"JflBp-- ?r THE PITTSBURG- DISPATCH, SUNDAY. PEBRUART 8. 1S9L 15 T 1 -MtBOTTLE: iA?22 imp t ft ' ' 1 f J A STORY OF FANCIFUL ADVENTURE. WB1TTEN FOB TOT DISrATCU BY EOBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, Author of "Dr. Jehyll and 3Tr. Hyde," and Other Rotable Worlcs, Beside Stories and Letters From the South Seas. CHAPTER I. Jli.EE was a nan of the Island of Ha waii, whom I shall call Keawe; for the truth is, lie still lives and his name must be kept secret; hut the place of his birth tras not far from Honaunau, where the bones of Keawe the great lie hidden in a cave. This man was poor, brave and active; be could read and write like a schoolmaster; be -was a first-rate manner besides, sailed for some time in the island steamer, and steered a whaleboat on the Hamakuacoast, At length it came in Keawe's mind to have a tight or the great world and foreign cities, and he shipped on a vessel bound to San Francisco. This is a fine town with a fine harbor and rich people uncountable and in particular there is one hill which is cov ered with palaces. Upon this hill Keawe "was one day taking a walk with his pocket full of money, viewing the great housesupon either hand with pleasure. "What fine houses there are!" he was thinking, "and bow happy must these people be who dwell in them and take no care for the morro .." The thought was in his mind when he came abreast of a house that was smaller than some others, but all finished and beau tified like a toy; the steps of that bouse shone like silver, and the borders of the garden bloomed like garlands, and the win dows were bright like diamonds; and Keawe stopped and wondered at the excel lence ot all he saw. So stopping, he wsb aware of a man that looked lorth upon him through a window so clear that Keawe could see him as you see a fish in a pool upon the reef. The man was elderly, with a bald head and a black beard; and his lace was heavy with sorrow, and be bitterly sighed. And the truth of it is that as Keawe looked in upon the man and the man looked out upon Keawe, each envied the other. All of a sudden the man smiled and sodded, and beckoned for Keawe to enter, and met him in the door of the house. "This is a fine bouse of mine," said the man, and bitterly sighed. "Would you not care to view the chambers?" So he led Keawe all over it from the cellar to the roof, and there was nothing there that was not pcrlect of its kind, and Keawe was astonished. "Trulv," said Keawe, "this is the beauti ful house. If I lived in the like of it I should be laughing all day long; how comes it then that you should be sighing?" "There is no reason," said the man, why vou should not have a house in all points similar to thisl and finer if you wish, have tome money, 1 suppose?" "I have 550." said Keawe, "but a like this wil cost more than 50." "The man made a computation. nrrv vnn have no more." said he. You house "lam "for it may raise you trouble in the future, but it sha"ll be yours at 550." "The house?" asked Keawe. "No, not the house," replied the man " but the bottle. Per I must tell you, al EYI' .i'X This Is a Fine House of Mine. though I appear to you so rich and fortu nate, all my fortune, and this house itself and its garden, came out of a bottle not much bigger than a pint. This is it." Aud he opened a lock-fast place, and took out a round-bellied bottle with a long neck. The glass of it was white like milk, with changing rainbow colors in the grain; with insides something obscurely moved, like a shadow and a fire. "This is thp bottle," said the man; and when Keawe laughed, "You do not believe me?" he added. "Try, then, for yourself. See if you can break it." So Keawe took the bottle up and dashed it on the floor till he was weiry. but it jumped on the floor like a child's ball, and was not injured. "This is a strange thing," said Keawe; "for by the touch of it, as well ns by the look, the bottle should be of glass." "Of glass it is," replied the man, sighing more heavily than ever, "but the glass of it was tempered in the flames of hell. An imp lives in it, and that is the shadow we behold there moving; or so I suppose. If any man buy this bottle, the imp is at his command; all that he desires, love, fame, money, houses like this house, ay, or a city like this city, all are his at the word uttered. Napoleon had this bottle, and by it he grew to be the king of the world, but "he sold it at last and fell. Captain Cook had this bottle and by it he found his way to so many islands, but he, too.sold it and was slain upon Hawaii. For .once it is sold, the power goes and the protection, and, unless a "man remain content with what he has, ill will befall him." "And yet you talk of selling it yourself," Keawe said. "I have all I wish and I am growing elderly," replied the man. "There is one thing the imp cannot do; he cannot prolong life, and it would not be fair to conceal from you there is a drawback to the bottle, for, if a man die before he sells it, he must burn in hell forever." "To be sure, that is a drawback and no mistake," cried Keawe. "I would not med dle with the thing. I can do without a louse, thank God; but there is one thing I eould not be doing with one particle, and that is to be damned." Ah wmm- i QfcB . "Dear me, you must not run away with things," returned the man. "All you have to do is to use the power of She imp in mod eration, and then sell it to someone else as I do to you, and finish your life in comfort." "Well, I observe two things," said Keawe. "AH the time you keep sighing like a maid in love; that is one. And lor the other, you sell this bottle very cheap." "I have told you already why I sigh," said the man. "It is because I fear my health is breaking up; and as yon said yourself, to die and go to the devil is a pitv for anyone. As for why I sell so cheap, I must explain to you there is a peculiarity about the bottle. Long ago, when the devil brought it first ubon the earth, it was ex tremely expensive, and was sold first of all to Prester John for many millions of dollars; but it cannot be sold at all, unless sold at a loss. If you sell it for as much as you paid for it, back it comes to you again like a homing pigeon. It follows that the price has kept falling in these cen turies, and the bottle is now remarkably cheap. I bought it myself from one of my great neighbors on the hill and the price I The Bottle Followed Him. paid was lully 590. I could sell it as high as 5S9.99, but not a penny dearer, or back the thiog must come to me. 'Sow, about this there are two bothers. First, when you offer a bottle so singular for eighty odd dol lars people suppose you to be jesting. And second but there is no hurry about that and I need not go into it. Only remember it must be coibed money that you sell it for." "Howamlknow that this is .all true?" asked Keawe. "Some of it you can try at once," replied the man, "Give me your 550, take the bot tle, and wish your 550 hack into your pocket. It that does not happen I pledge vou my word and honor I will cry off the bargain and restore your money." "You are not deceiving me?" said Keawe. The man bound himself with a great oath. "Well, I will risk that much," said Keawe, "for that can do no harm." And he paid over his money to the man, and the man handed him the bottle: "Imp of the bottle," said Keawe, "I want my 550 back." And sure enough, he had scarce said the word belorc his pocket was as heavy as ever. "To be sure this is a wonderful bottlel" said Keawe. "And now good morning to you. my fine fellow, and the devil go with you for mel" said the man. "Hold on," said Keawe, "I don't want anv more of this fun. Here, take your bot tle'back." "You have bought it for less than I paid for it," replied the man, rubbing his hands. "It is yours now, and for my part I am only concerned to see the back of you." And with that he rang for his Chinese servant and had Keawe shown out of the house. Now, when Keawe was in the street with the bottle under his arm he began to think. "If all is true about this bottle, I may have made a losing bargain," thinks he. "But, perhaps, the" man was only fooling me." The first thine he aid was to count his money; the sum was exact, 539 American money and one Cbile piere. "That looks like the truth," said Keawe. "Now I will try another part" The streets in that part of the city were as clean as a ship's decks, and though it was noon there were no passengers. Keawe set the bottle in the gutter and walked away. Twice he looked back and there was the milky, round-bellied bottle where he left it, A third time he looked back, and turned a corner; but he had scarce done so when something knocked upon his elbow, and be hold 1 it was the long neck sticking up, and as for the round belly; it was jammca into the rocket of his pilot coat. "And that looks like the truth, too," said Keawr. The next thing he did was to buy a cork screw in a shop, and go apart into a secret place in the fields. And there he tried to draw the cork, but as often as he put the screw in, out it came again, and the cork as whole as ever. "This is some new sort of cork," said The Bottle Was There Beore Him. TT" ,r nnrl .nil at Ii. ! 1. !...- . aavh.iv, huh .... . VuVt LCU M punu 'and sweat, for he was afraid of that bottle. On his way back to the port side he saw a shop where a man sold shells and clubs from the wild islands, old heathen deities, old coined money, pictures from China and Japauland all manner of things that tailors bring in their sea cheits. And here he had an idea. So he went in and offered tbe bot tle for S100. The man of the shon lanehed at him at the first, and offered him $5; but indeed it was a curious bottle, such glass I was never blows In any human glasswork, J . : in.. I liTHS'' Sli $2sTtfl !Srl$ so prettily tbe colors shone under the milky white, and so strangely the shadow hovered in the midst; so after he had disputed awhile after the manner of his kind, tbe shopman gave Keawe CO silver dollars for the thing and set it on a shelf in tbe midst of his win dow. "Now," said Keawe, "I have sold that for CO which I bought for CO, or, to say truth, a little less, because one of my dollars was from Chile. Now I shall know the truth upon another point." So he went back on board his ship, and when he opened his chest, there was the bottle, and bad come more quickly than himself. Now Keawe had a mate on board whose name was Iiopaka. "What ails you," said Lopaka, "that you stare in your chest?" Thev were alone in the ship's forecastle, and Keawe bound him to secrecy and told all. "This is a verv strange affair," said Lo paka, "and I fear you will be in trouble about this bottle. But there is one point very clear; that you are'surc of the trouble, and you had better have the profit in tbe bargain. Make up your mind what you want with it, give the order, and if it is done as you desire I will buy the bottle myself, for 1 have an idea of my own to get a schoon er and go trading through the islands." "That is not my idea," said Keawe; "but to have a beautiful house and garden on the Kona coast wbere I was born, the sun shin, ing in at the door, flowers in the garden, glass in the windows, pictures on the wallsr and.toys and fine carpets on the tables, fos all the world like the house I was in this day, only a story higher, and with balconiee all about like tbe king's palace; and to liv there without care, and make merry with mv friends and relatives." "Well," said Lopaka, "let us carry it back with us to Hawaii, and, if all comes true, as you suppose, I will bay the bottle, as I said, and ask a schooner." Upon that they were agreed, and it was not long before the ship returned to Hono lulu, carrying Keawe and Lopaka and the bottle. Tbey were scarce come ashore when they met a friend upon the beach, who be gan at once to condole with Keawe. "I do not know what I am to be condoled about," said Keawe. "Is it possible you bave not heard?" said the friend. "Your uncle, that good old man, is dead, aud your cousin, that beautiful boy, was drowned at sea." Keawe was filled with sorrow, and, begin ning to weep and to lament, be forgot about the bottle. But Lopaka was thinking to himself, and presently, when "Keawe's grief was a little abated, "I have been thinking," said Lopaka. "Had not your uncle lands in Hawaii, in the district of Kau?" "No," said Keawe, "not in Kau; they are on tbe mountain side, a little besoutU Ho fcena." "These lands trill now be yours?" asked Lopaka. "And so they will," said Keawe, and be gan again to lament for his relatives. "No," said Lopaka, "do not lament at present. I have a thought in my mind. How if this should be the doing of the bot tle? For here is the place ready for your house." "If this be so," cried Keawe, "it is avery ill way to serve mc by killing my relatives. But it may be, indeed; for it was in just such a station that I saw the house with my mind's eye." "The lionse, however, is not yet built," said Lopaka. "No; nor like to be!" says Keawe, "for though my uncle has some coffee and ava and bananas, it will not be more than will keep me in comfort; and the rest of that land is the black lava." "Let us go to the lawyer," . said Lopaka, "I have still this idea in my mind." Now, when they came to the lawyer's, it appeared Keawe's uncle had grown mon strous rich in the last days, and there was a fund of money. "And here is the money for the house," cried Lopaka. "If you are thinking of a new house," said the lawyer, "here is the card of a new architect, of whom they tell me great things." "Better and betterl" cried Lopaka. "Here is all made plain for us. Let us continue to obey orders." So they went to the architect, and he had drawings of houses on his table. "You want something out of the way," said the architect, "how do you like this?" and he banded a drawing to Keawe. Now, wlien Keawe seb eyes on the draw ing, he cried out aloud, for it was the pic ture of his thought exactly drawn. "Jam in for tbis house," thought he. "Little as I like the way it comes to me, I am in for it now. and I may as well take the good along with the eWl." So ht told tbe architect all that he wished, and bow he would have that house fur nished, and about the pictures on the wall, and the knick knacks on the tables; and then be asked the man plainly for how much he would undertake the whole affair. The architect put many questions, and took his pen and made a computation; and when he had done he named tbe very sum that Keawe had inherited. Lopaka and Keawe looked at one another and nodded. "It is quite clear," thought Keawe. "that I am to bave this house, whether or no. It comes from the devil, and I fear I will get little good by that. And of one thing I am sure; I will make no more wishes as long as I have this bottle. But with the house I am saddled, and I may as well take the good along with tbe evil." So he made his terms with tbe archi tect and they signed a paper; and Keawe and Lopaka took ship again and sailed to Australia; for it was concluded between them they should not interfere at all, but leave tbe architect and the bottle-imp to build and to adorn that house at their own pleasure. The voyage was a good voyage, only all the time Keawe was holding in his breath, for he had sworn be would niter no more wishes and take no more favors from the devil; the time was up when they got back; the architect told them that tbe house was ready; and Keawe and Lopaka took a passage in the Hall and went down Kona ways to view the house and sec if all had been done fitly according to the thought that was in Keawe's mind. To Be Continued JVfcrt Sunday. GHOTTLS CATCH SMALLPOX. Grave Robbers or Fern Who Got More Than They Bargained For. An incident illustrating the Cholo char acter occurred a fexr months ago, in the cemetery at Orequita, Peru, aud is said to be directly responsible for 1he ter rible epidemic of smallpox that afterward carried off its victims at the rate of 200 or 300 a week. A very fat old woman died of what is known hereabouts as viruala negra (black smallpox), and her remains were hurried into the ground without a coffin, there being none in the limited stock on hand large enough to accommodate her. Knowing well the tricks and manners of their compatriots, the friends left nothing ofvalne upon her but a plain gold rinc, which they could not get off from her swollen finger. Next morning early the first funeral procession that arrived at tbe cemetery found the old lady on top of her grave, black smallpox and all, minus her wedding ring, the swollen finger that wore it having been cut off close to the hand. They returned the corpse with all possible speed, but for three successive mornings thefeafter she was found disinterred, having been resurrected again and again by other robbers who were not aware tnat the bit of gold had already been appropriated. Chauncey Dcpow'a Latest Tarn. Dr. Chauncey Depew told of a little con versation he overheard while in the Berk shire Hills the other day, in the hearing of a New York Journal man. They were all gathered in the parlor to help the widow mourn, when a late-comer, glancing around the darkened room, said to tbe widows "Where did you get that new eight-day clock?!' "We ain't got no new eight-day clock." "You ain't? Well, what's that in the corner?" "That ain't no eip-ht-dav cloek: thnt'i him. . We stood him on end to make more room, 4 THE KINDLY SIMPLES. Homely Kemedies Set Forth in Quaint Black-Letler Herbal. PLANTS IN PITTSBURG'S SUBURBS That, If Used in lb.8 Right Way, Would Save Many Doctor Bills. ' YIRTDE OF DOCK, FERN AND FEMEL rWBITTEN ron Till DISriTCH.l The most exquisite winter that ever smiled on New England shores is upon us this year. Mild, even temperature, 10 be low frost just enough to freeze the air pure and CO at midday week after week, with only weather enough to keep us from monotony. It seems to me the moon has been full ever since the middle of December or about Thanksgiving; its waning has been so dex terously timed for nights of cloud and gale. Then for three days and more we had a New Year mask of frost, which changed Middlesex county to Elfland, all the trees in splendor dressed, of plumy frost and electric glitter gleam cf ice, in diamond fringe and aiguilette that mocked tbe ambi tious pride of Buckingham or Esterhazy. I could meet Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Astor with entire freedom from envy of their jewels, for, have I not seen my sward thicker sown with diamonds, blue, coppery rose, pale gold and the fine white and emerald lusters flashing with every breath that came and went so softly in those won derful three days? A Fair'Enong'h World. Then fell an evening of opal tints, of subtle delicacy, and a magical moon rise tbat made mystery and infatuating glamour of the well-known scene. In the calm, mild night I sat on the steps out of doors and went so far into the unreal that I heard SU Cyprian's bells, which call one to the world beyond. If there are things like this in the next world, with no harshness of creatures to disturb its influence, why should we make ado about nearing it? It is great good luck, glad fortune rather to be summoned thither. Till that comes this world is fair enough for me, and in the next I wish no better than such a valley the other side of the moon, where there are no visitors. Next to that is a New England winter in a snug house, the pick of three crood public libraries and days peacefnl and unmolested as the leisure of the patriarchs. One could be content to pass 200 or 300 years in this way without asking change. My summer is all the year, only half the twelve-month it is within doors. What Botany Teaches. "Winter is the time lor study of botany and plant lore, against tbe breaking of spring, when one wants to drop books and be afoot and afield in the sun, with the first marsh marigolds. This last year or two has given me a great interest in weeds and wild things, which I fancy many women readers would share. When you come to know what gifts of healiog and use for our cos metics, our dyes an'd household wantsare in the rank harvests of ditch and wayside, above all, when one comes to know their history and associations, there is nothing common or unclean in nature any longer. One gets out of patience with Stanley and Spefce and the other explorers because they go so far and see so little. They tell us merely headlines of fact, such scarehead type as pigmies, giants, gorillas and gold mines, whereas a true naturalist could not journey five miles in a jungle without find ing more wonders and more gold mines of use than the corps ot the Geographical So ciety sends out in ten years. I wish I had time to tell you all tbat goes on in my seven by nine grass plot, with its outlook into clouds and star spaces, its inlook into plant freaks and the beguiling ways.of birds, and bees," toads and quail. ' ' Herbs in tho Suburbs. That is why I prize my little black-letter herbal with quaint, fascinating lore of weeds and fruit and flowers. Can't you womqn, without too much interest in your lives, manage to rub up some interest in these homely, natural, kindred things? Don't say youlive in town and haven't any chance at nature and plants. If you stndy herbs you seldom find better material than in the suburbs of a city. Such wealth of wayside growth as fringes the borse car tracks up in Harlem, all heal eupatorium, melilot and the great dock, sovereign for hair dressing and complexion curing, and a score of drugs, whose extracts and alkaloids you take obediently under other names from chemist and physician. Around Boston you find treasure of En glish herbs and garden flowers old as the Norman invasion, which have strayed out and settled by the roadside or taken to the woods. There is such a bed of tbe precious white nettle and common nettle, I found by getting stung for an hour, in Dorchester in a cul-de-sac of back roads, and didn't my incomparable housekeeper bring home a third variety of melilot by adventurous diving under the fence of a vacant lot by tbe Academy of Fine Arts with a police man, and Beven little boys looking on her as a charming lunatic or a phenomenon be yond their ken. The farmer down the road avers that he has seen lovage growing in Boxbury waysides, where I hope to make an African exploring expedition to find the plant. Along the Monongahela. Of course, one can buy a root of a nursery man, but it wouldn't have half the interest of the plant dug up with one's own hands, and carried home in a grapo basket, and would not be so hardy or high flavored either. When you come to know all that lovage is capable of, yon will go afield for it also. Pittsburg has all the woods of the Monongahela to go bcrb hunting in, and one can get specimens beforehand from the old people with their roots and wild medici nal herbs for sale in the Diamond Square. All around St. Louis and Louisville you will find stray plants escaped from German and French gardens, delicate for cordial or cosmetic or to "comiort women's greefes," as the herbal says. Indianapolis and Phila delphia suburbs are rich in wild plants, with which the Indians made wonderlul cures. Indian herb practice and tbe old English are curiously parallel in some things, which goes to prove tbat close ob servation, whether in monk or medicine man, arrives at the same conclnsion, The study of our wild and garden plants must lead to valuable additions to our food, condiments and medicines. And a share of enlightened skill in the latter is a great saving in health as well ns expense. In or dinary families an aching cold, a feverish, bilious attack or sprain is allowed to go with slight care because one is "not sick enough to have a doctor," till the disorder gains proportions to warrant summoning him. A knowledge of herbs would save the bill. Uses of Kindly Simples. When the young lieutenant of the town guard gets up in the morning with every bone aching and head ready to burst from marching in a drizzle the last half of a cam paign procession, and dreads that his place in tbe ranks must be vacant to-night in tbe biggest paradeof all, he ih ready to take the draught some knowing little woman brews in her enameled pipkin, and when after it and an hour's toasting by the fire, he starts up, grasps his saber and runs off light as a lark, acnes and snuffles gone, perhaps he doesn't have a kindly feeling for that woman, and the enameled porringer, especially as it doesn't take a 52 bill out of bis slender young pocketbook to pay for it. When the girls find their good looks gone and a tiresome headache increasing just the evening they want to be brilliant for special company, it is vastly better to try certain kind decoctions and fragrant lotions than to palter with antipyrlne and its dangerous re actions, or bromide bringing' a rose rash after it. It is frightful to see the way in which women dose themselves with new and dangerous medicines, and not a little of the nerve and heart failure of the time is to be .traced to this reckless self-medication... Dangerous herbs abound, true, but the sim ple, to use the old-fashioned name, are not .difficult to learn and use with salety. Old Herbal Treasures. Turning the leaves of my herbal, we come on the pretty old prescription, "To cause the hair to" grow long, wash the head with the dew in medows (sie) all the mornings of March." Going out in the fresh morn ings of that reviving month would invig orate one so tbat it would be felt in every fiber of the body, hair included. Garden dock we find used to be called monk's rbubarb.from its medicinal qualities like those of Turkey rhubarb. The leaves ofalldocks boiled and eaten are gently laxative and are a wholesome variety of "spring greeos."- For gatherings and swell ings of the head, says our book, pound tbe green leaves with a little saffron and oil of roses and apply it rather a rich salve, one would say. "The root boiled in vinegar or bruised raw doth heal all skurfes, maunge and criefes or the skin, being applied." Tbis last direction is always given, for in the old time people did not always take their medicine, but waved it north, south, cast and west in the name of a patron saint, and tied it to the head of the bed, tbe faith cure being as fervently held then as now, and by the same sort of idiots. BolUng Meat Tender. Directions fur pantry physio came not amiss to onr scribe, fur he notes that what ever meat is boiled with any kind of dock will become tender, though it be ever so old, and the roots either new or dry put into wine will turn it from white to red. Drink one dram of tbe root of the garden dock or monk's rhubarb to purge withal. Kegular purgations'were formerly a part of religion, and most people would improve the quality of their piety by restoring the observance. For zout seethe leaves of tbe great dock in May in wine and drink it. It is singular to come constantly upon prescriptions for the cure of leprosy, yet this disease existed in the Shetland Isles no longer ago than 1843, and it is not unknown tn-day among the Scandinavians in the Northwest and the Acadians of the South. "Leapzy," runs the recipe, "stamp the roots of sharp red dock and. round dock, their pith taken out, and boil them with vinegar and salt butter till the vinegar be con sumed and use it both for the Impetigo and Serpigo; or boil the juice ot sharp leaved dock with swine's grease till tbe juice is consumed. Then strain it and put thereto turpentine and quicksilver modified (the primitive form of mer cury for medicine), and anoint there with the morphew, white or black spots or leapzy." You see that morphew conies in pretty bad company, and from the same depravation of the blood, and the remedy is no trifling one. Utility of Ferns. Most experienced women and doctors know the male fern as a powerful anthelmintic, but its use is1 not confined to worm medicine. For inflammations of the skin, says the an tique monitor, burn the root and apply the asn with white of egg. For festers and can kers, which wo politely slur over as rough ness of the skin, stamp" fern with the roots, wash "the grietes" with the juice, and ap ply the dross or refuse as a compress. For nose bleeding, the roots staunch blood and heal the wound. For inflamed face, stamp the root of common fern with milk and use as a wash. This is avery simple cosmetic and easily proved. The next direction is worth the considera tion of weak-backed, ailing people. Chopa basketful of fern and seethe it in a bag in the third part of a tun of water l. e., enough for a full bath, and bathe therein to restore the strength of the sinews. Sores to heal, apply the powder of the root; the same healeth tbe galling of the necks of oxen. The root of the female fern maketh women bar ren. The powder of brakes doth heal dan gerous sores, both of men, kine, swine, etc. Fennel for Fat Folk. Fennel is another plant of grace, and pages are devoted to its uses. It is espec ially prescribed for those who would lose flesb, and has tbe virtue of Marienbad obesity pills without the cost. "Leane to be, seethe the plant in water, strain and drink it first and last For dropsie, seethe he seeds in water and use much of it in thy wine, or use powder oi tbe seeds ot lennel, anise and peony in thy drinke, or seethe fennel roots in thy wine. Slender to be, eat two or three cloves of GarlicK witn as much bread and butter morne and even, three hours before and after meat, and drinke water wherein fennel has been sod den, morne and even, fourteen days. "Leane to be, drinke fennel and eat the seeds daily. Fennel is good for fat men to open the" veins and inwards. Tbe herb, seeds and root are very good to open and comfort the liver, lungs and kidneys. Nor is it less kindly as an application to the face. For blemishes of the eyes, bruise camphor and strain it with juice of fennel and use it to improve the color of the skin about the eyes. For heartburn chew crops oi fennel i. e., tender tops, and suck down the juice and spit out the rest. "Eyes dull, make an ointment of the juice of rue and fennel with honey and anoint therewith, or chew the seeds and let thy breath go into thine eyes. To cleanse the stomach and sharpen the sight eat fennel seeds, but they must be used as medicine, not as meat." We read that serpents chew it to clear their eyes. Instincts of the Beasts. Before you sneer at this remember that whether it is a superstition or not, we have not a particle of observation or proof against it, and there is no reason wby snakes should not eat plants by instinct, as cats do. Men who lived in thickets gathering plants prob ably saw more of the habits of wild creat ures than we do. It won't do to scoff at things which sound oddly to our inexperienced ears. The world has forgotten more than it knows in things little and great. It was no fool, for instance, who devised how to boil tbe juice of fennel between two plates and gather the dew of the upper one for bathing the eyes. What is it but a quick and easily distilled spirit of fennel which "mendeth the eyes greatly." For dull eyes, eat the seed often fasting a safermodethan dropping cologne into them. The seed hath greater virtue than the root. For heart fainting drink the juice often. Fennel is good for horses, mixed with mashes or baked in oatbrcad for them. If .any mistletoe is left since Christmas, remember that stamped and applied it drives awav knots, kernels and swellintrs. 'and mixed with chalk and dregs of wine it takes away roughness of the nails. With arnica it cures felons and "naughty sores which rise in the toes and finger ends." It is said that the powder of mistletoe of the oak, pear or hazel, powdered and drank in wine is good against epilepsy or falling sickness, but this is a hint thrown ont for doctors. SniitLET Dake. A JAP WIFE HUHTEB. Odd Advertisement lie Inserted In One of tho Native I'apers. Here is a translation of au advertisement found in a Japanese newspaper of recent date, under the heading, "Wanted a Wife:" If she" is pretty she need not be clever. If she is rich she need not be pretty. If she is clever, she need not be perfect in form (provided always that she be not conceited). Her station in life is no object; neither fs the remoteness of her place ot abode, whether in country or town. She ought to be in the neighborhood of 20 years of age, more or less, ffhe would-be bridegroam is an artist of Osaka, occupying a medium position in society. EFFECT OF SMOKING. Welcome Words for Iiovers of the Weed From the Great Nasibanm. Tho famous Privy Councillor Nussbaum, of Munich, gave the opinion shortly before his recent death that smoking very often did much good and very seldom did much harm. Tbe bad feature was the effect upon the eyes and nervous system. The good one was the benefit to tbe digestive organs. "The in spiring,exhilarating and altogether favor able action of smoking on the brain should be bighly prized," he said. .This opinion was remarkable because .Niusbaum was not a smoker. THE FOGS OF LONDON. Fnel Gas Snjfgestedas the Only Way of Letlins in tho Light POSSIBILITIES OP MEN FLYING. A Scientific Explanation tor tha Claj Eaters of Tortngal. SWINDLING IN ELECTRIC LIGHTS IFBSPARID FOB TIIE DISPATCH. ! , A proposal. is now under consideration for the prevention of tbe smoke and fog plague by which London is from time to time afflicted. The waste involved in this mis placement of useful matter is something prodigious, and it is somewhat surprising that until now no feasible attempt has been made to remedy it. A weak idea of what a London fog is may be gathered from the following description by a famous London correspondent: "Everybody is railing at or sighing over the fiendish log tbat has kept London in its grip during the last fortuight; the thick darkness has reached a climax; the trains as they pass across the bridges are exact rep resentations of Mirzah's vision on the hills above Bagdad, as they emerge from a mys terious, misty region. The palatial halls of the West End are utterly deserted. In one of the largest and best known draper's shops in the West End, the attendants com plain that business is at a standstill, and the season's trade is practically lost. The flower, confectionery and jewelry trades are also great sufferers by the fog. It drives the tradespeople to despair, aud everywhere only one refrain is repeated: 'The fog is disastrous, ruinous. The three weeks' fog has dobe more barm to tbe tradesmen than a season of industrial depression.' While the fog lasted many millions of people had from morning until night to breathe as best they could an atmosphere that seemed to be composed of frozen particles of soot and sulphur. "Only those who passed the long hours of the dark day in the midst of the terrible fog can realize the suffering which it brought with it. In the rtreets, in the omnibuses, in the railway carriages, tbe people seemed to be positively benumbed by tbe dreadful visitation. Tbey cowered together in speech less misery. Existence itself was painful. No wrappings could keep out the fog, and many hundreds of people were poisoned by it as certainly as though they had drunk prussic acid or a solution of arsenic" The proposed remedy for this frightful state of things is to turn a large portion of the coal supply of the Yorkshire, Stafford shire and South Wales coal fields into gas and to convey it by pipes to London; wbere its use will be regulated somewhat after the same manner as that adopted in Pittsburg with natural gas. Such an abundant sup ply of cheap fuel would mean a saving to the city of over 100.000,000 annually, be sides transforming tbe city ot smoke and fog into one of thu healthiest places in the world. Solntion of the Flyinc Problem. Mr. O. Chanute, in an address on aeronautics, delivered at Cornell University, gives it as bis opinion that we are nearing a distinct stage in the progress toward a practical system of aerial navigation. Mr. Chanute thinks tbat success with aeroplanes, if it comes at all, is likely to be promoted by tbe navigable balloon. It now seems not improbable that the course of develop ment will consist first in improvements of the balloon, so as to enable it to stem the winds most usually prevailing, and then in using it to obtain the initial velocity. re-, quired to floataeroplaoes. Once thestability of the latter is well demonstrated, perhaps the gas bag can be dispensed with altogether, and self-starting, self-landing machines sub stituted, whicn shall sail taster than any balloon ever can. If we are to judge of the future by the past, such improvements are likely to" be won by successive stages, each fresh inventor adding something to what has been accomplished before; but still, when once a partial success is obtained, it is likely to attract so much attention that it is not impossible that Improvements will fol low each other so rapidly tbat some of the present generation will yet see men safely traveling through and ou the air at speeds of CO or CO utiles per hour. A Safety Omnibus. An arrangement for preventing the over turning of omnibuses and other road vehicles in case of the breakage of a wheel or an axle, or of tbe drawing ot an axle box, was recently put successfully through its trials. The invention consists of four sup ports attached to the axle, one being placed just inside each of the four wheels. Each support has at the bottom a small solid wheel or roller, which normally is about an inch above the road surface. . Upon either of tbe wheels coming off the support next to it comes into play, and the vehicle runs upon the three remaining wheels and one of the small wheels. In the recent trials an omnibus fitted with the safety appliances and having all four wheels loose on the axles was filled with passengers inside and out; it was then driven about at good speed on rough places in the roadway and over tram rails in zigzag fashion until onn or more of the wheels came off, when it was driven back to tbe starting point without the pace being slackened. A number of runs were made, all tbe wheels in one in stance coming off, and tbe omnibus return ing on the: rollers only. No violent shock iras experienced on a wheel coming off, nor was there in'any case serious lurching, even when on a sidelong slope. It is stated ihat tne experiments were in every way success ful, and so far show that the appliance ful fils its intended purpose. Steam Crane Excavators. A steam crane has been constructed for employment on the Manchester ship canal, which has done some remarkably good work, both in hard and in soft material. Tbe ma chine is an ordinary ten-ton locomotive crane with au excavator attached to the jib, the whole being carried on a steel truck, fitted with wheels. The principal feature of the excavator is the method by which the bucket is fed up to its work. This is done by a .special steam cylinder, which is bolted " to the arms carrying the bucket, and by means of which the bucket can be moved in or out a distance of two feet as desired. In making a cut, the Ducket is first lowered to the bottom of the cutting, and then fed up to its work by the steam cylinder.the valves of which are con trolled from the footplate of the machine. The lifting gear is then applied, and the bucket is swept ud the face of the cutting by means of tho lilting gear. In practice en tire cuttings up to 20 feet deep and 40 feet wide have been worked by these machines, the output varying, so the makers state, from 200 to 300 wagons of 4 cubic yards each per day of 11 hours. The cost of such ex cavation and delivery into wagons is said to be a trifle iess than 2 cents per cubic yard. The Edlblo Earth. . Much has been written about the earth eating tribes of various countries, but it is not generally known tbat tbe inhabitants of Penacova, a village in Portugal, have for generations eaten a varltty of earth found in the neighborhood. It is said that any of them leaving home is afflicted with a singu lar malady with gastric symptoms unless he be provided with asunply of the earth. The reason of this is probably tbe presence of arsenic in tbe earth, which Is known to pro duce these singular effects upon its habitual consumers. The fact tbat Dr. Vogel has found none in it by a cursory examination, but. on the contrarr. has detected that it con tains about double theqnantity of nitrogen liouad.in similar will from the adjacent fields, lends plausibility to the viewthat the active substance may be in alkaloid. Tbe whole question could be easily settled by a competent chemist, and it is to be hoped that someone will undertake its investigation. Frimary Battery Swindles. A case which recently came into a court of law in Iowa brought to light another ver sion of the old tale of the primary battery swindle. It appeared that the two men had rented a building in the town where they proposed to carry on the operations, and represented that tbey desired to interest capitalists in a scheme of electric lighting which was bound to revolutionize modern methods of illumination. According to the complainants the defendant said be bad a battery which cost only a few dollars to make. When it was filled with proper chemicals it would run 12 incandescent lights for seven hours each night, and a small motor for six hours each day for a period of seven months, at a cost of 60 cents. The ostensible scheme was tbat tbe battery conld be Dut into every house in the coun try where the owner was able to pay ?00, and then the company that was to be organ ized would make'a clear ?80 on eaph one. The projectors wanted to organiza a stock company, and for this purpose would place 510,000 worth of stock at 50 cents on tne dol. lar. A number of exhibitions were made, which were inspected with great interest. A dozen incandescent lights, whichillumioed an apartment, apparently obtained their current from an ordinary-looking cell in the exhibition room. Everything seemed fair and above board, and some of the residents of the city were so delighted with the sys tem that they contributed to the capital stock. They subsequently, however, had reason to believe tbat the current came not from the cells which were exhibited, but from a set of accumulators which had been located in an ont-of-the-way corner. Tbe story goes that the storage batteries were taken from their hiding place in the morn ing and were charged at an electric light station. Some of the latter forms of primary batteries are exhibiting marKed progress, and on this account it is especially to be de sired that all fraudulent pretenders in primary battery work should be promptly exposed. Insurance and Electricity. The prejudice that seems so often to be carefully worked up against the electric light on the ground of danger from fire is found bottomless wherever there is the least regard for ordinary precaution, as with every other agent of use to man. Several thousand bouses in Philadelphia have the electric light, and the inspector there in his last annual report states tbat there was not a single fire or a single dollar lost. Still more striking is tbe evidence from the elec tric light companies themselves. Until about a year ago, fire companies refused to insure central stations except at ridiculously exorbitant rates. The station took the mat ter in hand and formed a mutual company. The showing is simply magnificent, and the company is on the most solid basis, while insurance from outside is now ofleretl them at the ordinary rates. The mutual com pany, moreover, is setting a high standard of construction, so that its losses should tend steadily to a minimum. An Improved Castor. A useful castor of novel form is being used in England. It is intended to obviate the difficulties arising from the ordinary construction of castors, where the roller is carried on a cranked swivel arm, which is easily broken off. The center pin of the roller bearing is fixed in a small plate, rotating freely round a center pin secured in the body of the castor. Tbe plate named, when pushed round into any position, rests on the base of the cup or disc of the castor and is thus, while quite free to move in any direction, thoroughly supported in every position. It is, in fact, a well supported universal joint. The castor is a great im provement on the older type3. To Circumvent the Sampler. An effective method of reducing losses from sampling, and at the same time allow low goods to be seen by customers, has been adopted by many leading retail grocers. Boxes about the height of a barrel and of similar capacity, are constructed of hard wood, with a hinged glass cover. The con tents can be easily seen, owing to the fact that the covers slope downward from the back about 30, and can be removed as ex peditiously as .from an ordinary barrel. Only the most impudent sampler would dream of lifting the covers to get at tbe goods, hence the saving in the course of a year must amount to a considerable sum in stores where the business is large. The Mannfactnre of Old Eace. A technical journal, in a chapter devoted to the tricks of various trades, tells how the ordinary quality of machine-made lace can be toned up to bear a close resemblance to the genuine article, and gives the method by which hundreds of yards are treated every year. The lace is rinsed in a strong decoction of Oolong tea which lias been strained and allowed to become cold. The lace should not be crushed in a wringer, but pressed with the bands until partially dry, then spread on a clean ironing board. The delicate points are then carefully separated, so that the pattern may be preserved. When dry the lace exhibits a tea tint, which lends the material a tinge of yellowish antiquity. Iron Production in the United States. Tbe United States has now become the greatest iron producing nation of the world, having produced 9,202,703 gross tonspf pig iron fn 1890, against about 8,000,000 gross tons produced in Great Britain, an excess of about 1,200.000 tons, or 15 per cent. It has been attained by the most astoundingly rapid development of a vast industry which the world has ever seen, our pig iron product having increased from 4.04 millions in 1885 to 0.20 millions in 1800, an increase of C.16 millions orl28 per cent, during which period the British product increased only from 7.42 to 8.00 million tons, or about 7.8 per cent, Brick Street Pavements. Brick has been frequently used as a street pavement, and possesses most dnrable qual ities. A well-laid brick pavement will last 30 years, and it has been stated on good au thority that the poorest brick pavement is better than one of wood. The standard strength of a good paving brick is put at the ability to resist a pressure of 6,000 pounds per square inch. Improved Reflector. An excellent device for improving the lighting of churches, puhlic'halls, etc., is a new "patented opal and silvered double cone reflector." It is specially designed for use in churches, halls, theaters, stores, etc, and is made from 18 to 120 inches in diame ter and with from 4 to 100 burners. SEW BTTiT.TAKD GAME. Chinese Pool tho Latest Fad With Xovers of the Ivories. Nevr York 1'ress.J The new game of billiard pool, or Chinese pool, is engaging the attention of billiard experts in all tbe big poolrooms. It is played differently from the regular game of pool in that, after breaking tbe bunch of balls, the pliyer selects any 1 of the 15 balls for his cue ball, directs it against the white hall and thence carroms it into a pocket. The white ball, which in other games is always the cue ball, is thus always the object ball, except in breaking the pyramid. The game requires tho utmost skill of billiards, and also a knowledge of pool itself. Its characteristic feature is well illus trated by a remark I heard a Western mn make about it while watching a came up town. "It looks like yon had a pudding," .said he, "bat jou shoot and get nothing" . FUNERALS FOR CASH. A Penurious Corpse Gels Tery Little Eespect Down in Peru. THE. CEMETERY AT AEEQUIPA. Cadavers Ira Evicted if Their Eenta Irs Not Fromptljr raid. A HOUSE FULL OF GRINMXG SKULLS fCORBESFOIJDZXCE OF TIIE D1SPATCH.1 AEEQ0IPA, Peuu. Jan. 6. Passing along the street one day our attention was drawn to the subject of funerals in a forcible and rather unpleasant manner. With hands full of roses, wc were musing on the cold winter weather at home and tbe beauty of tropic sunshine amid snow-clad mountains, when we barely escaped being knocked down and run over by four horses driven furiously, the foremost one riden by a pos tilion, tbat came dashing around the corner attached to a hearse. About the only thing that goes with speed in lazy Peru is a funeral procession; and they claim the right of way, not only in the street, but on both pavements, invariably cutting off all corners so closely as to graze the houses. Considering the fearful jolting over stones and hollows and broEen places induced by such locomotion, there is little danger of being buried in a trance in Are quipa at least wbere tbe hearse is em ployed. The poor people, of course, cannot afford to hire it, but carry the dear departed on their heads to the cemetery a distanca of something over three miles from the central plaza. Most of the latter class can not even afford a coffin, though the luxury of a wooden box, painted black, blue or yel low, may be rented for the journey between the Cathedral and the place of interment the same coffin serving the purpose over and over again, day after day, for years. Sknll and Cross-Bones In White. It is not uncommon to meet a company of men carrying theirdead on a public bier, the latter being constructed of five narrow pieces ot wood, about a foot apart, nailed crosswise to the side poles tbat serve for handle", the end-boards stained black and showing a cheerful skull and cross-bones outlined upon them with white paint. A few afternoons later we, too, rode out to ' see the cemetery on horseback, accompanied by a party of resident foreigners for it is utterly impossible to induce a native, of high or low degree, to escort any stranger to , the Campo Santo; a fact we ceased to won der at when we had visited the place. Are quipa's only bnrial ground is situated on a barren foot-hill, reached, after the city limits are passed, by an uninhabited road whose deep sands are alternated by stretches of loose bowlders. It is a "very small place, considering that the city is more than three centuries old, and during all that time has had a population varying between 20,000 and 50,000. Tbe front of it is quite impos ing, with high adobe walls and massive iron gates set in the arches; and just inside is a well-kept space devoted to flower-beds, which give no bint of the horrors to be met with a few steps beyond. Where Aristocrats Sleep. In this end aristocrats are buried, in niches three deep in tbe surrounding walls, with top and side3 of lava stone six inches thick and adobe foundation. Most of the niches have no mark, except a number rudely painted on the face,, corresponding to figures placed opposite the tenants' name in the church "records. Some of them have a name scratched on the dried mortar with a lead pencil, and a few have marble slabs elaborately lettered, setting forth not only the name and virtues of the deceased, but also advertising the fact of his or her wealth and social importance. At the top of these latter are generally inscribed tbe words nicho perpetuo, to indicate that the cadaver will occupy the place "for life," so to speak. As grave-robbery is of very common oc currence not for scientific purposes, as there is no medical college anywhere near, but simply to secure whatever of value may have been buried with the corpse, even to the boards of its coffin, wood being scares hereabouts the front of each niche is not only firmly closed with mortar, but further guarded by an iron grating. Near the cemetery gates is a neat little chapel, and a kind of a receiving vault in which bodies are placed to await their turn for interment, when several funerals happen to arrive at once. Midway between tho cbapel and the stranger's corner, exactly in tbe center ot the ground, is a till, circular edifice of plastered adobe, which looks from a distance like tbe marble walls of a Greek temple. A nearer view of this "whited sepulchre" discloses An Accumulation of Horrors sufficient to shaKe the strongest nerves. Filtecn feet of temple above eight feet of cellar makes a circular vault 23 feet deep; and at tbe time of our visit tbis was nearly half filled with ilnccfflned corpses in all stages of decay, which had been evicted from rented graves and pitched into it, to await the annual cremation time. Some of the skeletons show considerable flesh yet clinging to them, and there are long braids of hair aud glossy tresses, tbat doubt less loving hands not long n;o caressed. The wonder grows tbat the air is not so poisoned by decomposition as to kill the in habitants of all the surrounding section; but, though rendered sick to faintness by the fearful sight, truth compels me to admit' .that bnt little odor comes from tbe cbarnel house. This is partly uue to tne lime tnat has been freely used, and alo, no doubt, to tha absence ot the blue-bottle fly, and the ace tbat putrefaction is almost impossible in this para mountain atmosphere, where carcasses of man or beast, though left uncovered in tne sun, dry up and mummify rather than decompose Prayers for a Price. As we dismounted a long funeral procession was just windins through the gates. Tbe cof fin was first carried into the cbapel and placed upon a big black dais, while prayers wore said and incense burned. Then the procession was re-formed, led by two black-gowned priests. Kvery few feet In tha distance ot perhaps GOO yards between tbe chapel and tbe waltinirnicba in the wall, the pall bearers pnt the coffin on tbe rronnd and chanted responses to tbe utter ances of tho priests in a dismal mass; after-' which water was liberally sprinkled from a tin bucket upon the coffin, and incidentally upon those who carried it. We are told that tha stops thus made between tbe church and tha grave depend upon tbe affluence of the late la mented, each stop costius a stated sum for prayers and responses. No women followed this favored corpse, nor are tbey ever seen at South American inter rapnts. The day of onr visit must have been a good one for lunerals; for during the hour we snenc there, no less tban five of them caine and wenr. Tbe scond coffin was a plain, unpainted box. carried ou the shoulders of half a dozen mens and wc observed that tbis necessitated tbo service of only one priest, no stops between tha cbapel and tbe wall, and bat scanty sprinkling from tbe watering pot. A SIht That Sickens. Tbe portion wbere the poor are buried is a Golgotha, tbat baffles description. Its entire surface is strewn with bones, scraps of broken coffin, bits of grave-clotbes, braids of hair. eta. which have been turned up by the spades of grave digcers, or dropped by tbose who bear evicted corpses to the cbarnsl house. v As many as a dozen new-made graves wera yawning lor their occupants, and in tbe pile of earth thrown up beside each one wera skulls and limbs and bones galore. On top of one beap I noticed a human trunk, headless and limbless, and on another a lea witn withered flesb cliog ing to it, from which the foot bad been cut by tbe spade. Directly in the path lay sometblns; so ghastly tbat tbe gentlemen of tbe party aoickly stepped between it and as. bat too lata to save onr eyes from a never-to-be-for gotten sight tbat of a woman's head cat off at tha neck, with long balr streaminc: all around it, and the white cotton bandage that bad bound np the poor jaws still in its place, hardly soiled by contact with tho eartb. KAiriaz B. yfxBB. Worth It Detroit Free Press. The Indians at Pine Ridge have had three square meals a day ever since they came In and surrendered, and this is more than they got for three years before. They say it is worth all the trouble and loss ot life suf fered in their ranks, and are becoming quita content. I X .- . ,-. v---V 'U