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><*<l Cream.
This much-needed ingredient of
fancy sweet dishes is prepared in the
following manner: To every pint of
cream allow three ounces of pounded
sugar, one glass of sherry, the rind of
half a lemon, and the white of one
egg. Rub the sugar on the lemon
rind and work it in a mortar till quite
smooth. Put the cream into a large
bowl, with the sugar, wine and egg
(beaten to a froth), and begin to whip
the whole to a froth. As this rises
take it oil' with a skimmer and place
on a sieve to drain. Whipped cream
should always lie prepared the day be
fore required, and should be kept in a
cool place.
To I'rpjmre Oatmeal for the Table.
Where hard coal is used for cooking
pin-poses, oatmeal may Vie put over
th Hre at six o'clock in the evening,
brought to boiling point, and kept at
thi\ temperature overnight so that it
may be ready to serve in the morning.
Where soft coal, wood or gas is used
for cooking purposes, it will be neces
sary to put the oatmeal over the fiio
at noon when the luncheon or dinner
is being prepared. Put four heaping
tablespoonfuls of the steel-cut oats
into a quart of cold water; add half a
teaspoonful of salt, and put it over
the lire in a double boiler; cover, and
cook continuously for one pr two
hours. Then it may be put aside un
til the night meal is being prepared,
and cooked again as long as the fire is
burning, and then put aside to be re
heated at breakfast time. The kettle
should be covered closely, and the
oatmeal must not be stirred from the
beginning to the end of the cooking,
otherwise the grains will be broken.
Stirring oatmeal seems to destroy its
flavor.—Ladiei' Home Journal.
Household Hints.
The hot bath is as harmless as re
freshing, if taken in the proper way,
merely as a plunge, followed by quick
and thorough rubbing and massage.
< Celebrated foreign doctors recom
mend marrow as a tonic and strength -
ener. Jt is spread on hot, dry toast,
or served on small pieces of beef lil
let.
Raw beef applied to the afflicted
part affords a speedy relief, when se
vere inflammation seems to threaten
appendicitis. This has been tested
recently by a physician.
It is claimed that the perfume of
flowers adds activity to all our organs,
especially the digestive ones. For
this reason, dinner guests in ancient
times were crowned with roses.
For a blistered heel, scrape a little
yellow laundry soap to a paste with a
very little water and apply to the spot.
As a preventive, thoroughly soap the
inside of the heel before starting out
on a long tramp.
Ink stains may be taken out of
white cloth by pouring peroxide of
hydrogen over the spot, then rinsing
with water. New milk is also good,
or lemon juice, followed bya thorough
sprinkling with salt.
Kitchen odors, penetrating to upper
sick rooms, may be dispelled by burn
ing dried lavender flowers on sheets
of brown paper soaked in saltpeter
and then dried. The bnrning may be
done in the coal scuttle.
It is a truth that will bear repeti
tion that carpets with small figures
are the most economical. The}- can
bo mended, patched, ripped and
turned to better advantage, and "they
also increase the apparent si/.e of a
room.
Oil of peppermint, so widely used
in the East, is useful as an external
application for neuralgia or rheuma
tism. When taken internally, much
diluted, it is beneficial in gastrio
troubles, and for coughs and colds. It
is also a good antiseptic for wounds
or burns and is really no more pun
gent than ammonia.
The system of the average person
demands from two to four quarts of
water per day, to be thoroughly
cleansed. Tue purer the water, the
greater is its power of absorbing effete
iua>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.