The Forest Republican. (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, May 23, 1894, Image 1

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    Ul FOREST REPUBLICAN
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J. E. WENK.
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RATIS OF ADVKRTISIHOl
ORE
EPUBLICAN.
One Bqnar, on inch, n inserttoa. ,
On Bquara, on inch, on month. . . ,
On Square, on I noli, three month. ,
On Square, on inch, on year...
Two Hqunm, on year
Quarter Column, on year. ...........
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Half Column, on yaar
On Uolumn, on y
10010
Lacal adTrtiimnt tew cant par 11a
each loMTtion.
Marriages and death notice grata.
All bill for yearly advertisements on0e
quarterly. Temporary advertisement at
be paid in advanoa.
Job work oah oo delivery. m
VOL. XXVII. NO. 5. TIONESTA, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1894. S1.00 PER ANNUfo.
R
ST
Abont fifty Ramblers commit sui
cido at Monte Carlo every yoar.
English football players aro debat
ing changing tho rulos with a view to
fewer killings.
Nearly every workingman in Italy
wean board, on account of tho cost
of shaving. Now it ia proposod to
aid tho barbers by putting a tax on
boards.
' According to tho Now York World
in eloven principal Western States tho
buildiug of 20,000 miles of railroad
line oausod tho settlement of 90,500,
000 acres of farming land.
Tho railroad companies of Great
Britain pay an average every day of
$7000 in compensation, about ftixty
per cent, being for damages to passen
gers and tho remainder for lost or in
jurod freight.
Tho gold product of west Australia
last year was double that of the pre
vious twolvo months. Tho total ex
port for tho year was 110,391 ounces.
Tho prospects for tho present yoar aro
most promising.
President Eliot, of Harvard, Raid
tho other day that tho Greeks, who
know more about athletics than we
shall learn in a hundred years, held
thoir Olympian games once in four
years, whilo to-doy tho college stu
dopts want at least four contests every
year.
Although tho court of Austria-is
commonly known as tho most aristo
cratic in Europe, no monarch is easier
to roach than tho Emperor Francis
Joseph. Ho has certain audionoe
days, when any of his subjects, high
as well as low, aro permitted to call to
discuss with him any nlTuir which they
choose.
It is said that tho leading magazine
publishers aro using manuscripts now
which havo been on hand and paid for,
some of them for years. This saves
paying out nionoy now, of course.
Some of these magazine offices havo
manuscripts on hand which thoy ac
cepted and paid for five, ton and even
fifteen years ago.
Two London florists, becoming des
perate because of the dullness, mado
an effort to revive the interest in tu
lips and croate an artificial demand
for the bulbs. They spent all the
money they could procuro in bribing
penny-a-liners to assist them. Thou
failure was complete. Ono of them
became insane. The other was for coil
to acoept tho humble position of an
under gardener at a merchant's coun
try Beat.
In Franco cattle and ehoop are rarely,
if ever, sold by actual live weights,
declares the American Agriculturist,
and proper appliancos for weighing
are practically.unknown. A Govern
ment measure is under consideration
for making sales by weight compulsory
at publio f airs. Tho bill provides that
stock exposed for sale, in any markot
or fair must have a ticket showing the
weight, as ascertained on a scale, or,
as it is called in England, a "weigh
bridge."
A twelve-story oflloo building will
soon be begun in the heart of Chica
go by a man who sold the lot recently
for $180,000 and then scoured a lease
for ninety-eight years at $21,000 a
year. Borne of tho provisions of the
lease are peculiar, remarks the Sun
Franoisco Chronicle, lie binds him
self to build a twelve-story structure,
costing $200,000, and to permit no
one to sell liquor on tho premises un
der penalty of forfeiture of tho lease.
This is said to be tho second case on
record of a like restriction in Chicago.
Should such clauses bocome general
the rent of saloons in tho business dis
trict of Chioago will be advanced.
Emperor William, in the estimation
of tho New York Tribune, deserves
considerable credit for the reforms
which he has inaugurated in the Ger
man army in connection with tho uni
form and tho equipment of the mon,
whose comfort and welfare are now
studied to a much greater extent than
ever before. The weight of the equip
ment has boon reduce J by some fifteen
or twenty pound, and the tight, stiff
collar around the throat has boon
superseded by a loose and open one,
allowing the man to move his head
and nook without difficult and to
breathe with greater ease ou the
march in hot weather. The Austrian
i military authorities are following suit
in the matter, and are taking a leaf
out of the book of their allies at Bor
lin, among other innovations decided
upon being the substitution of a gray
uniform in the place of the blue ouo
now in use in the army of Emperor
Francis Joseph.
ereTAix out of life you can,
TIs a very good ruin as rule rrmy go
Of value to boy and to man ;
To set the dnys by tho star ot faith
And got all out ot 11 to that he can.
The coffers of hope hold Inllnlto stores,
And ws may supply thorn at will ,
We may honp thorn with treasure that novor
shall fade,
rf Ith wonderful beauty may fllL
Yes, get out of Mo all we enn evory day .
But lot us refloat on tho meaning.
Shall we wrest from tho weak because we
aro strong
Each thing that of value is scorning?
Shall wo fool that possessions aro rlohos
alone?
And Insist that wo load In tho van?
In fulfilling this rule that we bold for our
dnys,
To gut all out of life that we oan?
Tliore are thoso who do this, but you will
not, I know,
For rou hold that the secret of living
Of bonutiful days full of infinite oharm
Lies only In loving and giving.
To get out of llfo we must put Into life
All genorous oourago, all swootnoss ,
Bo thoughtful for others, be courteous and
kind,
And then will llfo grow to completeness.
And thus will the days as they glldo Into
years
nold their riches for boy and for man
Who follows this rulo In Its meaning subllmo,
to got all out of lire that he can.
Lillian Whiting.
THE KEY TO SIXTY-SIX
BY E. M. BALLIDAT.
in wootner was
cold, and everybody
looked pinched and
blue. It was not
the sort of day when
business is brisk
anywhere. Out of
doors it was so raw,
eo penetrating, that tho constant effort
to keep np a circulation to tight against
ine weakening influence of the cold.
absorbed every energy and loft little
over for thought, for plans, for busi
noes or pleasure. Inside, rooms were
boated to a suffocating, baking close
ness, and men were languid. They
stood at windows and looked at the
icy streets, or held hands to aching
heads over ledgers.
In the big insuranoe oflloo two men
were talking in a private room. A card
was brought in, and an old man fol
lowed it rapidly. He was a little
bent, which shortened his fig
ure, and lie held his head nt
a peculiar sidowise angle. He
shuffled a little as he walked, but the
very loose and heavy Arctio overshoes
npon his feet may have had something
to do with that. His brown overcoat,
a good deal worn at the elbows, was
locg and of a comfortable, old-fash'
loned pattern. A gray knitted woolen
scarf was wound around and around
his neck, and woolen gloves wero upon
his hands He put one of those hands
up to his car, and cupped his
palm to catch every sound when he
was spoken to, and then you saw why
he carried his head so oddly. He was
deaf.
Ho had come in, he explained, to
have his life insured. He had often
thought of doing so. but had never
been in a position where he folt that
he could regularly pay the premium
before. He was a kindly faced man,
who seomod to state facts because they
wore such, without understanding any
reason why they should be concealed.
His eyes were clear and apparently
good, although not very wide open.
"We shall require you to fill out a
blank before we can consider your ap
plication," the manager said. "Wc
seldom take men of your age."
"1 am not so old as I look," tho ap
plicant replied. "I know that the
premium will be largo, but I have a
regular income, which ceases at my
death, and I have lately found a dear
young friend to whom I should like to
leave something. I might take a fancy
to go walking on the railroad track
some day,' and he smiled whimsically.
we win nave that put in your pol
icy," said the manager, gravely.
When he had filled out his applica
tion blank, we disoovote I that his name
was Louis A. Cattermolo, that he was
forty-four years of ago, and came of
perfectly healthy parents. He said that
he was born in central Missouri, that his
father had been killed in the war, and
his mother had been blown up ou a
Mississippi steamboat. Ho had no near
relatives whom he knew. He had
been a wanderer upon the face of the
earth. Three years before, he had
met John Mackley, a young New
Yorker, on a journey through the
south, and he had ooine to Now xork
rery rooently to live.
He seemod to be a sociable sort of
fellow, although looking ten years ol
lor than ho suid he was. lie hud an
Ingenuous way of talking, which
might have come from central Mis-
louri. McCury, the insurance mana
ger, came from Kentucky, and he
rathor enjoyed verbosity when he could
jonsciontiously listen to it, without
feeling that ho was establishing a pre
sedent.)
"I am afraid," ho said to Cettcr
nolo, 'that you will never pass the
loctors.
But he did. They were astonished
lo nnd so vigorous a frame
'Sound as a nut. In remark
tble state of preservation. The
teeth aru't good, but leav
ing out that and the deufniss, that's
is fine a specimen as I ever saw at
forty-four, the doctor reported. So,
after all the preliminaries were gone
through, Lioms A. Cattermolo received
t policy upon his life, made out iu fa
for of Johu Mackley, the young stock
broker on Mew street.
We made a great many'iuquiries, of
laurso, Jtlaokiey, who wo a big,
straight backed, bluff follow, who had
a reputation for turning pretty sharp
corners on tno street, evidently had
no idea of tho admiration he had ex
cited in his friend, Mr. Cattermolo.
When he was asked abont him, he
laughed, and said ho was a queer old
duffer, who told a first rate story with
nib" m it.
'He lives across the street from me.
I live up in the Dalton, you know,and
old Cattermole is in tho Merlin, just
opposite. He comes over and smokes
a cigar with me now and then, and I
return the visit and smoke one of his
old pipes, when I am down on my luck,
and need pulling out.- Yon don't mind
his deafness after you get used to it.
Ho tolls a capital story. " And Mack
ley laughed at tho stray memory of
some one, showing all his big white
tocth. He had had his mustache
Bhaved lately. John Mackley was al
ways very much in the mode.
Ihe first premium was paid in cosh,
and when the second one came around
we had a letter from Mr. Cattermolo,
inclosing a check. Ho had been away
for some months, traveling about, and
didn't know when he would be at
homo. Tho letter wos from Philadel
phia, and tho chock was paid in due
course.
Next spring Mr. Cattermole wroto
the insurance company a letter, say
ing that he wanted to make some ar
rangement by which he could cut
down his policy. It had been an
enormous policy, all tho office had
thought; and knowing John Mackley,
and Mr. Cattermole'B slight acquaint
ance with him, we had regarded it as
almost ridiculous that the old man
should spend what in nut have been the
major part of his income that that
overgrown young follow might have a
lortuno some tune or other.
"Good Lord l"the doctor said. "That
man is good for fifty years. John
Mackley will be dead firBt."
McCary went up to tho Merlin to
see Cattermole. He found him in.
The elevator boy said he hadn't been
well for some days ; that Mr. Mackley
had been in almost every day.
'lie s a mighty clevor gont, Mr.
Cattermole is," the elevator boy gra
ciously remarked.
The apartment was small, and
plainly, almost poorly, furnished.
McCary looked about and thought of
all the luxuries this lonely man might
buy with the sum he annually spent
upon insuring bis life lor tho benefit
of a rather heartless, rather raffish
young man, who would doubtless
make ducks and drakes of the money
when it came into his possession if
it ever did. And then McCary gave a
cynical sort of a sigh for tho vagaries
of human nature.
Mackloy had let McCary in.
"Mr. Cattermole isn't very well to
day," the young man said choerfully.
"1 nave been trying to get him to go
to bed. He 11 be out in a minute.
must be getting along down town,"
and he opened the door and was gone,
Cattermole came in presently, in i
flannel dressing gown and a pair of
list slippers. He was hollow eyed, and
had a towel around his head. He said
one of his ears hud developed an ab
scess, and he was almost stone deaf,
and in great pain. McCary had some
difficulty in making him understand
the obstacles to lessening his policy.
"1 ve lost money, sir," ho said, "J
feol as though I were robbing John,
He's been like a son to me ; but 1
must do it 1 I must do it!"
And then after McCary had gone all
over the ground again, he made np his
mind that he would not do anything
of the sort. The saorifioe seemed too
great.
MoCary's people went to the moun
tains for the summer, and he went
down to the Oriental Hotel at Man
hattan Beach, and dined and bathed j
and slept. Two or three times he met
Cattermole walking along the ocean
front. Tho walk, and the odd car
riage of the head, seemed exaggerated.
The old man told McCary that he had
been ill ever since the winter before,
that grippe had gotten the better of
him. Then he would ask McCary if
he had seen Mackley. Ho often had
seen him going gayly about with some
friends; but ho never saw him with
Cattermole.
He used to despise John Mackley
for an ungrateful cub. And then he
realized that Mackley had no reason
on earth to suppose that poor deaf
old Cattermole had put him under any
particular obligatiou. No doubt he
knew nothing about the policy. Mack
ley was like all his class.
Cattermole said that he thought the
sea bathing did him good. He and
Mackley had taken bathhouses side by
side for the season, and often went iu
together, he said. McCary saw Catter
mole in the witoroneday and laughed
heartily. He had tied up his poor
ears in wads of cotton, and a rubber
band, and covered almost his entire
head with a straw hat. His arms were
covered, too, aud altogether he mode
a conspicuous figure in the water, even
in that great and motley crowd at
Manhattan Beach. He was a bold
swimmer, and often went away out be
yond the float.
One day it happened that MeCary
was in the bath house when Mackley
came in for his key.
"Give me (1(1, will you?" he said to
the attonduut.
"The other gent's got 0(5. I give it
to him 'bout ten minutes ago."
"Oh, that's all riijht 1 Give mo 68."
"I thought you had bathed, Mack
loy," McCary said. "I saw you com
ing out of the bath hoube just as I
came in."
"1 went up through from the beaoh.
I forgot the formality of a key and my
bathing suit. I had to come all the
way around. Did you see old Cat
termole? I haven't seen the old beg
gar for a week. We'll have a swim.
Many people iu? Ugh I"
MeCary went up into the pavilion
and looked at the bathers. The
water was black with people, Ho saw
old Cattermole come out of the bath
house in his qunor rig, aooentnated by
his curious walk and twisted neck,
and plunge into the water. Two hun
dred people turned to look after him
with curious eyes. He went away out
beyond the float, and then presontly
in the chopping ot the waves MoCary
lout sight of him.
Presently he saw another head bob
bing about, and then he saw a man
spring upon the float and wave his
arms wildly. He seemed to have
something in his hand ; and then he
plunged into the water again.
A dozen swimmers started for the
float, but it was a long way in that
oold water. They found John Mack
ley dancing about, half crazy. He
had been swimming out there with his
friend Cattermole, and the old man
had been taken with cramp, or some
thing perhaps it was the undertow
and he was gone. Mackley had pulled
the hat from his head in his efforts to
save him. He had been there but a
minute before.
McCary pressed his way down into
the crowd. He too had seen Cattor
mole but a few minutes before. Every
effort was made to find the body, but
thoy were all unsuccessful.
"It will wash in, " the guard said.
"They always do.'
"He was a great friend of mine,"
John Mackley said with feeling.
"And he was the best story teller in
New York."
McCary followed Mackley into the
long row of bath houses. He was an
insurance manager. He had soon the
whole thing, and he might as well
know all the details.
Mackley went down the corridor
with his heavy, majestic- tread, his
shoulders straight, his head well up,
and his bare, brawny arms shining.
He stopped at his door and tried to
fit in his key. It wouldn't turn. He
looked at it again. McCary saw it too.
On the brass tag were the figures "66."
MoCary put his hand npon the key.
"You threw away the wrong one,
didn't you?" he said coolly.
"What do you mean?" Mackley
asked angrily. His big fist was in the
air.
"Hnshl" McCary said sternly.
"You don't want any trouble, any ex
planations. It was all perfectly done,
and you were very elever to carry it
out so far, and right under my eyes.
I advise you to go on the stage. It
isn't so dangerous as this, and it's
more profitable than Wall street
sometimes.
Mackley's face was rigid, but de
Cant.
"I never should have suspected you
in this world, exocpt that I had my
field glass to my eyes when you tore
the nat and bandage on your
head out there in the water,
I saw it. It saw Cattermole turn
to Mackloy and as you stripped
your arms I saw your plan. It was
clever, and it was simple ; but you
ought to have gotten under the float,
and thrown away the key to CO, in
stead of the key to 68."
"Perhaps you can prove some- of
these things.
"I can prove that your teeth were
drawn very bad teeth in February
oi last year, and new ones put in.
.Perhaps the physicians who examined
Cattermole, and the dentist, could
corroborate my actual vision. Mc
Cary smiled. "But I will relieve your
mind, Mr. Mackley. The case will
never come to court. We will keep
the handsome premiums you have paid
us, and not advertise your histrionio
abilities. I advise you to dress your
self if you can get into 68 and be
ready to meet the reporters."
And Mr. MoCary went over to the
hotel and ordered bis dinner. Mun
sey's Magazine.
"The Lamb tlourd."
The Duke of Holstein in his "Travels
in Muscovy and Persia" (1636) gives a
full account of a wonderful vegetable
growing in the neighborhood of the
city of Samara, Russia, and known as
the "lamb or sheep gourd." The Duke
says: "It most resembles a lamb ia
all its members, and on that acoount
is called 'the lamb gourd' by the peo
ple. It changes place in growing as
far as the vine or stalk will roach, and
wherever it turns the gross withers.
When it ripens the stalk withers, and
the outward rind is covered with a
kind of hair which the Muscovites use
instead of fur. They showed us some
of these skim which were covered
with soft wool, not unlike that of a
lamb newly weaned."
Scaliger also speaks of the "lamb
gourd" in his works. In one chapter
he says that the queer vegetable con
tinues to grow as long as grass is
plentiful, but that when the gross
falls, the "pore creetyr dyes fronie lao
of nourishment." Ho also says that
tho wolf is the only animal that will
feed upon it. St. Louis llepublio.
Nervous Singers.
The effects of nervousness are varied
and amusing. One young mezzo-soprano
was prevented just in time from
walking on to the platform iu a hugo
pair of fur-lined overshoes, which were
put ou above her slippers, and which
contrasted comically with her dainty!
gown.
Another songstress, who was gifted
with a good verbal memory, was sing
ing without note. During a ruther
elaborate symphony, preceding the
second verse of her song, she chanced
idly to glance at the book of words
which she was holding. Confusion
followed. She could not link tho
melody with the poem. It was a tor-'
rible monieut ; but she stopped swift
ly to the piano, glanced at tho accom
panist's copy, uud finished her song
con ainore I It appeared, ou inspec
tion, that by a printer's error two lines
of her song had been left out of the
book of w ords. This had confused her,
aud was the cause of her lailure to
blond word and music tjgether,
Atulunta.
SCIENTIFIC ASD INDUSTRIAL.
The bones and muscles of a human
body are capable of over 1200 different
motions.
There is a boy in tho Philadelphia
Stock Exchango who can read tho
"ticker by sound.
St. Louis druggists say that tho
fashionable vice of cologne-drinking
is on the increase there.
A steel bar magnetized whilo cold
loses its magnetism upon being heated ;
one magnetized hot loses it on cool
ing. Drosses ere made of wooden fibre
which, when ppnn or otherwise pre
pared, is scarcely distinguished from
fine silk.
A ton of puro gold is worth $G02,
799.11, and a ton of pure Bilver $37,
704.84. A million dollars in gold coin
weighs about a ton and three-quarters.
In New Mexico canyons one may
see natural stono pillars cut into fan
tastic forms by tho Band blasts formed
by tho wind sucking up and down
the narrow passes.
The first habitable planot, aocording
to tho scientists, was the fifth satatel
ite of Saturn, which began to cool
about 5000 years after the origin of
the planetary system.
Watchmakers as a rule are singular
ly free from affections of the eye, al
though they wear a powerful magnify
ing glass in one eye only for at least
five hours out of the twenty-four.
The strongest timber known is the
"Bilian" or Bornea ironwood, whose
breaking strain is 1.52 times greater
than that of English oak. By long ex
posure it becomes of ebony blackness
and immensely hard.
The weight of a German soldier's
equipment when in marching order is
now forty-seven pounds, fifteen less
than that of a British soldier. The
Czar's foot soldiers carry a weight of
sixty-eight pounds each.
An ice locomotive was some years
ago constructed for uso in Bussia. It
is employed to haul freight between
St. Petersburg nnd Cronstadt. The
front part rests on a sledge aud the
driving wheels are studded with spikes.
James Wortham, a farmer living
near Seuora, Ky. , is puzzling the
physicians. Blight blue spots cover
his body at periodical intervals.
When the spots appear a knot the size
of a walnut presents itself and re
mains until the spots go away.
The surgical treatment of consnmp
tion has, it is stated by a medical au
thority, long been a dream of Euro
pean surgeons. It is now announced
that, as a beginning of a scries of ex
periments, the diseased apex of the
lung of a patient suffering from tuber
culosis has been successfully removed.
A singular aberration of the side
arms of marines on board English
ships is reported, says tho Electrical
Review. It appears that tho bay
onets belonging to the marines have,
in many cases, bocome highly mag
netized through contact with, or closo
proximity to,' dynamos, and tho result
is that compasses have become af
fected by sentries passing near them
when wearing these sidoarms. An
order has been issued that in future
sentries ore not to wear sidearms when
on duty in tho neighborhood of dy
namos, and it is expected that this will
overcome the difficulty.
The Word "Mrs."
The word "Mrs." is a curions ono;
if indeed it is a word. The "Century
Dictionary" calls it "an abbreviation
of Mistress or Misses;" but the spell
ing oertainly makes it an abbreviation
of the first, and the second form is
apparently only a contracted English
pronunciation. The full word has fall
en into disgrace now, and so, unless
one makes it very plain that tho term
is quaintly used, ouo has to suy Misses.
"About 150 yearB ago ami curlier,'
says an English writer, "'Mrs.' was
applied quite impartially to unmar
ried as well as married ladies. Even
children were sometimes styled 'Mrs.'
The burial of ou infant daughter of
John Milton, who died at tho ago of
five months, is recorded iu tho regis
ter of St. Margaret, Westminster, aud
her name is entered as 'Mrs. Kathorine
Milton,' followed by a small 'o' to in
dicate that a child is meant." Thus,
apparently, ono is historically justifiod
in writing "Mrs." before a woman's
name, whenever there is doubt. And
yet the lady may bo so unscientific
as to take offense. Rochester Post
Express.
A Strange Musical Instrument.
A musical instrument, tho like of
which has never been seen before, is
the outcome of muuy years' hard think
ing by a Swedish electrician and
musician. There is a frame, and on it
are hung a score of tuned bells, a
series of steel bars struck by luotullia
hummers, a row of stool strings of
neoessary tension, a xylophone, aud a
fraudulent bagpipe, made out of a bar
of steel aud an eloetrio current. The
operator can sit at the keys a few feet
away or a hundred miles it doesn't
matter which.so long as tho connecting
electric wires aro fixed up. For a be
ginner I should recommend tho hun
dred miles radius. The keybourd,
which is like that of u piano, but with
few keys, is equipped with switches,
so that one set of instruments or tho
whole lot may bo operated on at
once. Now York Dispatch.
A Ilai'oiucter Tree.
Attention has been called to a re
markable properly of tho Foutuino
bloau service tree. Thn leaves of this
tree (which are green above and white
below) turn so as to present tho white
under surface to tho sky jiiHi beforo a
rain. Those who aro well acquainted
with thn peculiarities of this vegetable
barometer say tho "sign" uevof Mils,
St. Louis Republic,
ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA.
ELECTRICAL AND OTHER CURIOUS
FREAKS OF NATURE.
The Tornado's Funnol-ShHped Cloud
Extraordinary Performances Of
Lightning Sand Storms.
TORNADOES are tho most ex
traordinary and among the
most destructive of atmos
pherio phenomena. It has
been reckoned that on on average
each of them costs one life. That
which struck Louisville in 1890 wiped
out $3,250,000 worth of proporty and
135 lives. The funnel-shaped cloud
which does the damage runs at a speed
of from forty to eighty miles an hour.
It looks like an immense balloon,
black as night, sweeping its neck
round and rouud with terrible fury,
and tearing everything to pieces in its
path. Its traok is always from south
west to northeast, tho width of it
boing rarely over 300 feet. Warning
of tho storm's approach is given by a
still and sultry air. with a lurid or
greenish sky. People feel depressed
without knowing why.
' This gas that covers the surface of
the earth, by which wo live by breath
ing, is a wonderful element. The
electrioity which pervades it, though
employed for various useful purposes
by man, is a mystery yet. Some of
its phases are astonishing and beyond
explaining. For example, there is the
most intense form of it known, termed
globular lightning. It tokes the form
of spheres of dazzling brilliancy.
Such spheres were seen playing about
during the great .Louisville tornado.
People on board of ships hove often
observed balls of fire "as big as bar
rels" rolling along the surface of the
ocean. These sphere are apt to burst
with deafening reports.
Tubes of glass mode by lightning
are often found in sand. The eleo
tricity passes into tho ground and
molts the silioious material, forming
little pipes, tho inside diameter of
which represents the "bore" of the
thunderbolt Suoh tubes measuring
as much as twenty-seven feet in length
have been discovered. No doubt ex
ists as to the method of their manu
facture, inasmuch as people have
sought for them and dug them upBtill
hot from places freshly struck by
lightning.
Lightning does a great deal more
damage and is much more fatal to
human life than is generally imag
ined. It kills sixty-nine persons every
year in France. In this country it
has been reckoned to destroy twenty
two lives annually, but this is prob
ably an underestimate. By a single
flash 2000 sheep were wiped out on
one occasion in Ethiopia. In New
Grenada is a place, noar the gold mine
of Vega de Supia, where no one will
willingly dwell on account of the fro
quent strokes of lightning. A stroke
nt Brescia, August 18, 1709, exploded
a mazazine containing 207,000 pouuds
of gunpowder, wiping out a great part
of the town and 3000 lives. A long
list might be givon of similar fatali
ties nearly as disastrous. Beforo the
invention of lighting conductors
churches and other lofty buildings
were constantly struck.
One of the most interesting of elec
tricul phenomeua is the so-called St.
Elmo's fire. It appears in tho shape
of brush-like discharges from metal
points in the rigging of shi and else
whore. These are tormod by sailors
"corpse candles." If threo of them
are seen at sea it signifies that the ves
sel will be lost, while a single one
means a continued storm. However,
the superstition varies considerably.
In a passage of the "Commentaries,"
Caesar, says: "About tho secoud
watch there suddenly aroso a thick
cloud, followed by a shower of hail ;
and the same night tho points of the
spears of tho fifth legion seemed to
take fire." Columbus ou his second
voyage behold several corpse candles
playing about the mast of his ship.
He sont a man aloft to fetch ono down,
but it could not bo grasped somehow.
The St. Elmo's tire is said to give out
a sort of roaring sound like a port
flro.
In some of the desert regions of the
West notably tho Painted Desert of
Arizona those prankish phenomena
called "sand storms" are frequent.
Sometimes they rise seemingly to the
clouds and obtain a diameter of fifteen
or twenty feet. A spot of ground
becomes excessively hooted, ouus
ing tho oir obove it to ascend.
This occasions an influx of tho at
mosphere from all sides, but un
equally, the result being a gyratory
motion visible in tho sand or dust
raised into the air. In other words, a
sort of natural chimney is created,
through which there is a powerful up
draught. Such whirling columuBhave
a very wicrd appeurauce as they move
hither and thither, sometimes muuy
of them at once, across the desert.
One might imagine them to be ani
mated by evil spirits, aud it is no won
der that people in India cull them
"devils."
A peculiar phenomenon observed iu
various places, but most perfectly
among the mountains of tho lirockou
iu Germany, is tho so-called
"Brockeu spootro." It is on enlarged
bhudow of tho observer cast by tho
sun, near sunrise or sunset, upon tho
fog which envelopes iuui. Its eu
ormous size makes the apparition
rather itaiilinH. Presumably, it is
duo to the fact that tho shu low is
thrown upon tho particles of moisture
suspended iu the air all along to tho
limit of vision. Washington Star.
Measures are being taktu by the
authorities of Crete to revive tho silk
industry of tho island, which was once
flourishing, but which has Ikumi dwin
dling for Home years owing to tho use
of l-id seed. A good supply in to bo
furnished free.
JUST A3 OF OLD
I miss you from my side this lonely ntght,
And teol that nothing new on earth Is tru
Old sweet pictures In the mellow light
Give to me the happy past and you,
Just as of old.
I wish that you would steal behind my chair
And preag your Angers to my tired eyes,
And when, surprised, I found you laughing
there
You'd lay your dear head down, where
sow none lies,
i Just as ot old.
And ns the fire flickered on yonr hair, ,
Till eanh bright tress was like a skela ot
gold,
I'd give the world If smiling, restful there,
Tfou'd whisper low,, "I love you," as of old,
Just as of old.
Chicago Times.
HUMOR OF THE BAT.
The camel probably thinks his hump
a thing of beauty. Puck.
Nothing succeeds like the man who
has tho rewards of success to dis
tribute. -Truth.
An ounce of prevention is not worth
a pound of cure in the pork-packing
business. Puck.
Some people are too good to gossip
with you because they don't trust you.
Atchison Globe.
We never see a bankrupt at the
charity soup house. That's where his
victims go. Truth,
Mabel "With what verses are yon
the most familiar?" Poet "Reverses"
New York World.
If some men were half as big as they
think they are the world would have
to be enlarged. Txaa Siftings.
"Down brakes 1" cried the railroad
man's wife as the dinner platter slipped
from her grasp. Lowell Courier.
A little choppy weather was natur
ally expected in a month that came ia
like a lamb. Philadelphia Record.
Revenge is sweet sometimes, possi
bly, but never when the other follow
gets in his work on you. Somerville
Journal.
A teakettle can sing when it ia
merely filled with water. But man,
proud man, ia no teakettle. Texas
Siftings.
Though his is largely a robust sort
of life, the average dairyman is pretty
mnoh of a milk-and-water ohap. Buf
falo Conrier.
Little Girl (looking at impression
istic landscape) "Mamma, what made
him think it looked liked that?"
Harlem Life.
"Her hair is just too sweet for any
thing." Ah, indeed I Perhaps she
dressess it with a honey oomb. New
York Mercury.
"Do you think Officer McGobb is
square?" "Surely, he must be; hois
never 'round when wonted." Indian
apolis Journal.
She "And what have you fcoeri
studying Bince yon loft college, low or
medicine?" He "Neither ; economy."
New York Ledger.
Teacher "What hove the varioui
expeditions to the North Pole accom
plished?" Dull Boy "Made geogra
phy lessons harder. "
Mrs. Captain Smith "And youthink
any soldier can be fearless?" Colonel
Stoton "Yes; all he has to do is to
keep out o' danjah, mam 1"
In ullonoe the family aro sitting,
Each keeping as still as a mouse,
As they ponder the annual question,
"It it better to move, or clean house?"
New York Mercury.
"Man's a fool." He walks out on
tho lawn and orders the billy goat off
his premises, follows a mule and argues
with his mother-in-law. Galveston
News.
A telephone girl receives calls, but
she doeBu't pay them. This part oi
the business is attended by those hir
ing the instrument. Philadelphia
Times.
We have great respect for the wis
dom of the ancients. They were born
in time to say all their smart thing?
before we had a chance to think ol
'em. Puck.
Tho Wife "John, theso carpet
must be boat," The Husband "Why,
my dear, when I bought them th
dealer told me they couldn't be beat."
New York Press.
It is only guileless boyhood that
vows he "will never do it again. " Even
when caught in the act, tho full-grown
man of sound mind tries to prove that
he didn't do it at all. Puck.
Witts "There goes a woman whose
successes have turned many another
woman's head." Watte "That'l
queer. What is her line ?" Witts
"Millinery." Buffalo Courier.
"I hear your sou has beoome an ac
tor; how is ho getting ou?" "Very
well, indeed. He begun as a corpse,
aud now ho has already advanced to
the role of a ghost." Fliegeude Blaet
tor. Fuir Visitor "I should like to see
the editor of the woman's page." Of
fice Boy "Dere he is over dere ; de
fat mau iu his shirt sleeves, wit de
clay pipe in his mout. " Brooklyn
Eagle.
Old Physiciau "Now, in a case like
this, where the putieut is inclined to
hysteria, would you look at her touguo
or ." VouugStudout "No; I would
listeu to it, I think." Chicago Inter
Ocean. "When Bill Walker went to the
Leadvillo silver mines iu '72," said the
Old Reminiscent, "he hadn't a rug to
his back, aud now now, by jingo, he's
covered with em." New York Mail
and Express.
Watts "Tebsou must be awfully
afraid of his wife. Ho is always tell
ing us how she will give him tits if ho
don't hurry home." Potts "That's
the best sigu iu the world that ho is
not afraid of her at all. Tho man who
is bossed by his wife never says a word
about it," Iudianapolia. Journal.