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HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher NIIj DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars aar Annum.
VOL. X. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA,, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23,a880. NO 31.
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In the Pnjs ol My tireat-ttrandmamma.
In the days of my great-grandmanima,
I've been told,
There were persons of fashion and taste,
Who, in dresses as stoat as chain-armor ot old,
The parties ol Ranelagh graced.
How high were their heads, and how high
were their heels,
And how high were their motives and ways?
They moved in propriety's ronnd like the
wheels
Of a warranted watch, in the days
Of in y g reat-gran1 mamma.
Fashion then was so dull you could scarcely
discern
The minute ebb and flow ol her tides;
And a dowager's dress, though nntrimraed,
served in turn
Three or lour generations ol brides.
Like the family iewe's, the family gown
Was resorv'd lor their gala displays,
And a ruffled old lady look'd placidly down
Upon ruffled young girls, in the days
Ol my great-grandmamma.
Oh ! the men who lor these female paragons
sigh'd
Wore unlike those who pester ns now;
They approaeb'd with a smile and a sink and
a slide,
And a minuet step and a bow.
The wero laced and embroidor'd and pow
dered and ourl'd,
Like the men that we see in the plays;
And 'tis certain there's nothing so gtand in
the world
Or so sweet as there was In the days
Ol my great-grandmamma.
Thomas Hay net Bayly.
SOPHIE'S OEDEAL.
" White," said Eleanor Kelsey, "with
broad, blue sashes, nnd lorget-me-nots
in our hair. Every graduate to wear a
turquoise locket around her neck, and to
have six-buttoned white kid gloves,
stitched with pale blue on tlie backs.
Madam Imoeene herself showed me the
det-lgn."
"Won't it he exquisite?" said Fanny
Wi loughhy, clasping her plump hands.
The seven youtig girls who were that
day month to graduate from Clarendon
Hall, weie sitting, schoolgirl ftshion,
under I he bowery beeches on the lawn
seven fair, human pearls, happily un
conscious of all the pitfalls and trials of
the life that lay before them seven half
opened blossoms, basking In the sun
shine of school life, whither, as yet, no
haunting shadow had followed them.
W hild on the shores of the calm river
below, the other children played and
shou'ecl, care.ul not to disturb the pri
vacy of the 'graduating class."
" But," said cautious Rosa Ilillgrove,
" will it be expensive ?'"
"Net at all," said Eleanor, loftily.
" Imngene will furnish them for a hun
dred dollar each, as there are seven of
us. And"
Just then, Sophie Seyton, who had
been absorbed in a letter which th(
blue-ribboned parlor-maid had brought
her. looked grave'y up.
"Wait a minute, Eleanor," said she.
" I I am alraid I cannot afford so ex
pensive a dress."
' W hat nonsense, Sophie!" called out
Miss Kesley. " You, the heiress, to
talk about not affording a paltry hundred-dollar
costume."
"But I am an heiress no longer,"
said Sophie, with a curious quiver in
ber voice. ' This letter is irom my
guardian. Colonel Moody. It seem
something is wrong about some invest
ments that have been made, and and I
am as poor as any factory-girl ! I must
go out as governess, I suppose, or com
panion, or something of that sort. I
don't know that I can even stay here
long enough to graduate!"
She burst into tears, with her fair
face hidden in her hands.
For a second or two the other six
members of the graduating class sat
looking at one another in dire dismay.
Then Eleanor Kelsey sprang up and
threw her arms impetuously about
Sophie's drooping neck.
"You shall do nothing of the sort,
darling!" she cried. " You shall come
and live always with me. I never had
a sister, and I shall treasure you with
the fondest affection."
But Son hie shook her head.
" No, Eleanor," she said j " I must go
home at once."
And she went; and Mrs. Clarendon's
graduating class only numbered six that
year.
Colonel Moody was grim and uncom
municative. The loss of the invest
ments, he stoutly maintained, was no
body's fault. No one could have fore
seen the shrinkage ot stock; no human
provision could have guarded against
the calamity, it was the fortune of
war, neither more nor less.
Sophie Seyton went to her aunt, a
Mrs. Medbury Moore, who had always
declared that she loved her darling
niece as il she were her own child.
"D -iar aunt," she said, "you will at
least give me a home!"
" Pui very sorry, my dear," said Mrs.
Medbury Moore, " but your uncle has
been unfortunate in business, and we
are compelled to retrench in every pos
sible way. An additional member of
our family, just at this time, would be
an absolute impossibility."
"But what shall I do?" appealed poor
Sophie.
" Oh. tret a situation somewhere, mv
dear," said Mis. Medbury Moore, smil
ing sweetly. "Any girl who has re
ceived so expensive an education as
yours ought to be independent of the
world."
"Shall I advertise?" said Sophie.
" My dear, I really know nothing of
the way people ao sucu tilings," sata
Mrs. Medbury Moore, beginning to
crow impatient .
So Sophie advertised, but apparently
no one wanted either a governess or
"well-qualitied ladies' companion."
Her little stock of money began to
dwindle. Her earnings failed her. Not
one of her relatives cared to assume the
burden of her support. No one else
took the responsibility of advising her
One day she timidly entered the plate-
giuea uuoi idi a mammotu tanc7 store.
.. L; r ,.A 4AM l " .
nuu wftm iui tutj roprieu)r.
" Miss Seyton. isn't it?" said Mr
Makemoney, who had sold many a bill
ot goods to the heiress. " I'ns what.
can I do for you this evening, Miss Sev
torr"' " Perhaps," hesitated poor, shrinking
Sophie. " you can help me to a situation
It there shuuid be a vacancy among your
lady clerk3 "
"How ha!'' said Mr. Makemoney,
Reeling of his lank cheek, thoughtfully
"Had any experience in the busi
nes ?"
"No!"
" Oh, then, the idea'is quite imprac
ticable," said Mr. Makemoney. " We
don't take apprentices here."
And he civilly bowed Miss Seyton
out of his little sanctum.
Sophie applied at a neighboring em
porium for fine silk embroidery. She
worked a week at a child's cashmere
cloak, and was paid fifty cents t
"But this is very little," said Sophie,
piteously, regarding the silver piece.
" Our usual rates," said the fore
woman, frigidly. "If you are not
suited with them, you need not come
ngain. We have plenty of hands."
Miss Seyton crept home in the frozen,
winter twilight, crying softly behind
her veil as she went. And, her eyes
being blurred with tears, she did not
see an evil-omened pieee of orange peel
on the pavement, but slipped and fell,
breaking her ankle, and losing con
sciousness, through the intensity of the
pain.
When she came to her senses she lay
in a little white bed, No. 619, of a great
airy, sweet-smelling hospital, with a
while-capped nurse bending over her
a woman whom she had known in
former days as a gay young girl.
" Why am I here?" she asked, in
vague wonder.
"You fell, my dear, and broke your
leg," said Nune Eudora. "It was not
convenient for your Aunt Moore to re
ceive you, so they brought you here. I
recognized you at once, and requested
permission to nurse you."
"And why are you here?" persisted
Sophie, still only half-conscious.
"For two reasons," said Nurse Eu
dora, sprinkling scented water over the
little white pillow. "One is, that it
was necessary for me to earn my living
in some way ; another was that I could
do some good to my suffering fellow
creatures here."
Sophie made no comment, but she
pondered over that matter; and when
she recovered she also assumed the
white cap and black serge dress, and
took the name of Nurse Sophie.
"As a hospital nurse," she said to
herself, " I can at least be sure of a good
home, a small salary, and the privilege
of bei ng ol some use in the world."
Sophie became one of the most popu
lar and efficient of the whole corps of
nurses. Her head was cool, her nerves
strong, her self-possession perfectly im
perturbable. The sight of blood never
dismayed her the groans of pain only
excited her gentle sympathies, instead of
chilling her nerves; and it came to pass
that whenever Doctor Oxley, the head
surgeon, needed an especially self-reliant
and able nurse, the edict went forth,
" Send for Nurse Sophie.
One day there was a terrible accident
brought in. A team of fiery horses had
run away, the carriage was all splint
ered in pieces, its occupant had been
On tig out upon the pavement, until all
semblance of life seemed to be crushed
out of him.
" Will he die, doctor?" Sophie asked,
with a very pale face.
' To all intents and purposes, my dear,"
the physician answered, " he is a dead
man already."
" I knew him once," said the hospital
nurse, in a low tone.
" Every one knows him, I believe,"
stud Doctor Oxley. " It is the million
aire, Colonel Moody. But all the gold
that ever was coined can't buy him a
reprieve now."
And Doctor Oxley bus.led into the
next ward, leaving the white capped
nurse to keep Ler solitary vigil at the
ledside of the man who was slowly,
slowly slipping outof time into eternity.
At midnight he roused up as from a
.'ream.
"Am I dying?" he asked.
The doctor answered :
"Yes."
" How much time have I left?"
"Perhaps three hours perhaps six,"
was the answer.
Send for my lawyer," he said. " I
am in the full possession of my senses.
I tell you I cannot die until I hae
made my peace with heaven!''
" 1 can call the chaplain m a minute."
suggested Doctor Oxley.
' 1 teli you 1 want mv lawyer." per
sisted Colonel Moody.
The lawyer was roused out ot his
midnight slumbers, and came at once;
and there, in the hospital ward, Abra
ham Woody made his will, leaving all
he had in the world to Sophie Seyton.
"I have defrauded her cruelly," he
said. "I used her money to aggrandize
myself, and let her think it was lost in
mining speculations. I have bien an
unjust steward, but it is not yet too late
to make some sort of reparation."
' Seyton r bey ton?" repeated the doc
tor, turning to the nurse. " Surely that
must be some relation of yours?"
'1 am sopine seyton," sue said, qui
etly, laying aside her white-flapped
muslin cap that overshaaowed her lace.
The dying man lilted his glazing eyes
to hers.
'Your Sophie beytonr" said he.
"Thank God for that! Say once, be
fore 1 die, I forgive you!' "
And Sophie forgave him. freely
and fully; and when the day broke
dimly in the east, the chained spirit was
set free.
PeoDle could hardly credit their own
senses when tboy heard that Miss Sey
ton was an heiress again.
Mrs. Medbury Moore was taken with
violent access of affection for her
" dear niece," but Sophie had learned
the lesson of discernment.
' I have passed through an ordeal,"
she says, " and 1 hope it has left me
wiser and more merciful toward mv
Buffering feilow-creatures! But, at the
same time, it lias taught me to beware
of friends like Aunt Medbury Moore!"
Rather High.
A French journal contains the follow
ing statement of the height of the differ
ent nignesi spires ana mosuments on
the globe.
Feet,
Towers of the Cathedral of Cologne 480
Spire ot the Cathedral of Houen 450
Tower ol St. Nicholas, Hamburg 433
Cupola of St. l'etei at Koine 429
Spire of Strasburg CattieJral 428
Pyramid ol Cbeops 411
Cathedral ol St. Stephen', Vienna 406
St. Mait n's, tandatbul, Bavaria 399
Cathedral of Fribour, Baden 375
Spire ol the Cathedral ol Antwerp 370
Dome of St. Mary 's, Florence 347
St. Paul's, at Loudon... 434
Dome of the Cathedral at Milan 827
Cathedral ol Mauebourg 311
Tower of Kathhaus, Burlin 264
Trinity Church. New York 258
The Pantheon, at Paris 240
Notre Dame, at Paris 204
The Washington Monument Is to be 00"
In Western language, "Boston wood
cock " signifies pork and beans,
Cellars.
Experiments Drove that the air in a
cellar rises and circulates through the
house, and that, too, not only by means
of the frequently-opened doors, but even
wuen every iioor is evjiu puuu auu luc
keyholes are stopped. It is simply im
possible to keep a dwelling free from
contaminated cellar air.
Yet how many sources of contamina
tion are found in cellars rotting wood,
the entire floor often being pervaded by
decay; vegetables stored there for the
winter, and their refuse left the year
round ; musty barrels of vinegar or cider ;
leaky gas fixtures; badly constructed
furnaces, from which escape various
noxious gases; water closets, toul at the
best, and often fouler through defects ;
defectivo sink and sewer drains, not un
frequently saturating the soil beneath
the floor with filth.
Many cellars are dug directly into
made land, and the gases of the decayed
matter with which the soil is more or
less filled pour directly into them, iust
as the water of the soil finds its way into
the well.
This latter point is more important
than m st think, for the air circulates
freely through the soil, even when
frozen. Persons have been repeatedly
poisoned and killed by gas which had
traveled for a distance in one case
twenty feet through the s:il, and had
penetrated into the cellar, and thence
into the rooms above.
As the ground water rises or falls, the
air follows it. Barometric influences
changes in the pressure of the atmos
phereforce it down further or lift it
out of the earth. Changes of tempera
ture similarly affect it, and particularly
does the warmth of a house establish an
nward current from the cellar to the
rooms above, and from the soil into the
cellar. Hence
1. Keep everything out of the cellar
like'y to vitiate its air.
J. iiet tue best constructea lurnaces.
3. Have the gas meter and fixtures
frequently examined.
4. Let the drains be of the best mate
rial and construction, and be ever in
sight suspended from the ceiling in
stead of being buried under the floor.
a. Have tue noor ana sides maae as
impervious as possible.
0. Let the cellar be constantly and
thoroughly ventilated with sun purified
air.
7. If vitiating sources must remain,
use tlie best disinfectants not mere
deodorizers. Youth's Companion.
Words of Wisdom.
No principle is more noble, as there is
none more holy, than that of a true obe-
lence.
The faith which looks forward is far
ichcr than the experience that looks
backward.
It is good in a fever, and much better
n anger, to have the tongue kept clean
and smooth. -
There are few occasions when cere
mony may not be easily dispensed with,
kindness never.
A good constitution is like a money
box its full value is never known until
it has been broken.
The raven is like the slanderer, seek-
ng carrion to feed upon, nnd delighted
when a feast is found.
Let every one sweep the drift from his
own door and not busy himself about
the frost on his neighbor s tiles.
Intellectual pride is less outraged by
he obscurities of faith than by the nu
hority with which it is clothed.
It is safer to affront somepeoplo than
to oblige them, foi the better a man de
serves the worse they will speak of him.
The man or woman whom excessive
nit ion holds back from striking the an
vil with earnest endeavor, is poor and
cowardly of purpose.
A man need only correct himself with
the same rigor that he reprehends others,
and excuse others with the same in
dulgence that he shows to himself.
Taking Him nt Ills Word.
The inhabitants of the north of Eng
land are a matter-of-fact people. The
following incident illustrates their
.rewdness and ready resource. In a
village in one of the Dales lived a kind
hearted but somewhat hot-headed
woman wno entertained the minister
when he came to preach there. On the
occasion of the first visit of one of this
fraternity, she deemed it necessary to
ascertain his preference for tea or coffee
for breakfast: so as she was going on
with the preparation of the meal, she
went to tue stairioot ano cauen out tue
name of her guest. But no answer was
vouchsafed her call. W ondenn gl v. sue
waited awhile, and then, repeating her
call, she was answered by, " What do
you want?" in anything but a gentle
tone ol voice.
"I want to know whether you'll have
tea or cottee to vour breakiostr"
I'll have cither, or both." was the
odd and stinging reolv.
"You've got out on the wrong side
o' the bed ta morn." said the irritated
dame to nerseit; "but I'll nt up yer
order, my man ;" so saying, she went to
tue cupboard, took thence another tea
pot, and putting therein equal auantl
ties of tea and coffee, she made a strong
decoction thereof lor the preacher.
Presently, he telt that he bad a strangely
flavored beverage before him; so, paus-
ing. he asked: "What's this, missis?"
'it's botn. sir; ana you shall either
sup it or gang without."
A Curious Combat.
A traveler in South Africa witnessed
not long sinco a singular combat. He
was musing one morniDg, with his eyes
on the ground, when be noticed a cater-
mliar craw in? alone at a raDid Dace
Pursuing mm was a host ol small black
ants.
Being quicker in their movements,
t'ie ants would catch up with the cater
pillar, ana one would mount his back
and bite him. Pausing, the caterpillar
would turn his head, and bite and kill
his tormentor. After slaughtering
dozen or more of his persecutors, the
caterpillar sue wed signs of latigue.
xne ants maae a combined attack
Betaking himself to a stalk of grass, the
caterpillar climbed up tail first, followed
by tne ants, as one approached, be
seized it in his jaws and threw it off the
staiK.
The ants, seeing that the caterDill&r
bad too strong a position for them to
overcome, resorted to strategy. They
Degan sawing icrougu me grass-stalk
In a few minutes the stalk fell, and hun.
dreds of ants pounced upon the fallen
caterpillar, lie wits killed at once, und
the victors marched on in triumph, leav
IMA (lid fAfllfl KaiIh A tlltt AaM
VUO VV 0 UUU VU UV UU1U,
X New Peril for Smokers,
The noisonous effects nf nlmtlnn.
which the anti-tobacco party has based
most of its arguments against the weed
on, have found a powerful ally. A
well-known nurnalist of Npw York.
one of the most distinguished war cor
respondents of the country, was re
cently much alarmed to learn that a lip
sore, from which he had been suffering
tor some lime, was diagnosed by bis
hvsicians as a symptom nf a. nni-nfii.
oub disorder of a serious character. A
thorough examination failed, however,
to reveal the presence of any other evi
dence of the disease, and the doctor was,
for the time, at a loss to discover its
origin.
The patient is an inveterate clear
smoker, and this fact led his physician
to make some inquiries in regard to the
quality of the cigars that he smoked,
the manner and place of their manu
facture and other particulars. His in-
vestigations resulted in his forming the
opinion, in which his patient is dis
posed to concur, that the mysterious
sore and the disease, of which it is the
undoubted evideno , were due to the
smoking of cigars which had been made
by some person witn a scrofulous taint,
who had communicated through the
cigars to the smoker.
Phis theory, alarming as it is. is fully
borne out bv the testimony of the rjhv-
sicians of Bellevue and other eminent
authorities, who are reported by the
New York correspondent of a Western
paper to have recently declared that,
within their own experience, cases of
contagious disease have frequently been
traced to the same cause. These medical
gentlemen assert that disease is so com
mon among the tenement-house cigar
makers, who use. their mouths as well as
their hands in their labor that it is not
safe for any to smoke cigars without the
use ot a tube or holder, so as to avoid
contact with the possibly infected leaf.
In the present case the physician is of
opinion tuat tne disorder thus strangely
incurred lias gone already too far even
to be completely eradicated from the
system, and hence another illustration of
the danger of indiscriminate cigar-mak
ing and ol unprotected cigar-smoking.
New York News.
Bow the Pyramids Were Built.
The pyramid i are tho tombs of the
early kings. Perfectly adjusted to the
cardinal points of the horizon, they
tiler in breadth and lieigut. as is shown
bv the measurements ot the three oldest.
as follows : 1. The Pyramid of Khufa
height. 450.75 leet: breadth, 740 teet. a
Pyramid ot Khafra height. 447.5 feet:
breadth. 890.75 feet. 3. Pyramid of
Menkara height S203 feet; breadth.
352.78 feet. The construction of these
enormous masses has long been an in
soluble mystery, but later generations
:ive succeeded in solving tne prooiem.
As soon as the ' king mounted the
throne, he gave orders to a nobleman.
the master of all the buildings of his
lund. to plan the tomb and cut the stone
The kernel ot the future edifice was
aised on the limestone soil ot the des'
crt, in the form of a small pyramid
buiit in steps, ot which the wen-con
structed and finished interior formed
the king's eternal dwelliug, with his
tone sarcophagus tying on tue rocKy
floor.
A second covering was added, stone
bv stone, on the outside of the kcrueh a
third to this second, and to this even a
fourth ; und the mass of the giant build
nz grew greater tne longer tue King en
oyed existence. And then, at last, when
t became almost impossiDie to extena
the area of the nvramid further, a cas
iax ot hard stone, polished like glass.
and fitted accurately into the angles of
the steps, covered tho vast mass of the
sepulchre, presenting a gigantic triangle
on eacu ol its lour iaces.
More than seventy such pyramid
once roso on the margin of the desert,
each telling of a king of whom it was
at once the tomb ana monument, una
not the greater number of these sepul
chres ot the maroons been destroyed
almost to the foundation, and had the
names of the builders of these wmcli
still stand been accurately preserved, it
would have been easy for the inquirer
to prove and make clear by calculation
what was onginaiiy auu ui uuixusuy
the proportion between the masses ol
the pyramids and the years of the reigns
ot their respective Duuaers.
Conundrums.
When is a wall liko a fish? When it
is scaled. '
How does a stove feel when full of
cnnlgP Grateful.
Which of the reptiles is a mathema
tician? The adder.
When is a boat like a heap of snow P
When it is adrilt.
When is a doctor most annoyed r
When he is out ol patients.
When is a literary work like smoker
When it comes in volumes.
Whv is the letter l like the sun? Be
cause it is in the center of light.
What is tuat which shows others
what it cannot see itseliP A mirror.
Why is the letter N like a faithless
lover? Because it is in constant.
How does a cow become a landed
estate? By turning her into the field.
Why is whispering a broach of good
manners? Because it is not allowed.
What is an old lady in the middle of
the river like? Like to be drowned.
What word may be pronounced
quicker by adding a syllable to it?
tjutck.
Why is a miser like a man with a
short memory? Because he is always
forgelting.
How does a sauor Know there is a
mitn in the moon? Becauso he has been
to ssa (see).
Why is a tool in nign station lite a
man in a balloon? Because everybody
appears little to him, and be appears
liUe to everybody.
Qaeen Victoria's Escape.
Queon Victoria narrowly escaped an
accident during her recent journey to
Balmoral. At a station called Solihull,
not far from Birmingham, a signalman
was overtaken by "violent hemorrhage,
which so weakenea mm as to incapaci.
tate him from attending to his duties
The poor feLow, however, had presence
of mind enough to place his lamp on the
line with the danger color facing the
engine, the driver of which was thus
warned to reduce the speed of the train.
The aignalman was afterward found
lying exhausted near his post.
A new use for glass Is found in the
manufacture of window shutters. These
are now made of opal glass, decorated.
and have the important advantages A
being beautiful and eay to keep clean.
4;fmcarf juacnmvu.
FOB THE FAIR SEX.
A &ot Wife Return.
The wife of An tone Weber, of Pitts
burg. Pa., eight years ago mysteriously
disappeared. Every effort to find her
failed, and she was given up for dead.
Since that time the husband has lived
alone. On a recent Monday the deputy
mayor ot Pittsburg was recognized by a
woman at the poor farm, who soon con
vinced him that she was the missing
wife of Weber, and begged to be taken
to ner nome and Husband. 1 lie records
show that she was picked up in the
streets about eight years ago. She
could not then remember her name nor
where she lived. Her mind for a Jong
time was under a cloud, but she is now
entirely sane, has been taken home and
lives happily with ner husband.
New and Notes for Women.
At Lille, France, the Princess Mar
garet, who died there in 1210, after all
these years is about to have a monu
ment to commemorate her goodness.
A remarkable woman. Mrs. Marv Ann
Dean, died lately in St. Louis. She was
thirty-seven years old, and had been
mamod twenty years. She was the
mother of twenty-one children, of whom
there were three pairs ot twins, two
sets of triplets, and four were born at
one birth. Ten ol her children are liv
ing.
Female barbers are gaining consider
able custom at Washington. All are
colored nnd the entire custom comes
from their own race.
The millennium for women is now at
hand; a new dish-washing machine
has been invented that will do the work
of ten women.
Miss R ipa Bonheur. the painter, hav
ing ro t rttier use lor the lion and lion
ess which have served her as models at
her country residence, has presented
them to the Jarcin des Plantes.
Lady Cropper, one of the most beau
tiful ladies in London, was an American
girl from ban rrancisco. Her mother
was called the handsomest woman in
Ohio-
The Baroness Roger de Launav ven
tured to ascend the Right of the Alps
without a guide. She slipped over a
small precipice, and received injuries'.of
winch she expired two hours later.
The number of temale students at the
Imperial academy ot painting, at St.
Petersburg, this season, is thirty-five, of
whom only three a vote their attention
exclusively to sculpture.
The Princess ot wales has dressed ber
hair in the same style for tho past ten
years. Knowing when a style is becom
mg to her, she is sensible enough to
continue it, despite the changing fash
ions.
Miss Hilda Montabla. the voung Eng
lish artist, who is an especial friend of
the l'rincejs Louisa, and who recently
visitea uer at uttawa, has iust sola a
picture, a Venetian scene, for $800. This
is a notable price f or a young woman's
painting.
Faahlon Variety In lutumn and Win
icr ire.
Dressmakers nnd modistes are making
elaborate preparations for the winter
lasnions, says a ziew lork paper. The
custom of adhering exclusively to one
style ot cress has been abandoned lor
nome years past. There are set fashions.
it is true, but these can be so varied as
to satisfy ail taste3. Many ladies plan
their toilets to suit their own particular
styles. If possessed of a certain amount
ot taste, these ladies generally prove
most successful, and by this means great
uniformity and monotony is avoided.
The general tendency in respect of many
articles of dress is toward enlargement.
Bonnets, dresses, and even muff's are to
be larger than those used last year.
Heavy fabrics, such as brocades with
designs of large dowers and "velours de
denes." are among the winter coons
Toilets of these goods are made to fall
in rich, heavy folds, t ur is to be much
more lavishly employed than it was last
year. The large bonnets nre to have a
great variety of May-bugs in all sizes
pmi;eu uuiong lli Willi LUlugs.
Dresses continue to be narrow. Wide
sleevej gathered at the top will be
much worn. As is usually the case,
new combinations will be combined
with old ones. Jackets are to retain
their hold on public favor: the favorite
style is the Louis XIV. One of the
latest of these is belted on the waist,
and falls over a skirt which is drawn
tigutly over the hips by means ot a
crossed scarf. The lower border of the
skirt is plaited. This suit is ot stri ed
woolen goods in the new shade culled
"gns de mer." Another style ot
autumn wear consists of a tight-d ting
Spencer waist, and a plaited skirt ol
pi Aid woolen goods in very light
shades, blending well into eacu other,
The scarf, which is taken across the
hips, is fastened by means ot thick
woolen cord in us. These scarfs will be
much worn. Plaid materials tor au'.umn
wear are preierred with dark green
nnd brown groundines. These ar
made in three ways. Oae has a plaited
skirt of Scotch goods, with n blouse
waist ot plain blue or bronzo green
serge, nnd a hood lined with Scotch
plaid. J he Becond way is to have
scarfs over tho Scotch plaid skirt and
a iaaket waist of plain cachemire oi
very line cloth. The third way is to
have the whole suit of plain serge,
crossed by a plaid sash. The basque.
coilur and cum nre ot plaid goods.
A suit lor autumn wear is maae in the
following manner: The polonaise is
something quite new. It buttons up the
side by means of elegant green and gold
buttons, which are the colors ot the suit,
The dark green velvet collar is trimmed
with hne golden galloon. lhe leg of
mutton sleeves have a jockey over each
shouider. J. bey are very lull and long,
and are drawn in at tue wrist under a
green velvet cuff embroidered with gold
V: i. - . l. . i ; - 'ru. i 1..: : .
simple ana very handsome.
Another new suit is of vigogne in the
color, called "vin de Champagne," and
hre-colored Surah. The vigogne skirt is
covered with pointed plaiticgs, from
under each of these fails a narrow Surah
plaiting. The small tuaio is open in
front and draped in the back. Over the
back arapery are loops ot satin llobon
with a buckle in the center. The
vigogne coat has the fronts out in the
neck in a large square, with a mousse-
line de I'inde chemisette underneath
It is crossed over the breast and rounded
on the ends of the basque. The fire
colored belt closes by means of a buckle.
From a seam under the arm falls aiquare
ba'que in "paysanne" shape. The waist
trimmed with Surah cordings and
ined with the same. The Amazon hat
is lined with black velvet and covered
with white feathers. This style of toi
let will be in vogue for evening and
Vueaier ureses uvtring me winter.
TIMELY TOPICS.
A scheme of African exploration is
said to be under consideration in Portu
gal, which, if carried into execution.
will probably result in the achievement
ot tue most Important geograpnicai
wora. It is proposed that two expedi
tions should start simultaneously from
the Portuguese possessions on the east
and west coasts of Africa, and, after
founding a series of scientific and com
mercial stations along their line ol
route, meet at some point in the interior.
The wool-clip of the world has in
creased five times sinco 1830, when it
was about 330,000,000 pounds in weight.
in 187a the latest year for whicu there
are complete figures Europe produced
74n,noo,uou. mver 1'iate smu.ouo iio'j.
United States 208,900,000, Australia 350 -
000,000, and South Afrioa 48.000,000
pounds, making a total of 1.586,000,000
pounds. Great Britain and France con
sume each about the same quantity of
wool 3BO.ooo.ooo pounds a year, tier-
many consumes about 165,000,000
pounds, United States 250 000.000
pounds, and Russia, Austria (and other
countries 40U.ooo,uoo pounds.
It is a curious fact that the locomo
tive which, with its train, went down
with the Tay bridge, is now running
regularly between tilasgow and Knin-
burg. For three months it laid in the bot
tom of the Tay, but when it was brought
up it was lound uninjured, except tne
funnel, dome and weather-board, which
had to be renewed. She ran on her own
wheels to Glasgow iust as she came out
of her long bath. Strange feelings might
arise in the traveler's breast on learning
that his tram was drawn by that engine
but there is a locomotive engineer, it
is said, in the United States, running
regularly upon a railway upon which
be was one time the cause ol a most
terrible disaster.
Cologne cathedral, which has iust
been completed after centuries of labor.
is one of the largest and loftiest build
ings in the world. For the past sixty
years the work has been carried on with
but little intermission, the cost being
met by both public and private contri
butions, and a German architectural
journal has ascertained that the aggre
gate amount expended within this period
is eighteen millions of marks, or about
$5,400,000. When to this is added the
money contributed during past centur
ies and "notably what has been suns in
the colossal foundations and spent in
purchasing various necessary parcels of
ground," it appears that the cathedral,
rs it now stands, represents about forty
millions oi marks, or 912,000,000.
Tho number of postoflice employees in
England (46.192) seems very largo in
nronortion to an exceedingly small num
ber of offices (13,912) until it is consid
ered that the English postoffise also
conducts a large savings bank and tele
graph business. The United States
postoffices number 42,989. The total of
returned" letters in unglana was
5,345,678, while 2,996.513 letters pas?ed
through our dead-letter office. Not less
than 526,469 persons forgot to put their
own address inside the letters t uey wrote,
and21.62l letters were posted positively
wituout any address whatever, 01 wuicti
not less than 1.141 contained valuables.
These last figures indicate a more care
fully conducted correspondence than is
common in the United States, for among
American dead letters were 13,773 con
taining $1,100,000 in checks, draftsetc.
besides 64,000 others containing stamps,
etc. Among the novelties of the Eng
lish service is a system by which receipts
are given for letters posted (which must
not oe contounued with the registration
system), and thechargingof a "late fee,"
iy paying which domestic letters are
received after the mails have closed, as
u now done here lor foreign letters.
Tale of a Refractory Uoat.
Maybe there is never any oxcitcmer.t
at the west ind. but you can't make.
tue people wno saw a colored gentle
man try to lead a goat through that dis
trict the other day believe it. At first
the goat didn't want to go, and the
colored gentleman, who was about ten
leet ahead ot the animal, pulled vigor
ously on the rope, lie had just got his
whole strength on it when the goat
changed his mind and started forward
so suddenly that the colored gentleman
didn t have time to recover his balance
and went down, and as the goat ran
past mm and kept running he was
dragged along, clawing wildly, until his
head collided witti a Jimp-post, and
he brought tho procession to a halt. On
regaining his feet the colored gentleman
was very angry and ran for the goat to
hil U11U, UUU LUO EUUb LUUJL LU 1M1UL.
and they flew at a rapid pace down the
street. About five rods aiiead the goat
observed a citizen bending over to look
down an open coal hole, and on reach
ing him the goat contrived to hit him
just under tho hip pocket, and the citi
zen disappeared oown the coal-hole
like a shot iust us the colored gentleman
sturcbled over the goat, which had
coino to a halt. A number of dcodIc had
gathered about, and then the goat took
a notion 10 turn aid go the other way,
tnu 110 got the rope so entangled in peo
ple's feet that seven were upset and
much blasphemy resulted. The man
down tho coal-hole then attempted tj
climb out, and got his head and shoul
ders above ground when tho co.it niado
another rush at him and he had to
dodge down again. And then tho goat
assaulted his owner, who went up a
lamp-post; and then the goat went
lor another man, and as the owner
had tied the rope to his belt he
was yank?d off that lamp-post quicker
than powder. Fortunately for him
his belt broke and he sprang to his feet
and took off to war 1 Harvard college
yelling fire, and the goat suddenly
jumped into an open window, scared a
woman into a fainting fit and upset a
table on which stood a dish of hot
water. He got most of tr water upon
himself, and made more U antio by pain
jumped out of the window again, butted
a
bulldog and stove in three of the
Itoninutj nka an than ili.urtniuiwiJ A n nrn
the street, amid a cloud ot dust just as a
policeman came around to shoot him.
And the man down the coal-hole came
up with awful expressions on bis face
and in his language and offered $75 to
any one who would tell him whom to
sue lor damages. Bntton Fost.
A two-story well is one of tho curiosi
ties ot i.rin. ti. x . The two Darts are
one above the other and separated by
ten or twelve ieet oi nara-pan, Water
can be pumped from either well, and
tho lower one pumped dry while the
upper one retaius an inexhaustible- sup-
Smiling and Mourning.
Some go smiling through I ho gray time,
Under naked, soiiglu:! bjAvra;
Some go mourning all the Mny time,
Mid the laughing leaves and flowers.
Why is this,
Rosy Bliss
Comes to kisi winter gray ?
Why, ah, why
Doth sorrow sigh
On the lap oi lovoly May T
Hippy love, with eong and smiling,
Through tho withered woodland goes;
Hap'ess love hath no beguiling
From the redbreast or the rose.
This is why
Wood may sigh,
Flowers die and hearts be gay;
This, alas !
The piteous pass
That loaves us ruouin ng all t'ie M iy.
Alfred Percival Gravet.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
A roso tree of ! Hanover is said to
be
moro than a thousand years old.
The costs were $600 in a suit over a
hog to two farmers of Moniteau county,
Mo.
Dors are used as beasts of burden in
Northern France, Bilgiuoi and Ger
many. A laree numberof Jewish negroes have
been found in Africa, near the boundary
of Barbary.
Bauged or frizzed hair is forbidden
among the wom iu 01 nisuop maer s
congregation of Cincinnati.
From a single potato vine planted by
David Brown, ot Pricetown, Pa., the
product was 537 fine potatoes.
In a Hungarian shanty In Fayette
county, Pa., a birtn, a death and a mar
riage occurred all at the same time.
Sixtv ner csnt. of the cases of insanity
occurring in France are, according to a
physician ot that country, caused oytue
use of absinthe.
There are 6,000 telegraph offices in
France. Last year the number of dis
patches sent averaged thirty for every
100 inhabitants.
There are in Philadelphia 431
churches; in New York city, 354, and in
Brooklyn, 210. la no otner American
city are there more than 200.
One oleomargarine company of New
York city has contracted with a New
England tub manufacturer for 25,000
tubs to bo delivered within a year.
Tho profits of tho Saratoga hotels
have been greater this year than at any
time since the war. me unitoa states,
where the millionaires go, is said to have
cleared $75,000.
For forty-eight days a Lowhill (Pa.)
hen was in a grain-stack, where she uati
been accidentally covered up. When
released she topple.) over in a fit, but
soon recovered.
After travel inr one hundred miles
thiough the wood, and crossing several
streams, a cat that had made the jour
ney in a box escaped and found its way
home in isritisu ujiumbia.
L. O. Kimsey. ot Dallas. Texas, while
walking through some brush was at
tacked by an eagle. He killed it with
.n ax he had with him. It measured
six and a half feet from tip to tip of its
wings.
A butterfly, when apprehending dan-
ge', never lights on a green tree or
shrub, but flies into a clump of dead
leaves, whire it so adjmts its wings on
a twig as to lookextctlylikoashriveled
leaf, and delies discovery by its Toe.
A c'lild at Craneraville. Ind.. three
years old, that has bad a supposed case
of nuil citarrh for a year, developed a
locust po 1 about an inch a id a quarter
long in u s nose the other day, and is now
cured. Sr.ns child had stuck It in lor
fun.
While making a call at a neighbor's.
a youn lady of Madison, O'aio, said to
a ca. that came into the room : " Why,
pussy, I haven't seen your babies yet;
are they pretty?'' The cat immediately
went out, and returned with a kitten 111
her mouth, which she laid at the feet of
her questioner.
WhileJjhn E'tler. of Aldm, Iowa,
was riding horseback he stw descend
ing from the sky a ball of tire apparently
about the size ot u Hour barrel. He
was p iralvzoi with fright, and saw the
globe strike the heal ot the aiiuial he
rode, whin ha bicame unconscious.
Upon coming ta Iih senses be found
lhattlis horse was dead, the head of the
anira il being scarred as if by a red-hot
iron.
Feeding on One's Self.
When tho human body suffers from a
la"k of food. P. practically feeds upon
itself and ubsorbi its own substance as
food. Every one knows that certain
animnli normally exhibit UiW process
of feeding upon themselves under certain
conditions. The hump) ot tt:o camel or
those of the Iniian cattle visibly de
crease and many disappear together, if
the animals are starved. A superfluous
store of fat, in other words, is made use
of under the exigency of lunger. Sj it
is aiso witn the be .rs ana otner antmais
which hibernate or sleep through the
winter's cold. The baar, which in
autumn retires to winter quarters in a
well-favored condition, comes forth in
spring lean and meager. His fats have
been absorbed In his nutrition, and the
succeeding summer will lay the founda
tion of new stores of stable food to be
utilized during the next winter. With
man, we repeat, the phenomena of
starvation are essentially similar. In
the starving man the fats of the body
are tho first substances to disappear.
The fats lose weight to tho extent ot
ninety three per cent. ; next in order the
blood suffers; then the internal organs,
such ns liver and spleen, suffer; the
muscles, bones, and nervoui
system be
inz the last to lose weight. In due time.
also, the heat of the body decreases to
1 annll Atl Avt.nf tli. nllimalali -Iduth 1m o
such an extent that ultimately death in a
cise of starvation is really a case of
death froai loss of heat. When the
temperature falls to about thirty degrees
Fahrenheit, death ensues. This decrease
arises from want of bodily fuel or food ;
but the immediate cause of the fatal
ending of such a case is decrease of tem
per! lure. It is likewise a curious fact
that the application of external warmth
is even more effectual in reviving ani
mals dying of starvation than a supply
of food-. In exhausting diseases in man,
in which the phenomena are strikingly
like, und, indeed, tborougly analogous
to thoso of starvation, tho same facts at q
observed, (Jhamberni' Joitrnal.
1