BOBBI Wtl Bobby lias been stealing apples, anil nation. Ledger. IOWA'S OLDEST KUSIDENT. Mrs. Iinry Alexander Said to Have Seen 124 Years of Active Life. In Soap Crock Hollow, near Keo kuk, lives Mrs. Lacy Alexander, 124 years of age, and, according to the census returns, tho oldest person in Iowa. On Concert street resides Mrs. Mahala Bobbins, who, tradition says, is over 100. Both tho old women are colored. Mrs. Alexander makes her homo with Mrs. Lizzie Thomas, and here she sits in tho sunshine and tells stories of a past age. Notwithstand ing her advanced age she is quite well' preserved and has full posHession of 11 her faculties. She can throad a needle without glasses never uses glasses, indeed, for any purpose. Hor hearing is good, mind bright and ebtive and health unimpaired. With in the past year she walked across the river to Oak wood, a distance of nearly five miles. At times her memory is better than others, and aha then speaks freely of old-time events, re counting the names of prominent gen erals of the Revolutionary War and the early Presidents. Away back before the Revolution Mrs. Alexander was born, a slave, in Winchester, Va. Her maidon name was Pago, and her master's name Mil ler Alexander. Her master served in the Bevolution, and when be returned home at its close she met him at the gate and oarried his knapsaok and ac coutrements into tho house. Her earliest rcoolloction rgoos back to the home of bur master in Prince Edward's County, Virginia. While living there General Washington stopped at hor matter's house, but whether it was during or after the Revolutionary War she cannot re member. Later the family moved to Richmond. That was then qmte a small place. In 1833 her master re moved to Kentuoky, taking his slaves with him. After some years he died there, and the interest of the other heirs in the estate was purohased by Miller Alexander, Jr., who bronght the slaves ten in number to Hamilton, 111., and set them all froo. This was about five years before the oomraonoo ment of the Civil War. Miller Alex ander remained in Hamilton till the close of the war and then removed to fit. Lonis, where he now resides. He was a model master, as was his father. MRS. LUC? ALEXANDER. Uo. None of her family were ever old from the plantation, and all were kindly treated. Mrs. Alexander's husband, Bobert, died iu Hamilton, Iowa, in 1885, at - the ago of 101 years. The ooaple had Jived in Iowa tea year at that time. Many years ago Mrs. Alexaa ber saved (150 and bought her has band from slavery. Boll, the telephoue inventor, is an enthusiast on uea fishing and has an estate of 13,000 acres on Cupe Breton which be enjoys chiefly for that sport. During the past year 683 steam aud Mil veoiels of 11)2,719 gross tonnaea wera built and dooam.on.tvd in the ttited KUte.. IIAGimiOX. bin fears Lave worked on his imagi' MAX'S FACE IX W00l. Wonderful Formation Discovered In a Poplar Hoard. t Can nature, unaided by artificial means, photograph tho human face in wood? A wonderful curiosity, tho property of Stroit Sc Sehmit, cabinet makers, of this city, would indicate this. On October 13, 1894, a boy working in thoir factory found a poplar board among a largo number of others that appeared at first to have the face of a man painted ou it. Closer examina tion, however, proved that not only were the lineaments those of a man, but every feature of tho faoo was clearly defined in a knot or gnarled portion of the board, which was a lit tle over one-sixteenth of an inch thick, The foreman in the shop at tempted to plane down one side of tho board and briug out tho face. He cut too deep and spoiled it. Tho other sido of tho board, also repro ducing the countenance, was pre served. Charles F. Streit, one of the Arm. who bought the board in a lot of other lumber from Clint Crane, the well- known lumberman on Eastern avonue, says it is a yellow poplar board, and, he thinks, from a tree about 100 years old, cut in the region of the head- mm w f li THE FACE IN THE WOOD. waters of the Kanawaha River. There has been a great deal of speculation as to what type of man the face is that was caught by the mysterious foroes of nature and printed on the woody fiber. The original block of wood, which is now in the possession of Mr. Streit, was sent to the (Smithsonian Institu tion, Washington, and after it was pnt through a chemical test there it was pronounoed the genuine likeness of a man's face. San Francisoo Ex aminer. Unappreciated Heroism. There are more ways of winning a wife than there are of losing one. A Leamington lover has, however, dis covered a new one. The objeot of his affections admitted that she had "walked out" with his rival. Where' upon he threw himself into a canal not very far, but with the water up to his neck. There he stood and swore that if she did not promise to marry him he would go under. She hesi tated, but considering how very damp he had got, at last oonsented. The report does not say that she embraoed him on coming to land. It was a bold step for him to take to the water, and one that, to quota a somewhat similar instance, might not have suo- oeeded. A young lady in oharge of the can tain of a P. A O. boat had two suitors on board and pug dog. The latter fell overboard, aud one of her swains instantly jumped after it into the sea, The other confined himself to leaning over the side, ana orying, "Poor dog gie I" When the rescuer came on board, dripping, the young lady turned to the captain, and asked ntin which of her two lovers, after such an inoident, he would reoommend her to take. He was a praotioal man, and replied, "Take the dry one," whioh aba accordingly did. Tu only stance of a wet lover being apprsoi aUd was that of Lea&der, LUustraWd Nwa . CUSTER'S HEROES. HOW THE PLACE WHERE THEY FELL LOOKS TO-DAY. ., Site of the Little nig Horn flattie- field Turned Into a National Cemtrry-'2tt!l Little While Blabs. OUT in Southwestern Montana, about sixty miles from Bill ings and ten miles from Fort Custer, is a National ceme tery. This death's acre is the site of the most tragio and desperate battle in our military history the battle of the Little Big Horn. Here Custer, with the gallant Soventh Cavalry, two hundred and sixty-two strong, met the Indians on June 25, 1870, and not one of those brave men was left to toll the story ; only 22 little white slabs clustering about tbo cross thnt marks where Custer foil give mute evidence of the heroism and bravery so vainly displayed at that terribly fatal battle. That the battle was fought ennnot be doubted. CtiHtcr was leading an at tack and had located the Iudian village in the vnllev of the Littlo Big "Horn and was making a forced march in the night to fall up )n them before they iliscovered his presence. Ihe Iudiaiis, however, discovered this plan and when Custer realized this ho attacked them for fear they might escape. The battle took place on the brow of a high hill, which commands n view of the whole valley of the Littlo Big Horn. It was not a massacre or ambush, for this field stands out tho most, conspicu ous in the wholo valley, without trees, shrubs, grass or weeds to conceal an enemy. When tho mutiliatud bodies CTSTEItS BATTLEFIELD for all were mutiliated except that of General Custer were buried a lit tle pile of empty cartridge sholls was found by the side of each body. This is indisputable evidence that thoy died fighting, and when you look at the alignment of the marble slabs you will note that they are in line of battlo tho Qeneral on the highest point, with his brother, Colonel Tom CiiBter, just behind him, Licutonaut Reilly on his loft, and Captain Yates on his right. Other ollieers were grouped about the commander, and the troopers were a little farther down the hill in front, stretched out in line of battle, A half-dozen slabs stand out a few rods in advanoe of the main linos like skirmishes. To the right of the line are two slabs bearing the names of Boston CuHter and Arthur Reed, the young brother and nephew of the General, who accompanied the expedition and died in the ranks of the soldiers. The slab bearing the name of Lieutenant W. W. Cook is in front of that of Custer, and a little to the left, where a line officer oould lead his men. No man could form a more precise line of battle tbau were these three mute sentinels, glistening in the bright afternoon sun, placed, marking the place where 262 brave men fol lowed CuBter to death. Standing by the monument and faoing toward the West, from which direction the on rushing tide of Indians came to over whelm Custer's little band of sixty one, to the left another quarter of a mile is another group of marble sen tinels. They seem to be marching around the side of another part of the hill and trying to reach the centre of the battle which raged around the General, They are not so oompaot as those aronnd the cross whioh marks where Custer fell. They are scattered out in line just as men might be who were fighting against great odds and trying to gain the top of the hill, where the fair-headed chief stood among his soldiers. Baok in the other 'ravine in the east ot the hill are other groups of white marble slabs, some standing close to gether, like soldiers touching elbows ; some detached and straggling along the hillside. One of these slabs boars the name of the gallant Captain Keogh and another the namo of Lieutenant Crittenden. These marbles all look to represent a body trying to olimb the hill and rally around the Commander-in-Chief, They may have been out off by another tide of savagery that swept through the ravine and between them and Custer. They died there, a little band of thirty-eight men, to gether. There are few slabs scattered far away from the groups to indicate that any tried to escape by an indi vidual effort. The men fought to gether, died together, and the marble slabs marking tbeir positions stand to gether, as sentinels to tell the ooming generation how Custer's men died, if not how they planned and fought thoir last battle. This field marks tbs pluoe of every man, where he fought aud where he died. There is not another battle field like this in the world, where all the coming generations may come and stand beside the granite monument on the brow of the bill and ea in the whit marble tablets scat tered about Just how the five troops of the Seventh Cavalry who foUowad Custer in that last battle fought and died in Una ot battlr forgetting neither military tactics nor duty fn fighting a horde. There is one slab to which is at tached a patbetio little story. It is the one which marks the resting place of the body of Lieutenant John J. Crittendon, the only officer buried on the field. All others have bean re moved Custer and his brother to West Point, the other officers to their homes or to other military cemeteries, and the privates are buriod on the top of the hill around the granite monu ment, lint Lieutenant Crittendon lies where he fell. His father, Gen eral Crittenden, tolographed that a soldier's grave should bo on the field where he gave his life to duty, and the boy was buried where he fell and a monument placed over it by his friends. No more fitting tribute than this silent batallion of white slabs ar ranged in lino of battle could bo paid to the gallant troopers of the Seventh Cavalry who dioil on Custer's II ill, whore they showed such heroin sacri fice; no thought of self, but duty.and that was to bring in the hostile In dians who were with Sitting Bull. This battloflold has mado tho name of Custer and his cavalry immortal ; tho slabs have stumped it on tho face of time. New York Advertiser. A Hylnir Dormouse. Among the animals in tho last col lection sent from Cameroons by the explorer Qoorge Zenker was a mam mal of an entirely new species, a flying dormouse, to which the name Idiurus Zenkerl has been given. Ve publish herewith an engraving ol this little animal, for which we are indebted to tho IUustrirte Zoitung, and which shows plainly the membrane that ex AS IT LOOKS TO-DAY. tends around its body and enables it to fly or jump from branch to branch. Such membranes are well known among animals ot certain spocios, but it is distinguished by tho peculiarities of its very long tail from all other mammals. In the cut the tail is shown slightly ourved, bo that tho under side can be seen. At the root ot the tail thcro is tho told of skin, behind whioh are fifteon obiquo rows of little horny THE FLYINQ DORMOUSE FROM CAMEROONS. scales, three or four in eaoh row, short bristles protruding from amcng the scales. On the under side ot the tail, along the middle and the sides, are comb-like hairs, and from, the short, soft fur on the upper side from the root of the tail to the brush-like tip projecting long upright hairs. No one knows for what purpose this singularly shaped apparatus is intended, for as yet nothing is known of the life of the little creature. Nor is anything known of its origin ; it has been called "fly ing dormouse," because it resemblos this sluggard in the shape ot its body, its skull and its teeth ; but its mom brane and the horny soalos are similar to those of ocrtain speoies of squirrels and its skeleton shows peculiarities possessed only by the jerboa. Prob ably the dormouse, the species of squirrels referred to, and the jerboa are the last of a very large extinct family. Scientific American. A New Product. It is now stated that br subjecting pure cellulose to the action of cauatio soda and afterward treating the same with carbon bisulphide, whioh has been praotioed in England, a produot possessing remarkable industrial value is the result Dissolved in water an insoluble ooagulum is produoed, whioh when washed and removed from the water, becomes hard and oompaot, in whioh oondition it is found available for tool handles, buttons and other ar ticles ; or, it the material whilu still in solution has aloohol added to it, there is obtained a mass whioh may be stamped into a variety of objeots, may be used as a medium for pigments in printing cotton goods, applied to oloth as a faoing, or used as a substi tute for leather. It is also stated that cloth having a ooating ot this solution U flexible iu washing, but stiffens when ironed, so that shirt bosoms, oollars, caffs and table linen may.be mad from it advantageously. Phila delphia Ledger. WINGS ARE WORN. BIRDS CROWN FEMININE HEAD GEAR THIS FALL. Fashion's Flat Is for Feathers In Woman's Attire Latest News of the Modiste and Milliner. "V" T"5TTnEN the ancient poet W; wrote the lines: Birds, the fr tenants ol Innii, air anil nnean, Thoir forms all symmetry, their motion araw; In pliimnirn lllonto ami beantlfnlt Tlili'k without Ixirilnn, eloso .i' Asliei scales. Or loose as full-blown popples to the breeze He little thought the use that they would be put to. Birds are not the free tenants of either laud or air, for they are being mercilessly entrapped and shot, in order that tbeir heavenly tinted breasts and wings may a. lor a the hats of fair women. The flat has gone forth that these masterpieces of creation are to crown dainty heads this autumn. Even tho exquisito ruby-throated humming bird, with stomacher of emerald brilliancy and wings tinged with iiltraraarino blue, is ti be shorn of its plumage feather by feather, to enable some modiste to spangle lace with tho tiny scales. En tire crowns of hats will be composed of the Amherst pheasant. Even tho 1IATS TRIMMED parrot's vivid plum ago will be used in moderation. Wings largo and small will be worn by women of all ages. Every wing, cvon if it be of farmyard extraction, will be fashionable this season, but those most in vogue will be in the opalescent effects. Thero will be wings that shade from light fawn to deop brown, and a quantity ot two-tonod wings beautifully blended. Fure white wings and feather wings spangled with jewels will be in fash ion. There will be wings of steel, jot and gold. When fur or vslvot is used it will be in tho shnpo of a wing. Tho general character of tbo hats will be a low, broad effect. Tho turban will be the smartest hat for street wear, aud it will bo embellished with wings, or breasts running entirely around tho hat. The crowns will be ot velvet, felt or rows of fine, narrow braid. Spangled velvets will also be used for crowns, combinod with either fur or breasts. A new tuiban has a crown formed of vory small wings of parrot green. The broad band whioh forms tho rim is of blaok velvet. At the front of the turban rim is a jot pin, snapped like two widespread pinions. Turbans made of large birds will be considered very swell. Many of tho NEWEST SLEEVE, 1HZ toques and large bats will be of braided chenille, ooinbined with fur or velvet, and ornamented with wings. Pinions will be used with little fur an mala, and ohoat of laot will ba hold m COIffURE of J TOO At in place- by the little Animal ttfaws. Evening hats will be smaller than last season and trimmed with gsur.e wings, flowers, jeweled ornaments and small birds. CnoCfTBT WORK MB BArtR. At the present moment crochet work is simply the rage J no matter what one makes, whether dress trimmings, a finish for underwear, or edgings for fancy work, the crochet needle is one of the favorite employments of the in dustrious young woman. Crochet shawls are again coming Into fashion, not exactly on the old fashioned lines, where the shawls dragged into great holes, and were in a short timo stringy and nnattractivo looking, but with snug, close stitches so arrauged that there is durability to them as woll as beauty. Thero is nothing prettier for a) shoulder wrap than a handsome shawl, crocheted of some not too fine mar terial. Littlo shoulder capes, with ribbon rnn through, are also much liked; and there are little scart shaped articles to throw over the head. These are particularly con venient and agreeable for evening wear when ono desires to take a stroll either on tho porch or iu the street. Him! FROCK FOR A OtRti. Alpaca is a charming material for 1 young people's wear. Tho frook horo shown is intended for dull rose-col- IX MBIKtt ored alpaca, with a trimming of dark rose-tinted ribbon, over whioh is laid narrow vandyked insertion lace. This makes a very unoommon trimming, and is very inexpensive. The yoke is of cream-white Pongee, set in gathers top and bottom, and laid over the bodioe lining as far as tho buBt, Tho J7 girl's frock. lower part of the bodico is then faced with the material, which in front haa no darts, and the superfluous fulness is set in careless gathers at the waist. A REVIVAL, One of the revivals is the long coat of oloth with silk lining. This is to be a speoialty for the ooming season, and its universal use is predioted. Some of these oloaks have capes, oth ers are made without, and have either standing oollars or those that flare baok from the t hi oat. The sleeves ara very comfortable, having enormous arm-holes ; indeed, this is one ot th distinguishing oharacteristios ol tho now long cloaks, arm-holes allowing the garment to be put on over an or dinary dress with the ballooned and bo-puffed sleeves. MAIltB ANTOINETTE STYLES. Square-out bodioes are all the rage onoo more, whioh is another sign that Marie Antoinette is going to live again in fashion ere long. Wa shall then, without a doubt, regret th comforta ble sleeves and full bodioes whioh wa will be obliged to lay asid for anotuw halt century or so. J2
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers