The Three Wishes. Thro littla girls sat Idly on the bench ; Ont like it Illy tall and fair, One brilliant with hnr raveu hnlr, Ono swoot nnil ah; of speech. I wish for fnmo," the Illy sold. " And 1 for wonlth and nmirtly llfo." Then gently spoke the third "An wife, I ask tor lore lustoad." Tears passed. Again bosldo the sea Throe women sat with whltoned hnlr, Still grantful, lovahlo nnd tnlr, And told their destiny. 41 Fame Is not nil," the Illy sighed, Wealth fullls If the heart ba dead." " I have boen loved," ona sweetly said, And I am satisfied. Binxn K. Bolto In Demorset. DIAMONDS IN HER HAIR. A SECRET SERVICE MAN'S STORY. 'Years ago," said aa old secret scr ice man, "I was in business in New Tor It. Mod at my trade as a detec tive boar nil sorts of stories ; souio of them long nfter the knowledge will do uy good. Nevertheless, now nnd then, these yarns form curious bits of history. Not long ago a gentleman from the inside wos tulling me a bit of unwritten hintory of the New York eu-itom house. What ho related took place over twenty years ago ; iu fact, not long after the war. llo was ex plaining how money was made iusido of the custom lines. " 'A friend of mine, said thnt gen tleman, 'was one of the inspectors in the Now York office. His business -was to go aboard boats, ransack the trunks of passenger and overhaul tli? ffects of immigrants. " 'One day his chief came to him nd said : 'Yon must meet such and such a boat when she comos in. She's t the Narrows now. Take with you one of the women of our office, be cause she will have to search a Ger man girl who is aboard tho boat This girl will be with her father, whose name is Sohinidt, and who comes from Bremen. He has nothing on him that ia wrong, but the girl has a whole .handful of diamonds done np iu her Jinir. You have the inspectress, who is with you, to search the girl, and have her finally find the diamonds in her chignon. Don't bungle the job, nor go straight to tho diamonds as if you knew where they were. I want the discovery to come along in a regular vny and nothing done to show that we have had any pointer as to the folks aud their diamonds. 'There was no time,' oontinued any friend, 'to ask any questions as to ihow my ohief knew of the whorabouts of this plant of dimonds. I took the avoman inspector as he directed me, and we went abonrd tho boat and quickly fouud our passengers from Bremen. This Schmidt had been further desoribed to me by my ohief as having only one eye, so he was easy to piek out I searahed the old man iu a careful way and the woman with me took the girl into a stateroom smd after fooling away teu minutes in .-a pretended search, finally discovered .the diamonds in her waterfall, as the peculiar ooiffure of that day wo termed. ' " 'As we always did at that time, we contented ourselves with confiscating -the diamonds. Of course I made a bluff. I told the old man and his -daughter tboy were under arrest, but that I wonld let them go for the night The next day they must re tarn at 10 o'olock to the custom's of Hoe,, when we would send them to the ' penitentiary for anywhere from ten to twenty years. " 'This last, aa I aay, was only bluff, however, and the people never came back, as wa had every reason to nppue would be the case. We had no time to try criminals, and usually contented ourselves with confiscating the goods which they attempted to srmnggle, and aa these were generally very valuable, it was punishment enough. " 'When I found my chief I told him I had the diamonds all aafe enough, and had given the old Ger man and his daughter suoh soare that none of us need expeot to see either of them again. Then I asked him how bo knew so accurately abont the diamonds. " 'My chief told me that his infor the old man. It seems that the old German bad two daughters. The adder ona was married, and already in this country, living in New York city. The younger girl, when she and her lather got ready to come over, wrote he other bow they bad turned all of Veir property into diamonds, which onld be bought at low figure in Europe, and on aooount of the tariff old for doable the money bere ; and how she intended to eonoeal them in Iter hair in order to smuggle them shore. Naturally, the elder aister li bar husband, and it was ba who ' V rmsJ r chlsl What was bis object? Why, the rascal expected to got 43 per cent of tho proceeds of the confiscated property nhnh sold, being the amount which in that day went to the iu former. " '1 couldn't for tho life of me see where my chief aud raysolf and the other boys In the custom house were going to got any pnrt of the proceeds of these diamonds. Tbey wore of course reported to the office as confis cated and their sale wonld duly take placet but with the roptile son-in-law getting 43 per cont as informer, and Uncle Sam the other 05 per cent as conflscator, I couldn't see wcrs we'd get in. But my chief, who was a very intelligent man, bid me bo of good cheer. He had a plan which be was confidant would work. " 'At one of the salos which tho custom bouse periodically holds, the old Gorman's diamonds were duly hawked off. We had never soeu either him or his daughter since I turned them loose on the wharf, although wo knew from the son-in-law thnt thoy were at bis homo iu New York, very much overcome with their loss aud the fear of being punished as smug glers. A fenr which he vory much fed, by the way, by telling them some awful stories of what happened to pooplowho wore caught trying to bent the custom house. The diamonds, when sold, if I remember correctly, brought between 80,000 and $10,000. The share due the informer was over 84.000. " 'The amount due to the govern ment was turned over, and shortly following the faithless son-in-law came skulking in to get bis share of the monoy. ' " "Certainly," replied my chief. "You're the informer and the money' yours; there is somethiug over 84,000 ooming to yon. But I propose to have witnesses when it is paid over. I will pay it to you any time when yon bring your wife aud her sister and your father-in-liiw with you to see it done. I iuteud that they shall witness this transaction and learn just exactly what sort of a our you are." "The aon-in-law informer crept away and never returned. He couldn't face the conditions which made his obtaining the money possible. It was uot lost, however; you may be very sure it went to good people who knew how to use it." Washington Post Coyote and Decoy Ducks. Cuuniug and treachery being its marked characteristics, tho coyote is no disgrace to his kind. Picture an ordinary prairie wolf with a last-stage-of-cousumption expression on his thievish countenaco, his teeth habit ually exposed to the yellowing in fluence of the arid region sun, aud a spirit of gaunt hunger pervading his every look and action, nnd you bnve a good idea of Mr. Coyote of the plains. His cunuing is illustrated by the following incident : ' A poultry farmer living in tho Pinou timber, near the Rio Piedre, a tribu tary of the Bio Grande, had con structed a resorvoir for the double purpose of affording water in time of drouth aud furnishing a swimming place for a fine lot of Musoovy ducks. Those ducks were the pride of the coyote's heart, and more especially the stay of his stomach. His visits to the duck pond had the merit of regu larity and the charm of success. The farmer is a great sportsman, and has, among other fluid aooesso ries, a case of wooden deooy duoks. With these and a little acheming be proposed to annihilate the ooyoto. Having placed the decoys in a sedgy place in the lake, and kept bis ducks confined all duy, he lay in conceal ment ready to ahoot the ooyote, but the rascal was too smart, and never showed a hair. The farmer gave it np in disgust, but neglected to remove his decoys. The next night the wolf went bia rounds, and, finding the painted deooys, carried them to the farthest point on the lake, for what purpose I do not know; but when the ducks were released in the morning, they immediately made for the deooys. The ooyote was there, as if keeping an appointment, and curtain. Fixing his heart on vengeance, and percussion cap on his muzzle-loader, the farmer made a aystematio bunt for the ooyote, and fonnd him asleep on a ledge of rocks. The thief got a half ounce ball in bia stomach, which be ing unable to assimilate, be carried off a hundred yards, where it caused his death. St Louis Republic. The Dear Things. "Have you beard the news? May Paster has become engaged at last." ' "What kind of a man is he?" "Oh, be impresses me of one of those men who can put up with any. thing." "I wonder how muoh aba bad to 'pat np' to get bim?"-Buffalo Kit-. Alaska's Ice Bear. When the Government sont out commission to investigate the coal fields of Alaska last spring, Prof. W. G. Ball, was made one of the party. While the tcientiHo men were investi gating tho Mt. St Ellas glaciers, Trof. Dall saw an animal bo bad nover seen before. It was a bear, but such a bear as nobody in the party bad ever seen or beard of. They thought they bad discovered an entirely distinct spe cies. Professor Dall made an elabo rate report of all the clrcurastanoes, together with all the information be could get from the natives about tho bear. This is his description : "The general color of the animal resembles that of the silver fox. The fur is not very long, but remarkably soft and with a rich nnder-fur of a bluish-Mack shade, numbers of the longer hnirs being whito or having the distal part half white and the bastal part slaty. The dorsal line from the tip of the nose to the rump, the back of tho very short ears aud the outer faces of the limbs are jut black. Numerous long, whito hairs issue from the ears; black and silver is tho prev alent polnge of the sides, nock and rump; tho under surface of the belly nnd the sinuses behind the limbs are grayish whito, or even nearly pure white, I,nm told in some cases. The sides of the muzzle aud lower anterior part of tho cheeks are of a bright tan color, a characteristic I have not seen in nny other American bear, and this characteristic is said to be invariable. There is no tint of brown elsewhere in the pelage. There is no tail visible on the pelts. The claws are small, very much curved, sharp, black above and lighter below ;the animal evident ly can climb trees which tho brown bear cannot do." To this the Alaska Mining Record says: "Professor Dall seems to bave dis covered our ice boar." Guillemots. Birds of a strange feather are many of those in the collection brought by Lieutenant Peary from Northern Greenland. An interesting member of the collection is guillemot that was shot by Lieutenant Peary. The guillemots live iu enormous colonies and as the tena of thousauds of fe males sit each on a single egg, on the edge of the cliff, with their black sum mer backs toward the sea, they darken the rocks. Wheu approached by a boat, in their fright they suddenly turn, presenting their white breasts, and thus instantly apparently trans form the rock from black to white. Then, as they take flight they often carry their eggs some distance be tween their leg, and literally pelt the approaching bootmen with them. Specimens of the guillemots show the remarkable change in the plum age of Arotio birds from the dark of summer to the light of wiuter. This ohauge is strongly emphasized in the spcoimens of logosusin the oollootion, wbioh are sufficient in number to show every graduation from black to white, according to the season in which the bird was killed. These changes are remarkable for they are very radical and aometimes take place in a siugle week without the loss of a feather. This change is a wonderful example of protective col oration, the bird in summer being nearly tho oolor of the moss and Arotio shrubbery, and in the winter that oi auow. New York Herald. Facts About Lightning, Certain faots about lightuing strokes the result of yeara of experiment by the United States weather bnreaui have recently been tabulated. Thun der storms reaoh their maximum in June and July, though reported in every month, except in January, the region of wiuter thunder storms cen tering about Louisana. Forty such storms are the maximum average for any such section. Tho average anuual loss of lifo from lightning in the United States is twenty-four persons; of loss of property, over $1,500,000. People living in cities and thickly built towns run little danger, the risks in (ha country or suburbs being five times as great ' For the same reason the oentre of a grove or forest ia much safer than its edges or isolated trees, the dense growth acting to distribute the current A Highland Stolo, - A man walking by an old graveyard ia Aberdeenshire beheld, seated on a wall, an aged Highlander, with bis bead wrapped np in a shawl, evidently suffering from a bad oold in the cheat "Good-Morning, Donald," said he. "You seem to be suffering from a tad boast" (oough). "Eon, sir," said the old man point ing to tba tombs; "but there's mony yin owar there would be glad to ba' It" Tho Realm. TESTING ORES. How Assayera Discover the Value of Minerals. The Process of Sampling Used at the Mines. To the uninitiated but observant stranger who wanders up and down in the labyrinth of shafts and tunnels, diggings and dumps of a genuine mining camp, perhaps thero is no sub ject more full of interest than the pro ecus by which a lump of brown ore, which, to his inexporicnoed eye, looks not in the least attractive, is made to yluld its share of silver and gold; or the means aud methods by which tho mining man nt his side so confidently assures him that a ton of that ore will go 82.35 ounces iu silver aud 817. 55 in gold. Even the Eistern mining export, or graduate from soiuo mining school, will wouder how, in the log cabin or pine shanty, destitute of all the elaborate paraphernalia to which he has boon accustomed, these results are so readily aud accurately ob tuinod. As a general rule the majority of the ores, except those containing tho precious metals, for purposes of pur clmso and sale, are valued according to the cost of miniug and shipping, so that, except for metallurgical pur poses, it is unnecessary to seek to de termine with much accuracy the con touts and value of such ores. In the case of ores rich in the pre cious metals, however, it is entirely different, as in their purchase aud sale, both parties, the buyer as well as the seller, want to ascertain accurately aud to a certainty the value of the en tire lot Tho methods by which this knowledge is obtained are so simple as to be easily understood aud prac tised by many a man who does not know the technical symbols of the metals ha is determining, or could not give a sciontiflo exposition of the prooess; but, nevertheless, in bis line, he is au accurate and successful as sayer. When a quantity of ore is to be sampled for assaying it is first broken up by an ordinary rook crusher into pieces the size of an English walnut, after whioh it is shoveled back into the car, but in suoh a manner that every fifth shovelful is thrown aside by it self,' the remaining four-fifths being finally taken away, This fifth portion, known as the "sample," is then re duced to a much greater degree of flnoneiss by means of Cornish rolls. It is then pilod on the floor in a cone, flattened out, and divided into four equal portions ; and two opposite quar ters are then removed. The remain ing quarters are again thoroughly mixed, and again pilod in a cone, flat tened and quartered ; this operation being repeated until the sample is reduced to 100 pounds. It is thou weighed repeatedly, for the purpose of determining tho amount of mois ture contained in the ore, which in some ores, especially those of the concentrates, is so considerable as to make a very appreciable difference iu the weight The moisture is then ex pelled, and tba ore is crushed to suoh a degree of fiuenoss that it can be passed through u sievo oontaimng 100 holes to the linear inch. ' The samplo is next put np in small glass bottles, whioh are sealed with sealing-wax, and then stumped, for the purpose of preventing the possibility of their being opened or tampered with with out deteotion. The above is the process of sampling nsed among tho mines, and the sample is now ready to be assayed, but only a small portion of it will be nsed for that purpose, and the quantity gener ally taken is what ia known as an "assay ton," wbioh weighs 29,166 milligrams, or a little more than 450 grains troy weight. This definite amount is taken, partly as a matter of oonvenience, and also beoaune the tssayer wishes to ascertain, as quickly s possible, bow many onnoes of the precious metals to the ton are con tained in this ore. The method used depends upon the following principle : The avoirdupois grams ton of 2,000 pounds contains 29,165 onnoes troy weight; hence when 23,166 milligrams of the unassayed ore are taken, the weight of the resulting "button" of gold or silver, in the milligrams rep resents at onoe, without any further calculation, the number of troy ounces of gold or silver in the avoirdupois ton of ore.' , . This method was invented in the Columbia Spbool of Mines in New York City, and is in general use throughout the world wherever there ia assaying to ba dona. Boston Tran script. How to "Charm'' 8nnkc. "Everybody's guide to snake charm ing" is old "Chub" Monroe, who lives in tho hills of Brown County, Indi ana, and owns a collection of 140 rep tilos, tamo to his hand. He will toll you how to catch, break and "educate" snakes ; snd those are things that are not in printod books. He hates a dog and cannot tolorate a oat. But he thinks bis trick rattler and copperhead, whoso fangs bave been extracted, are tho most interesting pets alive. "Ever Blnoe I was a boy," he said the other day to a newspaper corre spondent "I have had a fondness for snakes. I began first to experiment with bull snakes. I would catch them' by their tails and jerk their beads off. I became bolder and commenoed to handle thorn. I would hold their heads tightly so they could not bite me. I soon could handle them as I wished. Next I began to experiment with garter snakes. That is the way I developed into a snake charmer. "The first copperhead lever picked up I was unfortunate with. Whilu extracting his fangs with my lingers my hand slipped off his head nnd in its struggle to getaway it inserted one of its fangs in tho second finger of my left hand. I was four miles from Delavcu at tho time, and it was a furious rido to tho littla town for medical assistance. While riding along at breakneck speed I took a chow of tobacco and began sucking the wounded finger. That is what saved my life. Some of the poison, howevor, got into my system and I had quite a siege of it That exper ience taught mo it was safer to me a pair of forceps than my fingers. "I always take the fangs out of poi sonous snakes, and have to watch them closely to prevent their fangs growing back. Fangs graw ngaiu in about three months. When I capture copper heads or rattlers I usually put them in my pocket and carry them home in that way. To get them out of my pooket is not dungprous, be causo a poisoned snake seldom strikes unless he is coiled. My biggest rat tler, a fine follow about four feet nine inches long, I lost some days ago in a strange way. I put a large rat in the cage for him to make a meal of. A fight ensued and the rat got the best of the battle by biting his snake ship through the small of the neck, and the snake died in two minutes. New York Press. Paper Piano Case. "All manner of artioles in place of wood have been used in the manufact ure of pianos," says one of the great est English piano makers. "Perhaps the most successful of all these is paper, of which many pianos of ex quisite tone and appearance have been made. The Duke of Devonshire has one of the finest speoimens of the paper piano, this being of French make, aud decorated most ornately with pictures by French artists. The duke gave 500 guineas for this,mainly no doubt, on account of the ornamen tation. I suppose you know that pianos for very hot and very oool oli tnates all instruments for export, in fact, have to be specially made, and in this direction all manner of experi ments have beou tried. Among oth ers, a sort of oellnlose, one factor in which is actually common molasses, from whioh sugar is made, is em ployed, and a composition made from the chemical treatment of gutta percha and leather pulp has been tried. Ivory pianos are by no means uncom mon, aud the Dowager Countess of Dudley has a magnificent carved spec imen. Pianos of ivory are, I might say, made every year in numbers, but chiefly for Indian princes and rich Spanish Americans. Many pianos of solid silver have been made; indeed, one was only recently completed by a London firm for the Nizam of Hyder abad, and piano cases have at various timea been made of brouze, a species of aluminum, glass, paroelain, and, in combination, mother-of-pearl." -London Answers. Giving Credit. The customs surrounding the giving of oredit differ widely in different countries. In Italy oredit ia only on nndoubted saourity, in Cuba five months after delivery. In the Bermudas settlements are annual In Austria it is impossible to do busi ness without giving a year's credit; in England settlement is oonnted upon every three months; in Spain four fifths of the business is done on a cash basis; Turkish aud Russian credit avoragea twelve mouths; in China oredit ia unknown, and thirty days ia the rale in Cauads. Ole Bull is to have a statue at Ber gen, bis native town, $23,000 baviug been subscribed for the purpose, part of it ia tba United States PEARLS OF THOUGHT Genius always givesits best at first; prudence, at Inst Lavater. Idleness travels very slowly, and poverty soon overtakes her. Hunter. A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever. Tapper. Enjoy present pleasures in suoh a way as not to injure future ones. Seneca. Human foresight often leaves its proudest possessor only a ohoioe of evils. Colton. If thon desirest ease, in the first place tnko care of the ease of thy mind. Fuller. The true danger is when liberty Is nibbled away, for expedient, aud by parts. Burke. The instinctive fooling of a great people is often wiser than its wisest men. Kossuth. The true work of art, is but the shadow of the divine perfection. Michael Angclo. Learning teaches how to carry things iu suspense without prejudice till you resolve. llaoou. A miser grows rich by seeming poor ; an extravagant man grows poor by seeming rich. Shenstone. CovetotiHnobs swells tho principal to no purpose, nnd lessens the use to all purposes. Jeremy Taylon ! My narao and memory leave to men's charitable speeches, to foreign nations end to the next ngc. One part of knowledge consists in being ignorant of such things as are not worthy to be known. Crates. Calumny shall make me set a surer guard on myself and keep a better watch on my actions. Ben Johnson. A Matrimonial Ambassador. Marriago customs in Finisture bave remained among the peasants very much what they were ceutnrics ago, and their old-fashioned ceremonious ness is not tboir least interesting pe culiarity. The Breton peasant of to day has an almost religious respect for those notions of polite manners which bave come down to him from his forefathers of the middle ages, who, as far as they dared, imitated the etiquette of their princes of nearer feudal lords. The basfanol, who with stately bows and old-fashioned phrases performs the delicate office of asking for a girl in marriage on behalf of the suitor, is really acting the part of a matrimonial ambassador. But the basfanel'a functions do not end here. Tin ' ; . . nen me oriue nas ueen put to bed by her maids, all the wedding party reassemble in the nuptial oliam ber, which is ofteu the kitchen aud general room. Then the basfauel steps forward and on behalf of the whole company, he addresses the final felicitatious to the young couple. This oourtly personage is almost in variably a tailor. His habit of going from hoiibe to house in the exercise of his calling the rural tailor seldom works at home enables him to be come the best informed roan conoor ing the privato affairs of all the fan lies in his district He is a great fav fav-"" orite of the women, because he is to them an unfailing fountain of local gossip and scandal. Their liking for bim causes the men to despise bim, but they nevertheless bave recourse to bis services as an intermediary whenever the need arises. Such is the basfanel a name more suggestive to the Breton of ridicule than respect Temple Bar. Entangled Birds. Birds that employ hair iu the build ing of their nests, aometimes come to grief by hanging, bnt I should say very seldom indeed in the following singular manner: A gentleman who had a number of colts npon his farm one day noticed a small bird entan gled in the long hair of the tail of one of them. ' The little creature bad evi dently been in search of material wherewith to line its nest.and by some unaccountable accident bad beoome ensnared in the unkempt hair of tba colt's tail. Cases of birds getting their feet en. tangled in bits of yarn or string are not at all uncommon, especially in the breeding season, and whenever a vic tim of thia kind of a mishap huppena to get the impediment fastened in a tree or among stones, death is pretty eure to be the result, unless prompt human aid ia forthcoming. In tho spring of the year, aa everybody knows, the duad leaves of the pampas grass fall to the ground aud curl np like the abavings from a carpenter's bench. ' A Field correspondent men tions finding a poor robin wbioh, had accidentally got one of thasa pieces coiled round its nack so tightly that it was uuabla to feed, and disd of starvation. CoruhillMagsiiaey s
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers