbe Editor of The Dispatch: "Wants to Know. You Know," fn your "Mall Pouch," doesn't seem to know wbat be wants to know, you know. By wbat process tbe horses' tails become docked in England, or any other country for that matter, is simple enough. A joint or two is taken off with a knife in a surgical way, as tbe horses' tail is too big for a joint or two to be chewed off as is done by brutal dog fanciers on the tails of dogs, or cut ofl with scissors, as some brntal dog fanciers who think they can im prove on God's bandiwork. cutoff a large por tion of dogs' ears to make them look smart don't you know. Well, in most instances the tails of horses, especially draught horses, are not docked, bnt tbe hair plaited and tied up as tigbt as the tail will allow of, because England, Scotland and Ireland Is such a damp country, so much rain, drizzle and tog; the road. both In town and country, get so dirty and mnddy the teamster's or groom's time would be almost constantly employed washing tbe horses' tails and taking off the mud accumulated on their bodies by the swishing thereof. In very few Instances in big cities like Liver- I pool, where the finest draught horses in tbe I wona aro to oe seon, are the tans docked, ont the hair simply plaited and dressed by the teamsters in tbe most wonderful fashion, and with the same care and taste exhibited by a first-class hair dresser on the head ot a young ladv going to a ball, and on tbe 1st of May of each year in procession trimmed with ribbons, rosettes and artificial flowers galore. Hnntlng, racing and sporting men in the Old Country do actually dock or take a joint or two of tbe tails and trim tbe hair accordingly, thinking their horses look smarter and their appearance improved. MUD. Pittsburg. September 18. Because It U Not a Legal Tender. To tbe Editor of The Dispatch: Why is it many stores refuse to accept Cana dian coin, especially quarters, except at 20 per cent discount? Is there not as much silver In a Canadian quarter as in an American quarter? Z. L. Hay. Pittsbubo, September 19. License In Canada None in New Jersey, To the Editor of Tbe Dispatch: Will you please inform me whether you must bave a license to get married in Canada? Where else can you marry without a license? A Constant Readeb. PrrrSBUBO, September 18. He Did Not. To tbo Editor 01 Tbe Dispatch: Please state in your paper whether Richard Mansfield ever played "Dr. Jeykl and Mr. Hyde" In Harris Theater? A Constant Readeb oy Youb Paper. Pittsbubo, September 19. $ot In Pittsburg or Vicinity. To tbe Editor or The Dispatch: Have the enumerators of census received tbeirpayyet? It not Why? Also, tbo enumer ators in the country districts? One of the Enumerators. Latbobe, Pa., September 17. Sure to be Well Attended. An entertainment is to be given in Wilklns burg this evening by the Missionary Society of tbe Trinity Reformed Churcb. Music, recita tions and Ice cream are to be the principal feat ures of tbe occasion and tbe proceeds are to go toward the primary object of tho society, the spreading of tbe gospel in foreign lands. Wilklnsburg always enjoys itself at functions of this sort and tbere is sure to be a large at tendance. Times Hnve Changed. Prom tbe G!obe-Demrat.i Ohio would lose a Congressman bytbeDun nell apportionment and almost tbe only State which would thus suffer. The Ohio man has lost tbe pull which he had with Providence a few years ago. CANDIDATE AND CATTLE SHOW. O tte Cattle Show's a God-send To the man who goes a-gnnnlng Poranofflce! o it's funny. When a candidate Is cunning. Just to see wnat execntlon He can do In what short order He can bag his votes by dozens And with nothing but soft-sawder!" Mark how eloquent he waxes O'er the beauties of prize pumpkins, How he kisses all tbe babies. And hobnobs wltb all the bumpkins; How he praises up the bed-quilts And tbe cabbaces and onions. While he asks with accents tender All about the farmer's bunions! "With what rapture he enlarges On the transcendental heirers! How he hangs in loy ecstatic O'er the hog-pens, while tbe zephyrs Blow unchlddcn thro' his whiskers, Laden, evly breezy vagrant With an oITrlnit for his nostrils That Is anything but fragrantl How he raves o'er rutabagas. How be takes on o'er tomatoes. With what reverence he gazes On big squashes and potatoes! Ohe'a reckless with bis Uflyi Bnt tbe biggest bit tbat's'made is And he spreads it on the thickest When.bc compliments tbe ladles! To the agricnlt'ral Int'rest" His devotion IMs utter. Hear him blow about his battles In the past for "honest butter!" O, indeed, 'lis truly touching To see what a fond afiectlon Folks develop for the farmer J ust before the fall electlom Bolton aiobe. CUBI0US CONDENSATIONS. Oysters live to the age of from 13 to 15 years. Anaverago reader gets through. 400 words a minute. One of Mr. Gladstone's most recent sentences numbered 214 words. There are said to be 13,000 different kf nds of postage stamps in the world. In Yokohama, with a population, of 70, 0CO, the number of electors is under 300. At Carlsruhe the police fine'any one who playso n the piano with an open window. The coins of Siam are made of porce lain: those of Japan are mado principally of iroD. Fans were used by the ancients, and are distinctly mentioned as being used in 188 B. C. A curious prize at a progressive euchrs party in a jm ew r ork town was a 60-pound watermelon. There are seven or eight negroes in Texas, most of them ex-slaves, who are worth; about $100 000 each. The prison population of England has fallen off of late years. Ont of 113 prisons. 57 have been altogether closed. In Buenos Ayres the police alone have tbe right of whistling In the streets. Any other person whistling fs at once arrested. In the reign ot Queen Elizabeth a clergyman whose benefice did not exceed 20 per annum was allowed to follow a trade. Russell Sage keeps an old $1 bill the first dollar he ever earned in a glass box In his office. Mr. Sage thinks a great deal of it In 1606 any one absent from church on Sunday was fined 1 shilling. An act for re straining amusements on Sunday was passed in At the National Library of Paris a MS. of tbe Bible ha3 been discovered. It was written in 1259 in a subnrb of Perpignan, and is richly illuminated. Tbe longest day of the year has 19 hours at St Petersburg. 17 hours at Hamburg. 16 hours at London. 15 hours at New York, and 3 montb3 at Spitsbergen. Italy has ordered the study of English to be added to tbe curriculum of all Italian universities, and has endowed the necessary professorships for the purpose. A law recently passed in Denmark pro vides that all drunken persons shall be taken home in carriages at the expnse of the land lord who sold them the last glass. A young woman who has a dress mak ing establishment in New York makes her rent bystonng furs, wraps and winter dresses for her customers during the warm weather. The military authorities ot St Peters burg bave decreed tbat in future foreigners shall not be allowed to serve in the army un less they are willing to become Russian citi zens. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is a direct descendant of King Alfred, being tbe thirty-third great-grandson. Tbus the English throne has remained in tbe same family for over 1,000 years. The Bhah became a father at the age of 10. His eldest daughter is nearly 45 years old. and is called the Glory of the Kings. She mar ried the son of tbe master of the mint one of tbe richest men in Persia. Prof. Day, of the Geological Survey, says: "All attempts at making coke on an ex tensive scale In Illinois bave thus far been without favorable result". Tbo chief difllc is the impurity of the coal." The heir apparent of the Japanese i& pire became of legal age (11 years) on Novem ber 3. 1SS9. He was appointed to some honorary office and given a sword that has been kept in the imperial family since 70L The number of wealthy Americans who rent moors and fishings in Scotland is greatly on tbe increase. A financially gifted man of New York reckons the sura total expended bv his countrymen at no less than GOO,000 a year this for rent alone. An ingenious photographer possesses a camera which he boasts cost him bnt SI 29. 35 cents of which went for a broken-down opera glass, from wblcb he got bis, lens. His outfit of working tools comprised saws f or 25 cent, hammers for IS. aueer stocks for 25. bits for 10 and jackpianes for 85. For four years Mary Ryan, of Ashland, Wis., aged 22 years.bad suffered with supposed consumption, and tbo case was considered hopeless. Last Thursday night Miss Ryan coughed np a shingle nail, much corroded, which she is supposed to have swallowed about the time she was first afflicted. For some years a record of storms, mag netic disturbances, etc, has been kept at tbe Berlin postoffice. Tbe results show that under ground wires are much less disturbed by mag netic storms than overhead wires, while, on tbe other hand, accidents from lightning are much less serious in towns where the overhead sys tem prevails. Mr. Gotschalk, of New York, owns the bnly genuine and perfect holy shekel in the world. Tbe interesting relic is about 3.400 years old, and was used in King Solomon's Temple. Mr. Gotschalk is on bis way to Sin Francisco to fulfill a promise and show the shekel to a friend, who is a celebrated numis matist and has the largest collection in this country. The two sides of the human face ars not exactly alike, and a German biologist as serts that tbe lack of symmetry, as a rule, u confined to tbo npperpart of the face. In two cases out of five the eyes are ont of line, and seven persons out of every ten have stronger sight in one eye than in tbe other. A nother singular fact is tbat tbe right ear is almost in variably higher than the left The Berlin fire department has lately received a novel fire engine, which has excited much Interest in that city. The carriage Is con structed entirely of papier mache. all the dif ferent parts, the body, wheels, poles and the rest being finished in tbe best possible manner. While the durability and powers of resistance possessed by this material are fully as great as those of wood, the weight Is of course mucn less. In England and other parts of Europe, horse shoes are now in use. made of cowhide instead of iron. Tbe shoe is composed of three thicknesses ot tbe bide, which is pressed into a steel mold and afterward treated by a chemical nreparation. The shoe is quite smooth on the outsidesnrface.no calks being needed, as tbe shoe adheres finnlv on polished pavements. It is claimed this shoe is much lighter than tbe iron one, lasts longer, and tbat the hoofs of horses wearing them never split FUNNY MEN'S FANCIES. "So your intended is really a beauty, eh?" Abeanty? Yes. Indeed, Why. she even looks handsome in an amateur photograph." Indian' apollt Journal. Little Johnny Say, dad, when I grow uplwantyou to makea minister out of me. Brown Wbat induces yon to make that choice, my toy? Little Johnny I want to go to Europe every summer. Uarper,i Sazar. "No, Charles," said Emma, "I'll not go driving: I don't want any Ice cream; and yon must not send me anv candy." "Why not Emma?" asked her fiance. Because, Charles, Christmas lijcomlng, and ah 1 think yon bad better save your money for the holiday teuon." -Harper' tBasar. "Theoretically that is a typographical error. In reality It Is not" "Which?" "This one which makes an Item say that 'sev eral well-known society women have returned to gown, 'Instead of 'to town.' "-Harper ' Baiar. "Dramatist Well.I'm glad you decided to put on my comedy, "Life at Harvard." and I hope you told the scene painter to give bis work plenty of local color. Alanager-Oh, that'll be all right; he's ordered two barrels or red paint to work 'em. up with. XheJctUr. Then yon have made np your mind, young lady, never to get marriedr" Yes, sir. I'll die an old maid." But If some young man were to propose to you?" A "Ah. tbat would be a different thing altogether. HumarUttsene Bloater. "Well, that young poet certainly writes an agreeable letter." said the editor of an ob scure weekly, laylna- down the note that accom panied the poem. "What does he say?" asked the assistant as be harrowed tbe editor's scissors. He makes tbe request tbat bis manuscript b not consigned to the waste-basket Hefactually imazlnes this paper is rich enough to own a wast. basket" Harper's Batar. Minnie Even though it was my last chance. I never would marry a man who was de voted lo a fad. MamieNo? Yet that Is just wnat I expect to do sbortlv. Minnie And what Is his particular hobby, jilease? Mamie Me, Indianapolis Sou, t ar .. - i - i " r jA
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers