and the beasts in the meadow.
* | Seemed happy evenasl, ~ ie
And 1 stretched my hands to the meadow,
i. To the bird, the beast, the tres;
SyWhy are ye all so happy?’
| Xeried, and they answeredme.
What sayest thou, oh meadow,
"That stretchest so wide, so far,
That mone can say how many
- *T'hy misty marguerites are?
And what say ye, red roses, :
That o'er the sun-blanched wall
From your high black-shadowed trellis
Like flame or blood-drops fall?
“We are born, we aro reared, and we
linger
A various space, and die,
We dream, and are bright and bappy,
But we cannot answer why."
What sayest thou, oh shadow,
That from the dreaming hill
Al down the broadening valley’
Test so sharp and still?
And thou, oh murmuring brookle
Whereby in the noonday gleam
The loose strife burns like ruby,
4nd the branched asters dream? :
We are born, we ara reared, and w
linger
A various space and die;
We dream, and are very happy,
Bub we cannot answer why.”
Ax then of myself I questioned,
That like a ghost the while
Stood from me and calmly answered
With slow and curious smile:
Thon art born as the flowers and wilt linger
"Thine own short space and die,
Thou dreamst and art strangely happy, '
But thou canst not answer why.”
—A4reh. Lampman, in Youth's Companion.
The Storv of a Mortgage.
BY LEROY ARMSTRONG.
In the first place, the mortgage never
should have been made.
Ben Morgan was one of your ‘active
men,” one of the class termed ¢‘hus-
tiers” in these years of new word. coin-
3 He was in some regards a brill
sant man. People szid he could make
money at anything. He had no regular
business aside from the farm, but he was
thrifty, alert and fortunate. Sometimes
he had thousands of dollars on hand;
sometimes he had to borrow. It was on
- ‘one of these latter occasions that he put
the mortgage on the farm. It was the
first time he had ever done such a thing.
Perhaps if Sam Morgan, his only son,
who was away at school inthe State
University—had not fallen into trouble,
the loan would never have been made.
But it would have been better and kinder
and wiser to have asked Sam to pay the
Siddler, since he had insisted on danc-
However, there was the mortgage, and
there it had been since the fatal Novem-
ber 26, 1886. Mrs. Morgan didn’t really
wnderstand what it meant when she bad
signed the paper. She was suffering
keenly, as only a mother cad, and
silently, over the knowledge that Sam
had been expelled. She knew very little
of her husband's business. He never
galked of it much, to her or any one.
She never knew what he did with the
saoney, but she knew by his sleeplessness,
Dy his evident mood of apprehension, by
the puzzled expression, by the sobered
face, and finally by the hopeless return
ene night, that affairs had not pros-
She sat by his bedside that early win-
fer, she gave the medicine all through
shat season of illness, she followed him
@ver the frozen ground when they buried
Rim in January.
And then she came home and tried to
fake up his burden in addition to her
own.
Fsony was eighteen, and almdsé out
of high school. Madge was three years
younger and would not be consoled.
‘Allan was twelve, and resoiute to help
Sis mother. ;
First she sold the pony to pay the
dector’s bill, and Fanny walked to town
gach morning and home each night.
Then she sold some of the cattle, for the
feed was running short as the spring ap-
ed. Then she rented most of the
‘fields, for Allan was too small to farm,
Bat the men, who gave her ‘‘one-
2hird in the field,” seemed to take a
wery large two-thirds for themselves.
And it was not easy to meet the constant
&sims which came up against the estate
during that first year. She wondered
#hat her husband had left nothing, and
fully believed the time would come
when some one would find a fortune
stowed away and waiting for her.
Fanny began teaching school in the
sprung of '87, but the pay was small, and
the girl was away from home so much.
How the widow’s heart hungered for
Ser children; for a little of the comfort
#hat had gone out of her life when that
strong man laid down and died.
Madge grew restless in the loose re-
string, and troubled the mother not a
Bittle. Allan worked like a Trojan in
the garden and the orchard. If it had
mot been for the interest, she would have
gotten along very well.
But there before her, less than four
yews away now, was thal impending
mortgage, and nothing on earth, unless
i were the hidden treasure, could ever
wanquish. it.
8p one year grew into two; and two
into three; and three years finally added
%o themselves a fourth, Fanoy was a
strong woman now. She had found her
footing, and the “world did not daunt
her. She had proven ‘her worth, and
Ber services were rewarded.
Madge had never attempted high
achsol. The walk was too long, and
Besides, her mother could not consent to
Jpse her. Allan had saved a little, and
Bad developed some of his father’s talent
For trading. The shécp and the calves
ad grown into money. Heo had made
more money with them. Fanny had
simished her school, and the three chil-
a@wen were sitting with their mother
“bent the fire in the evening.
MWe have just managed to live and
up the icterest,” said Mrs. Mor-
| bidding way.
| ening tone little by little, and presently
: : a Know
fhe farm is stripped when the good
man dies, | TER
‘Bat we have always held together,
and we are very happy,” said large-
hearted Fanny. : :
+If 1t wasn’t for the mortgage we
would get along all right,” said Allan.
«But the mortgage is there,” sighed
mother.” ‘We cannot meet it in any
way I can see, and next year we must
lose the farm.”
«Some one is coming,” said Madge.
The dog began barking in a most for-
He tempered the threat-
they knew by the rapping of his tail on
the kitchen door that he knew the vis-
itor and would welcome him.
It was "Squire Folkstone.
«I thought I would calla minute,”
said the farmer. He never called unless
the quarterly interest were due, and the
widow was by no means sure his visit
portended pure kinduess. She remem-
bered how her husband had scorned the
slow, scheming old man.
“I just wanted to say a word about
cutting down trees in the woods,” he
continued, turning to Allan.
«*What about it?” asked the young
man. Allan was taller and heavier than
‘Squire Folkstone. His mother noted
that with pride as she watched him front-
ing the money-lender. .
«Well, you know I hold a mortgage
on the farm, and every stick of timber is
| worth something.”
«Yes, but we have td have fire wood.”
s¢And you could get fire wood without
picking out the best red-oak trees,
couldn’t you? I was walking through
the woods ‘the other day, and I noticed
whenever you cut down a tree you al-
ways cut down the finest one. Now, of
course, you can’t expect to pay that
mortgage next year. The farm will
naturally fall to me, and I have a right
to see that you don’t damage me.”
There was a moment of very painful
silence, It was the heaviest cross the.
widow had had to bear. She could not
truly hope to pay off that awful mort-
gage. The possible fortune that Ben
Morgan might have left seemed never
forthcoming, She had done the very
best she could. So had her children.
She thought of Sam, long sluce lost sight
of, and wished he were here to protect
his mother and save the heritage of her
children
Allan seemed strugsling with a pas-
sion too great for his untrained control.
Presently he said: .
tWhat business had you in the
woods?”
«Well, I had a right to sce that m
property was not—""
«But this isn’t your property,” pro-
tested Allan.
«But it will be,” said the squire, lift.
ing his eyebrows and smiling a very hard
smile at the young man.
«But it won't be,” retorted Allan.
«We are going to pay that mortgage
when it is due. Now, don’t let me hear
of you on this farm again till your claim
is due. I guess I will go a little farther.
You came here with a mean purpose to-
night. I guess this house is too small for
you and the rest of us. You get out! Get
‘out; "Squire Folketone?”
¢tAllan—-" protested Mother Morgan,
but her heart lamed with the proud cer-
tainty that he was justified.
«¢What—why,” began the ’squire,
rising in something like fear; tor the
youth was angry and very strong.
¢tGo out, I tell you. Go, or I will—"
He did not need to finish the threat.
The justice started to his feet, felt be-
hind him for the latch, opened the door
in a hewildered fashion, passed out so
hurriedly that the dog sounded another
threatening bark, and so escaped to the
highway.
«Now, what shall we do?” asked tim-
orous Madge.
«Do just what I said,” replied Allan;
ttpay the mortgage.” -
“But, my son, we have nothing to pay
it with,” said the widow. She was full
of misgivings after all.
«+We will have,” said Allan.
Then they began planning. Fanny
would draw no more money till the end
of the winter term. It would be a little
inconvenient, but Allan would take the
colts and drive over after her every Fri-
day night, and take her back to the
school every Monday morning. Madge
would help mother as she never had
helped before, afd Allan would sell all
the stock that could safely be spared and
fit the farm for working as soon as spring
opened. °
«] do wish Sam were here,” suid
mother.
«Sam will be here when the mort-
gage is paid and will help us celebrate,”
said hopeful Allan. ‘I am glad we kept.
the two lower fields last fall and sowed
them in wheat.” : : ;
So day followed day, and the frost of
winter melted into the veins of spring.
«tGoin’ to be most too wet to plant
corn in that field,” said 'S8quire Folk-
stone cheerfully, leaning over the fence
where Allan was heaping ‘brush on a
patch of new ground.
«Well, mebby, mebby,” replied the
young man. ‘It does look cloudy now,
that’s a fact.”
But he did not desist from his work-
ing. : ;
itGoin’ to plow up that fall wheat,
ain't you?” persisted the money-lender,
t‘No; why?”
«10ause it's winter killed,” replied
the squire. ‘‘It never can make—and
with all this wet weather agin’ it now.”
Allan was by no means sure. Boysdo
not watch the seasons. But there was
one thing that armed him. It was hope.
He nd¥er flinched for a moment. He
did the best he could, and counted on
fortune to favor him. =.
She did seem inclined to smile, for in
spite of the rainy February and the cold.
March, the wheat came up splendidly.
In spite of the threatening drouth
through April, the corn ground broke
up in the best of shape, and about the
middle of the month Allan came in at
night and reported the fields ready for
lanting. : : :
_ « 45quire Folkstone says it is too dry
to plant,” said Madge. tHe called me
want'all thie help you" péople
us.” He was filled with the zest of ac: |"
«Well, we'll plant
same,” said resolute Allan. ‘*And we'll
can give
tion, encouraged by the crown of man-
hood he knew he was earning. His
sleep was so sound up there in the little
bedroom under the roof. The night
fled away with such unlimping thread.
The morning came with such brimming
goblets of life in its hands. “Allan was
up very early. It was to be his first crop
of corn,
That day was worth fortune to the
Morgan. farm. It was not alone tha
proof of Allan’s manliness, it was the
proof of Fanny's strength.
She had driven horses ever since she
was a little girl. She knew they could
not afford to hire a man. So she shaded
her face in asunbonnet and mounted the
driver's seat of the corn planter. She
drove all day through that sultry sun,
‘closing her lips and turning her eyes
from the clouds of dust that rose repeat.
edly. Allan sat there behind her, silent,
grim, determined, throwing the lever
forward and back and dropping the
chosen grains exactly in crosses.
Madge brought them a luncheon and a
mug of cold milk when the forenoon had
half vanished. She and mother planted
the corn in the new ground, where the
checkrower would not work. -
All of that day, nearly all of the next,
and then the planting was done. Allan
took a gallon of grain from the sack at
the end of the field and planted it all in
a “king-hail.” :
«That's for good luck,” he sajd.
“Fanny, you're worth as much as- a
man.” :
«Thank 'you,” said Fanny, as sh
looked at her tortured hands. She was
really very tired. : 3 ‘
«Too bad to lose all your seed that
way.” called ‘Squire Folkstone, while
Allan was busy about the barn at the:
close of the day. ¢‘See that moon?
Goin’ to have two weeks of dry weather.
Besides, no one ever ought to plant corn’
in the first quarter.” The boy did not
answer.
The next morning was Sunday. Allan
was roused by the rolling of thunder. Ha
was lulled to sleep again by the soothing
sound of rain. He only waked an hour
afterward when his mother calied him.
«And the corn is all in!” she added
thankfully. :
‘Squire Folkstone was willing to ad-
mit that Allan had been favored of the
weather in the matter of corn, but he
had plenty of time to prove that this rain
was the worst possible thing on wheat.
That long dry spell filled it with fly,
and if any of it misses the fly this rain
will fill it with rust,” he said.
wiustthe "© ua
‘BmOMOROUS'
«tAnd if it comesto a good harvest it
will fill you with disappointment,”
laughed the young man. .
All through the months of summer and
autumn it seemed the God of the widow
and the fatherless smiled upon them.
All through the season when the sun
above and the earth below, when the
dews of night and the winds of dawn
were pouring their treasures into the ears
of corn and the heads of wheat, it seemed
that a greater hand was doing the work,
that a greater hand had planned. Never
in all the years of his crabbed life had
old ’Squire Folkstone seen such wheat as
the harvester found on the Morgan farm.
Never in the memory of the neighbor-
hood had such giant stalks born such
‘massive ears of corn. Never had the
orchard swung such luscious treasures;
above a sod so fragrant. And never had
the humbler crops of berries, plants and
potatoes so richly rewarded industry.
But these neighbors will long remem-,
ber that Fanny Morgan did many a hard
day’s work outdoors. They will not
soon forget the sight of tender Madge
struggling bravely, if not quite effec:
tively, with burdens that a man might
have wearied under. ‘And none of them!
can overlook the tedious days when
mother added her strength, that had.
never before been tested so roughly, to
the efforts of ber children. 5
Asto Allan, he found his abundant
reward. The ‘crops had prospered
mightly. His resolution, taken without
the aid of horoscope for the future or
experience for the past, had been vip-
dicated.
The summer was over, the harvest was
ended, and they have been saved.
This is a simple story. = It is the story
of a year just ended, the story of a season’
when the gathered sunshine of seventy-’
two consecutive days have: heapegd their
golden treasures in our land. It might!
be easy to bring back that prodigal son’
at the last day of grace, supplied with
him lift the mortgage that no hand at
home could manage. It might be easy
to draw upon the undepleted stores of
the improbable. But itis much nearer
the truth to say that these four helped
themselves, and then God filled the
measure of their needs.— Zhe Voice.
anes eee
Oil Baths For Laad Pencils.
A new discovery has been made by
railroad clerks in Pittsburg regarding
the saving of lead pencils. This will be
a great boon to those who are continually
using expletive and borrowing pocket
knives on account of the frailty of good,
goft lead in a pencil.
Tvery one whohas much rapid writing
to perform prefers a soft pencil; but
nothing has come to public light so far
by which the lead can to an extent be
preserved. The P. C.. C. and Bf. Ls
clerks have brought about a new era in
the pencil business; also have they mor-
aly benefited humauity, inasmuch as
they decrease violation of the third com-
mandment.
The new idea to preserve a soft pencil
is to take a gross of the useful article
and place them in a jar of linseed oil.
Allow them to retain in soak until the
oil thoroughly permeates every particle
of the wood and lead. i
This has the effect of softening the
mineral, at the same time making it
tough and durable. It has been found
very, useful and saving, an ordinary pen-
cil being used twice as long under the
Ben Morgan’s missing treasure and let |
ST 2 5 #
SKETCHES
VARIOUS SOURCES.
*
An Awinl Warning—A Dainty Dog—
Didn't Know How to Apply It—
A Social Catechism—Rasher =
Stale Bread, Etc.
He didn’t read the papers for they hadnt
_ _. »Bny news; :
At least, they didn’t ‘coincide with bis es-
ws,
And when he came to fown one day, with
criticism Tipe, i
He climbed to an electric lamp to light his
ancient Pipe,
He hadn't the papers—but he knew
_ just what was best;
He simply touched the wires and—the fluid
0
ad the rest.
— Weekly Journalist.
A DAINTY DOG.
Tramp—'‘Say, guv'n'r, will yer dog
bite me?” :
Owner—*¢Not he. He's very particu-
lar what he eats.” —Judge.
MEN AND MONEY. §
¢¢Money talks,” remarked the rich Mr.
Smartellique to a young woman late one
evening. :
«It goes sometimes, too,’ she replied,
and hedidn’t understand.—Ddlroit Free
Press.
DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO APPLY IT.°
Lady (to rheumatic old woman)—¢I
am sorry you should suffer so—jyou
should try electricity.” !
Old Woman—*Thank you kindly,
mum. Bel to swallow it or rub it int"
w= Texas Siftings.
A BOCIAL CATECHISM,
4And what do you mean by a wise
mani” :
«One who can do without the world.”
¢sAnd by a fool?” .
One who fancies that the world can-
not do without him.”—Judge.
' | HIS VICTORY WON.
Returned Tourist—¢*Is Mr. Goodheart
still paying attention to your daughter?"
¢‘Indeed he isn't paying her any atten-
tion at all.” :
¢t Indeed! Did he jilt her?”
¢No. he married her,”—8S¢. Louis
Star-Sayings.
SHE WAS PERENNIAL.
¢Mrs. Trotter,” quoth Mr, T., ‘you
remind me of certain flowers by your di-
rect oppositeness to them.”
*Wha-what do you mean, sir?” -
¢¢] refer, madam, to those dainty flow-
ers that always shut up at sunset.” —
Harper's Bazar.
AN ANGLOMANIAC.
Morrison—¢¢I hear Stivey met the
Prince, last summer.” :
Jansen—**Yes.”
Morrison—** What did Stivey say fo
him?"
Jansen—‘‘Apologized for being an
American.”— Life.
RATHER STALE BREAD.
"Mrs. Slim Diet—¢“The boarders are
soming in. Cut the bread, Matilda.”
Miss Slimdiet—¢‘Ma, I saw in a so-
siety paper to-day that bread should be
broken, not cut.” :
Mrs. Slimdiet—*¢That’s the style now,
thi! Very well. Where's the ax®’—
Hood News.
JOHNNY'S POOR LUCK.
«Well, Johnny, what are you thankful
jor? asked the invited guest.
s¢Nuthin',” said the boy. *I 'ain’t
Yad any luck this year. On’y had one
sold all. the fall, ’n’ that wasn’t bad
snough to keep me out of school more’n
+ day. My chum’s had the mumps, a’
has been out three weeks.”— Bazar,
A TOUGH OLD SPONGE.
Uncle Joe (on his second eight-month
visit to Johnny’s house)—¢‘Johnny, stop
pinching your uncle, | What are you up
10, you little raseall”
Johnny —*¢Why, ma said you were a
regular sponge, and I was pinching you
to ses if you would squeeze up like my
sponge that I. bought down town.”—
Pharmaceutical Journal. :
HE FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS,
Lawyer—*‘Now, sir, listen to me,
and please give straightforward answers.
You say you drove a baker's cart?”
¢¢No, I did not.”
¢:Do you mean to tell me you do not
frive a baker’s cart?”
¢+No, sir.” :
«What do you do, then?”
«I drive a horse.”— London T'it-Dits.
WANTED A HEAD PUT ON HIM,
An old man with a head as destitute
of hair as a watermelon, enlered a Man-
hattan avenue drug store and told the
tlerk he wanted a bottle of hair restorer.
#¢What kind of hair restorer do you
prefer?’ : on
i] reckon I'll have to take a bottle of
red hair restorer. That was the color it
used to be when I was a boy.”—TZezas
Sittings.
THESE CLEVER IMPROMPTUS.
Bulfinch-—**That was a wonderfully
clever ‘speech that your husband just
made; and he tells me it was entirely
impromptu.” a :
Mrs. Wooden—*¢Oh, yes; quite so.”
Bulfinch—¢¢It is marvelous that he
could do 'so well when he looks so tired.”
Mrs. Wooden—** Well, I should think
‘he might look tired ; he sat up all night
thinking what he'd say.”—Boston Cou
vier. RE
WHY HE WAS 80 GENEROUS.
Mrs. Grayneck— ‘Johnny, T am very
glad to see that you gave your sister the
largest half of your apple.” :
Johnny—¢¢Yes'm, I ‘was very glad to
give it to her.” r
Mrs.
to the fenceand told me 80 this after-
new treatment. — Pittsburg Dispatch.
Grayneck—* My little son, you
FROM |
Iron AQUICE CORE. |
_ Wagg—*It’s too bad about the girl
‘that jumped off the Washington Monu-
ment, isn’t i?” 0.
Wooden—**Why, what did she jump
off for?” :
‘Wagg— “Why, you see
thin.” ; :
Wooden! ‘What had that to
it? ,
Wagg—‘ “Why, she thought she'd
come down plump.” —DBoston Courier.
she was very
do with
THEY AGREED.
Capitalist—¢‘My letting of the job for
putting up that building, sir, will de-
pend on circumstances. I want to know
whether you and I agree on the proper
limit as to hight.”
Architect and Builder—¢I have al-
ways had decided views on that subject.
May I ask how high a building you con-
template putting up?” :
stSaeventeen stories, sir.”
(With much firmness)—¢ ‘In my opin-
ion, sir, the limit for a building of this
class should be seventeen stories.” —
Chicago Tribune.
CHEAPER IN THE END.
Boutton—**So you are not going to
housekeeping when you get married?”
De Boarder—‘No. We shall take
board for a year.”
s¢Isn’t that rather an extravagant way
to begin” ;
s:Notatall. I desire my wife to study
economy of my landlady. Then we will
start housekeeping, and I will make her
an allowance of as much a week as we
paid for board.”
*¢What do you
sult?” ;
+‘ Well, by the time we are old she
ought to have about a million.” —New
York Weckly.
think will be the re-
; STILL GOING.
One day a Lie broke out of its inclos-
ure and started to travel.
And the man who owned the Premises
saw it after it had started and was sorry
he had not made the inclosure Lie-tight.
So he called his swiftest Truth and
said :
tA Lie has got loose and will do much
mischief if it is not stopped. I wantyou
to go after it and bring it back or kill
it!”
So the swift: Truth started out after
the Lie. :
But the Lie had one Hour the Start.
At the end of the first Day the Lie was
going Lickety-split. The Truth was a
long way behind it and was getting
Tired.
It has not yet caught up.
And never will. — Chicago Tribuns.
HE WANTED IT LIVELY.
He was an old bachelor looking for
beard.
“Ts it pretty lively here?” he asked,
as the landlady was showing him about.
¢¢] should just'say it was. Now, if
‘| you take this room there's a man and his
wife on the right. They're always quar-
reling, and you can hear every word that
is said.” : :
‘That must be interesting.”
¢ And on the left there's «+ young man
that is learning to play the cornet. He
practices half the time. And the family
across the hall have a melodeon. I have
a piano myself, and a girl upstairs ig learn.
ing the violin, I think you will find it
lively here.”
But he said if there wasn’t a zylophone
and a calliope in the house he wouldn't
take the room. He was afraid he would
be lonesone.— Detroit Free Press.
: Lieutenant Dravo’s Indians.
There 18 a company of cavalry at Fort
Niobrara, commanded by Lieutenant
Dravo, of which he is very proud.
+¢On the 21st day of April,” said the
officer, ¢‘I completed the enlistment of
the fifty-five Indians in my company. An
Indian is more easily enlisted into ‘the
cavalry, because he is allowed a horse.”
_+¢His own pony?” or
_%Noj; he must be mounted upon a
horse as the other cavalry soldiers are.”
«Do you find it difficult to discipline
the Indians?” Pl
«Not at all. They obey orders better
than white men, and you should see the
improvement in them. . The comparison
between the Indian soldier and their re-
latives at the agency is most favorable to
the soldier.’ ,An Indian, while he is not |
round-shouldered, leans forward and
bends his knees, but six months’ ‘set-
ting-up’ drill has changed 3ll this materi-
‘ally. Ten of my men are from the Car-
lisie School in Pennsylvania, and the
junior corporal is a son of the famous
Two Strikes. We havea school in the
rison and they are at present learning
the alphabet. It is hard for them, too,
but they are very much in earnest and
learn readily. I promised them when
they enlisted that they should be as fully
equipped as the white soldiers, and I
have just returned from a nine days’ trip
around the reservation, in which they
proved my words good to their relatives
and friends.” : o
«How did you induce them to cut
their hair?”
«Tt is tunny about that. I told them
they could have no uniforms until they
were clean and their hair cut,
Saturday; if they were ready, they could
don their uniforms Monday morning.
Sunday—the whole day—was spent in
bathing, six at a time, and on Monday
morning the entire company reported,
clean and with hair cut. I explain to
them their orders. They wish sincerely
to learn the white man’s way, and, as [
said before, are the most earnest workers
imaginable.” : *
Lieutenant Dravo 18 in Omaha under
orders to.be consulted upon army mat.
ters. He is enthusiastic upon the Indian
question, and personally cares for the
men.— Omaha World-Herald.
Over 4,000,000 peasants in Russia aze
in danger of starvation. ~~
This was |
ved of late that
pearly 30,000 pounds.
! nt calculations
Michelson gives the velocity
186,860 miles per second.
The French soldiers have latel
engaged in an extensive series 0
ments with bicycles. That mach
now taken its place as an app i
war. Se
Steam pipes are now being mad
the ramie fibre. The material is e
pressed together by hydraulic machiner
that it has a tensile strength tw
half times that of steel. ~~
Flower pots can be rid of earth worms
by pouring on the soil a warm ci
of wormwood and powdered horse
nuts. The worms will come to
face and can then be removed
Owing to the 1apid pro;
being made in all branches
science many manufacturers are
prepare their electrical exhibit
World's Fair until fhe latest
ment. Ray
In sinking an artesian well
‘ton, Texas, recentiy, at a dept
feet, good specimens of wood m
seeds were found. Geologists com
the age of this formation to be
200,000 years. #5 a.
A French professor has recently
yzed the waters of the Dead Be
found that they will kill
with the exception of ga
tetanus bacillus. With this dis
hopes to render service to
hospitals. a
Compound air is used in the Us
cific Company's shed at Portlan
for removing dust in railway c
is delivered from a flexible hose
small nozzle at a pressure of fifty Bo an
‘to the square inch. It is very e lech
in cleaning plush cushions.
Military reviews have been more ni
merous than ever before in Europe this
In Germany, in Thuringia, 60
diers were in thefield, and it was n
that although the firing was incessan
atmosphere remained perfectly clear
‘the next war, thanks to smokeless pi
der, there will pe no smoke. 2
It is said that four-fifths of the steal
engines of the world have be
An interesting calculation h
| been made by a French geologist fo tk
effect that, taking into consideration
wear and tear on the solid land by ocea
washing, rivers, wind and weather, an
action, the world will in four and a half
million years be completely under wate:
and no dry land exist atall.
A specimen of old Mexican pict
writing has lately been discovered by
Vallon which indicates that the
theory of disease wasknown to the ancien
Mexicans. The inscription says that ¢il
you boil the yellow root of the ko
plant and drink the infusion, it wi
ull those invisibie animals which the hu
man body produces within itself: =
As to the origin of the meteoric masses
that have fallen from time to time on th
earth innumerable theories have been ad
vanced. Astronomers are now trying to
solve the problem of their origin in fw
ways—first, by tracing the paths of the
great periodic star showers and comparing
them} with the paths of the unkno
comets, and secondly, by examining their
light by the spectroscopa. The gener:
ally accepted theory among. astronomers
{is ‘that they are solil masses and are
‘formed by the bredking up of the
comets. z
‘Dr. Elkin, the astronomer of Yale
| University, and formerly of the Cape ot
Guod Hope, has, by a long series of ob-
servations on the parallax of the star
Arcturus, arrived at the conclusion that
it moves with the inconceivable velocit;
of 818 miles a second, that is' to say, it
would traverse the distance from London
jo Edinburgh between two ticks of a
watch. - This is twenty-one times faster
than the speed of the earth in its orbit
round the sun. Dr. Elkin also finds that
Arcturus is so far away from us that his
tight, traveling 180,000 miles a second,
takes 181 years to reach us. Ses
TA AMAA
An Engineer's Premonition.
A telegraph operator on one of the
single-track roads leading out of Pitks-
burg had an experience last week tha
will last him a lifetime. The young
became careless, as despatchers
limes will, and he gave orders
freight and passenger train, moving in
ppposite directions, to go toa certain
station. When the trains had started,
the operator suddenly remembered. that
they couldn’t reach the. placs ‘without a
collision. It was too lats to coun
‘ mand the order, and in his agony the
describing his feelings afterward, hi
he lived years in the few short mi
which would decide the fate
trains. He was startled and reli | |
seeing the engineer of the freight
into the tower. The engineer ;
ceived his orders, but when a
a switch he had a premonition there was
something wrong, and he turn !
the side track. His train was
out of the way when the expr
dered by. Hh shed
The next day the operator went to the.
superintendent of the road, and told him
what had happened, at the sa ;
handing in his resignation. T
looked at him for. a momen
sald + ‘Go back to your wo
perspiration ran down over lus face. =
; ad 7
a
¥
This experience has been
you. I don’t think it will occur in the
future.” : 8
The telegrapher, in telling thi
5 h bi
‘remarked that anothe
drive him crazy
leaving out of the calculation volcanic ih