SULLIVAN <ABI REPUBLICAN.
W. M, CHENEY, Publisher.
VOL. XI.
Only two per cent, of the Siberian
runaways escape with their Uvea.
There are now 7000 loan associations
in this country, with a membership of
2,000, 000 persona.
It ia said that Christian missionaries
in foreign countries have more trouble
to convert Mohammedans than any other
class of people.
The Chicago Herald believes "it is
safe to say that almost every five miles
of main public road in Great Britain is
better than almost any five miles of pub
lic road in our country."
The fire loss for 1802 for tho United
States and Canada foots up $132,701,-
700; a large sum of money to be com
pletely wiped out of existence in twelve
months, observes the New York Inde
pendent.
A correspondent of the Chattanooga
Times, writing from Glen Mary of the
abandonment of sheep raising on account
of the raids made by dogs, says that
there is not a farmer in that small section
but losses twenty-five percent, or more
of his sheep through the work of worth
less curs. The dog questiou is a lively
one in Tennessee just at this time.
Dr. Parker, of the London City Tem
ple, not long ago held a service for the
unemployed, and invited cscli of his
hearers into the vestry after service and
presented him with » small sum of
money. One of the recipients, with
cynical candor, said to some one as hs
came away: "I've not done a day's
work lor seven-aud-twenty years aud I
don't mean to!''
Reports lately made concerning the
oyster fisheries of Louisiana leid to the
belief, says the Chicago Herald, that a
large share of this country's supply of
oysters will come from that quarter in
the future. It is reported that the beds
are of enormous proportions, possess
every natural advantage for the growth
of the shellfish, au.l in many cases are
hardly touched by the ra'tc.
Scientific distinction by women is so
seldom acquired, eveu when deserved,
that of special interest is the recent ac
tion of the Academy of Science in Ba
varia in electing a woman to full mem- |
bership. Thi9 honor has been con
ferred upou the Princess Theresa, sister
of the Prince liogent, the only woman
whose scientific works have been con
sidered worthy such recognition.
In round numbers, there are 50,000
convicts in the penitentiaries aud 20,000
able-bodied men confined in jails, mak
ing a total army of 70,000 men available
for employment in road improvement in
tho United' States. Why not employ
them iu this work? suggests the Farm,
Field and Fireside. Many of them are
lying in idleness, fed at the people's ex
pense, while the labor of others in the
penitentiaries is let by contract to manu
facturers aud employed in direct com
petition with honest labor.
A man recently offered to carry the
mails between Boonsborough and
Kecdysville, Maryland, daily, except
Bunday, free of charge. The distance
between the two towns is about three
miles, and the bidder thought tkat he
bid low enough to secure the contract.
It was not awarded to him, however, for
another mau offered to do the work for
ai annual compensation of one cent, and
to him the contract was awarded. The
man who offered to deliver the mail free
of charge is now wondering why he was
not permitted to do so.
It looks to the New York Sun as
though the cave-dwellin? race, which
once lived in Arizona and the regions
thereabout, had been discovered as far
north as Alaska, or upon a small island
off the Alaskan coast which was recently
visited by the United States cruiser
Bear. The Bear's officers, while explor
ing the upper surface of the rock known
as King'a lalaud, which rises above tho
waters of the Bering Strait, found an ab.
original tribe of cave dwellers, who seem
to possess some of the characteristics of
the curious people which in old times
existed far to the southward. From the
account giveu of the dwellings we infer
that, in construction and in grouping,
they resemble those of the cliff dwellers
of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
Some of their implements are similar to
those that were made by the cave and
cliff peoplo else>vhere; but their food is
not like that which was used by their
southern kin, who had no opportunity
of fattening upon whale blubber or wal
rus meat. It ia hardly worth while,
however, to speculate about these Alas
kan cave dwellers until we have fuller
information concerning them. That the
island had some inhabitants was known
before it was visited by the Captain of
the Bear, whose report is likely to be of
interest to American archteologists.
THE SNOW.WBAVBR'S SONQ,
Back and forth the shuttle* go,
Fashioning the oloth of snow,
And the weaver you may hear
At the wind loam singing clear»
"31umber, little flowers, and dream
Of the silrer throated stream,
Shining through the April day
As it were a music ray
Bearing melody along
From the mellow sun of song.
Slumber, little fragrant faces.
Dreaming in your quiet places;
Soon the dreams shall pass—and then
You and spring shall wake again 1"
Thus the wearer at his loom
Sings away the winter's gloom,
While he weaves the coverlet
For the dreamers who forget:
"Slumber, little flowers, and dream
Of the April'sgolden beam
■Which shall come and fill your eyes
With the sunlight of surprise:
W» king, you shall hear onoe more
Song birds at the daybreak's door.
Slumber, little fragrant faces.
Dreaming in your quiet places.
Soon the dreams shall pass—and then
You and spring shall wake again!"
—Frank Dempster Sherman.
NINETTE'S CAREER.
BY AMY RANDOLPH.
/ T was snowing still,
II sharp prickles of
(7 whiteness in the
sSV gloomy December
A 1 dusk, when Ninette
I 1 Beauvoir was driven
I 1 up to her cousin's
If H house. The air was
y | intensely cold, the
fr houses on either side
*'' " iiifi of the street loomed
/ 1 " up like huge phan
• toms, and the gas-
JK jets seemed to thrill
and shiver in the wind. And the wel
come of Mrs. Berry, her cousin's house
keeper, was a dead match for the weather
and the wind.
"I am expected, I suppose?" said
Ninette, wondering why the womau did
not open the door a little wider.
"What name?" cautiously inquired
Mrs. Berry.
"Miss Beauvoir, from Atlanta,
Georgia."
"1 have heard nothing of it,'' said
Mrs. Berry, without opening the door
a fraction of an inch farther.
"Mr. Trebleton is at home, I supposo?"
"No, Miss, he's not," still frigidly.
"I will come in," said Ninette, trying
to swallow the suffocating sensation in
her throat. "I will wait for hiin. It is
so cold, aud I—l am half frozen."
Mrs. Berry hesitated a moment, then
opened the door, ungraciously enough.
"Well," she said, "I suppose you can
wait in the study until lie comes."
She showed Ninette into the red-cur
tained, cozy little room, lined with
books, lighted by the soft ring of flame
that streamed from a shaded gas-jet,
warmed with the glow of a coral-red tire
upon the hearth. And here, surrepti
tiously turning tho keys in the secretary
drawers and writing-table and takiug
them out, Mrs. Berry left her.
"There are the paper-weight," said
Mrs. Berry to herself, "and the ivory
paper-cutters and tho inkstand with the
stag's head in bronze; but I don't be
lieve she'd take them!"
While Ninette, left alone, crouched
down in the low chair before the fire
and burst into tears.
"Is all the North as cruel, as hard, as
frozen cold as this?" she asked herself,
with a convulsive shudder. "Oh, it
would have been better to have died of
starvation in my own sunny, golden
South! If a stray dog, there, had crept
in out of the storm at night, they would,
at least, have given him a bone and a
kind word. But for me there is no auch
welcome!"
When Mr. Trebleton came in at nine
o'clock, he found Ninette still lookiDg
at the Arc through eyes that swan like
tears.
"I am Ninette Beauvoir, your cousin's
child," said she, rising with varying
color.
"Happy to make your acquaintance, I
am sure," said Mr. Trebleton, apparently
so busy in removing his gloves that he
never noticed her offered hand. "What
cat' I do for you, Miss Beauvoir?"
Ninette looked at him with large,
grave eyes.
"Papa said, before he died," she
faltered, "that you would give me a
home with your daughters. I have no
longer a home of my own. Papa's ill
ness was expensive and took all our
means."
"Quite out of the question; quite out
of the question," said Mr. Trebleton,
hurriedly, as he took up a poker aud
began beating the topmost lumps of coal
on the lire. "Perhaps you are not aware
Miss Beauvoir, that I have a large and
expensive family of my own, and I
couldn't think of undertaking any ad
ditional expenses."
Ninette listened, apparently incredu
lous of her own senses.
"But what am I to do?" she asked.
'■What do other girls do who are
thrown on their own resources? - ' rather
curtly demanded Mr. Trebleton, secretly
wishing that tho interview was ovor.
"I don't know," said Ninette, simply.
"I am only an ignorant Southern girl.
No one every told me. I supposed, of
course, that I could come and live with
you I"
"Humph!" said Mr. Trebleton.
"They teach; they take in sowing; they
go into stores, shops, factories. They
strive for independence."
"Cousin Trebleton," said Ninette,
with a quivering lip, "if I could see
your wife—your daughters—they arc
women like me; they—"
"I am very soriy," said Mr. Trebleton,
•tonily, "but they are out of town.
There, there; don't cry. If there's any
thing I hate, it ia to see a womau make n
scene. Of courae, you can stay here to
night. My housekeeper, Mra. Berry,
will take care of you. In the morning
LAPORTE, PA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1893.
you will be better able to look things in
the face."
Mrs. Berry, still, stiff and silent, con
ducted Ninette to an arctic-cold bed
room at the top of the house, where the
very candle seemed to shiver.
"What'a the matter now?" said Mra.
Berry. "Why are you crying ?"
"I am ao hungry," sobbed Ninette, in
whose nature starvation had completely
overcome the heroic element. "I have
had nothiug to eat since eight o'clock this
morning."
.Mrs. Berry bit her lip impatiently.
"And the kitchen Are gone dowD,"
said she, "and not a drop of milk left!
Well, I'll go down and see what I can
find."
But when she came back, poor little
Ninette, who had crept iuto bod to get
warm, waß sound asleep. And the nig
gardly sandwich apd slice of withered
cake were too late.
Mr. Trebleton took Ninette to a gen
teel intelligence bureau the next day.
"This lady," he said to her, indicat
ing a stout female in b'ack-silk behind a
tall desk, "will procure decent lodgings
for you, and put you in tho way to em
ployment. And, if I can be of any
further service to you, pray let me
know."
And he had given her hand a flsh-liko
pressure and was gone, before she fairly
comprehended that this was his way of
getting rid of her.
Poor Ninette! Poor little tropical child
of the South, how infinitely lonely she
felt at that moment.
But the stout female took up a pen,
opened a big book and began to ask
questions with bewildering brusqueness
and rapidity, and Ninette soon caught
the infection of her energy.
The rest of the week was like the
shifting scenes which Ninette remem
bered to have seen at a pantomime,years
and years ago. She was hurried from
place to place in the great, noisy bedlam
of a city. Nobody wanted a nursery
governess; the school lists were crowded
to overflowing; from the stores Ninette
shrank with trembling horror, after she
had seen the smooth, nice, oily-faced
superintendents of one or two.
"I can do nothing more for you,"
said the stout female at length, "unless,
indeed, they can give you employment
nt the Decoration Rooms. It won't cost
anything for you togo and see!"
To the Rooms of Decorative Art Nin
ette accordingly went. The directress
was engaged. She would see the youug
person presently. Let her be shown into
the workroom.
A great, bright, well-ventilated apart
ment tilled with busy workers, some at
frames, some at tables, some standing
before easels; and one pale, middle-aged
women was drawing a design for wall
paper on a huge sheet of coarse paper—
daisies, corn-flowers, trailing vines, all
taugled together.
"That is not right I" exclaimed Nin
ette, involuntarily, as she watched the
slow, uncertain progress of the pencil.
"Let me show you how to bring that
vine out!"
The woman stared, but Ninette had
caught the pencil from her hand, and,
with two or three bold atrokea, altered
the whole character of tho design. From
mediocre it became original; from stiff
nesa it took on a wild, woodland grace.
"How did you do that!" askei the
stupid, middle-aged woman in bewilder
ment.
"I don't know," confessed Ninette,
crimsoning. "But don't you see—can't
you comprehend? It couldn't be other
wise! It must come out so I"
A hand waa laid ligttly on her shoul
der, and turning around she found her
self looking into the calm, amused eyes
of the directress.
"You are right, my child," said she,
"it could not bo otherwise. But it ia
not one in a thousand who would know
it. Come here, I must talk with you!"
That half-hour in the work-room of
the Decoration Society was the turning
point of Ninette Beauvoir's life. Sho
had found her niche in life's temple.
She could scarcely reckon up within
her own mind the number of years that
hud passed when she sat alone in the
little private parlor of the Decoration,
Rooms in the soft dusk of a March even
ing, with the red gleam of tho fire filling
the room with dreamy softness. She
had grown irom an impulsive child into,
a tall, beautiful, self-poised woman, who
presided over the ramifications or' the
great society with queenly dignity and
well-balanced judgment. And Ninette
was happy now in having discovered her
true career.
The girl entered with lights. Miss
Beauvoir glanced up.
"I shall not need the light, Gretchen,"
she said. "I am going home as soon as;
the carriage comes for me."
"There is an old gentleman, Miss,
Beauvoir, to sec you," aaid the girl,
apologetically. "I told him it was past
hours, but he said he had walked a long
distance to see you, and seemed ao old
and feeble that I didn't like to refuau
him. He has a portfolio under his arm." j
"Where ia he, Gretchen? In the ro- !
ception room?" interrupted Miss Boau- j
roir. "I will goto him."
A tall, atooping old man, with scanty I
locks, threadbare clothes and gloves |
mended until they resembled a piece of I
mosaic, turned as she eutered.
•'Do I apeak," he asked, "to the head j
of the establishment?"
Miss Beauvoir inclined her head. In
the dark silk dress and mantle edged
with fur she looked even older, more
dignified than her years.
"I am very poor," he said. "I have i
met with reverses in business and am j
quite dependent on the exertions of my j
daughters. Thoy have been brought up !
ladies, and, consequently, are com para
tively helpless; but they have done a
I little needlework, for which they would
I be glad to obtain a fair price, and—
"Mr. Trebleton I" cried out Ninette,
I holding out both her hands.
He fiuahed deeply.
"That ia my name," he said," but I
| was not aware—"
"Have you forgotten me?" she inter-
I rupted. "Little Ninette Beauvoirl
I Don't you remember that we are cousins?
My circumstances are good," she added,
noloring a little. "I receive an ex
tillent salary here and have money laid
UJ,N Do you think I can allow my
fatiwr's cousin to want? I have a com
fortable home; it shall be yours, and my
couaitia' also. My carriage is at the door
now. Let us go together to your home."
And Minette, in her enthusiasm, over
ruled poor Mr. Trebleton's feeble objeb
tions.
"A comfortable home" she had called
it, but to the poverty-stricken inhabi
tants of a tenement-bouse on Grand
street the little brown-stone dwelling
seemed a palace, with its bright open
fires, its sweetness of hot-house flowers,
its moss-soft carpets, dark oiled boards
and walls tinted with the softest of
colors.
Mr. Trebleton sat feebly down in the
big velvet arm-chair; his pale, sickly
daughters stood beside him, embarrassed,
yet happy in their young cousin's warm
Southern welcome.
"Do you mean," he faltered, "that
we are to live here—always?"
"What else could I possibly mean?"
said Ninette, kneeling to arrange the
coffee and fruit on the table at his side.
"Are you not mycousins? Whereshould
your homo be but with me?"
Mr. Trebleton brushed something
from his eyelashes.
"Ninette," said ho, faintly, "I do not
deserve this. I—l didn't treat you so,
when you came a solitary orphan to my
house!"
"Let all that be forgotten," said Ni
nette, gently. "Remember, only, that
you are welcome, more than welcome to
my hearth and home!"
So Stephens Trebleton and his daugh
ters staved on, always, in the sunny lit
tle brown-stone house. And Ninette
was happy, for she had it in her power
to bestow happiness.
"Of what use is money, if not to help
others with?" said sweet Ninette. "And
they are my cousins, tool"
But Mr. Trebleton had not argued
thus on that snowy December night
when Ninette Beauvoir came, homeless
and solitary, to him.
"Lord be merciful to me, a sinner,"
he breathed. "But I never knew, until
I saw it in the uncompromising light of
the past, what a miserable, selfish brute
I was."—The Ledger.
She Remembers Her Newsboy Friend.
"There is a youug man in Mobile,
Ala.," said Colonel Robert McEachin, of
Winchester, Va., "who has cause to re
member Amolie Rives, the writer, twice
a year. When the now distinguished
lady was a little girl and lived in that
city, she became fondly attached to a
newsboy who cried out his papers every
morning in the neighborhood in which
ahe lived. They met one day aud a friend
ship sprang up between them that has
lasted to tho present time. After the
boy's stock of papers were sold in the
morning he would call for the pretty
little blue-eyed miss and they would take
long strolls down Froscute road, pluck
ing the orange blossoms and the magno
lia blooms. They soon got to be fami*
liar figures on Government street, as they
would walk along that busy thorough
fare with the youog girl's head garlanded
with wreaths of beautiful flowers and the
little boy's arms filled with vines and
evergreens. Then Miss Rives moved far
away into Virginia, but she never forgot
her newsboy friend, for it was her custom
almost daily to write him, telling how
sadly she missod the walks and strolls,
his joyous, sunny face and the music of
his boyish laughter. I doubt if Mrs.
Chanler, as she now is, ever wrote love
lier or more poetic or passionate sen
tences than those she used to send in her
letters to her newsboy sweetheart. The
boy met with a misfortune some yaars
ago which crippled him for life. He is
poor, but his purse is twice a year re
plenished by a postoffice order from Mrs.
Chanler. One of these arrives in Mobile
on his birthday, which is in June, and
the other on Christmas Day.'"—St. Louis
Republic.
Surgical Progress Illustrated.
In one of the best knowu restaurants
in this city a few weeks ago there was
seated at a table enjoving a hearty lunch
a well known physician and a well known
lawyer. When tho feast was about ended
the physician, rubbing tho region of his
stomach covered by the lower part of his
vest, said: "I'm out of order down here.
I believe I'll goto Dr. (naming a
well known young surgeon of this city,
who has a reputation for skill and ra
pidity in the use of the knife), and have
my stomach cut open to see what'a the
matter." The lawyer was amazed, and
unwilling to take the doctor at hia word,
asked him what he really meant.
"Why," said the doctor, "I mean what
I say. The right way to treat the
stomach is by opening it and finding out
what's the matter. That's what surgery
is coming to. It will be the regular
practico in a few years—indeed, it is
frequently done now. They used to
think it was certain death to expose the
bowels, but they've got over that. lam
in medicine, but not in surgery, but I
know what tho surgeons are doing, and
even now they take out a man's bowels,
tlx them up again, and put them back all
right."—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Paris Dotes on Horseflesh.
O.ie of the most properous industries
in Paris ia the sale and disposal of horse
flesu for food. There are in the city of
Paris 180 shops for the sale of horseflesh,
and in the course of this year more than
21,000 horses, sixty-one mules and 275
donkeys have been killed and eaten by
the Parisiaus. The most singular point
about this traffic is that the price of the
flesh is equal to that of good beef, 20
cents a pound. It is ;>nly fair, however,
to add that two-thirds of this meat has
been converted into sausages, so that it
is more than possible that the consumers
aie ignorant of theaourco of their tooth
some dish. It is now easy to under
stand how it is that good horses are so
scarce in the Paris > fiacres; at 20 cents a
pound a fat horse 'would be worth more
when he was dead'than alive,—Chicago
News Record.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
Wood pavements cause opthalmania.
A diamond for cutting glass lasts
about three months.
Psyoologists say that people do their
dreaming, or most of it, after 4 a. m.
A German savant has discovered what
he thinks is a sure means of disinfecting
rivers.
Physicians are now able to wash out
the system through the natural channels
of circulation by means of injected
fluid.
The copper plating of sheet zinc has
been aucceasfully accomplished and the
process is recommended where wear
takes place.
Pittsburg now claims the largest glass
flattening oven in the world. This new
oven will take a sheet seventy-five inches
by 111 inches, or in narrow glass one of
thirty inches by 131 inches.
The most valuable bit of ore ever
melted in the world, so far as is known,
was a lot containing 200 pounds of
quartz-holding gold at the rate of $50,-
000 per ton, and was found in a mine at
Ishpcming, Mich.
It is aaid that one of tho new armored
cruisers will have smokestacks 100 feet
high. These high funnels will be un
sightly, but appearances are to be sacri
ficed to utility. The increase In height
will give additional draft in ordinary
steaming.
Recent studies of cancer not only in
dicate that it is an organic growth, but
aimost certainly prove that it is itsslf
liable to the attack of another parasite.
Better acquaintance with the relations of
these parasites may possibly bring tho
long-sought method of arresting cancer.
There are two fixed rulos for propor
tioning the human form; just two.
They are that eight heads (that is, skull
lengths) make the total height of the
figure and that the invariable center of
the total length of the whole figure
should be the front termination of the
lowest part of the pelvis.
By placing two iron bars at seven or
eight yards distance from each other and
putting them in communication on one
side by an insulated wire and on the
other side with a telephone, it is said
that a storm can be predicted twelve
hours ahead through a certain dead
sound heard in the receiver.
Sneezing is averted by pressing the
upper lip, because by doing so we dead
en the impression made on a certain
branch of the fifth nerve, sneezing being
a reflex action excited by some slight
impression on that nerve. Sneezing
does not take place when the fifth nerve
is paralyzed, even though the sense of
smell is retained.
Paper tough as w.> •! is said to be
made by mixing chloride of zinc with
the pulp in the course of mauufacture.
It has been found that the greater the
degree of the concentration of the zinc
solution the greater will be the lougn
ness of the paper. It cau be used for
making gas pipes, boxes, combs, for
roofing and even, it is added, for mak
ing boats.
Still another use for aluminum ha<>
been found in the construction of slate
pencils. It was acoidently discovered
that aluminum wouid give a stroke on a
slate, and a German forthwith set about
manufacturing pencils of the new metal.
They are five millimeters thick and four
teen millimoters long. They are said to
need no pointing, and are practically in
exhaustible and unbreakable. The
writing, which can be erasedwith a wet
sponge, is as clear as that of the ordin
ary pencil, only requiring a little more
pressure.
Ti*e Tale of the Telepho in.
The first telephone that was ever used
was not electrical, nor was it a scientific
instrument in any sense of the term. A
little more than fifty years ago the em
ployes of a large manufa* -y beguiled
theii leisure hours by kite . jing. Kites
large and small went up daily, and the
strile was to see who could get the
largest. The twine which held them
was the thread spun and twisted by the
ladios of tho village.
One day to the tail of the largest kite
was attached a kitten, sewed in a can
vas bag, with a netting over the mouth
to give it air. When the kite was at its
greatest height, some 200 feet or more,
the mewing of the kitten could be dis
tinctly heard by those holding tho string.
To the clearness of the atmosphere was
attributed the hearing of the kitten's
voice. This is the first account we re
member of speaking along a line.—
Sheffield Telegraph.
Some Curious I'uuishinents.
During the time of Richard 1., and by
the advice aud consent of that monarch,
the British Parliament promulgated some
strikingly original codes for the main
tenance of order on his Majesty's fleet.
Thus, if any seaman killed another on
shipboard he was to be bound face to
face with his victim by means of stout
thongs "of not less than three-ply," the
living and dead bundle to be thrown
overboard together. Any man who
maimed another, the same having been
done with malice intent, was ordered to
be served iu like manner as his victim.
One section of this law read as follows:
"He who draws bloude from another by
wilful blow struck, be that blow struck
with a weapon or with hee's hand only,
must lose the hand with which the wound
was inflicted; a hand blow that causes
no bloude to flow must be punished by
ducking the offender thrice."—St. Louis
Republic.
Cougar* Abonud In Washington.
Complaints are made in eastern parts
of the State of Washington that cougars
are entirely too plentiful for comfort to
the settlers. Several of the animals
have lately visited stock pens and farms
in Spokane County, and one was seen
calmly trotting along the wain road just
outside Spangle. This latter beast was
not at all frightened at the approach of
men, but ambled off into tha woods at a
leisurely gait.
Terms—Sl. 00 in Adrance; 51.25 after Three Months.
YARNS SPUN BY WHALERS.
Qt) EBB STORIES TOLD BT ABOTIO
BLUBBEB HUNTBB&
Singular Effect ot the Moon on *
Whale's Eyes—The Crew Usually
Humanity's Odds and Bads.
STORIES of the sea always have a
fascination for the landsman,
and so it was that a group of
Arctic blubber hunters had a
lot of interested uuditors.
"How would you like to hare eight
or ten thousand dollars on a string?"
asked one of them, knocking his pipe on
the edge of the stringer ana addressing
the group of landsmen collectively.
"Well, I've had that much many a
time," he went on without waiting for a
reply, "and it makes a fellow rather
nervous guessing whether he's going to
land his fish or whether he'll get flipped
overboard. I'vo been to sea now thirty
four years and I expect I've struck about
as many whales as the next one, but it's
pretty excitiug business yet. Why, last
season one of our boats struck a big sperm
whale and he started down. Our ship
had five boats and each boat carries 280
fathoms of line. That whale took down
the whole five of 'em—l4oo fathoms in
all. It began to look as we had lost the
whole thing, but be was too tired, and
when he came up we into
him."
• "You wouldn't believe that fish—at
least spouting fish—are influenced by the
moon?" said another of the group.
"Well, they are. I've seen it time and
again, and I've called other people's at
tention to it, too, but I never found any
one else who had noticed it. Sometimes
when you are at sua and whales are to be
seen frequently—it may be at the full
moon or at new moon—well, all at once
they will disappear and you won't see
one for two weeks. Then just as sud
denly the water will be full of them.
I've compared notes with other vessels.
Maybe they were sixty miles or more
awsy at the time and the whales there
would be numerous just at the same time
they appeared near our vesse'.. Oh, you
fellows needn't laugh. There is some
thing in it.
"And then I've noticed another thing
about this same class of fish. When you
catch them you will always find that
they have the pupil of the eye the same
shape as the moon at that time. If the
moon is full the pupil will be round, and
il it is a half or a quarter the sight will
be like a crescent."
The Captain stopped to light a fresh
pipe and another one of the whalers
spoke up.
"I've had some experience myself,"
said ho, "but two years ago I came the
nearest taking after onah that a man
ever did. Wevhau made a strike all
right and the whale went down, not
very far, but when he came up he had
his mouth open, and some how or other
ho came up with one jaw on the port and
the other on the lea side of our boat.
Surprised? Well, that whale looked
very much as if be was ready to receive
company, but I wasn't invited, so I made
a streak for another boat."
"You would be surprisod," said the
first speaker, changing the direction of
the talk, "what queer mixtures there
are in a whaler's crew sometimes. Why
I've bad lawyers and doctors and any
number of young men with a degree of
some kind. And once I shipped a fel
low that turned out to be a preacher,
and I wish I could get him again, for
we got eight whales that season. I be
lieve he was a mascot. One poor fell aw
who went overboard in agale, had in his
trunk a physician's diploma, and any
number of letters with high recommend
ations, but I guess he had gone wrong
same how, and wanted to get out of the
way for a while. He succeeded better
than he intended. I guess they won't
think of looking for him at the bottom
of the Aictic.
"We get lots of men for a season's
cruise that way. If a fellows wants to
hide himself for a while I don't know of
any place be could do it better than on
board a whaler. Nobody would think
of looking for such a man in this busi
ness, and then they couldn't look much
if they wanted to. That kind of a sea
man never makes you any trouble. It's
the shiftless fellow you pick up here on
the wharf that you've got to handle
pretty roughly before he learns how to
keep a decent tongue in his head."
"On one of my cruises I had a big,
black West Indian in the crew," said the
first speaker. "One day for some reasoti
he jumped overboard. The sea was s
little rough and it was quite a while be
fore we got the boats lowered, and we
lost sight cf him. But we pulled back
a little way aud I soon saw him, swim
ming with all his might, but in the op
posite direction from the boat. I yelled
to him, and when he saw he was discov
ered be made no further effort to get
away. And where he was going is more
than I know, for it all happened in mid
ocean. We hauled him into the boat,
and made for the ship. It was four
months before we made port and yet in
all that time, Sandy, for that was his
name, never spoke a word. No one on
board could get a sound from him. Some
times he wonld lie down on the deck
and seem to be asleep and some of the
crew would slip up and stick him with a
pin. At first he would twitch a little
and then would not move at all. We
made a bed for him down below and
kept him away from a knife or other
weapon. You could tell him ta take the
wheel and he would steer right enough,
but if you asked him what course the
ship was making he was silent as the
grave. And when we made the first
port he went ashore and I never saw him
again. But some of the crew said he
regained his tongue on land and thought
he bad been 'playing' us all the time.
But it was a strange case.''—Ban Fran
cisco Examiner.
Only 2369 sea otter skins were
imported to England by the Alaska
Commercial Company and other traders
in 1891. Thep were sold at an average
price of $235 apiece, , . -
NO. 15.
THB OLD BACK STAIR.
Of all the (porta of childhood,
I know of none to rare
At sliding down the tinlitw
Of
the
old
back "*'-J
stair. * '*■
I remember well the circus,
And the fun it u«ed to bring, 1
While watching fearless riders
A-da«hing 'roun 1 the ring.
But this jolly old attraction
Could neyer near compart
With sliding down the bauister
Of
the
,S V. old
back * „
stair;
Then t recollect the barn loft.
Chucked full of clover hay;
Mother used to send us there
To pass a rainy day.
But 1 often stole away from that
And while mother wasn't there,
Be sliding down the banisters
Jf
the
old
back i
stair.
I hare grown into manhood now.
And often wander home
The old folks always welcome me-
Tbey're glad to have me come;
But while they're not looking
I'm tempted, I declare
To slide down the banisters
Of
the
old
back <
stair. "*
—C. E. Edwards, in Kansas City Journal.
HUMOR OF THE DAT. (
A bouncing baby—The rubber doll.
Fair and square—The angular blonde
girl.
Settled out of court—The confirmed
bachelor.
Gossip will very soon die without
proper ventilation.
Fighting tooth and nail—The dentist
and the chiropodist.
The barbed wire fence is the thing
that can give you points.
A bird that can't sing and will sing
ought to be made into a pot-pie.
When a bad example is set it is apt to
hatch mischief.—Kate Field's Washing
ton.
Many a man has made a goose of
himself with a single quill.—Texas Sitt
ings.
Sleep is not the period of conscious
ness; it is only the coma, so to speak.—
Boston Courier.
It takes years for a wise man to ma
ture, but a fool can get ripe in a minute.
—Washington Star.
The diamond that poets praise,
Though still a favored jewel,
Will be outranked ere many days,
By carbou used as fuel.
—Washington Star.
This would be a much happier world
if we couldn't borrow trouble withou'
collateral security.—Puck.
"A little learning is a dangerous
thing," as the poor skater remarked as
he picked himself up.—Puck.
"This is a first-class sugar loaf," said
the candy merchant as he retired from
business.—Washington Star.
When some people get on the roll of
honor they must roll it up and take it off
with them.—Galveston News.
The height of impudeucc—Taking
shelter in an umbrella shop till the
shower is over.—Le Monde Comique
It has been demonstrate! oft
A man ne'er reaches fame.
Until the world familiarly
Mabes use of his first name.
—Washington Star.
Photographer—"Now, madame, a
pleasant expression, please." Son-in-law
(in the back ground)—" Whew! I must
not miss thatl"—Fliegende Blaetter.
'•I am not afraid to say what I think,"
exclaimed Hiladd. "I always express
my views." "They arc too heavy togo
by mail, I suppose," replied Larimer-
She—"Dudes haven't more than half
sense." Mr. Sappy—"Aw, Miss Mawy,
are there no exceptions?" "O, yes, Mr.
Sappy; some haven't any."—Brooklyn
Life.
"Poor Mr. Mills is so sympathetic, I
think." Dolly—"What did he do!"
"To-day be sat with his eyes closed on
the car rather than see the ladies stand
up."—Chicago Inter-Ocean.
"What have you got all those pictures
out on the window sill fort" asked a
friend of an amateur photographer. "I
am simply airing my views," was the re
sponse.—Yonkers Statesman.
Oh, novelist, a little light
We humbly beg of you.
Why are the clocks of which you write
All made of ormolu?
—Washington Star.
"Hello, Dinwiddiel" exclaimed Shin
gi*s, when the two met on Fifth avenue,
"I haven't seen you in an age. What do
you do for a living now?'' "Ibreathe,"
replied Dinwiddie, languidly.—Pitta
burg Chronicle.
Neighbor's Boy (looking through the
fence) —"My father's a heap bigger man
than your'n!" New Boy (with cold die
dain) —"Size ain't nothin'l When my
father coughs you can hear him half a
mile I"—Chicago Tribune.
Elderly Maiden (out rowing with a
possible suitor and a little sister who is
frightened by the waves) —"Theadors I
If you are so nervous now, what will
you be at my age?" Little Sister (meekly)
"Thirty-seven, I suppose."—Tid-Bita.
Stranger—"l notice you called your
friend Professer. Is he really a pro
fessor?" Bowerylte—"l should say so.
Why, dat feller swollers a sword eighteen
inches, stands on his ear and eats glass
out of a churn. Professor 1 Well, I
should just smile,"—New York Herald.