I WORLD'S BIGGEST CANNON | , TO PROTECT NEW YORK. 1 The largest gun ever built is now being constructed at the Bethlehem (Penn.) Iron Works. This enormous piece of ordnance will weigh, when completed, 126 tons. It will exceed by six tons weight the monster gun which Krupp, of Germany, exhibited at the World's Fair, in Chicago, and in length it will be nearly five feet longer than the German gun. This monster guu is being fabri cated under the War Department. It is the biggest order ever given to any establishment in the world. The great gun is being built under the superintendence of John F. Meigs, formerly a Lieutenant of the United States army and a standard artillery authority in this country. With him is associated Captain E. L. Zalinski, United States army (re tired). The Government inspection work is in the hands of Captain Ira McNutt, of the ordnance corps of the army. All three gentlemen are on the ground and personally see to every detail of the immense undertaking as it progresses. jThe intention of the War Depart ment, it ia aunounced, is to mount the great piece on a specially built founda tion on Romer Shoals. The protec tion for this gun will be a turret, which will wholly inclose the crew and the greater part of the gun. From its position on Romer Shoals the great piece of ordnance will have a full sweep of the channels leading into New York Harbor. There is not, it is declared, a vessel afloat to-day with armor of sufficient strength to resist ft •jOaißgfißiiilMlß— BIGGEST GL'N IN TIIE WORLD TO PROTECT NEW YORK. It will weigh, complete, 126 tons, anil Is six tons heavier than the giant gun shown by Krupp at the World's Fair at Chicago, It will Do mounted on u special foundation at lloiner Shoals, In the lower Bay. No vessel could resist a shot from it. its shot. John F. Meigs estimates tliat a blow from the new gun would have a striking energy equal to that of a 2000-ton ship when running at full speed. The shot from the gun, he adds, would smash, crack and batter down any armor which it would be possible for a ship to carry. The caliber will be sixteen inches, tho length, from breech to muzzle, will be forty-nine feet two inches. Through the breech in a vertical line the gun will have a measurement of exactly five feet. Mr. Meigs com putes the weight of a shot for the new gun at a little over 2300 pounds. That means more than a ton ot metal. The heaviest shots fired in England have not weighed over 2000 pounds. The powder charge for the Ameri can gun wdl weigh nearly 1000 pounds. Provided extreme elevation for range could be obtained, a shot from the New York Harbor gun should be able to travel more than sixteen miles. The greatest known range ever at tained was from the famous "jubilee shot" in England. The distance measured about twelve statute miles. The United States has never before attempted any heavier piece of ord nance for coast defence than a twelve inch gun. The weight of a piece of the latter caliber is approximately fifty tons. In the sixteen-inch gun there is observed a jump of seventy six tons increase in weight. The first ingot for the new sixteen inch gun was cast recently at Bethle hem. It was for the tube forging and weighed 82,800 pounds, The jacket forging is also out. It weighs 90,000 pounds. Under the contract made with the War Department the Bethle hem works will turn out all forgiugs for the great gun. The tempering and annealing process will also be applied at tho Bethlehem shops. When all the parts are out, the tube, jacket and hoops will be shipped to the United States arsenal at Watervliet, We6t Troy, N. Y. There they are to be as sembled together, and the gun itself rifled and made ready for service. All metal used is fluid compressed. The specifications which are being ad hered to demand the most exacting physical tests. Specimen pieces of metal are taken from all forgiugs, are subjected to elongation, breaking and bending tests. Finally every part of the gun must be of forged metal. Tho tube, for instance, has been cast and rough bored, it will next have a man drel introduced through its length and then be placed under tho hammer. For this latter stage the Bethlehem works have the largest hammer in the world. It is capable of delivering a blow of 120 tons, or some ten tons more than the famous Krupp ham mer. The building of the new sixteen-inch gun is an expensive undertaking. The gun itself will cost about $120,000. For single guns the average cost to the Government for all fortification work in this country is roughly SIOOO per ion of gun. ret T wnn 8 ■ ° f gUUccarri e *nd tor ret will bring the cost up to as much again as the weapon, while the cost for foundation will, it is estimated, round out a grand total of at least $300,000. The foundation for the six teen-inch gun will require a depth, it is said, of fifty feet if earth be the basis. This foundation must be constructed of concrete. IDAHO'S WOMAN GOVERNOR. For Two Weeks Miss Margaret lieeve Filled the Executive Clialr, The news that for two weeks a woman had filled the executive chair of the State of Idaho—a thing unpre cedented in this country's history— created no end of lively comment throughout the Northwest. The woman is Miss Margaret Reeve, who for several years has held re sponible places about Idaho's State building, having for the last four years been private secretary to the Gover nor. When Governor Steunenberg and Secretary of State Lewis were called to the northern part of the State on business of tho greatest importance in connection with tho State's vast do main of white-pine timber, they were at their wits' end to know whom they could safely leave in charge of State matters during their absence, as At torney-General McFarland had pre ceded them from the State. It seemed for a time the trip would have to bo postponed, or that one of them would have to remain behind, when Secretary of Stato Lewis sug gested to tho Governor that Miss Reeve be left in charge. The Gover nor was almost stunned by the bold plan, but Miss Reeve had proved her self most efficient, being familiar with all the routine work in the building, and the Governor consented to the plan, and Miss Reeve was left at the State house clothed in full Guberna torial authority, which she exercised in a manner that not only gave satis faction to the Governor, but has won her great distinction. Before the Governor and party had been absent twenty-four hours matters of great importance were brought to Miss Reeve's attention. The Gover nor and Secretary of State had left a number of important blanks to which they had attached their signatures, and it was left to Miss Reeve's dis cretion to issue them or not—requisi tions, applications for extraditions from Governors of other States, and many other matters. She sought legal advice, but the at torney informed her she must depend upon herself, as lie did not "care to bo mixed up in the acts of any female Governor." When the Governor re turned he was surprised at the amount of exeoutive business his fair substi tute had turned out, and frankly ad mitted the excellence of her judgment, MISS MAROAHET REEVE. although in one instance—the case of an application for extradition—he said he would not have issued it until ho had given the protestants a hearing. He has announced his determination to defend with vigor every act of "Gov ernor Roeve," including those quoted. Currpntu in the Atlantic. Experiments have been going on for the past two years for the purpose of trying to learn something of the characteristics of the Atlantic ocean as a great moving body of water. As a result the whole Atlantic is shown to be slowly circulating round and round, like an enormous pool. ELECTRIC CABS IN NEW YORK. Horseless Vehicles Have Become • Fix ture In the Bl| Cltr. Electric cabs, hansoms and broug hams are a success in New York, so ELECTRIC HANSOM USED IN NEW YORK. much of a success that the company operating them has just given out an order for 100 new vehicles. During June, the first month of their opera tion, a total number of G32 calls were reoeiveil, averaging between thirty-two and twelve per day, carrying 1580 pas sengers 4603 miles at rate 9 similar to the horse-cab system, and each month since that time has seen a steady in crease in the service. The best results obtained from these vehicles show that about 1.25 horse power is supplied for a propulsion of 2000 pounds over ordinarily level roads at a speed of ten miles an hour. This consumption of power is a trifle over two and one-third times that of similar work on rails, which indicates that the equipment of the battery is carefully adapted to the total weight of the vehi cle and just sufficient for practical traveling capacity. The maximum weight of a battery for a hansom weigh ing 3000 pounds is 1200 pounds for a distance of twenty-five miles at the maximum speed of twelve miles or at an average speed of six miles. A vehicle to travel twice this dis tance could readily be built, but it would need to be twice its weight in order to accommodate twice the bat tery equipment. This type of vehicle is constructed with the view of a speed of from six to twelve miles Jau hour, but a vehicle can be built to approxi mate thirty miles an hour, although it would necessarily be made as a racing apparatus and not fit for street worl'. Two one-and-one-half horse-power motors, weighing 172$ pounds each, are found sufficient for a hansom, and are operated at a maximum speed of 1350 revolutions per minute. Largest Cant Iron Pipe Ever Moulded* The largest pipe ever cast was turned out at Bessemer, near Birmingham, Alabama, the other day. The pipe was FIRST 72- INCH PirE CAST. . seventy-two inches in diameter on the inside,and seventy-six and one-quarter inches in diameter, outside measure ment, and twelve feet six inches long over all. The metal in it weighed 20,- 000 pounds. The seventy-two-inch pipe was moulded for the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, to be used for culverts under their tracks. • A small river can flow through one of these pipes. It is as large as the great sewers of Paris which were built of brick and stone. A Church Literally Founded on a Bock. The tenth anniversary of the Pres byterian Church at Waterloo, lowa, was celebrated a short time ago. There would be nothing remarkable about CHUBCU MAD® FROM A BOCK. that, only that the church is part df a solid rock, having been cut out of a big boulder ten years ago. Qeneral Boulanger's black charger, on which he hoped to ride to a throne, now draws a Paris cab. Little Girls' Frocks. Little girls' frocks follow the styles of their mammas in the blouse effects. They also have the double skirts. A pretty one, the upper skirt being half the length of the under one, has the edges of both trimmed with rows of narrow satin ribbon. The silk of the gown has a light foundation with a tiny polka dot of a delicate color. The puffed sleeves come just below the el bow. The First Woman Lawyer. The first woman lawyer to practise in British dominions is Miss Edith R. Benjamin, LL. 8., of Dunedin, New Zealand. Her university career was one of great distinction, and when she graduated this year in law, she came out first in jurisprudence, constitu tional history and law, Roman law and equity, and was bracketed first with another in criminal law and real and personal property. Decrease of Sang Birds. The rapid decrease of English song birds is now attributed not only to their being killed for millinery pur poses to supply the demand made by English women, but to their being used for food. An English traveler asserts that in two or three Italian cities he saw, within the space of as many days, some thousands of dead English'songsters exposed for sale in the provision shops. It is southward, cf course, that they fly as soou as there is the first touch of frost, and then they meet this melancholy fate. A Champion Breadinaker. Mrs. Clem. B. Lincoln of Plattsburg, claims to be the champion breadinaker of Missouri. She has enough blue ribbons, medals and like trophies to make her claim to the honorable dis tinction a very strong one. It is a matter of serious doubt if any other woman in the state can show half as many trophies for excellence in the same line. Mrs. Lincoln is the wife of u well-to-do farmer. Mrs. Lincoln made her first showing of tine bread some years ago at the county fair at Liberty. She has not won her medals without competition, for there are other women in the state who know how to make excellent bread. She has been a frequent exhibitor in Kau sas City, where she has always won first prize. Her supply of blue rib bons is the source of much pride to her, and the people who have had the privilege of eating the bread she bakes claim it is even better than it looks. Recently Mrs. Lincoln won the first honor at the fair held at St. Joseph. She has three little girls who are learning to make bread, and she ex pects them all to be prize winuers.— Chicago Times-Herald. Nuns on Bicycles. Speaking of bicycles reminds me of their latest uses in London. Hospital nurses mounted on "safeties" are not unusual sights in our most crowded thoroughfares, and with their gauze veils, demure bonnets and jangling steel chatelaines, are rather weird, though not always unpleasant, spec tacles. The latest members of the divine feminine to take to the insidi ous wheel, however, is a certain com munity of nuns that lead their se cluded livos behind the high brick walls of a convent in one of the West End suburbs. There is always a cer tain amount of romance and "tlie world-forgettiuff-and-bv-the-world-for- got" atmosphere about a convent. Folded,prayerful hands,quietly serene faces, gentle voices and midnight vigils seem to breathe of all that is reposeful and devotional. Now, how ever, in the lovely grounds where at other times the nuns walk and tell their beads is heard the sound of the bicycle bell, and from the mother su perior down to the youngest lay sister all ride bicycles,of course in the strict seclusion of the convent walls.—Lon don Letter to New York Mail and Ex press. She Had No "Scolding Lork*," Some people are absolutely devoid of tact. One of these is a youthful matron, who, wishing to make lier very dearest frieud—another young matron —a birthday present, decided on the purchase of a handsome pair of shell side combs. Nothing could have been more ap propriate for the blonde tresses of her frieud, and the giver felt much pleased with her selection when she went to call on her to give her the pretty or naments. "I thought you would like them," sho said, when her frieud had admired them and thanked her rapturously, "you will find them so handy to fasten up your scolding locks." "What do you mean?" asked her friend, in a surprised tone. "Did you ever hear of scolding locks? They are the short ends of your hair that are always flying loose. They bother one so much, but side combs keeps them in order, besides being very becoming ornaments." "So you think I have scolding locks —then I must be a scold. Thanks, awfully, dear, but I don't believe I need any combs. Keep them for your own scolding outfit," and the face of the "dearest friend" clouded with anger. "Very well. Just as yon like. Good bye, dear," and the donor of the combs snatched them up and car ried them home, where she had a tit of hysterics. And all because she needed a little tact.—Chicago Times- Herald. The New Hut*. The new hats are nothing if not smart, with all their diversified shapes and bewildering styles of trimming. An attempt to choose a suitable hat for divers occasions among all this con fusing variety is pretty sure to result in a failure, for they are so widely different in shape that it is difficult to decide which is the most becoming. There is everything between a small bonnet and a large hat in all the odd fantastic shapes imaginable. Toques, both large and small, made of shirred velvet, are prime favorite.". The brim may be plain and the crown shirred, or the reverse, as is the most becoming, and again the entire hat may be made of shirred velvet. Vel vet hats in any shape and size are in vogue, and they are plaited, shirred or plain, as you fancy. Little dressy bonnets have em broidered crowns of velvet in some light color, with a finish of black around the eilge. And the small jet bonnet is here again, glittering with every kind of jet. Some of the new bonnets have strings, but it is entirely a matter of choice whether you have them or not. Braided felts and braided effects as glossy as satiu form some of the new hats, and feathers predominate in the trimming. There are the most fascin ating pokes among the large shapes, and there is, too, the low-crowned hat with a decided brim, trimmed with innumerable ostrich feathers, which stand up and spread out on either side, or curl over in the more natural way, as if they were ready to fall off. Two shades of velvet are used in the large hats, one for trim ming, which is sometimes in strong contrast with the other, and an oc casional velvet hat in some bright color is covered with black lace. Wide spreading bows in front trim some of the hats, and one of the trying novel ties of the season is a Wedgwood blue felt with a "beefeater" crown trimmed with three shades of the same blue velvet and pheasants' tails. Birds of the pheasant tribe furnish a variety in hat trimmings this season, and owls' feathers, too, are used. The largo toque with a full, irregu lar brim and trimmed with ostrich feathers, is one of the most popular styles of the season. Boat shaped felt hats trimmed with fancy ribbon and stiff feathers are also fashionable for morning wear.—New York Sun. Fusli inn Notes. Waists of plaid velvet come with a satin stock. Misses' sweaters are fastened on the shoulder. Moreen petticoats of light weight are suitable for girls. Barre or bayadere novelties in wool en dress goods are popular. Cloth blouses are trimmed with satin ribbon or steel buckles. A new style is to have one's vel vet coat trimmed with fur in a very original way. I saw a black velvet jacket trimmed with sable, the latter material being used in bows on the shoulder and at the belt, while the belt itself was of the fur. Quite a new fancy is to have a fur trimmed toque to match the set of boa and muff. Muffs promise to be a very important item, too, and will be worn without reference to other ar ticles of dress. The newer ones are quite large, and I noticed the preva lauce of gray. Coats single or double breasted are equally la mode, and many of them are decidedly longer than they have been, but with one and all outdoor garments the very high collar is in dispensable. Indeed,in dress as well us mantles there is u decided favoring of Medici styles. The smooth finished cloths in black and also in all the new fashionable colorings are pre-eminently handsome, both in texture and weave, and the choice as to color is almost unlimited. Many of the expensive patterns are deeper in tone than they have been for several seasons past. Black materials will be greatly fa vored during the winter season, and a special and very elaborate display of elegant black fabrics is made at the various importing houses. Many fancy weaves are shown, but the standard black textures brought to such ex quisite perfection have their own de cided attractions. Heliotrope combined with red is among fashionable color mixtures. Green,hyacinth blue and yellow is an other French melange. Mentally con sidered, these combinations suggest anything but harmony, but the best shops and importing houses show | these and endless other seemingly j crude and very inmtistic groupings oi color. I A CELESTIAL FOOTBALL TEAM. Club Which Would Prove Formidable to Almost Any Team. China is not a country in which one would naturally expect football to be popular, but the game has at last been introduced among the celestials, and a team has been organized which is said to be the strongest football club in the world. The men who form the team are natives of north ern China, and are typical of the re markable race of giants produced in that part of the world. There is not a man among them who is not aix feet high, and several of the members are three inches taller,while their average weight is about 200 pounds. When playing, the celestials give vent to their feelings in the most pe culiar noises, frequently shrieking with delight. Their yells of triumph which resound through the air when ever the ball goes through the oppo site goal are likened, by one who has heard them, to the "plaintive cry of a pig that hns been speared." The "charging" is generally done with the head. The only precaution taken by these giants in regard to their physical strength on the football field is for the preservation of their pigtails, which are cared for as though they were worth a thousand times their weight in gold. With this exception, they throw caution to the winds, and devote themselves with all their strength to the play. The great drawback to Chinese foot ball is want of discipline. Every man considers it his duty to instruct his colleague what to do, and one-half the team yells to the other half all the time the game is in progress. An attempt has been made to bring about a foreign tour of the Chinese footballers, but has not yet been suc cessful. In the event of such a tour, the team will take with them their own doctors and cooks.—London Tit- Bits. FUNERAL-WEDDINGS. The Strange Custom Oba«*rv**