1 SMALLEST REPUBLIC g I IN THE WORLD. 1 San Mftriuo may be territorially minute, but in the assertion of its dignity it will give way to none of its big neighbors. It is the smallest in dependent republic in Europe, its area being only thirty-three square miles. It lies between the provinces of Forli and Pesaro-Urbino, and it consists of part of the eastern spurs of the Apen nines. The two streams Marecchia and Ausa, which pass through Rimini to the sen, rise partly in the north and west of San Marino, while its south eastern valleys are drained by the sources of the Maratio. The popula tion is only about 8000, and most of the people are engaged in farming and stock raising. The city of San Ma rino, which has a population of 1800 or 1900, has five churches, an audi ence chamber, a law court, a theatre, a museum and a library. It is a pic turesque little place, with steep and narrow streets and small houses of un dressed stone. One of its most nota ble features is a white statue of Lib erty, presented by the Duchess of Acquaviva. The Velocity of Light. » It requires four years and four months for a ray of light to reach us from the nearest star, and yet light travels at the rate of 180,330 miles in a second. At this rate a first-class express train running at the speed of thirty-seven miles an hour, would re quire a continuous run of 75,000,000 of years to reach Alpha Centauri. It would take '250,000,000 of years for a cannon ball travelling at the usual speed of such projectiles to reach this same point, which is our nearest star neighbor. Got a Fine Instead of » ISounty. A man in the neighborhood of Marion, Penu., shot a screech owl, and, believing there was a bounty on birds on that kind, took it to a Justice of the Peace to make the proper af fidavit. The Justice assured him that there was not only no bounty on the screech owl, but that on the contrary, there was a penalty of 83 for shooting one. The Justice said that he was sorry, but, as the man had confessed to the violation of the law, he had no alternative but to impose the fine. t was a merry (fermaidcq, All down by the sounding Sea; 5 She wearied of combing ber golden fo^Ka,. •" #|tid of sitting around on weedy rocks, And For something new sighed she. Then up rose the merry W ermaiden. And hied ber unto the Shore. she spied a Cyclist riding past, H is shining wheels went round so Past, Hod they pleased her more and more. # Then out spake the merry Mermaidei?, (( And out aloud she cried; Pntbee.Sir, lend me that wondrous Shell On which you travel so Past and well. For I fain would learn to ride I .' Then down got the kindly wheelman); I "will wait till you learij" said he. And the Cyclist waits by the sounding Shore But the Nemaidet) com«s to bin> nevermore. For Sbt Scorches beneath tha Saa. —Nickell Magazine. DOCS TO RELIEVE MINERS. Trained Animals to Carry Provisions to the Klondike. A band of dogs is trained and broken to harness near Livermore, Cal., to convey supplies to Dawson City by way of Dyea and Chilcoot Pass. They will start from Dyea, says the San Francisco Examiner. The owners of the dogs hope to get the supplies into Dawson before the Yukon Kiver is open for navigation and make a large profit out of their venture. A supply of provisions will be shipped to Dyea, and the dogs and sleds will be taken up on the steamer so that an imme diate start can be made over the snow and ice for Dawson. Sleds are being constructed upou a special plan. The runners are four te >n inches wide, by twelve feet long. Moccasins are being made for each dog. The soles are of heavy canvas. The harness and collars will bo of can- DOC4S FOH THE KLONDIKE. vas. Leather harness would be eateu by the dogs. Each dog will have a goat skin to sleep in. The men will sleep in rubber bags, lined with fur. "We expect to carry '2OO pounds per dog," said Mr. Smith, "and will have thirty dogs. We will cross Chilcoot Pass and then cut across the country by the most direct route to Dawson. An antiquated case in a St. Louis court was dismissed because every body that was ever connected with it is dead. WORDS OF WISDOM. A woman loves a man and p.dor>9s a fool. Content is the true philosopher's stone. When a man wonders why he loves a woman, he doesn't. If you let an angry man alone, he will cool off himself. ■-■tm Some men tell their wives everything that doesn't happen. An ounce of persuasion is better than r a pound of compulsion. A woman never thinks a man a fool if he has once proposed to her. Patience is the support of weakness, impatience is the ruin of strength. Experience—Something everybody gets after it is too late to make use of it. A man generally asks a woman's ad vice so lie can show her how foolish •he is. Life's pleasures, if not abused, will be new every morning and fresh every evening. Lots of men have nice neoks and shoulders; only it doesn't count them anything. Honesty may be the best policy, but life insurance is more satisfactory to the widow. Kindness in the heart is like rose leaves in a drawer, sweeting every ob jeot around. The woman who marries for a home is apt to find that she has married a pig for a sty. Idleness is the dead sea that swal lows all virtues —the self-made sepul cher of a living man. Some people are content with being up-to-date, but there are others who borrow trouble two or three years ahead. Some men koap so busy deciding what women they don't want to marry that they never get time to decide what woman they do. Farm Owned by One Family Since 1381. Last- Saturday morning J. E. So gard received a remarkably interest ing document from Christiauia, Nor way, and one which he prizes very highly. It came from the Government Museum at Christiania, and is an ex act copy of two deeds of very ancient date, the original deeds having been preserved and placed on exhibition in the museum. The deeds are for a certain farm which the Sogard family has possessed for centuries and upon which two of his brothers—Simon, of Webster City, and John, of lowa City —were born. The first deed is dated July 1, 1381, or more than 500 years ago. A bettef realization of the age of this deed is had when it is remem bered that the Sogard family was in possession of the farm more than 100 years before Columbus discovered America, and it is probable that their ownership date* muoh further back than is shown bj this deed. The lat ter instrument was executed in 1548, nearly seventy-five years before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth. A gentleman from a neighboring town tells the Troy Times that he has seen the ancient document alluded to, but was unable to read it, as it is written in the Nor wegian language. He adds that the property is in the town of Oalen, near the town of Harnar, and that the largest city near the place is Chris tiania, and that the document states it is given in the reign of King Hakon, by the grace of God, King of and Sweden. —Webster City (Iowa) Freeman. China Cap Watch. John Curzon, a Polish mechanic, who was presented with a gold medal for his inventions, performed a most extraordinary thing when he succeeded iu manufacturing a complete watch in the space of eight hours, and from materials on which another watch maker would have looked with con tempt, says an exchange. It appears that the Czar of Russia, hearing of the marvelous invontive genius of Curzon, determined to put him to the test, and forwarded him a box containing a few copper nails, some wood ohippings, a piece of broken glass, an old craoked china cup, some wire, and a few crib bage board pegs, with the request that he should transform them into a time piece. Nothing daunted, and perceiving a golden opportunity of winning favor at the court, Curzon set about his task with enthusiasm; and in the almost inoredibly short space of eight hours had dispatched a wonderfully con structed watch to the Czar, who was so surprised and delighted at the work tbat he sent for the maker, conferred upon him several distinctions, and granted Irim a pension. The case of the watch was made of china, while the works were simply composed of the odds and ends accompanying the old cup. Not only did it keep good time, but only required winding once every three or four days. This re markable watch is believed to be still in the possession of the Russian royal family.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Paul Kevere's Copper Bolt*. At the annual dinner of the Paul Revere Association Mr. Benjamin F. Stevens gave an address, in whioh he spoke of the connection of Paul Re vere with the building of the frigate Constitution. He spoke of the fine work done by Revere, and the secret prooess that he had for tempering copper, so that it could be drawn into bolts, and by which he secured the contract for supplying bolts and metal work for the vessel.—Boston Tran script. The Greatest Butter Eater*. English people, it seems, eat mora butter than any other people on the face of the earth. It is partly through this that^the British complexion is the curesl in the world. TO WALK ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. Captain William C. Oldrieve Will Mails the Attempt Next July. Captain William C. Oldrieve, of Boston, has planned to walk across the Atlantic Ocean next July. He will be gin his journey July 4, and will be ac companied by Captain William A. An drews, famous by reason of his voy ages across the Atlantic in a small boat. The seagoing shoes of Mr. Oldrieva CAPTAIN OLDRIEVE AND HIS SEA-GOING SHOES. are the most wonderful part of the whole affair. They are really a pair of cedar boxes five feet long, with tins on the bottom and sides. They ure very light and capable of sustain ing 140 pounds,but as Oldrieve weighs only 130 they are as good to him as a steamer's deck. Into each of these wooden shoes the water walker's feet are thrust deep down and a rubber gaiter-like affair is fastened to his leg, thus effectually keeping out the water. Rubber boots reaching to the thigh are also worn. When thus equipped Oldrieve is able to walk many miles and to travel over choppy seas, and even the heavy swell of the ocean. His theory of midocean walking is to slide down the side of a big swell and wait for the next one to lift him up. In this way he says it really re quires less exertion to walk on water far out at sea than it does in a shel tered bay. The hardest work >f all, he says,is togo in choppy watei.is he did in the East River at New jTork. He thinks he will be able to walk from 500 to 1000 miles of the way across the Altantic in a period of forty to ninety days. As the course taken will be iu the path of steamships, he expects to speak many passing vessels and send back letters written while walk ing iu midocean to his friends in Bos ton. OLDEST BABY CRADLE IN AMERICA. IVas Hewn Out of a Log uud Has Been In Use 10G Years. Valparaiso, Ind., has a cradle yet in adtual U3e in the home of the Rev. John L. Brandt which is 106 years old. In this interesting nursery fixture more than forty babies have been rocked to sleep. In it was rocked in his infancy Mor decai Hardesty, the first white child born in Indianapolis. The cradle cauie from Virginia, and was handed down to the Brandt family by the grand mother of Mrs. John L. Brandt, wife of the pastor of the Christian Taber nacle of Valparaiso. Mrs. George Marquis is Mrs. Brandt's grandmother. She had four teen children, who were rocked to sleep in this cradle. Mrs. Brandt's A CRADLE FORTY BADIES WERE ROCKED IN. father was one of the fourteen. He is now eighty-six years of age. It is a quaint old relic of the primi tive days wlieu cradles were hewn from a log. It was cut from one solid pieoe, except that the two rookers were mor tised in and pegged on with wooden pegs. The head-piece, as shown in the picture, as intended as a head rest for the occupant, and for the spread tore on. The cradle is five feet three incnes in length. By reason of its continuous service it has keen worn very smooth, and its fine polish causes it to resemble ebony rather than fine-grained black hickory wood. At the time of the World's Fair there was an effort on the part of the In diana Commission to secure the cradle for an exhibit in the Indiana building, but Mrs. Brandt would not consent to part with it, fearing that by some acci dent it might be damaged or lost. An effort will be made to get permission to send it to the Paris Exposition of 1900, along with other American curi osities. Prettiest Girl In Japan. While we are all willing to acknowl edge the Japanese as the most thor oughly artistic of all Orientals, few Westerners believe in the beauty of Japanese women. "To be beautiful both in reality and A JAPANESE PRIZE BEAUTY. in pictures, the woman must be some what of pale complexion, with thin, oval face, prominent nose, small oval eyes and a small mouth. The body must be slender and the movement graceful. Although the Japanese women do not disfigure their feet as the Chinese do, yet they must be na turally small and turned inward in walki og. "Using the native figures of speech, the body must be slender aud grace ful, 'like a weeping willow branch.' " The Great C'analg and Their Cost. The Suez Canal is about 100 miles in length, and cost one million dollars per mile for its construction. The Corinth Canal is four miles in length, and cost completed, with its ap proaches, one million per mile. The proposed Nicaragua Canal will cost per mile, with its terminals and ap proaches, certainly uot less, and pro bably more than the sum named. The canals of Suez and Corinth are real maritime canals, built without locks, upon the sea-level. The one, that of Corinth, is situated in the temperate zone, where the rainfall is thirty seven or forty iuches per annum. The other, that of Suez, is located in a region without rain. Neither of these is threatened in its course by streams liable to suddeu aud perilous floods, so common in the tropical region of Central America. These two great works afford no real parallel to the Nicaragua project, either as to cost or feasibility. The one work parallel to this undertaking is very near, very like it, both in place and oiroum stance; it is that of the Panama canal across the Isthmus of Darien.— Harper's Magazine. HELPS FOR HOUSEWIVES. Mrs, llorer** Way of Stewing Oysters. Drain fifty oysters; put the liquor over the fire, boil and skim it. Straiu it through two thicknesses of cheese cloth into a saucepan. Add the oys ters, bring to a boil, and skim again; add one pint of milk, six whole pep percorns, half a teaspoonful of whole allspice and a blade of mace. Watch this "carefully until it just reaches the boiling point; add a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, and serve at once with squares of toast, or oyster crackers. —Ladies' Home Journal. Crisp lirendt'ruinbg. Into dainty cookery breadcrumbs always enter largely, and they are natarally best when made in the best way. To prepare, cut some slices of bread and dry them crisp and brown in a cool oven. Roll them under a rolling-pin to crumble. Put some pure,clarified dripping in a fryingpan, let it boil, throw in the crumbs and fry them very quickly.* When done remove them at once from the pan and drain from greasiness before the fire. When dry and crisp once more the crumbs are ready for use. They will keep for quite a week if stored in a dry tiu box. Yl'hil>l><*ter. Nothing can take its place. Pure spring water is the best tonic and blood purifier, to which will often yield liver and kidney troubles, rheu matism, local heart affections, indi gestion and eruptions. A* It Wai. Jack—So after you satisfied her father that >ou were a stockholder, she consented to be your wife? Mack —Yes. First she viewed my shares and then she shared mr views.