J .IVA'.-V VVW ' , XfMV. mem.
nr,,:i. i' .mifc s . i sw
A VOCAL COURTSHIP.
"Good morning," Raid Dolly, using
the word in farewell, and forcing her
solf to smile bor nmial gmile of dis
missal. "I'm sorry you aro com
pellt'd to discontinue your lessons;
your voioe is improving uicely."
Then, aftor hearing responsive regreti
and final words of parting, Dolly wa
aloDO in tbo room and free to give
vent to her fooling.
"Oh, what thall we do?" she half
eobbod, resting her fair, early head
against the old piano. "This makes
nine who havo stopped and it only
leaves me ten pupils. Thut will pay
the rent, but then there is food and
the doctor. Why do tlioy all have to
top jnst when I need them so badly I"
she cried, lotting heart for the first
time in her life, so bravo and cheer
ful; a life devoted solely to her doli
cate younger sister and to her sister's
sick husband and baby. "But I
mustn't begin crying," she said, dash
ing the tears from ber eyes, "or Jcanie
will know in a minute."
"Oomo in, little sweetheart," she
called, hearing pattering foot in the
ball and a sound of vigorous thump
ing. "Ob, is it fast! Nevermind,
auntio '11 oome and open." Aud tbon
he lifted her treasure and answered a
ring of the doorbell.
"Here, Jeanie, take him and put
him to sleep," sho cried, rushing into
the kitchon and tossing her sister the
baby. "I've lost a pupil this morning,
bat I guess I've got another." Aud
tucking op her curly locks she ran
hastily back to her caller.
"Why, Dolly, what uuunmablo thing
did you have trying to sing in the
parlor?" exclaimed Jeanie some time
later, lpoking decidedly injured as
he ivo the baby his blocks and bo
gon to iron bis aprons. "I've heard
of singing bears, and from the sounds
this might have been oue as far as I
oould hear above the baby's scream
ing. But, poor little lamb, he was
frightened. Every time he'd doze off
there'd come an awful roar, and he'd
wake and cry. You oan laugh if you
want to, Dolly, but I don't think it's
funny."
"Ob, but I do!" oried Dolly, "and
o will you in a minute. Jmt think
of any one trying to sing with suoh
a outlandish voice that people stop
in the street and it soares little
babies. "
"But, Jeanie, I couldn't help it.
He said he'd noticed my sign out, and
m he wished to study he thonght he
would stop and inquire. Aud then be
aid if this hour was free he would
like to take a lesson. I told him this
hour was freeimplying every other
hoar from morning till night was
taken and sat down to the piano. I
told him I first wanted to try his
voioe, and to sing with as full tone as
he oould but I was not prepared for
that bellow. I don't wonder the baby
was frightened. I guess I looked
oared, too, for he blushed aud begged
my pardon."
"What doos he look like ?" asked
Jeanie, ber tone a trifle milder, and
entirely forgetting her aprons.
"Why, he's a middle-aged man,"
aid Dolly; "I should think about 40.
And yes, he's downright homely
and still he isn't, either; he has suoh
kind looking eyes. But his voioe is
like a fog horn I What do you sup
pose, Jeanie, is his objeot in taking
lessons?"
"Maybe whenever he's snng he's
been arrested for it, and he thinks
your sign will protsot him," said
Jeanie, bringing down her iron. "But
anyway it's a pupil, and anyone is wel
come. I can stuff Johu's ears with
ootton and take the baby out walking
whenever it's time for his lesson."
"Well, that's the worst of it or the
best, aooording as we view it," said
Dolly, playing peek-a-boo with ths
baby, "for he wants three lessons a
week. Bnt that means an inorease of
money, and"
"And that mean a good deal, "said
Jaaie, "if only to ease poor John's
r lal XUybs the tide's tamed with
: J 'ar,' aad instead of losing pu
pils perhaps you'll begin now to get
i leel encouraged some way.
"Oh, poor Joanio and baby, and
our poor, doar boy np-atairat" cried
Dolly a week or two latar, appearing
in the kitchen. ''Oh, Jennie, I can't
keep from laughing! The 'boar' is
too perfectly funny. Of course, you
just hear tho result; you can't seo his
desperate endeavors. I try to impress
it ou him that it's the quality of the
voice, not its volume; and the poor
man listens to every word as though
his lifo hung on it, and then sends out
a blast like a trumpet
"And wouldn't you think with three
lesions a week he at least could learn
the notes, Jeanie? And he seems to
try so hard, too. This morning the
parlor was too cold (ugh ! to have to
limit tho fire my conscience wouldn't
let me, only the pupils keep warm
singing). Well, this morning he said
ho'd learn those notes if ho didn't
sing a minute; so he dumped on a
hodful of coal (I gave a scream of
protest, but he didn't hear in the
racket) and drew up two chairs to the
fire and said we'd get down to busi
ness. So we dronod away for an hour,
and when ho came to sing them he
honestly couldn't remember!
"I said I was afraid he would feel
that perhaps he was wasting his
money, and told him this was my first
experience in giving singing lossons
(yes, I did, Jennie, though I don't
know how I came to), but he said
that it was all his fault; that I was
an excellent teacher.
"I beliove ha's absont minded. The
othor day I gave him the note aud
watted and waited (kind of all
scroucbod np.you know how you feel
when you're waiting for something aw
ful). Well, he didn't begin, and I
turned and looked up at him quickly,
and there he stood with tho most lost
expression looking down at my hair.
Of course I felt it all over, aud then
he blushed like fury and said be was
thinking deeply.
"I wonder what he whs thinking. I
suppose 'twas about his business. Oh,
Jeanie, I hatoto toll you, but be wou't
be a permanent papil! He's a stranger
in the city; ouly here on business,
and when ho goes, there's three les
sons substracted from our income.
"Wasn't that fuuny, Jeauie, about
the mistake in the paying ? I felt
somehow awfully fuuny when I saw
he'd paid twice over. Ho didn't ask
for the bill, yon know, just handed it
to me iu leaving, and when I told him
my terms today and returned him the
extra money you'd have thought he'd
been oaught stealing. Then he aoted
downright angry said I worked too
cheaply ; that my lessons were worth
twice the money. Doesn't that seem
funny ?
"I wish be lived here in the oity
and had perfoot stacks of relations, and
would engage me to train their voices."
"Well, I wish be had, too," said
Jeanie; "then perhaps he'd give np
singing. Yon might inquire into his
family, and if it's numerous enough
to make a proposition to "
"He wants a song now," said Dolly,
interrupting Jonnie's dreams for the
future, "and next lesson he's going to
try one."
"I guess we will have to compose
it," said Jeanie, "if his mind is de
termined on it ; for I don't think there
was one ever written to suit a voioe
like a cannon firing."
"Why, Dolly, I'm disappointed,"
aid Jeanie two days later; "I've
looked forward to this lesson, but
there wasn't a sound from the parlor,
exoept I heard him laughing. Really,
I'm disappointed. If he made so
much noise on just 'oh' and 'ah,' I
thought when it came 'to love songs
he would simply take the roof oft
That his soul you might say would
explode in song,- and why, Dolly,
what's the matter? You look as if
something had happened. Wouldn't
he take a lesson?" .
"No, I took a lesson," said Dolly.
"I Jeanie, I'll have to tell you,
though, the first of it was too silly I
First, I played the prelude, then on
through the opening phrase, and told
him to sing it with me. 'My dear,
dear little girl, do yon think you ever
oould love me? " I heard him mur
muring over my head, aud I oh, it'a
imply too silly I I said, 'You've for
gotten the words, Mr. Farley ; they
are, 'Deep in my heart I hold thee'
and please, if you ean, raise yonr
voioe to the pitch' that' when he
was laughing.
"I felt offondod, he laughed so, and
at as indignant as could be (he'd kept
bis hands on my shoulders) till I aK
at once I understood him then if I
had followed my footings I would cor
tainly have gone through the floor, I
felt so dreadfully foolish. And,
Jeanie, he knew how it sounded, and
he has been simply roaring because I
thought it was in earnest."
"But why, then, did he take lea
sons?" cried Jean, struggling for com
prehension. "Why did"
"Why, bacanao he saw me at the
winflntr ml foil in InvA with me.
goosiejand being a perfect strangor, J
couldn't got acquainted. And be was j
simply distrscted," said Dolly, beam
tng with pleasure, "till ne tuougni oi
taking lesson."
"But he's been awfully sorry about
our troublos, Jeauio (and maybe I've
told him more than I thought I was
tolling); but, oh, Jeanie, darling
everything now wilt be lovely. He's
got a beautiful home, and we are all
to live in it with him, and ttfore'a a
plaoo in his business whore he actually
needs old John ; and"
"But, Dolly, what are you saying?"
cried Jcanio, in gasping umazemcnt
'Do you mean to say that that you
are going to Dolly, you shan't do it I
You'd marry him jnst for our sakes,
and we'll starve before we'll let you ;
we
"Well, maybe it's not for your
sakes," cried Dolly in unblushing do
fiance. "I guess when you love some
body you marry him for your own
sake. But bnt Jeanie, I didn't toll
him ; at least not just in that way. I
said it was very hard to part from a
promising pupil, and if he would
promise mo now to faithfully continue
his lessons, I but dou't look soared,
Jeanie ; he won't. He said it should
be in the marriage contract that here
aftor I'd do the ainging." New Or
leans Times-Democrat.
A Dog That Earns His Living.
Keys, the canine employe of the
Union iron works, met with an acci
deut recently by which bis front right
leg wss broken. Keys has been
looked upon by the officers of tho iron
works as one of their regular work
men for about four years. Ho is a
dog of no particular beauty and his
pedigree would not be considered by
dog fanoiors, but he possesses wonder
fnl intelligence. He makes the Pro
troro police station his home and he
is the pot of lieutenant Benuet, but
nearly every workman iu tho ship
building concern claims the friendship
of the dog.
At the first tap of the gong every
morning Keys has reported for duty
at the gates of the Union iron works,
and he has never left until a full day's
work had been accomplished. He
was particularly useful in the ship
yard and the boiler-shop, and the
foremen of those departments say he
was more valuable to them than a
man for doing oertain kinds of work.
He oould crawl through small holes
in boilers aud about ahips, and his
particular work was to carry tools,
bolts, nuts, rivets, and other small
artioles needed by workmen who had
orawled into suoh places, and to have
them oreep back and forth for suoh
articles would cause considerable loss
of time.
Keys thoroughly understood his
work and he was always on hand when
needed. The other day a steamer was
plaeod on the dry-dock for repairs,
and the dog.realizing that his servioes
might be needed by the workmen, was
olimbing ladder to the deck when he
lipped and fell about twenty feet.
The men pioked him np, end, making
a stretcher of some pieces of canvas,
carried him to the polioe station and
sent for a physician to set the broken
limb. San Francisco Examiner.
Fish Take Sand as Ballast.
Fishing boats iu the southern part
of the North Sea have recently com
plained of the fewness of codfish in
their catch, the captain of a steam
fishing smack declared that be had
foreseen this for eight days. His
due was quantity of sand found in
the atomaohs of the fish oaught, The
and, if hi observations are to be ao
eepted, I taken in as ballast just be
fore the fish leave the shallow sua of
the southern bsnks for the deeper
northern waters, and 1 ejeoted when
the fish prepare for their southern
migration. The aand often differ
from that of the bottom where the
fish are taken a faot that may prove
a valuable guide to fishermen. Tren
ton (N. J. ) American.
Ia Mid-Ocean.
Passenger Say, captain, how far
are we still from land?
Captain About two nautical mile.
Passenger But we cannot see land
anywhere. In what direotioa does i
lie?
Captain Straight below us I
CECILJUIODES. 4
Picturesque Career of an Un
crowned and Fallen King.
His Marvelous Rise to Power In
South Africa.
Cecil Rhodes was about twenty-five
years of ago whon ho wont to South
Africa from England, eighteen years
or so ago. He was a slim, pale young
follow, whom the doctors said was on
tho verge of consumption. At Oxford
University, where he was when bis
health failed, he was known only as a
hard student, whose passion it was to
be the leader in everything be under
took. He was poor in those days, for
he was oue of that numorous class, the
"younger sous" of English goutlemou,
whose family fortune is insufficient
for their maintenance at home, and
who therefore oro shipped off to the
colonies, where they either fight their
way to fame and fortune or else are
claimed by death in some of the many
forms it takes iu those wild lauds.
From tho moment that Cecil Rhodes
sot foot ou African soil, with a few
pounds in his pocket, ho seemed to be
gifted with the touch of Midas, for
bis handful of sovereigns multiplied
with marvelous rapidity, and in less
thau five years reachod the astonish
ing sum of a million pounds. His
first move was the organizing of
all the gold and diamond minos of
South Africa into a gigantic syndi
cate, of which he, of course, was the
head. This was known as the Consol
idated De Beers mines. For one of
his partners Rhodes had the now f .
mous Barney Barnato, the "Kaffir
King, "tho fluctuations of whose South
African stocks Inst year meant tho
daily loss and gain of millions of
pounds.
The stock of the new company was
at par on the day of its birth, but be
fore it was a month old it had doubled
in market value, and Cecil Rhodos's
name was on every tongue. A little
later came the news of a discovery
which then scemod like a stroke of
fabulous good fortune, but which,
through bis greed for power aud
wealth, has since brought about bis
undoing the disoovery of new and
rich gold fields iu tho Transvaal Re
public. Rhodes and bis associates
sent more than half a hundred dif
ferent companies immediately into
this new territory to locate aud seize
upon in a perfectly legal way, of
course all the best and richest of it.
Millions more poured into their treas
ury. But all this while Cecil Rhodes was
maturing aud beginning to curry out
his political plans. His first taste of
this sort of power was when ho was
elooted member of the Cope parlia
ment from Kimberly. To adequate
ly appreciate his suocess as a states
man it will be necessary to ob
serve that then the Cape parliament w as
two bitterly opposed fuctions, one of
which was jealous of even the Blight
control of England and wished to be
entirely independent, while the other
was as strong in its allegiance to the
home government and to her whom
their opponents named as the "Widow
at Windsor." No man could have
been popular with both these hostile
parties had be not been a diplomatist
of the first rank, seoret, elf-reliant
and masterful.
It was not long before they all knew
what an iron hand his velvet glove
concealed, for when the time was ripe
he threw aside all disguise and de
clared that the Cape was able to gov
ern itself without aid or advice from
London. His views were hailed with
acclaim by a vast majority, and from
that day Ceoil Rhodes has been tho
most popular and powerful mun in
that part of the world. He became a
member of the Cape ministry in 1884,
and six years later reached the high
est office he oould hope to attain iu a
colonial depondenoy, that of prime
minister.
Suoh was the beginning and growth
of Ceoil Rhodes' ambitious dream,
whioh has not yet been realized the
forming of an independent federation
of South African states, of which he
ahould be the undisputed leader.
In appearance, Ceoil Rhode is a
"big" mau tall, briad-shouldered
and muscular. He is not handsome,
but there is a look of bull-dog tena
city and streugth about his mouth, half
hidden by a close-clipped moustache,
and in his keen eye that to women,
a well a men, is more admirable
than tho best oi good loo us. lie has
a high forehead and rather florid com
plexion, His deep-set eyes are blue,'
and like hi voioe, never betray any
tell-tale amotions of the mind that lie
back of them. '
A man's private life is generally sup
posed to ba on of the best guides to
forming aa opinion as to hi oharaetar,
but Cecil Rhodes seems to have really
no private life. Of ambition toward
social distinction he seems to have not
an atom. He ussd to be a very demo
cratic and approaohable man, a fre
quenter -of the bard-drinking and
hlgh-plnjdug clubs that abound in
South Africa, but since reaohing his
political pinnacle he has, of oourse,
boom compelled to drop much of this
sort of thing. He lived just outside
of Cape Town, ia a large mansion
whioh was one the summer home of
the English governors. It is magnifi
cently furnished, one feature of its
adornment being probably the finest
collection of South African weapon
nnd cariositios in existence. He is
unmarried, and a peculiar thing about
his household is that he hns no maid-
sorvants all are men. New York
Journal.
A Tree Growing In a Boat.
On the shore of Suisun Bay, between
the Carquinez Straits and Bonicia, a
most unusual sight can be seen. It ie
grotesque in the extreme, but there is
nothiug mysterious nor apparently
impossible about it It is that of a
tree growing in the hatch of tho wreck
of a aloop.
What the name of the sloop was and
the length of time it has been lying ia
its present position are things past
finding out When tbo vessel was in
good shape she was a craft of
about forty feet in length and eight
feet beam. Judging from ber lines
aud mannar of construction she wss
a vessel with good sufliug qualities.
When abandoned she was hauled on
to the mud at high tide and has since
sunk so deep as to becomo immov
able. The place where the hnll is stuck
is what would be called good "tale
laud," and there is a fine growth of
that reed in the vicinity. The bot
tom of the boat has rotted away, and
they have formed quite a growth in
side the hull, large numbers of them
poking through tbo hatches. A pecu
liar thing will be noticed in the growth
and that is that they grow straight up
as stiff as a baronet, instead of having
the graceful sweep so common uuder
ordinary conditions.
How the tree came to grow in the
boat is a mystery, but most likely the
seed blew into the old hull from some of
tho trees on the surrounding hillsides.
Close examination would be a diffi
cult and disagreeable matter, but seen
from shore it appears to be a specimen
of live oak. It has attained a height
of about ten feet above the deck of the
wreck and appears to have a healthy
growth.
Such a thing would not be possiblo
a little further down, as the water is
too salt, but on the shores of Suisun
Bay, the conditions are just right
The air is warm most of the year and
fertility has undoubtedly been given
to the soil by the decaying wood in the
bottom of the sloop. San Frauoisoo
Call
Monkey as Gold Miner.
Captain E. Moss, who has jnst re
turned to Loudon from the Transvaal,
tells the story of the monkeys who
work for bim in the mines. "I have
24 monkeys," said he, "employed
about my mines. They do tho work of
seven able bodied men, aud it is no
reflection upon the human laborer to
ay that they do a class of work a man
cannot do as well as they. In many in
stance they lend valuable aid where a
man is useless. They gather up tho
small pieces of quartz that would be
passed unnoticed by the workingmen,
and pile them up iu little heaps that
can easily be gathered up in a shovel
aud throwu iuto the mill. Tbey are
exceedingly adept at oatohiug the lit
tle particles, and their sharp eyes
never escape the very things that the
human eye would pass. Wbou I went
digging gold I had two monkey that
wire exouedingly interesting pets.
Tboy, were constantly following me
about the mines, aud one day I no
ticed that they were busily eugaged in
gathering up little bits of quartz and
putting them in piles ; they seemed to
eujoy the labor very muoh end would go
to the mines every morning and work
there during tho day. It did nottake
me long to learn their value as labor
ers, and I deoided to prooure more.
So I immediately procured a number,
and now have two dozen working
daily in and about the mines. It I
exceedingly interesting to watch my
two pet monkeys teaoh the new one
how to work, and still stranger to see
how the newcomers take to it They
work just as tbey please, sometimes
going down iuto the mines when they
have cleared up all the debris on the
outside. They live, and work together
without quarreling any mure than
ineti do. Thiy ore quite methodical
in their habits, and go to work and
finish np in the same manner as bnman
being would do uuder similar circum-stanos."--BotonEveningTranoript
SCIEJTIfIC SCRAPS.
Wasps rank next to the highest,
olasses of ants in point of inseot Intel
ligence.
The astronomical difference in time
botween London and New York is four
hour, fifty-six minutes, 0.0 seconds.
Of the 40,000 species of beetles
widely diffused over the earth' sur
face not one is known to be venomous
or armed with a sting.
Maxim has discovered that the heat
generated by smokeless powder is so
great as to evaporate the carbon of tho
teel, turning the gun into soft iron.
The oyster grows from the inside
by throwing out every yesr rings or
circles of a calcareous substance, and
experts can tell where the growth be
gins and ends for the year.
Mountain sickness is found by pro
fessor Zuntz to be due more to les
sened activity of the heart a a result
of over-stimulation than to the di
minished pressure of oxygen at ths
higher level. I
11 .-cent investigations show that the
stimulation experienced by visitors to
the seashore is due to the ozone con
tained iu tho air and the presence of
this is due to the breaking of sea wave
and the scattering of the spray, whioh
have the offect of imparting positive
elertricity to the atmosphere.
A now explosive hss been patented
abroad which contains the following
ingredients por hundred parts: Sul-1
pliido of antimony, 1 ( merourio oxide,
O.C; tungstio acid, 0.5; purio aoid, 1;
flow.irs of sulphur, 13; nitrate of
potnsh, CI; infusorial earth, or some
similar absorbent, 20; water, 10.
Oue of the most remarkable achieve
ments of the century is the production
of a new violet.due to the experiment
in cross-fertilization by Professor
Emory E. Smith of California, The
color of the flower is a clear violet
purple which does not fade, the size
is about that of a silver dollur and it
ia exceedingly fragrant
The effect of a numbor of different
substances on the germination of seed
has been tested by M. Bruttiul with
solutions of ono to two percent At tho
end of four duys, seeds ia a saltpetre
solution had sprouted to a degree
quite equal to that of goods in pure
water, but solutions of morcurio chlo
ride, ferric chloride, common salt and
potussio phosphato bad much retarded,
or entirely prevented germination.
Claim That Trap Men.
Bivalves of various speoio form
traps of a deadly character, and of
these the various clams are most fre
quently hourd of.
Darwin's theory on the broadcast
distribution of speoies was that birds'
carried them. For instanoe, heron
wadiugon the spawning bed of a trout
gets a number of the eggs stuck to its
logs. On flying to a stream some
miles away, hitherto nnstooked with
these fish, the eggs are washed off
and are hatched aooording to the reg
ular course of nature. The fish breed
and multiply,
A Canada goose killed in Ohio had
a freshwater clam attaohed to one
middle toe. Had the gooae not been
killed the clam would have dropped
off in the water perhaps hundreds of
miles from its original home.
Men have stepped into the open jaws
of huge clams sooidentslly at low tide,
and the clatns.closing their jaw, have
held them fast till the tide rose, when
the men were drowned. Other men
have reaohed for a lure in the form of
a luminous spot The iustant tbey
touched it the shell of a olam closed
on their arms aud in a few minutes tho
men were drowned. Sjms of the
claim that trap men are found em
bedded in the ooral reefs of the Paoif
io aud Indian oieim, and the men
oaptured are pearl divers. The flesh
of one of the huge olami sometime
weighs twenty pounds, and added to
that ia the COO pound or more of
shell. The shall is something like five
feet long by two and three-quarters
wide. Poets are fond of saying that
theae sholls are the oradle of sea god
desses, sinoe they are very beautiful
if polished. They are also nsed as
baptismal fonts. New York Sun.
The Sack Tree.
From a species of Antlari (ths
genu which includes the celebrated
apas tree) saoks are made iu Western
India by the following singular pro
cess, A branch is cut corresponding
to the length aud diameter of the saok
wanted. It is baked a little, and then
beaten with clubs till the fibre sepa
rates from the wood. This done, tho
sack formed of the bark is turned in
side out and pulled down till the wood
is sawed off, with the exooption of
mall pieoe left to form the bottom of
the saok. These saoks are in general
use ia Western Iudie, Soieutlflo
American.
J