EP tN pT We wipe lly NW d MN m= * . = * . - cy - eT - Z tl ANTED a. ounce, hands to pick over beans. Will take beans to your residence and will pay twelve and a half cents a bushel. Drop a card stating number of bushels wanted. Ad- dress box 437, Lewistown.” This is what twelve-year-old Nora Nagle read in the local paper. Then she consulted her mother. “I want a dollar very much, mother. Please don't make me tell what for. May I have the beans?” Mrs. Nagle remembered that Christ- mas was coming and gave consent. “Eight bushels!” said the man, laughing when he saw how young the applicant was, “you'll never stick to ¢‘yoU'LL NEVER FINISH THEM.” ‘em till they're done. ['ve got to have em in ten days exactly.” “Yes, IT will,” replied Nora firmly. “My father says that to ‘look before you leap, is a sound business prin- ciple, so I've considered a good deal. I'll have them all picked over in ten an days sure. Consequently nearly every picked over beans. The first bushel was “just fun,” the second not quite so funny, the third not comical at all, the fourth needed this mental remind- herself: “This is business; I've undertaken it er from Nora to encourage and I must finish.” Various were her espedients to rest her wrists during the movements of sorting; in her dreams she was con- stantly engaged in picking damaged and discolored somelow would get back culled quantity, and when the seventh bushel was begun Nora's si beans that out and discovered’ Nora, her head within the basket of beans in a dead faint. Then Mrs. Nagle thought it time to | her She sent the girl outdoors interfere. for her customary exercise and fresh air, saying firmly: “No more beans, my dear.” But big Brother Tom, impressed by the quivering lips of the little sister, whispere., “Never mind, sis, we’ll have a family party to-night and rope ’em all in to help.” So invitations were given out and in the evening father, mother, two sis- ters and big brother Tom and little and Nora gathered in the kitchen and made short work of the Then they had some brother Ben remaining beans. of the company peanut wafers and guessed conundrums and in conclusion Nora gave them a grateful Kiss ull around. And that, her father said, was very good pay. “You're a clipper to pick beans, ain't ye?’ said the man when he came for “Now, you watch the postofiice to-night, little woman, and I shouldnt wonder if you got a nice dollar bill.” Nora did watch the postoflice, but uo Not that evening nor the bean man proved to be a swindler who had dis- posed of his sorted product immedi- ately and left for parts unknown with- them. dollar came. next day nor ever. The out paying any ot the bean pickers. Did Nora ¢ she felt very much like it. “Would it bave been better, father, to say I must h.ve my pay when he 123 er? Mr. Nagle nodded, very JUTTLE ER CHRISTRNAS BINNER: spare minute before and after school Nora out the into the X ister, hear- | off. ing some one fall in the kitchen, went 2 Not a bit, although proud to Womad QF [pveIniS) Jo% : SIE pare” Nora firmly refused to test further the kindness of her friends. “Mother says ‘enough is enough.’ That sounds right, and I'm going to do errands after this for ‘commoda- tion's sake,” she insisted. That might Nora told her plans to her pillow. “No one will ever know,” she whispered. “How can they if 1 never tell. Let's see. Two pairs of stockings will cost fifty cents: I know where I can get a fascinator for nine- teen cents—the blue is the prettier, but I think 1 better get red; it won't show soil so quickly—that's six- ty-nine cents; a pair of mittens will be twenty cents more, then there's leven cents left for a hair rib- bon. Then I'll do ‘em all up tight and drop them inside Myra Pell's door. She'll want to see what's inside the bundle before she looks outside, and Sugared oranges. Codfish eroquettes. Griddle cakes. DINNER. Puree of chestnuts with croutons. Canapes of oysters. Olives. Salmi of partridge. Mushroom saute, Fruit punch. Roast beef, brown sauce. “ Sweet pickles. Cclery. . Mashed potatoes. Stuffed onions. Chiffonade salad. Grated cheese. Wafers. Christmas pudding. Foam sauce. isque ice cream. Fruits. Coffee. i Coffee. Nut~. LATE LUNCHEON. Tongu~ in aspic. Bread and butter. Coffee. Chocolate with iady fingers. Oyster Canapes—Cut ten thin slices of bread, cut in rounds, toast and but- ter and place in oven to keep hot. Wash and drain one quart of oysters. Throw the oysters into a hot pan, shakes quickly, and add one table- spoonful cf butter, half a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of cayenne. When they reach the boiling point dish on the rounds of toast, garnish with a thin slice of lemon for each one, and serve at once. Xe wl 0 white, ad the = s arc all withdraw voices of oldza times: venly choirs of long Ed CHR) ok N= 2 >, = FN iy he Christmas dawa: ells of \Qhristmas. greet the™d trains of the new. world chimes ‘ the dawn they tell} In the song that their brazen throats. cut-fling | nd murmur and swell. Peace. Peace on earth. unto man” good-will!" To the world they tell of the tidings sweet. ||: Loud clanging and swinging o'er’ hollow and hill, 4 Thro’ woodland and villaee"and citv and street: (Then hushed again is the Christmas mora) The clangor is done. the sound hangs furledi ‘As it was in Judea when He was born % =~ @ { d the - The music of love ‘soceds. round world. “ROGER P. BARNUM. \ EC DE STE BEL 7 carry any light near it. It is also sure death to other insects and to squirrels and rats. Do not use more than the above amount, as it may prevent germination of the seed. Feed for Cows at Calving. A writer in the Practical Farmer claims cows that are expected to be fresh should not have any grain for several weeks previous to the event. It is often the case where a farmer has an extra butter cow that he overfeeds her at this critical period, or gives her such quantities of grain, in the hope of making her do a little better the next time, that she is liable to have miik fever or other disease that may cause death. It is - better to be on the safe side and not feed any grain for at least three days after calving. A cow will, undoubtedly, make as much butter in the long run when this is done, as if she were fed grain right along. Even if this were not the case, 1 for one would prefer to avoid the risk which heavy grain feeding always entails. Don’t Confine the Poultry. ‘The poultry keeper who is limited to small yards for his fowl seldom suc- ceeds well in buying farm-raised chick- ens to fill his pens. The unusual con- finement seems to be irksome to them. We mean such as are raised where they have free range, which not all have on farms in this section. Each year the number of farmers who keep their hens in yards is increasing, and when we read, as we often do in some Western or Southern papers, of the trouble from the hens scratching veg- etable and flower gardens, picking fruit, soiling the feed in the barn and the tools in the ched, and stealing their nests to bring out late chickens when they do not want to care for them, we wonder that any one will keep them who cannot fence them into a yard where they will do no harm. We have known people to let their hogs run about the dooryards and roads, and we would about as soon have them there as the hens.—Ameri- can Cultivator. Weedy Milk. There are weedy pastures in the land, and there are pastures free from weeds. It is plain that the more milk from clean pastures and the less from weedy pastures we have in the cream- ery the better the chance to get a good flavor. The creamery manager, in or- der to manage, must know the farm conditions of each and every patron, and the weedy milk must be separated so as to run as little milk as possible into the cream. As it is not practicable to keep all the milk from clean past- | ures separate from that coming from | weedy pastures at the weigh can—at i least it may not be practicable—the proper caper is to separate all the cream, thick and rich, running the minimum of milk into the cream; then take the same cans of milk from pa- trons with pastures free from weeds— patrons who are neat and tidy, who keep the milk pure and uncontaminat- ed—and dump this milk straight into the cream vat in sufficient quantities to insure the right percentage of fat in the cream and cause it to ripen in time. This is a winning method—a winner because it is founded upon na- ture and common sense.—Creamery Journal. Winter Work. Wirter is upon us, and the farmer should rejoice, not because it will be a season of rest, but because it will give him an opportunity to do so many things that he has neglected in the hurry of planting, cultivating and har- vesting. We fear that we should not make a success of farming if we were in a region of perpetual summer. We should hinder our work by trying to do too much, and leaving undone the work that should be done. There are many little things for which there seems to be no great haste. They can be done at any time, and that means that they are never done, or done in great haste when they reach tke point where they must be done. When we were farming we used the days when it was not suitable weather to work out of doors in putting all tools and ma- chinery in good condition, including farm wagons and carts, and they were painted, if they needed it, which most of them did even after one year's use. The work might not have been done very artistically, but the paint served to protect the wood from the weather. Then harnesses were cleaned, mended and oiled, and repairs made on gates, fences, etc., while during the pleasant days manure was drawn out, and the summer wood brought nome. Ail this so helped when the spring work began that if we desired to go on a again we should much prefer to take it in November than March, observes the American Cultivator, unless we were sure that our predecessor had been one who spent the winter days in getting ready for the coming season. farm Storing the Squash Crop. After the crop has been cut and piled, not over three deep, for a couple of days, with the object of having the end of the stem seared by the sun, the sooner the squashes are stored in some southern exposure where they can be readily protected from the frost of night and uncovered to the sun by day, is a good temporary substitute. It is not wise to leave them piled in the field, for exposure to the long, cold rains which are common late in the fall is apt to injure heir keeping quali- ties. I have known a crop of Marrows that had been so exposed to spot all over with rot within a few weeks after they had been housed. Shall we store our squashes in a cellar or in some frost-proof, airy building, such 3 squash house, double plastered, with double windows and with a stove for colder weather? 1 have stored hun- dreds of tons both ways and therefore can speak from a large experience. To cellars in general there is this objec- tion: They are damp and tend not on- ly to rot the squashes, but to keep from ripening those not fully ripe when gathered. The one argument for using them is that the squashes come out of them as bright colored as they went in and Interviewing Santa Claus. hence are very attractive in appear- ance, but this is more than offset by the objection that wnen kept late in | cellars they are more liable to rot on purchasers’ hands than when kept in a squash house. When storing in the squash house if those not fully ripe are placed in the warmest part of the building on the upper platform, and especially just over where the stove is located, they will generally ripen up and keep later than those that are fully ripe when housed.—J. J. H. Gregory, in New England Homestead. Keeping Up Soil Fertility. The first thing in keeping up fertil- ity is the saving and proper applica- tion of manure. Thousands of farmers are letting the manure waste in their barnyards, and are using commercial fertilizers. Fertility can be kept up in this way, but a lack of humus will soon follow. Soil deficient in humus will dry out in dry weather and a seed- ing of clover will be next to impossi- ble. Do not flatter yourselves with the idea that you can keep up your fertil- ity on commercial manures alone. You must save and use all your farm manure. Spread the manure on the higher portions of the field. Save everything. Do not let a thing go to waste, but put it on the land. It makes little difference when you put it on, only see that it goes on. Plow under all the clover you can. Rye will do to plow under very well Any green crop will answer. Do not let the ground lie bare during fall and winter. Sow your corn stubble to rye. This can be done atthe last cultivation. It will not only save fertility by the roots taking up fertility and storing it in the plant, so as to be available for the next crop to follow, but it will make excellent pasture for your sheep and hogs during the fall and far into the winter. Do not hesitate to araw the manure as fast as made during the winter, and spread as fast as drawn. If your land is too, hilly this may not be the best plan provided you have a good way to save the manure at the barn. But as the manure is usually kept around barns, the loss from washing down the hills will be no greater than the loss around the barns. Manure drawn out in winter saves that much from the spring's work. Often in the spring the ground is soft, and I have seen ground injured as much by the tramp- ling and cutting up by the wheels as the manure did good. A wise rotation of crops is also necessary in keeping up fertility. No rotation should be longer than four years. Three years will be better. But a four-year rotation will do very well provided clover is given an im- portant place.—I. N. Cowdry, in Amer- ican Agriculturist. The Eoy Left on the Farm, In many of the homes of prosperous and progressive farmers at this sea- son the oldest boy or the precociously bright one is being sent to college. The neighboring high school had graduated him with high honors, and now the family name is to be made glorious by the brilliant achievements of this favored son. In the father’s plaus for the boy are dreams of state and national fame that are not won behind a plow or out in a hayfield, while the mother may fondly hope that the dear boy will be called to the min- istry, and in packing the trunk places his Bible in a conspicuous place. All unconsciously tliese parents are prepar- ing a farm boy of stalwart brawn, clear brain and pure heart to enter the activities cf life in some distant city. Every effort bends in this direction, and that, too, many times at the price of much toil and sacrifice. God knows the city has need of such. If it were not for the strong, vigorous, clean young manhood of the rural districts that comes to the centres of population to vitalize them urban social and busi- ness problems would assume a more enigmatical character than they now do. But what of the boy left on tne farm? Has agriculture no demand to be served? In our conception of farm- ing have many of us got far beyond the Indian, just digging, dropping and covering the seed and gathering the harvest? Farming is a business to be learned, and needs the trained mind as much as does any profession that places alphabetical endings to the boy's name. If John is sent to college to take a medical course and Tom must farm, then it is only just to Tom that he may be given a course in agri- culture. Then the boys will be social equals. It's not mere work that separ- ates men socially; it is their mental- ity. Cultured minds will demand bet- ter environment. Many farmers hav- ing good farms well stocked, and even having bank accounts that suggest that the day of absolute need is not at hand, will suffer themselves and their families to go without many convenien- cies that would lessen the farm labor. At the agricultural colleges such farm economic problems are given due con- sideration, and the bright boy easily adapts them to his own conditions and environment.—Rural World. Memory and Tact Failed. There is a well-known Detroit wom- an whose friends and family say is short on memory but long on tact. This is her latest experience as told by herself: “One afternoon recently I was sit- ting on the veranda when a man, car- rying a small satchel, came up the walk. He bowed pleasantly and I re- turned his greeting as cordially as I could while racking my brain for his name. It was gone forever. Here was an old friend from out of town, prob- ably, perhaps a relative of my hus- band, and I could not recall his name. It was agonizing. However, he must not feel a lack of welcome, so I greeted him warmly, shook hands and invited him to be seated. 1 said 1 was de- lighted to see him and knew my family would be equally glad. I regretted that so long a time had elapsed since we had last met I hoped he and his fam- ily were quite well. Of course he had come to dinner. “Thus 1 rattled on, fearing to let him speak lest he discover what a hyp- ocrite 1 was. “Finally he managed to say: “I am afraid you don’t know who I am.’ *“+Oh, yes, 1 do,’ I responded. ‘Of course I know perfectly.’ “ ‘No, I am sure you don't even know my name.’ “ “Well, 1 admitted reluctantly. ‘Your name has escaped me for the mo- ment. But don’t tell me. It will come back. 1 am so wretched on names. No, you must not tell me. I want to think of it myself.’ “Do not try. 1 am only the sewing machine fiend. I came to do some re- pair work.’ "—Detroit Free Press. In a Primal Role. The Russians have a veteran actress of whom they are very proud. Madame Orlay, 1n spite of being 95 years of age, | recently appeared on the stage in a | performance specially given in aid of a charitable insitution. Madame Orlay has the distinction of having been the first actress to play Lady Macbeth and Ophelaa in the Russian tongue FIFTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. SENATE. FIFTH DAY. No business of importance was trans- acted by the Senate in open sessioi. practically the entire legislative day was consumed by an executive session, after which the Senate adjourned until Moa- day. The developments of the session were: An agreement on the part of the Senate to vote on the amendment offer- ed by the committee on foreign rela- tions providing for the policing of the canal, an amendment offered by Sen ator Teller striking out the treaty pro- hibition against the fortification of the Nicaragua canal when constructed. SEVENTH DAY. The Senate spent almost five hours in executive session, considering the Hay-Paunceiote treaty. A bill to provide for the appointment of an additional district judge in the Northern Judicial district of Ohio was passed, after which the Senate went in- to secret session. EIGHTH DAY. The shipping subsidy bill was taken up in the Senate. Mr. Clay, Democrat, Georgia, opposed the bill on the ground that it wonld cost the government $9.- 000,000 a year for 20 years and donate that vast sum to the ship owners carry- ing the foreign trade of the country. The Grout oleomargarine bill, passed by the House, was referred to the Com- mittee on agriculture. The credential of William A. Clark and Martin Magin- nis appointed senators from Montana, were referred to the committee on privi- leges and elections. NINTH DAY. Business suspended in both branches of Congress on account of the centen- nial celebration of the National capitol. TENTH DAY. By a vote of 65 to 17 the Davis amen-i- ment to the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was adopted. Senator Hanna defended the shipping subsidy bill in a three-hour speech. Senator Money introduced a resolu- tion providing authority for the abroga- tion of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty by diplomatic negotiation. % HOUSE. FIFTH DAY. The Grant oleomargarine bill was passed by a vote of 196 to 92. The bill, as passed, makes all articles known as oleomargarine, butterine, imitation but- ter or imitation cheese transported into any State or Territory for consumption or sale, subject to the police power of such State or Territory. Representative Tayler, of Ohio, has introduced a measure for Federal pro- hibition of polygamy. Representative Graham introduced a bill to give ex-prisoners of war $2 for each and every day imprisoned and a pension of $12 a month in lieu of any pension now received. SIXTH DAY. Representative Graham, of Allegheny, at the request of the Union Veteran le- gion, introduced a bill granting per diem pensions to all honorably discharged officers and enlisted men of the United States army during the civil war. Most of the day was devoted to eulo- ies on the late Representative Alfred C. Harmer, of Philadelphia. SEVENTH DAY. The House passed the executive, leg- islative and judicial appropriation bill, carrying $24:496,378, and then adjourned. It was the first of the great supply bills of the session. EIGHTH DAY The debate on the war revenue reduc- tion bill opened in the ouse, Mr. Payne, of New York, chairman of the ways and means committee, spoke on behalf of the majo#ity, and Mr. Swan- son, of Virginia, on behalf of the min- ority. A’ congressional inquiry into the Booz hazing case is also decided upon by appointing a special committee of five members to investigate. TENTH DAY. The House adopted a resolution for a holiday recess from Friday, December 21, to Thursday, January 3. It was agreed that general debate on the bill for the reduction of the war taxes should close at 2 o'clock Friday. Coa- sideration of the bill was resumed. ELEVENTH DAY. HOUSE. The pension gppropriation bill, carry- ing $145,250,000, was reported to the House, which then went into committee of the whole on the bill reducing the war taxes. The House adheres to the $1.60 rate on beer and refuses to abolish the one-sixth and one-eighth barrels. An amendment was adopted retaining the tax on railroad, steamboat and ex- press, freight receipts and compelling the company to pay the tax. ELEVENTH DAY. SENATE. The Senate committee on foreign re- lations proposes to abolish the Clayton- Bulwer agreement ana not ask the con- sent of other powers to the new conven- tion. Further amendments to the Hay- Pauncefote treaty have been agreed up- on. MINES AND MINERS. Great Coal Deposit in Hungary—Coal De- posits in Every Province in Ireland, But None Are Developed. United States Consul Hughes at Co- burg has reported to the State depart- ment the news of the recent discovery of a large deposit of house coal, esti- mated to contain at least 1,600,000,000 tons, at Barmocz, Hungary. The qual- ity of the coal, he says, remains tq be proved, but the deposit is to be develop- ed on scientific lines at once. “The Industrial Resources of Ireland” has formed a text for many an address and articles innumerable, but unfortu- nately, so far,, without much result, says the Ballymena Telegraph. There is known to be coal in Ireland, but having once got a bad name like the dog in the story it has stuck to it; tradition says there are lead, iron and other metals, and there are bogs which the Germans have discovered and are mak- ing paper from, but beyond these hazy ideas the average intelligent Irishman has no conception of the rich resources nature has laid at his door. Attempts, it is true, have ‘been made to get at these deposits. but in the vast majority of cases they have had to be abandoned in consequence of the limited capital available. It will come as a surprise to many to learn that no shaft of any importance has been sunk during the century now within tench of its close. The Irish board of agriculture may regard the minerals of the country as underneath its province as well as heyond it, but if funds can be obtained by the board for a survey of the country with a view of its mineral wealth, the money would be as well laid out as any ever expended, or likely to be expended, by the depart- ment, There are coal fields in every provin:e of Ireland. Very few of them have been tapped. As far back as the year 1824 the report of a partial survey was pub- lished. This stated that the coal of Ire- land was good for culinary and manu- facturing purposes, and also that some of the strata was very extensive. In one case ja stratum was estimated to consist bof 30000000 tons of good coal. The {Lough Allen district is be- lieved to be good for 20,000,000 tons. These are ohly two out of many, and with Englishiand Scotch coal at famine prices it is sunprising that no movement has been directed toward the tapping of this source ‘of wealth. fn Bavaria the Crown owns 3,430,000 acres, one-fifth of the whole kingdom. \ p— Thirty Years of the Rhine. Augustine Birrell begins in the De- cember Century a series of papers on the Rhine. In the opening pages nc moralizes on the changes since he first before the Franco- | — - _-—— — ee endl | Wonders of the Forbidden Palace. oops through the Forbidden Palace at Peking a party of civili including the ladies of the T several well-known mis- sionaries, was admitted. Tea 1 { After the march of the knew the river, 1 . 1s serv- Prussian war: ed, and then the imperial! palaces were “In 1868 the Rhine was at least an inspected. The most remarkable f{ea- open question, a theme for the public- ist no less than for the poet. But now the difference! there not now stand on the quay, a sight for all the world, a copper mon:i- ment, 45 feet high, of the Emperor Will- jam 1.7 Truthfully does the useful Bae- deker observe, in one of those new issues of his which record so impassively the mightiest changes, that it (the ment) dominates the landscape in all directions! is a monument to the Empress Augusta, that faithful spouse and sympathetic correspondent. Needless to add, Kob- lenz has its Bismarck Strasse. ‘La no- ble et sainte patrie de tous les penseurs | forsvok in 1870 the lecture soom for the tented field: and or the 16th and 18th of August, on the plateaus of Gravelotte, bought with a huge price of German blood the right to call beth banks of the Rhine her own. ; What are two-and-thirty years in the history of the Rhine? Celts and Ro- mans, archbishops and princes, kings and emperors, she has known them ail. What is it to her to whom the spire of Strasburg belongs? Nay, to whom in any real sense does it belong now? Bui to the east and west of Metz lie the bleached bones of a hundred thousand men, Frenchmen and Germans, who were ready to forswear the pleasant sun and to go down into Hades before their day for the cause symbolized by the Rhine. How horrible it would be coui:l a river be ironical, could its waters sneer! The charm of nature is her ir- responsiveness. She answers you back never a word.” Marconi’s Great Task. In his Dorsetshire laboratory, week in and week out, works Marconi, the ma- gician of wireless telegraphy. He only visits London to attend meetings of the board of directors, and, thrice happy, he is spared the reading of all save the most pressing business letters. His dis- covery has been patented in every civ- ilized county, yet Marconi is aware that competitors are running him hard in the race for improvements and consequent- ly he is never content with what has al- ready been done. “We have proved the efficiency of Marconi’s invention for a distance of | 08 miles,” said Major Flood Page, the secretary of the Marconi Company, “and I wish you could tell us how to cross the Atlantic.” It is the solution of this distance dif- ficulty which is now taxing the ingeni- ous brain of the tireless Marconi. The curvature of the earth over so many miles of sea causes the trouble. To speak to Ostend, over forty miles, of water, necessitates the erection of a mast of communication 40 feet high, which is at the rate of a foot of mast per mile of distance. By this calculation, wire- less telegraphy between Southampton and New York would require on either side a mast measuring about three thon- sand feet in height—nearlv as high os Snowdon and 19 times the height of the Nelson Column. But Marconi is san- guine of his ability to solve the mast problem, though it will, of course, take some high thinking and deep reflection. —London Express. Good Farm Hands Scarce in England. The decay of agricultural skill has gone too far. Men who can trench an: drain, quick-fence and sink a well are becoming few; farriers and thatchers are rarities, indeed, and the minor, but still important, arts of husbandry linger only among the dying generation. Moreover, an impression is growing wide and deep that for the better type of laborer, now that he is equip- ped with some education, has a wider outlook and has learnt to adapt himself to new conditions, the provision of small holdings. whether under the act or independently between landlord and tenant, may prove his industrial salva- vation. For while it is recognized that many must be unequal to the special de- mands of the life, two or three of the best men in every village in the coun- try could do well with holdings of from 20 to 3G acres, i gheir skilled labor in those times of pre sure when the farmers only demand them, and they would rear healthy fami- lies with a growing desire to remain 01 | the land.—London Daily Mail. Tuberculosis has been placed among the diseases which are subject to quar- antine. The commissioner of immigra- tion has so decided in the case of Japanese who arrived at San Francisco | from Japan ill with this lung trouble. It was decided that