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THE PITTSBURG- DISPATCH, "WEDNESDAY, MAOH 11, 189L
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PITTSBURG. WEDNESDAY. MAR. 11, 191
OTHER THINGS TO THINK ABOUT.
The members of the Pennsylvania Legis
lature have undertaken to tell the country
what they think of Congressmen. They
speak with creat positiveness in exaltation
of ex-Speaker Beed, and even have prc
nounced views on Don Cameron, the force
bill, and silver coinage. This is all very
well; bnt the public of Pennsylvania is
more concerned about the actions of the
Legislature itself than opinions of that
Legislature as to some other body.
Let us see, for instance, what the Solons
at Harrisburg propose to do for Pennsyl
vania's muddy roads; what provision they
will make for ballot reform; whether they
have any notion of passing an anti-discrimination
law, as called for by the Constitution
and pledged in their platform; ana whether
ihey show enough capacity and general
interest to give the canal scheme, about
which everybody is talking, such official
encouragement as will substantially promote
the undertaking.
Talk at Harrisbur; about what should be
done at "Washington is very cheap. The
Legislature's own record is what concerns
the public more just now. Clap-trap will
not count in the ultimate judgment as to
that.
MAY IT BE SHORT! I
The announcement that the Edgar Thom
son works will not resume operations for
an indefinite period is uncomiortable for the
employes of that large concern and indirect
ly to the entire business community. Every
one will unite in the hope that the condi
tions which hold that plant in temporary
idleness will prove of short duration.
The causes of the stoppage are not clearly
defined. The scarcity of coke caused by the
btrike in the coke industry has something to
do with it, but probably the low price of
rails and the scarcity of orders is the chief
cause. It has been reported lately that the
railways were coming into the market with
fresh orders for rails, which permits the
hope that the demand may bring about an
early resumption of operations.
In the meantime a depression which
causes the suspension of work in a large
share of our industries urgently indicates a
readjustment of the cost of production on a
lower scale. The Dispatch's investiga
tions have brought out the fact that lower
prices for ore and coke can be secured when
the railways make a reasonable reduction
oa their freight charges. "With such inter
ests as the Edgar Thomson works and the
Mahoning and Shenacgo furnaces held idle
at the same time, by the present conditions,
railroad management will be exceedingly
blind if it does not perceive the advantage
to itself of such a reduction of rates as will
stimulate its most important and profitable
traffic
GOOD FOR THE LAY JUDGES.
A very decided stir has been caused in
Eastern financial circles by the unusual
spectacle of the decision of a corporate case
in the New Jersey Court of appeals, in
which the lay judges overruled the law
judges on a strictly lcg.il point. The mat
ter presents at least two unique features. It
is singular to the rest of the country to learn
of an appellate court in which lay judges
hold the power of decision; and it is no less
remarkable to find these judges practically
ruling that the views of their brethren
learned in the law, on the legal aspects of a
case, are all wrong. This is regarded as an
illustration of the impracticability of hav
ing lay judges on the bench; bnt an ex
amination of the case on its merits renders
another view possible.
lhe ruling of the law judges was to the
tfect that where one railroad corporation
had built a spur, or switch, of railroad, for
the avowed purpose of blocking the con
struction of a legitimate competing line, the
latter corporation could not condemn a right
of way across the obstruction. It
would be impossible to make a de
cision more completely in violation of
the fundamental principles of law underly
ing the right of eminent domain. It has
been decided again and again that the power
of eminent domain can be used to give one
railroad a right cf way across the track of
another. Moreover, if the law of New Jer
sey is in such an obsolete condition that one
corporation can use the right of eminent do
main simply to block and strangle other en
terprises, all the decisions of the United
States Supreme Court on the exercise of that
power would make such a law unconstitu
tional and void. The decision of the law
judges in this case was extremely bad law.
When the lay judges overrule such stran
gulator and obstructive law as this, it
amounts to a vindication of the lay judges.
They may not have cited the decisions sus
taining their position, bnt they saw that to
let a railroad pursue the practice of sticking
a railroad track wherever it chooses, to head
on" a legitimate construction, was practical
injustice, and they would have none of it,
If laymen everywhere could be relied upon
to put a stop to that defiant and illegal cor
porate practice it would cause a general de
mand for the restoration of lay judges to
their old positions on the bench.
THE LAW AND THE TRUST.
The testimony General Slocnm gave be
fore the New York Legislative Commit
tee the other day gives the finishing touch to
a remarkable picture of the superiority of a
great monetary combination to the man
dates of the law. He testified that the re
ceivers, after their appointment, called for
the books of the corporations in possession
of the trust but were refused them; that they
asked for the transfer of certificates which
-was declined; and finally that whea he
found that his associates were 'not disposed
to do anything, he proposed to make au in
dividual report The stir caused by the
prospect of a veteran soldier doing his duty
as a receiver was described as follows:
Judge Pratt wrote a letter to me, and In it
thought it would be advisable, to defer action
in promulgating a report. Three lawyers also
wrote tome, and said that as an Individual I
had no right to make an individual report;
bnt nevertheless I would have done so had I
not been relieved.
In order to appreciate the anxiety of tbe
bench and bar of New York to prevent any
thing being done which would be disagree
able to the Sugar Trust, it is necessary to
bear in mind that 4fcjs proceeding was under
the decision of the highest court of New
York that the fifty-million-dollar combi
nation was an illegal and injurious con
spiracy. The requirement of this decision
that the property should be distributed
among the original owners went so far as
the appointment of receivers, two of whom
took care to do nothing. There everything
stopped. The receivers were not permitted
to receive any thing; the trust magnates
coolly declined to obey the orders of the
court; and when one of the receivers carried
his ideas of duty to the extent of proposing
to report to the court that its authority was
defied, bench and bar hastened to impress
upon him that he must not do anything of
the sort. Finally the court seized a favor
able opportunity to discharge the receivers
and let the trust do what it chose.
. Yet there are some people who still cherish
the delusion that this is a nation in which
the great masses of capital are governed by
law!
THE PROTECTION OF THE STREAMS
The question of maintaining the purity of
our streams is brought forth prominently by
the bill pending in the Legislature. As to the
importance of such a measure in the ab
stract, there is no room for dispute. The
sanitary value and the public usefulness of
pure water is beyond question. All, what
ever their individual interests, will agree
that anything that can be done to prevent
unnecessary pollution of the streams should
be authorized by law.
The bill under consideration takes this
view. It proposes to give the State Board
of Health power to act in cases of pollution.
It makes it unlawful to throw or to permit
to be discharged into State water courses
any substance, mineral or solution, that
will make the water unfit for domestic con
sumption. It is stipulated that the act
shall not make it illegal to discharge into
the streams the drainage of coal mines or the
sewage of the cities. Here we have the
principle recognized that the magnitude of
certain interests so far overbalances the im
portance of keeping the streams pure, that
the latter object is to be abandoned when it
comes into collision with the greater inter
est This is a very reasonable view, and
the only criticism that can be made of the
bill is that it does not apply the principle
impartially.
Two interests have shown opposition to
the measure, namely, some of the tanning
establishments whose waste material is per
mitted to flow into streams, and the oil pro
ducers whose wells often yield large quan
tities of salt water. There is no doubt that
in the present form of the bill both these
classes would be subject to its penalties. It
seems that the tanners could care for the
waste products of their establishments with
out a vital increase of their expenses. But,
so far as the public knows, the possibility
of the oil producers preventing the outflow
of salt water from their wells only exists
concurrently with the stoppage of the in
dustry. With that presumption it is diffi
cult to see why the exceptions made in favor
of city sewage and coal mine drainage
should not be extended to water from oil
wells.
Everyone knows it is possible to provide
for sewage without emptying it into the
streams; although the expense would made
it a very great undertaking. The coal mine
industry furnishes a case in which if the
drainage is not to be discharged into the
streams the industry must step. It is a
principle recognized in the bill that in such
a case the industry must be permitted to con
tinue. But with that principle conceded,
the burden of proof is decidedly on the sup
porters of the measure to show why salt
water from oil wells should not be placed in
the same category as the sulphur and iron
impregnations from mines.
At the same time it is trne that if all three
of these leading causes of defilement are to
go unchecked the purification of the streams
by this measure will be very slight The
bill might go further than it does with re
gard to city sewage by directing inquiry
toward methods for preventing that form of
pollution, and the same inquiry might be
made with regard to the disposition of salt
water from oil wells. There is no question
that the latter trouble is becoming a serious
one in some sections. If there is any
method of preventing it, without imposing a
prohibitive burden on alegitimate industry,
the demonstration of the fact may point out
the proper remedy. Until the possibility of
preventing the outflow is proved, however,
the oil wells have as good a claim to exemp
tion as the coal mines, and a better one than
the city sewers.
SUICIDE AND ITS CAUSES.
Suicide seems to be epidemic in Pittsburg
at present. Almost every day the news
papers arc called upon to chronicle the fact
that another human being has grown tired
of life and sought surcease of sorrow and
trouble in the grave. Just to what this
state of affairs is to he credited cannot be
definitely determined. People from time
immemorial have killed themselves, and
therefore the fact of suicide itself is
not so remarkable; but that a
number ot unfortunates in one
city should choose the same week for
their voluntary exit is of passing in
terest This epidemic form has been
noted before, and explanations offered,
none of which was universally accepted.
The influence of one person's acts on the
acts of another can hardly be advanced as a
cause, or one man's killing himself wonld
be expected to lead every other unfortunate
to follow his example. This, of course, is
not the case. Every person in trouble who
hears of a suicide docs not go and do like
wise. If he did, the city nay, the coun
try would soon be depopulated. Nor can
a morbid desire for notoriety very well be
put forward as a cause, for those fond of no
toriety generally want to live to enjoy it
The most plausible explanation, though it
really does not explain, is that two or more
suicides happening at the same time or close
together, constitute a horrible coincidence
instead of an epidemic. '
' These explanations and reasonings do not,
however, alter the fact that suicide u a
crime, and, as with ether crimes, means for
its prevention can be used. These means
are not to be found on the statute books of
the States that have legislated against self
murder, but exist in the personality of every
man, woman and child in the world. Sui
cide is the outcome of inability to bear
troubles, a tendency to magnify sorrows and
a fear of the results of deeds done in life.
The last is cowardice, pure and simple, and
a cowardice which, in the eye's of those left
living, is far greater than any daring or
bravery displayed in seeding the unknown.
AU these lead to suicide, andall of them can
be prevented.
The ability to bear trouble can be culti
vated. It should be inculcated into every
child, and when he reaches man's estate he
will not be ao likely to break down. The
tendency tomagnify sorrows can also be
avoided by the same means. There is no
danger of making him heartless. If he is
naturally sympathetic he will not lose any of
his finer feelings by ability to triumph over
personal sorrows. Cowardice, the outcome
of the two former traits, will, of course, have
no existence if they are absent For those
who are already adults, the cultivation of
the ability to bear tronble and the tendency
to lessen the effects of sorrow may be rather
hard, but success will attend rightly directed
efforts. Be cheerful, look your fellow man
in the face with a smile, lead a moral life
and self-destructiou will not be your lot!
Me. Henry Cabot Lodge, at the po
litical banquet the other day, declared bis loy
alty to the Republican party tor the reason
that he finds in the platform of that party that
"it is committed to the principle of civil service
reform and taking the administrative offices
out of politics." No one doubts that the Re
publican platform is all right, but Mr. Lodge
omitted to explain the immense gap that exists
between the professions of the platform and
tho practice of the politicians. Republican
platforms in this Stato have also been profuse
with promises of various reforms.
About the time the last echoes are heard
of that discussion in Philadelphia over the ex
hibition of works from the uude in the art dis
play this year, a Philadelphia paper notes the
exceptional success of this season's exhibition.
Is it possible that there is a skillful advertiser
in charge of the Philadelphia art boom?
It is interesting and instructive, when the
telephone experts are informing the Legislature
that to fix telephone rents at 136 per year
would oblige the telephone companies to go out
of business, to read that in Montreal the
charge is $15 per year, and so far from the com
panies going out of business the Bell Telephone
Company since it made the reduction has in
creased its list to 5,000 subscribers while the
opposition company has over 6,000. It makes
an immense amount of difference in the possi
bilities of the telephone business whether there
is competition or not
Dr. Dei-ew's late outbreak to the effect
that no one reads the editorials of the news
papers may be based on his observation that
the numerous editorials glorifying his avail
ability for various political booms have not as
yet landed him in a Governorship, Senatorship
or Presidency, other than corporate.
Thai remittance which Pennsylvania is
to receive from tho direct tax refunding act
has already been devoted by esteemed cotem
porarles to the building of a new capltol at
Harrisburg, the payment of the border claims,
the increase of the school fund, the aid of the
State charitable institutions, the State aid for
the improvement of conntry roads, and the
payment of the Johnstown expenses. Under
these circumstances we see no just reason why
Western Pennsylvania should not pnt in her
claim to what is left of it, for tho building of
the ship canal.
The desperate Bepublican effort to elect
Streeter to the United States Senate from
Illinois is based on the fear that if the Republi
cans do not swallow the Alliance dosa the
Democrats will. Evidently something must be
done, and no one proposed to pass around the
hat
A writer in the current Jfiew England
Magazine discusses tho question: "What shall
we do with the unemployed?" Only a short
time ago the same publication had an article
on: "What shall we do with the millionaires?"
The juxtaposition of these two classes sug
gests that ths problems might be concurrently
solved by a treatment that will mix them to
gether so thoroughly as to make it impossible
to tell which is which.
The Democratic organs have named the
lat Congress the Billion Congress. Ihisisan
alliterative variation of the term "Business
Congress," which the Republicans can digest
at their leisure.
Now it is reported that the Spanish blood
is being stirred op over a reported desire o-f
the United Slates to get possession of Cuba.
Our foreign friends on both sides should be as
sured that the United States is not going to try
to gobble territory in any direction. It would
not do a week's fighting to get either Cuba or
Canada, and as to purchasing one conntry or
tho other, look at the wreck of the surplus left
by tho late Congres?.
The Maine crop liar can he discouraged
but not defeated. He cow rises to the occa
sion with tho statement that the ice crop was
very much damaged by the severity of the
winter.
The stories that the Kaiser's dissatis
faction with Caprivi indicates the return of
Bismarck, are a weak invention of the Bls
marckian correspondents. The young monarch
has not imbibed the theories of absolutism
which Bismarck taught to eat humble pie now
to the old Chacceller after the latter has been
making himself obnoxious to the best ot his
very great ability.
In the late Congress the pen of the en
rolling clerk was mightier than the vote of the
legislator, so far as the shaping of two import
ant acts is concerned.
By the way it is noticed that owing to the
absorption of the "business Congress" in other
business, it is possible for active attorneys to
indefinitely suspend the operation of the crimi
nal laws of the States by the new device of
applying to the United States Courts for a writ
of habeas corpus and then taking an appeal on
the refusal to grant the writ.
"We may cherish the hope that we have
experienced the last struggle of the dying win
ter until the next cold wave comes along.
SNAP SHOTS IN SEASON.
In Bussia the power behind the throne
is dynamite.
If dogs could reason communism would
undoubtedly be abroad in puppydom jnst at
present. Out in the streets and alleys around
the big building where the petted canines of
high degree are posing for prize ribbons
measley fists wander and wonder. The much
abused yellow dog and the mangy cur the
tramps and outcasts of the canine family
sneaked about yesterday with their noses
elevated and their uils close-reefed, dodging
the kicks and heeding not the curses of tho
oppressor, striving to catch a glimpse of their
royal brothers' and blooded sisters. Did they
envy them? Well, I suppose they did dog
fashion. They surely recognized the voices
that fell on their pricked up ears, smelt
tho savory odors that the wind wafted
to their nervous nozzles, and perhaps realized
that their lot was a bard one. If they could
reason together they wouldsurely plot mischief
and spread the gospel of socialism and com
munism through the canine community to
which they ate forced by fate and the accident
of birth to belong. But, poor doggie, you're
better oft than your master in this regard, after
alL What you whine for ha pines tor, what
you see he feels, the riches you sniS at he
strives for, while you sneak he strikes, of
course, bnt, then, envy does not rob you of
slsep, nor does conscience disturb your dreams.
You crowl over the bones, but be plots over the
husks and sometimes chokes on the crumbs.
You fight for food, eat and are satisfied, but he
battles for place and power and never gets
enough of either. This is the difference be
tween instinct and intellect and in the atmos
phere ot adversity one is jnst abont as brutal
izing as the other.
Judging from the leminine caresses be
stowed on the prize pups at the bench show, a
good many men wonld not object to leading a
dog's life.
Full of tricks a pack of cards.
It seems that somebody got his price out
in Illinois after all, else the Senatorial snarl
would continue.
Thet forgot to put the plums1 in the
Philadelphia mint's pie.
Ex-Speaker Keed now only has power,
to dictate to bis typewriter.
Buffalo Bill is the one who will profit
most by tho Indian blunder. He has se
cured his attractions, and they are mighty well
advertised at the expense of the Government
Elephant leather should make splendid
trunks.
All's well that does not end in a dry
hole in the oil field.
Boards of trade can be.found in lumber
yards.
New York's Millionaire Club will
hardly be called upon to suspend members for
non-payment of dues.
The United States Treasury turns out
bills that always become laws.
Irishmen should make good poker play
ers, because many of them can stand Pat, you
know.
A San Francisco scientist says the
earth will flop that is, the poles will change
places. In 14,000 years. Husbands who live in
this latitude then will not have to buy their
wives sealskins.
The guests who rushed from the burning
hotel yesterday morning were not even clothed
in their right minds.
The death dealing railroad car stove
should be fired.
If you sacrifice profit to spite the Sheriff
will be after you some day.
The man who captures the carrier pigeon
prize always wins on a font
Signal failures Fog-banked lighthouses.
Public boards become rotten in time,
just like fence boards.
Government funerals may be dead is
sues, but when they cost $100,000 they become
live topics.
The safest plan to pursue at a swell re
ception where the waiters and the male guests
are clad in swallow tails is to jam your hand
into your pantaloons pocket and jingle a few
coins when you meet a stranger. If his eyes
begin to bulge and his hand commences to
travel toward you, he's a waiter. This is a
straight tip.
What a splendid thing it wonld be for
the world if the mischief makers would go on
strike.
A sign of dull times This store to let
Inquire next door.
TnE fangs have been drawn from some of
the legislative snakes at all events.
The public stomach will turn before all
the new laws are digested. '
All the world's a stage and Satan is sit
ting in the box office.
Judging from the materials used in the
mafceup of a great many women that rib must
nave been taken from an umbrella.
If the State Legislators would indorse
public measures instead of public men the
Commonwealth would be a trifle better off.
C. P. Huntingdon refuses to pay a fe
male beautifler $900 for putting a new face on
bis wife. He evidently believes it Is a skin
came.
It is perfectly natural to read about light
trading in electric stocks.
The doe show is a splendid place to
study human nature as well as canine charac
teristics. Willie Winkle.
PEBS0HS PABAGBAPHED.
Oscar "Wilde, some time apostle of the
beautiful and ex-worshiper of the sunflower,
has become an Anarchist
Geoege Vanderbilt's castle in North
Carolina will still require ten years of labor
and the expenditure of 10,000,000 to com
plete it.
Justice K. N. Walker, of the Ala
bama Supreme Court, is but 31 years old, and
the youngest man in the country holding such a
position.
Mrs. Stannard (John Strange Winter),
the author of "Booties' Baby," is about to
undertake the editing and publishing of a
penny weekly.
. SirBichard Cartweight, leader of
the Liberals of Ontario In the campaign just
ended, has been likened to a buzz-saw, so ener
getic and biting are his addresses.
Walter Dameosch, Secretary Blaine's
son-in-law, is conducting free Sunday concerts
for the working people of Now York. The
last one was attended by about 3,000 persons.
Bet. Dr. J. M.Pendleton, of Bowling
Green, Ky., who died last Wednesday, was a
friend ot Henry Clay, and wrote a book, "Why
I Am a Baptist," which Abraham Lincoln
praised.
Ellen Teery is learning to dance.
Some of the somber scenes in which she and
Mr. Irving appear would be greatly relieved by
a skirt dance or a song and dance, and the pub
lic will wish her success in her undertaking.
General Lew Wallace and Secre
tary Foster are almost doubles in personal ap
pearance, their resemblance being so striking
that they are frequently mistaken for each
other. Each is a man of medium height,
weighing about 170 pounds.
Captain Andrew Manning, who
died at Clinton, Mass.. aged 83. recently, t as
known as the father of yachting. He launched
his first boat from the foot of Long wharf,
Boston, SO years ago, and many a fugitive slave
was secretly conveyed from an incoming
steamer on one of his little boats to a place of
safety.
W. H. Smith is a level-headed newspaper
man, even if be is a member of Parliament
and a Cabinet Minister, and has promptly
sat down upon a proposal to compel writers of
articles appearing in the papers to attach their
names to such, articles. He said it would be as
absurd as to compel every man to sign the
ballot which he cast in an election.
Pope Leo XIII is now engaged in the
preparation of the most important incyclical
that has yet been issued by him. He is abont
to formulate the views of the Catholic Church
on tho subject of socialism and its kindred
topics. The paper is looked forward to with
unusual interest, as many high officials are
waiting tor it to decide questions that are now
before the church tribunals.
The Queen of Koumania has written
a melodrama which should have been produced
at the Burg Theater at Vienna, but it turned
out to be so wildly and weirdly absurb in plot
and so bombastic in language that the man
agers insisted that if it was produced there
wonld not only be a riot In the audience but a
strike among the employes, and so it was with
drawn. Even a Queen is not free from dra
matic failures.
Judge Peffer, the new Kansas Sena
tor, thinks all young persons should be taught
substantial handicrafts. He has eight chil
dren, of whom three are daughters. The boys
have all learned the printers' trade, and the
eldest daughter has been taught to set type.
One son is a locomotive engineer. One daugh
ter does amanuensis work and reporting, but
also sets type. The second daughter has been
trained to keep accounts, and the youngest
daughter is the stenographer in the Kansas
Farmer .office, of which paper the father is
editor.
VERBATIM VARIETIES.
Uses ot the Kola Nut Tho Karo Moon
Flower Usefulness of the Elephant A
Professor's Snake Story now to -Carry
an Umbrella Teeth Indicate Character.
A well-known medical jonrnal is recommend
ing the kola nut as a substitute for tea and
coffee. The nut, it is said, contains little tannin
and cot much more caffeine. It is claimed
that it will soon take the place of tea and coffee
entirely.
A botanist, who has made a special study of
the nut and Its properties, said to a Cincinnati
Times-Star reporter: "It is a mistake to say
that the nnt will take the place of tea and
coffee. It has an astringent taste that is un
pleasant, and I do not believo it will ever be
used extensively, orat all, in civilized countries.
Tho kola nut is a native of the coasts of Africa,
but has been introduced into and thrives well
in the West Indies and Brazil. Itgrows upon a
tree 40 feet high, which produces pale yellow
flowers spotted with purple. The leaves of the
tree are six or eight inches long and are pointed
at both ends. The fruit consists of five long,
slender pods radiating from a common center.
One of these when broken open is found to con
tain several nuts somewhat similar to hazel
nuts and of about the same size. The nuts are
solid.'being slightly sotter toward the center
than on the outside.
"The1 natives of the countries where the nuts
grow use them for various purposes. They
pass for money in Africa. They are also used
as a symbol of friendship and hate, the light
colored ones signifying the former, and the
dark the latter. They are supposed to aid di
gestion, and it is the practice to chew a small
bit before eating a meaL Tbey allay thirst,
and if a piece be chewed and held in the mouth
while drinking, the most bitter and stagnant
water can be taken, and will taste sweet and
agreeable. I doubt if this quality of rendering
stagnant water pure is possible by the nuts. I
rather think that the astringent taste of the
nut paralyzes the gustatory nerves momenta
rily, and for that reason the water is sot
tasted. Hunger tbey are also supposed to al
lay, but tbey do no more than paralvze the
nerves. They have a stimulating effect, and
when going on long marches the natives chew
bits of the nuts contiuually, and with about the
same effect as if intoxicating liquor had been
used, though without the sanio bad results.
Powdered kola nut is sprinkled In cuts and
wounds and has a healing effect.
"A chemical analysis of the nuts shows tbem
to contain 20 parts of caffeine and but a fraction
of a part of taunin. No, it will never be used
in the place of tea and coffee. Its taste and
ehemical properties are against it."
The Rare Moon Flower.
Mr. Arnold Brinkworth is exhibiting with
much pride a specimen of .the Kleur de Lune,
the existence of which has often been doubted,
hut which was sent Mr. Brinkworth a few
months ago by a friend residing in Obydos,
Brazil, says the New York Journal.
It was obtained for him from an Indian, who
found it growing in a swamp in the depths of
the Amazonian forests, and is the only speci
men which has ever reached this country alive.
Those who have been favored by a glimpse of
the curiosity say It is a delicate, tenacious
vine, covered with small, glossy leaves of a
bright and very tender green, climbing to a
height of four or five feet bearing here and
there a milk-white blossom of a disk-like shape.
When the moon is at its first quarter a dis
tinct shadow or stain of a deep yellow, which
seems ratbor in than out of the flower and cor
responding to the shape of the moon, makes its
appearance on this disk, and grows as the planet
does, until, when at its full size, the yellow
stain covers the entire flower. As the moon be
gins to wane again this retreats in the same
ratio, and finally disappears altogether, to re
turn once more as the new moon is seen to
come back.
When the planet sets, the flower closes and
does not nnfold until the moon rises on the fol
lowing night. It pursues this course month
after month whether placed in the open air or
kept in a hothouse, though under the latter
circumstances tho yellow tint is much paler and
more undecided, while the white surface takes
on a dingy, unhealthy tinge. The plant subsists
almost entirely on air. Its root being barely
covered with a little moist gravel.
Is the Elephant Usefu'.
In modern times, we have only to look to
India to be convinced of the great usefulness
of the elephant To the agriculturist, who
uses him before bis wagon or his plow, he is in
dispensable, and, for the transportation of
heavy articles, be has no rival. We see him
carrying immense tree trunks out of the Indian
forest, and by his indefatigable industry, in
picking up and carrying off large stones, aiding
the construction of roads and railways, writes
a contributor to QoldthwaiWs Geographical
Magazine. For labor of this kind a coolie re
ceives from four to eight annas, while Are and
six rupees are paid for the daily work of an
elephant From this fact we conclude that
one elephant performs the work of from 12 to
22 coolies.
From the record of the British expedition
against King Theodore, of Abyssinia, in 1863,
we learn that 41 elephants were shipped from
Bombay for nse in the campaign. Each aulmal
was in charge of two men. Of this number fire
succumbed during the campaign. The remain
ing 39 rendered valuable services, being en
trusted with the transportation, through a
mountainous country, ot cannon, ammunition
and supplies. It was frequently very difficult
to procure proper food tor them, and as it was
often necessary to traverse great distances
to reach the watering places, the death
of the live animals is ascribed to these hard
ships. Although elephants move slowly through
a mountainous couutry and soon become foot
sore, tbey performed their task with admirable
faithfulness. Without them it would have
been necessary to await the building of wagon
roads.
A Professor's Snake Story.
According to the Norwich Bulletin, Prof.
Brewer, of Yale, recently told a good snake
story. Years ago he was in California and bad
his tripod aud other surveyor's instruments in
the field. Stepping along in the bushes he felt
a movement under his feet and found he was
standing on a four and a half foot rattlesnake
a large, vicious, and fightiug fellow. But the
snake was so pinioned that he could not strike
the thick boot that held him fast. Prof. Brewer
held the rattler's head down with his tripod
and cut it off. Then he cut off his rattles.
Stepping aside he saw the body of the snake,
partly coiled, lying very still. Taking out his rule
to measure its length the professor took hold
of the serpent to straighten him out.
"Quick as an electric shock," said Prof.
Brewer, "that headless suako brought the
bloody stump over and struck a hard blow
upon the back of my hand." He added: "I
knew that bis bead was off and that be cnuld
not poison n.e. bnt that quick and hard blow
of the rattlor made my hair stand on end."
Prof. Willister, standing by, said: "I have on
two or three occasions seen similar sudden
blows by headless rattlesnakes."
How to Carry an Umbrella.
The New York Sun gets in its regular stab at
the city of brotherly love by printing a tale
supposed to have been told by a visiting New
Yorker. The story is as follows: Three or four
of us had closed our umbrellas and gathered
under a store awning at the lower end of Mar
ket street, Philadelphia, to wait for a grip car.
Along came a colored man, carrying a faded
and rent old umbrella, and we all noticed that
he carried the shelter tipped forward at such an
angle that his feet Jwere protected at the ex
panse of his back.
"Stop, sir!" shouted the man at my left who
had the look aud bearing ot a judge.
"Yes, sah what's wanted?" queried the col
ored man.
"I want to show you how to carry an um
brella. Your toes are dry, while your back is
all wet I don't believe that one person in
fifty knows bow to carry au umbrella so as to
get the most protection out of it"
It's an old one, sah."
"Yes, I see, but you don't grasp the handle
right. Here take mine."
"Yes, sah."
"Take the handle with your right band, and
carry it ou a line with your right shoulder.
There that's better."
"Can't git along wld sich stiffness, sah."
"Ye3 you can. Now walk up to the corner
a I'd back. Hold the handle on aline with yonr
shoulder. Thai's it go ahead."
The negro marched off at a steady pace, and
while he was stepping off thegentleman turned
touswitn:
It's a knack to shelter yourself under an
umbrella, particularly if it rains bard, and the
want of this knack provokes me when I see it."
Wo agreed with bim, and the minutes went
bv and a car came down.
'"Why. whero did the nigger go to?" asked
the owner of the umbrella.
We looked up and down, but he had disap
peared. The man ran up the street two squares,
but there was no African carrying a fine silk
umbrella with a gold handle not as he could
see We started to rally him a bit as we went
up on the car, but he checked us by saying:
'If any of you think 1 can't lick you in one
round, all you have to do is to step off the cart
I won't detain you three min::te! '
Judging Character by tho Teeth.
A dentist in the New York Ledger says: "To
determine a person's character by the teeth
take the upper front teoth. They are the true
index of the nature of a man or a woman.
Here," he said, 'is tho tooth of a young lady
who has a lovely disposition and Is universally
beloved; see how regular and dainty the forma
tion Is, and yet possessing all requisite points
for a perfect tooth. Here yon see the tooth of
a man who is cruet although his cruelty is of
the refined kind; notice that the tooth is white
and rather sharp and long. Then this tooth,
stumpy and coarse in form, denotes the brutal
ity; it is from the jaw of a man of brutal
nature. Here is a curious tooth from the
mouth of a peevish, fretful woman; the crown
has a sharp fretful turn to it. Now we have
the tooth of a sensuous woman; you see It is
square, although of good shape, and depressed
in the center; its wearer has caused a great
deal of distress in the hearts ot neglected
wives. Now we come to one that belonged
once in the mouth of a lady who is noted for
her refinement and intellectual development.
It is slender and perfect In shape one of the
Kind of teeth that go with long, slender
fingers."
OUR MAIL POUCH,
The Problem of Bad Debts.
To the Editor or The Dispatch:
In your brief article on above subject, you
make some misleading statements, for the cor
rection of which my love of historical truth
prompts me to ask a small space in your widely
circulated journal. Tho experience of a ma
jority of the membets or the Pittsburg Mer
chant Tailors' Exchange is, that the sale of
judgments has been very beneficial; while the
actual sales at auction have not been great in
number, the accounts which have been settled
privately in consequence of such sales, have
materially swelled the bank accounts of the
tailors, as I am prepared to demonstrate to yon
if you wish to be fully informed on the subject
I am prepared to show you that in consequence
of the workings (including sales of judgments)
of the Merchant Tailors' Exchange ot this city,
the tailor. If he be a man of average business
capacity, has as small a percentage of lo$3 from
bad debts as any merchant engaged in any
other line of business even the publishing of a
newspaper that since the establishment of our
Exchange the actual loss in bad debts has been
less than three-quarters of 1 per cent, and even
that throngh the same agency may yet bo re
duced to less than one-half of 1 per cent; surely
a good record of which we are justly proud.
The present acitation among the merchant
tailors of New York, Philadelphia and other
cities is in consequence of these facts being re
ported by our delegates to the Merchant
Tailors' National Exchange at our annual con
vention, aud the present outlook is that the
Pittsburg system will be adopted in every citv
from Maine to California where there is a
Merchant Tailors' Exchange. It may be inter
esting to yon to know that many of our best
citizens frequently congratulate our members
on tneir efforts to make all pay, thereby giving
the non-payers a useful lesson in common
honesty.
Your last paragraph on this subject Is that "a
good many tailors, after trying ths sales of
judgments, decided to adopt the cash plan,
thereby being enabled to make clothes cheaper,
giving the paying public the benefit." My re
ply is that, so far as I know, there have been no
sales of tailors' judgments in this city except
by the M. T. E., and I will give $10 to some
charitable institution to be named by you for
every one of such merchant tailors you can
name in this city. A Mejibeb M. T. E.
Pittsburg, March 10.
The Cost of School Books.
To the Editor of The Dispatch:
Your Issue of the 6th icst contains a dispatch
from Harrisburg in which the cost of manu
facturing certain school books, "including
paper and labor," is compared with the retail
price of the same books. A very important
item in the cost of these books Is ignored In
this comparison, that of the labor required in
their preparation. All will agree that the best
talent should be employed in this work, and
that it shsnld be adequately compensated, as,
indeed. It must be. In the report recently
widely circulated of expenditure by the State
of California for the publication of school
books that for the preparation of the books
forms a very large proportion of the whole.
P. S. Banceoft.
Butler, PA March 8.
Generous to the Thirsty,
To the Editor of The Dispatch:
Can a respectable citizen give away a drink of
iqnor in his own bouse ? J. W.
New- Castle, March 9.
There is no law to prevent such a proceed
ing. Came on Sunday, March 28.
To the Editor or The Dispatch:
Will you inform us on what date Easter of
ISTocame? Many Readers.
Dxxmsox, O., March 6.
A First Cousin Once Removed.
To the Editor of The Dispatch:
What relation am I to my fall cousin's child?
J. D. H.
Pittsburg, March 9.
AN ABTIST FOOLS A JOKES.
The Latter Orders a Picture for Fun, but
Conclndes to Take It.
New York Contlnent.1
A Brooklyn artist recently got very much the
best ot a young friend, whose "funny" pro
clivities prompted him to order au expensive
pastel portrait of himself, and who, when the
bill was presented, said, langhingly: "Oh, my
dear boy, I didn't intend that you should paint
it for me, but for yourself." The artist ap
peared not the slightest annoyed, and merely
said: "Oh, very well, I will place it in my win
dow, it will attract attention, and later you
may be more anxious to take it" That even
ing the practical joker was attracted by a crowd
in front of his artist friend's showcase, and
crossing over to ascertain the cause, found to
bis consternation and chagtin, that his friend
had added a large,symmetrical pair of donkey's
ears to his head in the likeness displayed; he
rushed into his friend's studio, and, without a
word, wrote out a check for the amountin full,
and the offending likeness was removed.
WEDDING AT HOLLIDAYSBUBG.
William I Baldridge and Miss lone B.
Condron United in Wedlock.
FrXCIAX, TM.IOBA3 TO THE DI8PATCH.1
Hollidatsburg, March 10. A stylish wed
ding took place here in the Baptist Church this
evening. The groom was William Lavelle
Baldridce. ex-manager of the Blair Iron Com
pany, of this place, and Miss lone B. Condron,
oldest daughter of Angus B. Condron, late of
Pittsburg.
The ceremony was performed by Owen
James. 1. D., and a large reception was held at
the bride's home after the ceremony. The
bridal couple left to-night for a trip in New
England States. The groom is the superin
tendent of the Jnniata Limestone Company, of
this place.
New York Honors Sheridan.
The Continent.!
I saw yesterday a small slate fastened to a
news-stand adjoining the building of the Com
missioner ot Charities and Correction, at Elev
enth street and Third avenue, with the chalk
inscription: "Gallant General Philip Henry
Sheridan's birthday." Below were two cheap
American flags. Perhaps i: was the only recog
nition of the hero's natal day in this big city.
Had General Phil lived until yesterday he
would, have been just 60 years old. Though
Ohloans claim him as a native, his recent
biographers find that he was born in Albany,
this State.
Words or Wisdom.
Indianapolis Jonrnal. 1
Democrats who have been justifying the ger
rymanders in this State by those In others,
should paste these words of Governor Hovey
in their mental scrapDoots: "It is not import
ant whether other Legislatures, other Govern
ors and other States have forgotten to obey
their oaths to support the Constitution. We
are not governed by the law of the vendetta,
where one crime demands the perpetration of
another."
Bible Curiosities in Chicago.
Washington'ost.
A Chicago man paid S14.S00 for a Bible When
a Chicago man goes after a curio he does not
stop at expense.
TO HER QUILL PEN.
Ah, you noisy little quill!
Do you not with rapture thrill -
When she writes
Whether Sue Is bid to tea,
Or a sonnet "To the bea"
She indites!
What would bribe you, when again
She Is using you to pen
Words to me.
Just to trace with motion sly.
Those few tender words that I
tons: to set?
O'er my shoulder as I write
Conies a laughing whisper, light
You're a gooset"
And I really wish I were,, "
If my quills could be for her
Dainty use.
i'rtitrick A, Utolctt InCtnturu,
PLEASURES; SOCIETY.
Annual Sunday School Convention or the
pltUburc, Baptist Association An Ele
gant Dinner Served to tho Delegates
News or Yesterday's Social Successes.
Earnest thoughtful men and women filled
the audience room ot the Baptist Church, cor
"ner ot Hmallman and Thirty-seventh streets,
yesterday afternoon, and endeavored to dis
cover by a commingling and exchange ot ideas
the best possible way and manner of serving
spiritual food for the mind and soul. Equally
earnest and thoughtful women in the Bunday
school room beneath spent the time during the
morning and the afternoon sessions in prepar
ing for a' practical demonstration of the best
possible way and manner or serving material
food for the body.
It was a happy combination, satisfying alike
to both the spiritual and material being that
succeeded in making the annual meeting of the
Sunday School Convention of the Pittsburg
Baptist Association thoroughly enjoyable and
wonderfully beneficial to all interested In Sab
bath school work. There were present 90 dele
gates, representing 40 schools of the 50
which form the association. Alle
gheny, Washington. Westmoreland, Greene
and Beaver counties were repre
sented. The morning session opening
at 0:50 o'clock was devoted mainly to routine
business with religious exercises by Rev. D. E.
Richards, of Sbarpsburg, and hymns by the
audience. The roll call, reading of the
minutes, reports of the Executive Committee
and of the secretary and treasurer were list
ened to attentively and with a great deal of
interest, especially the last two reports, which
proved the association in a flourishing condi
tion financially and growing rapidly.
The Election of Offlcers-
The election nf officers followed, and resulted
In placing H. W. Walklnshaw, of Greensburg,
In the chair for the coming year, W. F-Maxon,
Secretary, and Messrs.Henry Stauff, AH. Ebcr
bart and Wilson Weddell, Jr., on the Execu
tive Committee. The "now business" out
lined on the programme did not materialize.
so with a very able paper, "The Cat
echetical Lessons in the Bunday School,"
by H. AV. Walklnshaw, the morning
session was concluded. The paper advocated
'strongly more rigid doctrinal teaching In the
Sabbath schools, which apparently met the ap
probation of ail present, judging from the dis
cussion which followed, it was supplemented
later in the day by a resolution presented by
Prof. J. F.Carey Indorsing the Ideas promul
gated and suggestlng'tfaat a committee be ap
pointed to investigate all publications in that
line for Sunday school work and report at the
next meeting.
The adjournment to the impromptu dining
hall was accompanied with cordial handshakes
and sincere greetings, and during the dinner
sociability reigned, to the exclusion of sub
jects weightier than cold meats, chicken salad.
Saratoga chips, jellies, rolls, fruits, pastry,
cakes, coffee anJ similar dishes. Four long
tables lined the room, covered with snony
linen and laden with all the delicacies of the
season. And bright-eyed pretty maids and
matrons dispensed the viands, each with the
graciousness and alacrity equal to that in
spired by a generous tip in a professional.
Work of the Afternoon Session.
At 2 o'clock the afternooasesslon opened with
devotional cxerciies by Rev. H. J. Hamilton, of
Homestead, and "The Home Department of
the Sunday School" was treated by Henry
Stauff, of the Fourth Avanue Baptist Church.
The paper was an original and exhaustive one.
advocating special home teachers In a Sunday
school, whose mission it would be to visit
homes where sickness or disinclination pre
vented attendance at the sanctuary, and to
endeavor by persistent and earnest effort to
interest and instruct such unfortunates. The
paper created quite a breezy discussion and
produced a very favorable impression.
"The Christian Endeavor work and its rela
tion to the Sunday school," as viewed byH. B.
Balnbrldge, is a vast and helpful one, and
should be encouraged in every instance and
particular. Aftor a delightful supper the
evening session convened. A praise service,
conducted by Rev. George T. Sheet pastor of
Jit, Washington Church, occupied the earlier
portion ot the evening, and an address on
"The Mission or the Sunday School." by Rav.
S. A. Smith, of Yf est Newton, the latter, with
the question box between. The ladies' com
mittee, which justly gained so much renown
tor the entertainment, consisted of membors
of the church In which the convention was
held and of which Rev. H. C. Hall is the re
cently called pastor.
Mrs. M. E. Thompson was the Chairman and
the tables were in charge of Mesdames II. A.
Loefller, M. F. Pryce, Jane Aubrey,
M. E. Trurabell, with aids. Misses
Jennie Boswell, Ida McGnire, Mamie
Aiken. Maggio Walker, Jennie rhllpor,
Jennie Thomas, Grace Walker, Sarah Oriffltb,
Lydia Kincaid, Hay Williams, Annie Wilson,
Lizzie Lewi-', Annie Thompson. Birdie Pryce,
Mercene McGulre, Annie Orth, and Messrs.
Lue McKain, T. H. Chapman. William F.
Maxon, William Fisher, and James it Sutton.
OIL CITY'S GAIN.
One of Pittsburg's Charming Society Girls
Married at Oakland.
Oil City may congratulate herself this morn
ing over a valued acquisition in the person of
one of Pittsburg's most charming daughters,
who has gone there to reside as the wife of one
of the most popularyoung business men of thai
place. At the beautiful residence of Mr. and
Mrs. J. E. Johnson, Fifth avenue. Oakland,
at 9 o'clock last evening. Miss Margaret Wallace
Edstrom was married to William Custer Proctor
of the North Penn Oil Company, of OU City.
The officiating clergyman was Rev. Mr. Apple
garth, ot the Fourth Avenue Baptist Church.
Only the intimate friends and relatives of the
lady and gentleman were present to witness the
ceremony. The bride was dressed in white
faille, which was changed after the solemn con
tract was entered into for a pearl gray travel
ing suit,
Mr. and Mrs. Proctor lett on a night train for
a short trip to Eastern cities, and at the termi
nation of that they will go to Oil City to the
lovely home Mr. Proctor has in readiness.
YOUNG SOCIETY PEOPLE.
Miss Agnes Dickson to Entertain Friends
Next Trhlay Evening.
A round dozen young folks, including the
youthful hostess, Miss Agnes Dickson, will dlno
at the Dickson residence next Friday evening
at 6 o'clock. Half the gay littlo company will
consist of maids that in the course
of several years will be ac
knowledged debutante belles and the
other half of youths that in the same time will
become full-fledged gallants. The affair is
given to commemorate the 17th birthday anni
versary of the hostess, which occurred yester
day, and in honor of which she became the
possessor, among other costly gifts, of a band
some and unique ring set with a brown saphire,
emerald, and three sparkling diamonds.
The dinner is to be a rose pink affair, table
service, decorations, viands and lights, and
Scblosser will cater.
A Coming Brnddock Wedding.
Mrs. Mary Beam, aged 57 years, will become
the bride of Mr. John Shermln, aged 69. in
Braddock to-day. The wedding will be ex
clusively a family affair and will occur at the
residence of tho bride's daughter, Mrs. Solo
inan Fair, of Bell avenue. The ceremony will
be nerfortned by Rev. Mr, Sbupe, and a wed
ding feast will follow.
Social Chatter.
Fully 3,000 people visited the Verestcbacln
exhibition yesterday. Nothing like this was
ever experienced in all the history of art exhi
bition in Pittsburg. The exhibition closes to
night at 10 o'clock, and. It Is certain that no
single art Influence ever exerted In this city
was so potent tor good as that exerted by this
famous collection.
The Highland Piano School gave a musical
aud literary entertainment last evening in the
Mornlngside Mission Church, Butler street ex
tension. The proceeds will benefit the church.
Rev. W. W. Calley. an African missionary,
lectured at Old City Hall last evening on his
experiences. His remarks were interesting,
and deserving of a larger audience.
Mrs. Walter Anderson, of Craft avenue,
will tender a reception to-morrow evening for
Mr. J. Greer Roak and bride, who were mar
ried recently in Cocoes. N. Y.
AT the German Masonic Hall, Allegheny,
last evening the leaders of colored society of
this city participated In a pleasurable hop.
'The Trail of tb Serpent" was the subject
ot a lecture delivered by Rev. S. L. Harkey in
Christ's Lutheran Church last evening.
THE Tweirth Night Euchre Club met last
evening at the residence of Miss Aggie Young,
Western avenue.
Mrs. General Fitzrugk aud son. Master
Carrol, have returned home from a six weeks'
stay in Nassau.
Rev. T. H. Wilkeson lectured last evening
at the Riverside M. E. Church on "The House
We Live In."
MR. and Mes. John Riceetson returned
home lrora tho East yesterday.
LetThei Severely Alone.
Brooklyn Staudaxd.Unlon.1
The Alliance people in North Carolina do not
want an exhibition at the Columbian Fair.
They want to be let alone, .Let them alone.
CURIOUS CONDENSATIONS.
South Bend, Ind., is planning a corpo
ration rat hunt
In South Dakota "speak-easies" ara
called "blind pigs."
A New York restaurant advertises
"corned beef baslyi specialty."
A hog recently killed in Perry, Ga.,
had three complete sets of lungs.
It is reported that $40,000,000 of British
capital are invested in Paraguay.
Hebrew women are said to live longer,
on the average, than any other race.
A Itarre, Vt. man is 85 years of age,
and has S3 children, 37 of whom are girls.
Out of the whole number of graduates
from Vassar about S3 per cent are married.
There is more snow in Southern
Colorado and New Mexico now than for 20
years.
Butterflies flattering around above snow
three feet deep is the gist of a report from East
Jordan, Mich.
A resident of Pottsville, Pa., has in his
pos'ession an egg that was given to him on
Easter Sunday, 1&50-
A Colusa, Cal., farmer recently re
paired the floor of bis granary and killed 1,530
rats found undeneatb it.
One of the visitors to the New York dog
show wore a bearskin overcoat which be said
23 dogs helped him to get.
A Tennessee man has been fined $600
for kissing a woman three times, and be is gal
lant enough to say he got off cheap.
One more centenarian dead. A man
died at the ripe old age ot 133 years. March I,
at his home in Lincoln county, N. C
An 8-year-old tramp is in the Memphis,
Tenn., jail. He began to travel when barely 8
years old, and has been all over the country.
A Nebraska competitor in a guessing
contest came within one of tho exact popula
tion of that State as given in the census re
ports. To prevent train robbery a San Fran
cisco man proposes that every car shall b pro
vided with signal rockets, to be used in case of
au attack.
The Washington correspondents won so
mncb applause by their outburst ot song at the
adjournment of Congress that they are threat
ening to organize a glee club.
Foreign exchanges report that a sweet
scented rose of a steel green color has been
produced, after many years of experiment, in
Turin. It has been named the "Edison."
The Gila river at Florence, Ariz., the
crossing of the Phcanix and Maricopa Railway,
has, by reason nf the recent flood, shifted its
course nearly a mile, leaving bridges high and
dry.
There are about 105 women to every 100
men: one-auarter of the population ot ths
world die befori the age of 17 years; only 1 In
l.OUO lives to be 100 years old, and only 6 in 1,000
reach 7a.
It is conceded that the champion belt
for self-control should go to the young lady of
St. Joseph. Mo., who lay perfectly quiet in bed
and watched a couple or burglars carry off ber
jewelry and raise hair.
The novelties of the bird show at the
Crystal Palace in London are a water rail, a
white hedge soarrow, a swallow, a whits
thrush and a talking blackbird, all birds sel
dom seen in confinement.
In Eutaw, Ala., last week ten girl ba
bies were born, while a boy baby has cot been
born in the town in two months. This causes
the editor of the local paper to inquire,
"Whither are we drifting?"
It seems hard that a man 137 years old,
wbo has been the husband of nine wives and
the father of 46 children, must end bis days in
the Chattanooga poorhouse. He ought to nave
the freedom of all Tennessee.
The cane has entered into eompetitiou
with the car-stove. Two Morgantown, W. Va
young men were out walking Sunday last when
une of them slipped and was impaled upon a
cane carried by his friend. Ths injured man
died ou Monday.
The county and city physicians at
Grand Rapids quarreled as to whose business
it was to doctor the sick jail birds, and the re
sult was that the patients were locked up with
out any medical care and got well. The case
is to be investigated.
The latest statistics show that the sui
cide mania is spreading in Germany is such an
extent that even children take their lives. Dur
ing the six years ending with 1683. 2S9 school
children committed suicide. Many of these
suicides occurred in the elementary schools,
and were prompted ty fear of punishment.
There is a hen in Eufaula, Ala., whose
eggs are of common size and shape, the shells
being perfectly white. The "white." instead of
being white, is jet black when boiled. There is
no difference in the taste from the common
hen's eggs. The yelk is of ordinary color and
tho deep black color of ths whites only extends
to the outside covering, as when qnt open ths
egg appears to present the same appearance as
an ordinary egg.
A little girl in North Carolina is named
Toledo Blade Wilson, after an Ohio newspaper.
In the same Stats lives Susan Arlesa Mary
Magdalene Milly Minerva Clementina Peck,
who probablv has the longest name ot any girl
in the United States. Some or her plavmates
are Penella Caroline, Marget DaKorab,
Georgia Iowa, Mindy. Litby, Geecreasy Litby,
Zigcurtls, Rachel Geecreasy and Mary Tax
collector Hnckleby.
A Columbus, O., house recently bought
in England an invoice of tin amounting to 515,
000. It was delivered directly to them in that
city. Ths enrions thing abont it Is that they
saved about $750 in freight on the consignment,
the charges being that much less from Liver
pool to Columbus than from New York to Co
lumbus bad the shipment originated in New
York. A good many shippers aro trying to
figure out how such a thing can fairly be.
If an Arab woman who has lost her hus
band decides to marry again, she visits the
grave of her husband the night before her sec
ond marriage and prays him not to bs offend
ed. As. however, she feels that be will bs of
fended she takes with her a donkey laden with
two goat skins filled with water. The prayer
ended she proceeds to pour water on the grave
to keep the first husband cool under the cir
cumstances about to take place and, having
well saturated him. departs.
A young woman in London, whose con
science does not keep her awake, has found a
new and profitable profession for thosa of her
sex blessed with phenomenal memories. She
attends first night performances ot new plays
at the London theaters ana carries away every
line in her head. Within a week ths manu
script of that play is on its way to Africa or
Australia, much to the amazement of the Lon
don dramatists and managers when tbey learn
of its production In the colonies.
There lives not far from Gloyerville a
lady who had three husbands during the year
1S90. At first glance this appears to be a very
simple matter, but it is certainly an unusual
one. During the latter part of January. 1S90,
this lady lost her husband. He died from con
sumption. About July, 1S90, the widow married
a man who worked on the railroad near
Worcester. They were married two months
when be was killed. Finding herseir a widow
again, she hired out in October to a tanner Ilv
lnsr near Worcester. He was a widower, and
during the latter part of December they wers
married. It will be seen that during the brief
span of only 11 months this lady had three law
ful husbands.
JEST FOR TUN.
"Waiter (looking in on a noisy card party
In hotel bedroom) I've been sent to ask you to
make less noise, gentlemen. The gentleman la
the next room says he can't read.
Host or the Party Tell him he ought to be
ashamed orhimsclf. Why. 1 could read wheal
was 5 years old. CMcago Jeiei.
HINT TO HAEEISOK.
In search of ducks he trod the marsh
And faced the chilling breeze.
And only bsgged (Oh, fate is harsh I)
Ills trousers at the kneos.
Cap Cod Item.
Many persons admire the bouquet of fine
wines, bat almost any kind of liquor will make a
nose gay U you use enough or It. Boston. Ueraut.
"Charley," said young Mrs. Tocker, "I
had no Idea they played baseball this time of
yearl"
"Is that so?" said Charley, cautiously. "What
reminded yon?"
'I heard my brother tell Dick Travers that you
went out on a bat. Is that the same as three
strikes, Charley?" Washington Post.
"You will let ma go to yonr wedding, will
you not?" said one girl to her companion.
"Upon my wont I can't promise. MyfoUsars
In such a rage about my wedding that lam not
sure they will let me goto it myself." Brooklyn
Enze. .i,
How hard it is to believe a man after we .
have been lying to him ourselves. It has some
times bapnened that an habitually untruthful
maubaskept up his reputation after death by
lying iu state, Texas Siftlngs,
BaflUL.lJ.1LJU