A^wiuuecrora ONE: OF THE ANIMALS YOU CAN'T CAtCH IN A TRAP OUT OF WATER. Tliey Are Very Konil of Crnwflsli anil Can He Trapped (Jinlcr Water —How to Smoke Him Out of a Tree—llls Habits In Winter, Especially the Long Fast. "Did you ever hear any one say he had trapped a coon?" said P. 13. Eyler, of Pittsburg, who has been spending a few days on Lake Keuka, and says that if there is anything he knows all about it's coons. "If any one over told you he trapped a coots in the woods lie told what never happened. Coons can't be trapped except in one way, and I never found a coon hunter yet who knew how it was done. i The coon leaves the coldest scent be hind it of any animal that lives, but it carries the keenest scent in front of it of any animal. You may track a coon to his home in tiie crevice of some rock, which is a favorite retreat for him. You may place your trap in front of the hole, and disguise it as you may, cover it wifh leaves a foot deep, if you like, but that coop will never leave that hole as long as that trap is there. He will starve to death first, as I have proved on more than one occasion. Ho can smell the iron of that trap, and lie seems to know the danger it threatens him with. He knows it will bo dentil to leave the hole, and lie prefers dcatli by starvation to being trapped. I have tried iron traps and snares and all sorts of devices, but could not succeed in fooling one of these wise little animals into getting caught by me, until one day a new idea struck me. It isn't Often you see a coon in the daytime, unless you know where to look for them. If there is a creek in your vicinity in which crawfish are plentiful, you will lie likely to discover soruo epi curean coon fishing for them, if you hide at tlie side of the creek and keep very quiet. The coon is particularly fond of crawfish. The way he fishes for them is to wade in the creek, generally going down the stream. The crawfish livo un der the stones on the bottom. The coon feels under each stone lie comes to with his fore paws, thrusting one under on one side and the other on the other side. It is a comical sight to see a coon fishing' for crawfish. He keeps his head high in the air, moving it up and down and to and fro, his eyes evidently gazing fit nothing, every sense seeming to be con centrated on the business beneatli the water. You can tell in a second when lie ha* fastened on a crawfish, for the ex pression on his face changes instantly from the dull, vacant stare to one of brightness and animation. He draws the crawfish out of the water, and, stand ing on his hind feet, rolls it smartly be tween his paw.. This crushes the shell and claws of the crawfish, and makes the sweet meat more accessible. The coon cats his capture v. i:h great relish, and then begins the search for another one. While watching a coon fishing 111 this way one day I got the new idea of trap ping for coons. I thought that by plac ing a steel trap Under the water in the creek where coons did their fishing they could be deceived, and more than likely caught. I tried the experiment. I sank two-traps at different places on a favorite orawiisliing route for coons, and the same afternoon found a coon in each trap. And that is the only way you can trap a coon. I often hear hunters talk about smok ing, coons out of hollow trees where they have been located. If tliey say they have ilofje . the smoking by burning straw or leaves or substances of that kind, I don't believe them. Coon hunters in western Pennsylvania know by long experience that there is only one thing, the smoke of which wiii force a coon to beat a re treat from his hollow tree. You may burn leaves or straw till the cows come home, but you won't get your coon. You can liear him sneezing every little while like a man \\ith the hay fever, but that is ali the effect the smoke will have on him. If you want to get your coon by smoking him out of the tree, you must take what we call a sulphur match over in western Pennsylvania. The coon hunting sulphur match is made by melt ing down a quantity of sulphur in a saucer and saturating a strip of muslin a few inches long and an inch or two wide in it When you run your coon into a lioll-. v tree all you've got to do is to put your sulphur match at the bottom of the hole end light it. It won't lie burning ten -onds before Mr. Coon will popout of liis hollow as if he'd been shot from a catapult, and then if you don't get him it's your fault. J re", er read anything about the habile of 11. coon yet that didn't say that die anii::.. l lays up stores to subsist on dur ing the winter, apd I nuvjur wet anybody who pin: -red to know any tiling about ciion- that didn't hold the same thing. A comi depends on stoles it collects to see r; tl rough winter justabout as much as the I ear does, and everybody knows that the bear gees to sleep in his hole when the weather drives him in. and dne.- nit generally wake up until spring, and r V efin*t oat tliufli. The Coon ii<n s tiie same living, oxoopt that he will walte. up now and then on sonic line day ami take a little stroll through the coun try When he goes to Ids winter home lie rolls Ititn.-elf with his nose between ! his hind legs, and very close to his linms, at that, and gives himself up to oblivion. I When he comes out in the spring lie's as thin as a shadow. I've cut down dozens ! of coon trees in the winter, and always | found the conns in that rolled up posi- j tion. with not a vestige of unytliing to i eat in the hole. If a coon conies out on j a winter's day and the ground is all eov- j erod with snow, lie will accept the inev- | itable and walk on the snow to his desti- i nation, but if the enow is in patches, or j lies in scattered banks, the coon will fol- ! low the leading of the bare ground j around the p itches of snow, keeping shy ' of ail contact with them, although such a course may lead him miles out of his way. Tiiec.iOnig an interesting creat ure, and is worthy of a good deal of study.—Haii-mondsport Cor. New York Sun. "Now Ju^pUpd-l>??idu<lDM| jminute and notice- bofW-miibti innate hoggish ness tliere is in human nature," said a conductor ut the Boston and Maine sta tion last night to a Globe reporter. "The 5:45 train is just backing in. Watch." The long row of empty oars slowly rolled into the station. Tiie large plat form and the little platform between the tracks were covered with men and women waiting to get seats as soon as the cars stopped. Hut as the speed of the curs slackened somewhat a move ment begun all along the crowd. Men jostled against eacli other in frantic at tempts to board the moving cars, clutch ed at the rails and stumbled all over the stops, tiring to clamber aboard, and when the cars came to a full stop nearly every one of them was almost filled with men comfortably reading their papers. As for the women. Well, one or two brave but careless souls may have tried to step upon a car before it stopped, but for the rest there was nothing left to do but wait while the men, unencumbered with skirt 3 and petticoats, jumped in and got good seats. "Not only do the men steal all the seats," remarked the conductor, "but they never think of offering a woman a seat. Street-car etiquette sort of half compels a mail not to allow a lady to stand, but in a steam car she gets a seat only when she is able to fight for it. Some one will get killled jumping on those cars some day, and then perhaps you will see a change in things. Wouieu have no divine rights to seats I suppose, but they ought to be allowed a fair start in the race."—Boston Globe. About Pin no*. "Very few know how to take care of a piano," said a musical man to a re porter who visited his warerooms. "How do you do it here?" asked the scribe. "It is u popular notion that pianos ought to be kept very dry Nothing could be more fallacious. Pianos are .not nearly so much affected by heat or cold as they are by dryness, and, re versely, by dampness. It is not general ly known that the sounding board, the life of a piano, is forced into the case when it is made so tightly that it bulges up in the center, on the same principle as a violin. The wood is supposed to lie as dry as possible, hut, of course, it con tains some moisture, and gat Iters more on damp days and in handling. Now, when n piano is put into an overheated, dry rooui all this moisture is dried out, and the board loses its shape and gets flabby and cracks. Even if it doesn't crack the tone loses its resonance and grows thin and tinny, the felt cloth and leather used in the action dry up, and the whole machine rattles." "How do you prevent this?" "Keep a growing plant in your room and so I ing as your plant thrives your piano ought to, or else there is some thing wrong with it. It should lis noted how inu. ii more water will have to lie pour.-i i::t i the flower pot in the room where the piano is than in any other room in Germany it is the practice t keep a large va> • or urn with a sopping wet sponge in it near or under the piano and keep it moistened This is kept up all the time the fires are on."-—New York Mail and Express puring his wonderful sledg journey from Hudson bay to the Arctic ocean. Frederick Sphwatka had abundant op portunity to learn the habits and the disposition of the Eskimo dog Re started' out with sixty of T: ■•in, using them' to draw the sledges, and only nineteen were alive when he returned to Hudson bay. The others had died, mostly of starvation Re pays: "They wen- through till this lion-fide time perfect respecters of their human allies, and the little children used to go among them and play with them by pelting them over the back with their toy whips; and yet the same dogs were starving, and should one of them die his comrades would cat hint- I notice this particularly, as some sensational writers have tried to make their readers believe that the Eskimo dogs are liable to be come dangerous fellows, even to o powerfully built man. when simply hungry, and to lie worst? than wild beasts when ravenous. Any onslaught of Eskimo dogs is unknown among tiie northern natives where I travel.-,I "Jt was pitiable in the extreme to see their sufferings as tliey so devotedly helped us along, many of them up till the very minute they had, to be taken from the harfiess and abandoned on the read As 11ix-y dropped out iijohg the way. ,wu-'lwiiii'usHad 'ourselves' 'iii Airir places to flic sjedga, -traces, mid it'was tints we -■•■-.--re not compelled t, !■ avo -portiii:t parts of dm loan i i/S< t-isne. rVf Tuin'VCii'.jn." TlH;.,ck>wnip.:plory of 'The National ' j ■ ' *Vfls lijfpht -flliniiu- (if llovcljs. •L'ni-V Vnl'in." !'\- Mr- Harriet Bet (theft blowe, which jsegfjtj jii the issue "! Juli.i 1 l-Vd. uiitl undid April I. INIS. Ii'furfjftiniss!l it hadimilod U'-li a firtwiuuiti that the Jewells, of Bos ton. had jt stereotyped, and uu mediately .I'tiT it was completed-in the paper it v. :: published- in boo!: form in "its cur ler of publieuliiat in the IJI-WS paper it KueitK'tUuMl Ifctt 'rite uhvula t ion of The Natiunul Era was Phono when •Uncle Tbtji" ;i begum <hi the Ist ot \ugust, 1853. .shortly after ro tuatiee was coinploti u. the circulation hail pone up to lO.oon On Dec. SO. IMS. it reached 37,0011. Washington! uizelt'i Checks ( inter Their riittcs. Mr. Neville, the groat baker ol Lou doll, who died recently, like many other men who afterwards attained to wealth, made a false start in life, for ills first venture ended in bankruptcy, lie tried again, and soon became wealthy He then invited each of the creditors lie had been obliged to pay but partially to eoluo to a dinner. Each guest found under liis cover a check for the balance due, with interest up to date. Mr. Neville is said to have been offered and to have re fused £BOO,OOO for his business a short time before iiis death.—Exchange. AxN ALPiM AUV EftlU HE. i eifJ viicusu 6if. sbnouicib A MOUNTAIN CLIMBER DESCRIBES A DAY AMONG THE GLACIERS. Beautiful Fields of Snow and White Cap ped Peaks Where Death Walts ou a Sin gle Misstep—Rescued from an Exceed ingly Dangerous PositiAn. Tom Kenvon never felt so unwilling to got up as he did one morning early i" September. IS—. He and Frank Marshall had settled to make the ascent of the Fi3ch Horn; they had arranged it with the guide, Jules Lessore; and they had ordered the boots of the hotel to call them at 3 o'clock in the morning. By 4 o'clock they started. There was a slight rain failing, but Jutes declared that it would clear. On leaving the lice tel they turned to Hie left, and for a mile or two they kept to the level road. The guide turned off to the right, and followed by Konyoa and Marshall, be gan to mount a steep, narrow path. It was gradually growing light. They turned a shoulder of the rocks which they were clambering, and they saw through tlig rising mist the dim out line of the huge Rinderhorn; the wild scene had become extremely desolate. The Hotel des Voyageurs, perched high up on the farther side of the valley, was the only sign of life or habitation. Now and again a patch of snow told them that they were leaving the snow line be neath them. After a time they reached the foot of a precipitous mass of rocks; the jagged, cruel looking rocks towered up pitilessly above them. Lessore stopped 1 his regular, machine like strides. He quickly roped Kenyon, tlu-'i Marshall, and then himself, leaving alioiit fifteen feet of rope between each of them. The snow field stretched on for rather more than a mile, and at last they dime to tile'f t of the highest peak of the me It rose up liercelv into the s! i icks forming this peak were 1 p -• - .'wed with snow, and they 100. . vrihly irtm and forbidding. But i.o.v'thjt the go.il was in view they pressed 0:1 eageriv. It Was a severe scramble. TliesuOw bad made the rocks slippery, and it was necessary in places to clamber like cats, but eventually they reached the top and sat down upon the sharp, jagged point. Every side of them the r- Its shelved down precipitously for tlm f feet. The sun had become o-. -all were gathering, it was hi' i and noon it began to snow. 1 suddeil and awful roar, lib -I of thunder, then ah p. tor ration. "What on eartii is the. . leuyon. it i 1 an avalanche on tlio 1; aid the guide. 1 dead silence; then an us air, announcing that the a\ .going further on its way do-- ■ ltuin. After a short rest on ' tin- peak they began to d ers? order. They found (1 rnofe easily. The keen 'on lii j summit had thor -1 t'.ieai up. They reached l! ' ".iu without much diffl oul ' ■.. i git half way across th ■ .• i;igratulatiiig thera selv . y would soon be over it, who:. , . . .without warning. Jules am! " a sharp jerk on the toy v .1. ' had sunk into the snow: d"'. ' ! 1 arms wore visible. "i 1 Jules, "what is the • V* ■ Marshall cried; "pull 1 '1 1,0 through. My feet • r. ; i:ig in the air and I <• i i '-idly sinking." : hard upon the rope ahd v , Marshall. Kenyon fol io ...; I t 1 give play to the rope; In '.".I'M.- drew nearer to the (lii * it. V- I>w indd, Kenyon thought, Unt." ' o': ail is out? He scorned to feel the - • ing way beneath him. Mar sha!! il.: hi* nerve began to fail hi ■ relit of his dear ones in En hud promised his wife that lie " pt nothing hazardous and I! rime suddenly into his r. l inger was imminent; life ail • struggling in the balance: t ' irprise Jules stood still— In. an instant—then with a mi ■ :he pulled at the rope and clroA ; ull on to (inner foothold; but the greatest danger was to come, for Kenyan had still to pass. He made a cautious step, aided by- Jules' directions; he saw a yawning black hole where Marshall had sunk into what iiail seemed substantial snow. Could he cross it? it seemed almost impossible, for the snow appeared to lie giving way rapidly. The footing of Marshall and Jules was anything but se cure, and if the sn.v.v gave way alto gether before Kenyan was past the hole they must all go down together. At this instant lie full th snow give under his feet. He seemed to U-falling as lie sprang and plunged fun ju-d—lie turned giddy— sons-tiling was dragging hip! down; hill it W..S Jules who pulled vigorously at the rope ami lauded liiui on the dr..i snow just r.s the soft ijins-t gave way precipitately ami fell hundreds of feet pin to tlie rocks below ICen.i • i v. as dazed for o minute or two, but thru he joined his companions as they stood .on the edge of then!-." dis closed by tile mass that had fall, :i, thev looked down breathless an i awes' rue ;. If Jules had been one seen;-, 1 later in pulling the rope they would all have been dashed to death o:i the sharp, j tgged rocks IICLIW. Tlicy walked safely over the rest of the snow iitlJ. There was sowo dauger ous scrambling down thy rocks and over loose stones, but at last they touched the region of turf and trotted down the steep mountain slopes with the aid of their Alpine stocks. They came in sight of the valley leading to the village from which they had started. As they reach ed their hotel utterly exhausted the clock struck 5. Then hod beeu walking and climbing fr\We best part of thir teen hours.—Thomas Stanley in Phila delphia Timr3. * KINSHIP OP PLOWKRS. A FlnrUl'a Interesting Talk on ttie Hy bridization of Plants. William Bert6rmann talked to a re porter frotti behind a bank of roses Of all tints and hues. "This rose is a brother of this one," said he, as lie laid out two beautiful flowers of the deep pink variety. "Here is the grandfather of these two." contin ued he. as lie placed upon the counter a splendid red rose on a spindling stock, and hero is the grandmother." The latter was a small white rose of unattractive appearance, but upon a rugged stalk. Then Mr. Bertermann pointed out the cousins, and aunts, and uncles and other relatives of the flowers he had exhibited. "It's just like raising horses or cattle or hogs," said he. "The stock is contin ually improved by careful breeding. Flower breeding lias become a science, and, by crossing the best varieties every year, new and more beautiful flowers are being grown. A man who ceased to be a florist ten years ago, could not go into a tirst class flower garden now and recog nize many of the flowers that we deal in most extensively. There has been a mix ture of blood, so to speak, until nearly all the old time flowers have lost their identity. Nearly all the flowers sold now are hybrids, or crosses between the most desirable old stocks." Mr. Bertermann then explained the process of hybridization, the mere opera tion of which is easy enough. It is sim ply necessary to carry the pollen by means of a camel hair brush, or other wise, from one blossom and place it on the stigniatic surface of tin - flower of the other, or seed bearer. A col my of bees in a flower garden will do the work bet ter than it can .be done with a brush. They constantly carry the pollen from one flower to -another, but of course there is no system about tl.e crosses they bring about. When hybridization is attempted the florist must lie certain that the plants are receptive. As a rule, by close observation the florist may lie come able to tell when to apply the pol len. Not a few plants develop stigma and anthers at the same time, and > '• them it is necessary to remove i t. thers before they burst, and at the scon time by means of a fine gauze, or other wise, to prevent the visits of insects which might convey pollen from another flowe.r. and thus effect an undesirable cross. This sometimes happens: a flower in good form, but defective in color, is per haps crossed with another, winch is faulty in shape, but of novel and desira ble shade. A weakly grown variety may be used in an effective way in a combination with stronger grown, lack ing the particular qualities of the for mer. As with the "grandfather" and "grandmother," Mr. Bcrtermann pointed out where breeding the d: rk red rose, supported by a weak stalk, to the puny white rose 011 a healthy stalk, a splendid pink rose, supported by a well developed stalk, was produced. Sometimes tile florists' ideal is kept so constantly in sight that the pollen of a particular strain becomes more or loss futile. Growers of cyclamen and gladiola ha bitually call in the aid of a microscope to determine the state of the pollen in a highly bred seedling. If it is found to be uneven—not plump, clear and regular —in size und outline, the plant is dis carded as a propagator, and another chosen which promises to allow the de sired results in size, form and color of flowers, Hybrids between two distinct genera are by no means common. Mr. Bcrter mann cited one example in philageria, a cross between the beautiful and climb ing Lapageriaroses und the bushy Thl lesia buxofplio. which is intermediate between its two parents, though not nearly so desirable as either. Species of the satue genus frequently refuse alto gether to cross with each other, and some again will cross only one way. Florists, however, have never been able to lay down any definite rule, and excep tions can only lie learned by experience. For the most perfect and symmetrical flowers, it is best to select single flowers which are most perfect in their petals for seed bearers. Another interesting fact is that single or semi-double sorts, with perfect carrolas, will produce double flowers of a regular, symmetrical forma tion. "it's a fascinating business," said Mr. Berterniunn, "and the only trouble is, florists who make a business of raising flowers for the market, as we do, have not the time to devote to hybridization. That work is done most successfully by gentlemen Who make the business a con stant study. The best man at hybridiza tion in Indiana, perhaps, is tile florist at Purdue university. He makes the breed ing of flowers a speciality, and is certain ly very proficient in the business." "Are artificial colorings much used now?" "Very little, as compared with former times, for the reason that all "tints can lie obtained by hybridization. Cut white flowers ai-e sometimes placed in ink, and by absorption they take on a blue tint; And then roses are sometimes given a blue' tint by placing about their roots iron dust from around anvils in black smiths' shojx. "I observed a strange thing recently. 1 bad placed some hyacinths in water, and after they had stood for a while the color all left them. In handling the earthen pots in which they were placed, their departed color stuck to my hands from the outside of the pots. The water, it seemed, had drawn the coloring mat ter all out of the flowers, and it had set tled on the outside of the earthenware." —lndianapolis News. A Delicate Solder. An account is given in a German pa per of a soft alloy which adheres so iirmly to metallic, glass and porcelain surfaces that it can he used as a solder, and which, in fact, is valuable when the articles to he soldered are of such a na ture that they cannot bear a very high degree of temperature, the composition consisting of finely pulverized copper dust, which is obtained hv shaking a so lution of sulphate of copper with granu lated zinc.—New York felegratu. A Process of WMsh the Poblto Knows Very tittle —Every Pas* Printed by Band. If the public will be as much surprised to learn how'sheet music is printed as was the writer, this article will be read with interest. A walk through the printing rooms of the largest music pub lishing house in Boston, under the tutel age of its courteous foreman, i 3 full of interesting instruction. It was into one of the many "lofts" in which the establishment abounds that the reporter was taken. 0,.e door was tilled with a veritable lacewo is of long poles, placed horizontally, which were loaded out of sight with sheet music hung upon tiiem to dry. The whole place had the air of washing day at home, and the reporter involuntarily glanced around if perchance lie might get a glance of cold dinne- lying about. "As fast as the sheets • printed we hang them here over niglH." said the foreman, "and then place them between pasteboards and press them Hut. Then they are ready for market. Come up into the pressrooms." The press rooms are very unlike their newspaper prototypes. Not a sound loud enough to interfere with conversa tion is heard in them, for sheet music is printed all by hand. Two kinds of presses are used; the old style "plank" press and the improved or "D" press. The latter consists of a slid ing table several feet square, on which are two raised blocks just the size of a Bheet of music, on which are placed the plates from which the printing is done. The plates having been inked and the paper laid on thein, the printer gives a turn to an immense wheel, feet in diameter, the sliding table slides under a large roller covered with a belt, and the paper is forced against the plate, thus giving the impression; and another revo lution of the wheel brings the apparatus back-to its original position. The "plank" press is like the other, except that in using it the plates are inked on a bench and laid on the blocks every time an im pression is taken, while with the "D" pres3 the plates are not removed from the blocks until the edition is run off. "Now, here is a man printing title pages," said the foreman. "We print only one sheet nt a time, and a man can take from 1,500 to 1,800 im- ssions a day. This plate, which I ■ exactly like silver, is composed • f v.. ■•. lead and hritannia, and is made aim • . lusively in New York. Every pubii.- hmv house manufactures its own ink. It can't bo bought. It is very particular stuii and must he made just so, and it is a very delicate matter to make and take care of it. This title page lias been engraved by hand The design is sunken, you see. When engraved - tho plate is put on a hot block, and beeswax is melted into the design. That, too, is a ticklish matter. If we wipe it off too soon, we spoil it, and if we let it get too hard it crumbles and won't hold the ink. Once bees waxed, a plate can be used for printing for vears. "Engraving the music plates is a dif ferent process, however, from that used in making the title page. The engraver has to. have a separate tool for every kind of note—half, whole, quarter, rests, etc. His outfit costs S4OO. He does not carve into the plate as wood engravers do, but stamps out each note separately with a hammer. You can imagine what nice work it is to adjust the tools just right, and bow hard it is to engrave a sheet of music." The reporter watched the process of printing, and saw something like this: After the plate had been fastened to its block on the press the printer inks it with a hood roller, just as other printers ink their type in taking proofs, lie then wipes the plate carefully with a cloth; the ink sticks to the beeswax, which covers the design or the notes, and the rest of the plate is comparatively clean. A second wiping with another rag leaves all but the design shininglv clean, the paper is laid on, and the great wheel, re volving soon takes the impression and returns the printed pages to the printer's hand. The plate is then wiped again, reinked, rewiped twice, and, in fact, un dergoes the same process between each impression. "It is a curious fact," continued the foreman, "thatalthough this work is all clone by hand the printers never touch the paper. A piece of pasteboard is folded double and used as a holder, and with that the printer handles all his sheets, and never lets his inky hands come in contact with them." "Isn't music printed from type some times?" asked the reporter. "Yes. When wo want to run off a large edition of some cheap stuff, books or something of that sort, we set the music up. in type, stereotype the page and print from it, just as you newspaper fellows do. But the work isn't as hand some, and, besides, there is some music written that can't he set up with type." All music plates after being used are stored in fireproof vaults and indexed for possible future use. The foreman states the curious fact that in the great collec tion of which he has charge there are more pieces of music whoso names begin with S than of any other letter, while 'he M's are a close Recond.—Best on Globe. lJi.strfMHfiit Feet. . Mueh foot sensitivehess could be re moved by a daily regular resting of tlieui in cool water. This simple duty, which could be utilized as a short reading time, which obviates much distress, is cer tainly wortli performing. I found this out lost summer by taking swimming lessons. I really save tlio value of chi ropodists' bills, going out once a month instead of twice a week to have my feet treated, whilo doing twice as much walking as customary. —Fannie Edgar Thomas. An Honest Inheritance.. Mabel—Father, I really do not half like that Miss Shearewell. She's an— well, an awful clip. Father (solemnly)—My dear, do not blame the poor girl. She came honestly by her nature. Her father is the scissors editor of The Sunday Scrapbag.—Pitts burg Bulletin, " irnrsrwmrowEEir. - YAHTAJI RA3 /il , • ORIGIN OF SOME OF THE LEGENDS THAT ATTACH TO OCT. 31. • A Period Dear to Romantic Young Men and Maidens—Old Formal as l T sed to De cide the All Important Question a* to Who Would Be the Bride or the Groom. From its first organization Halloween has been invested with a peculiarly mys tic character. It is nu almost universal superstition that supernatural inlluences then have unusual power; that devils, witches and fairies are abroad; that all spirits are free to roam through space, and that the spiritual elements in all living humanity can be detached from corporeal restraint and made to read its own future or to reveal to others what fate may have in store for them. As there is nothing in the church celebra tion of the ensuing day of All Saints' to justify these singular ideas and customs associated with Halloween, and as none of them are of a religious character we may justly regard them as relics <Jf pagan times. READING THE FUTURE.' In all ages and countries Halloween has been deemed, as it still is, the occa sion par excellence for divining the an swer to that momentous question which absorbs so largo a share of the thoughts of romantic young men and maidens, "Who is to marry whoqi?" The means employed to gain this much desired in formation are as quaint and curious as they are numerous and varied. For this purpose every time and every country— almost every district of every country— • has hail its own charms and spells pecu liar to itself, aud they have furnished an almost inexhaustible theme to folk poets and compilers of folk-lore. Those of Scotland luive been most graphically described by that greatest of all poets of the people, Robert Burns, In his poem of "Halloween" lie has - given us a most vivid account of more than half a score of Halloween charms and spells peculiar to the Scottish peas- • an try. hi a very old book of folk lore called "Ye True Arte to lieade Ye Future." is found the following: If a maiil would know ya name of ye man slie is to marry let lier 011 All-Halloween steal out to a lime kiln arid throw therein n clue of blue yarn, still holding to ye other end. Presently ye end In ye kiln will he sharply pulled Then yo maid must say "Who koldir" Whereupon ye voice of her future husband will pronounce his name both ye Christian and yo surname The only obstacle to the successful per formance of this spell is the difficulty of finding an old lime kiln, but as lime kilns will bo in great demand among oar women when the important statement made in the above paragraph becomes generally known, and as a demand for any article in tigs country is speedily met by an abundant supply the number of lime kilns will doubtless soon be largely augmented, to the great delight of anxious, mutch-making matumas and , their dutiful offspring. YE MYSTERIES. . Water, nuts and apples bear a promi nent part In the spells and charms of Halloween. A quaint old book of charms published in Edinburgh in 1070, entitled "Old Father Time's Bundle of Faggots Newly Bound Up," declares that an in fallible moans of getting a view of your future husband or wife is to go to bed Halloween with a glass of water, in wliiclj a sruaU sliver of wood has been placed, standing on a tabie by your bed side. In the night you will dream of falling from a bridge into the river, and of being rescued by your future wife or husband, whom you will see as distinct ly as though viewed with waking eyes. This charm is thus alluded to by the English pout Gay: Last ll&Jloweea I longed my love to see. And tried a spell to <x.li her up to me. With wood and water standing by my side ' I dreamed u dream and saw my own sweet bride. In a folk-lore book, called "Ye Mys teries of the Wytchcraft," there is given a charm "by which a maid may know if ye man she loves be true." To perform this, the maid is directed to pluck at midnight on All Halloween two month ly roses with long stems, naming one for herself and the other for her lover. She must then go directly to her sleeping room without speaking to any one, and kneeling beside her bed must twine the stems of the two roses together and then repeat the following lines, mean while gazing intently upon the rose named for her lover: Twine, twine, unil intertwine: Let my love be wholly mine. It his heart be kind and true Deeper grow his rose's hue If her swain be faithful, the color of • the rose representing him will grow darker and more intense. Of all the many Halloween spells' and charms asso ciated with nuts, one of the oldest is that which prevails in some of England's northern counties, and which is to the effect that if a young man or woman will go at midnight Halloween to a wal nut tree and walk around it three time 3, crying out each time: "Let hhu (or her) .that is to be my true love bring me some walnuts,' the future wife or husband will lie seen in the tree gathering its fruit, '"he poet (Jay thus refers in his "fasten ls" to this custom:' Last Halloween 1 sought d walnut tree In hopes oiy li-uj love's face tlult 1 might see; Three times 1 called, three times I walked apace. Then iu I he tree I saw my true love's (ace —Chicago Times (SUM atitl Lleotric Li^ht. The influence of gas and electric light on the colors of textile fabrics used for furniture coverings, draperies or carpets, is a matte) which should he clearly un derstood bj every retail salesman who is employed in stores where such goods are sola, for to the purchasers of these fab- * lies the effect they produce under arti- J flcial light is usually a highly important consideration. In many establishments rooms are arranged for showing fabrics by gas and electric light, but it is often desirable for the salesman to bo able to give a customer some trustworthy in formation ou this subject without re moving the goods in question from the spot where they are being examined.— Upholsterer. • --v-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers