Tim return presented by tho British admirnlity show thnt tho British nwj in larger thnn tlioso of any two other grciit powers. Biend ns n ilnily article if food in used by only nboiit one-third of tlio 1,000,000,0110 people Hint constitute ttia present pciputitlion of tlio enrtb. i- - Five yenrs ago there were two di trot steamship lines from Southern ports to Europe; now there nro eleven cities, ench of wliio ti linvo 0110 or mora lines across the Atlantic. The European nobleman who in ri" ported to have killed over SI 11,000 liond of game in the limt twenty yenrn seems, to the Chicago Itecord, to hnve mistaken tho vocntiou of butcher for thnt of "sportsman." Criminal statistics for I'.iKO show thnt there were 10,52 in union iu thin couutry.with 1'2'i legal executions nnd Jill lynching lust year. Murder tin doubtediy in n pernicious hnliit, but it in not nt nil dangerous, in tho sarcas tic comment of tho Chicngo Times Herald. Krnpp, the great (ieimati manufac turer of cannons, linn lately completed a number of paper field-pieces for tho tine of the Herman iufnutry. Their cnlibio in a little less than two inches; iiiid tho pieces are no light that olio soldier can cnmly enrry one. But tho resistance in greater than that of n lleld-piece of nteel of tho name calibre. Thene paper guns nre intended for lino in situations where tho movement of Held artillery would bo imprneticnble. - . . t Since Pennsylvania han been n State alio ban hnd thirty-four United States Senators. Tho aues of thene nenatorn nt the time of n'Siuuing office ranged from thirty-two tu sixty-one yenrn, while tho average ago wnn forty-nut yearn. Tho average leugth of each senator's public service was seven years. Tho longest period in whieh uuy acuntor from Pennsylvania has oc cupied a seat iu tho upper branch in tweuty yearn, the occupant lining J. Dounld Cameron. Here's a pointer, furnished by tho New Orleans Picayune, to young uiou who uro ambitious to shine in crime. Two old hands nt tho business cleaned up 80,000 in three mouths iu North Dakota, more than they could have carued at honest labor in that many yenrn, but one of them has been dead week from heart failure canned by tho shock from a bullet applied by reckless sherilV, and tho other is in custody with a long term iu the peni tentiary ahead of him. The Clork of the House of Repre sentatives, whose duty it is to make up the list of members of oaoli now Congress, was puzzled by tho question of tho proper classification of thoso members who were elected by the combine I votes of Democrats, Popu lists, Silverites, l'rohibitiouints and Silver Republicans. What adds to his einbiirriissmeut in tho fact that the members thus elected do not them selves know what to call themselves. Olio member from Michigan wrote to the clork three times in order to suggest what should be his proper dosigua tioo, and he isn't satisfied yet This world is never more than ayeai from starvation, maintains the New York Press, Tho food supply is lim ited, but thore is always enough on hand to keep us alive for perhaps a twelvemonth. Nor is it probable that this supply will fail, for we hardly can expect drought or other conditions that produae famine to exist the world over for an entire year. When the wheat crops fail iu ' ltu-sia thore is likely to bo a season of plenty here or in India. If India suffers she looks to Russia, to America or porhnps to Australia, where tho farmers are har vesting their crops now. South oi the Equator tho seanous are opposite to ours. There the hmbnndmau sows when we reup,aud reaps wbeu we sow. It is not likely that a crop failure in the northern hemisphere would be fol lowed by the same thing south of the Equator. Crop failures are looal, not world-wide, so thore is always some where to turn for aid. Bo it happens that while a famine produces misery in one country it causes a demand for foodstuff that brings about, good times in other countries. The bust ness depression in the Uuitod States, particularly in Iowa, would bo re lieved souiowhat if the people of India , would eat corn. There is it possibili ty of eduoaiing them in time to know the value of corn as food. Meanwhile they demand wheat. Uufortunatoly this does not beuutlt the American i wheat grower, for he sold his wheat before the extraordinary, demand osuie. He got uoue of the high prices,' ITUe shippers reaped the pro tits. In this White FIousb. A Description of thn President's Mansion at tha Nation's Capital as It Appears To-Day. THE White House Inn been greatly changed within the past few yearn, writes Frnnk U U. Carpenter in the Detroit Free Tress. All kinds of Improve ments have been made, and the white hair of John (Juincy Adnmn' ghost must rise in holy horror ns he looks at the magnificent furnishings. Mrs. President Harrison expended some thing like $."2,000 en improvements, nod n number of changes have beeu made by Mrs. Cleveland. The Harri sons npent n lot on the kitchen. When they enme in the bnnement wnn full of rats. One kitchen floor had been laid on top of another, and they were all rotten. Mrs. Harrison ordered thn wooden floors taken out nnd had the ground covered with concrete. Upon the top of thin she put porcelnin tiles and walled all the rooms of the base ment ns high ns one's shoulder with the same material. The White House is now lighted with elcctrio lights. The chandeliers have electrio glohos and the lights nre kept burning in the baement and in most of the rooms of the building nil night. I think it was Mnrtin Van Bnren who was denounced nil over the coun try for buying n net of gold spoons fcr the Whito House. Tho now china which lias been recently bought is worth almost its weight in gold. 1 know nothing about tho late purchases of Mrs. Cleveland, but there is n new set of cut glass in the cupboards of the executive maunion which cost 1973, and I happen to know that Mrs. Harrison sent one order to Europe fat twenty four dozen china plates and five dozen coffee cups of a special design. Con gress allows each President something like 340,000 a year and more to rnn the White House, and n large part ol thin goes into new furniture and dishes. Tho linen costs a small for tune. The table cloths are of the fluent damask, and the napkins shine like eilk. New carpets are bought about every ix years, and though the ones which I found on the dillerent pnrlors nro good, Mrs. McKinley will probably have a chance to select now ones. I don't believe she will care to redecor ate the rooms. When the blue room was liif-t fitted np the nrtints received more than $5000 for the work. Tho walls of the blue room nre now padded nnd draped with silk as tine as that of the ball dresses of tho ladies who will come born to Bheke hands with President Mclviuley. The silk is ol the most delicate blue., nnd it in inter woven with eilvor. It is the same with the red room, which is also hung with silk and whoso furniture has been designed and cushioned to match. The carpets of all the ground floor parlors are fine. That on the cast room is so soft that one's foot sinks into it ns if it were a bed of moss. It takes almost D00 yards of carpet to cover the floor, and the one now tacked down cost 81(50. It takes more thnn a thousand yards to carpet the White House parlorsand dining rooms, nnd the osrpets every wl ere match the furniture and hangiugs. lint lot mo tell you just how tho White House looks in this year of our Lord 1807. It is bigger than it seems, for it covers the third of an acre. You do not see tho basement as you look tt it from the street, and tho base ment is almost a hauso in itself. Its rooms are high, and, with its recent Improvements, it is now as dry ns a bone. The White House is somo dis tance back from the street. A big park surrounds it, and going nu to tho front door you walk about a drive whioh leads in the shape of half moon to Pennsylvania avenue On one side of this drive there is a flag WHITE HOUSE VESTIBULE, pavement, and in coming into tho side of the yard nearest the Treasury you walk half the length of the build ing before you reach the front porob. As you do this you can look right down into tho basement and see the servants at work. The room below you is devoted to the laundry, and you may see colored women here al most any day of the week rubbing away at our President's shirts. Passing these you reach the large porte cochere. The columns -whioh uphold this are as big ns the biggest oak tree, and the stone platform within them is so large that a regiment of soldiers conld bo stationed upon it and have room to spare. You reach this plat form by stone steps and stand at last ft u .jfflaaaf 4 Sal 1 VUSisSm Mm before the front door of (he White House. The front door of the White Honse I What storios it conld tell of grif f as well ns joy. Through thnt door Abra ham Lincoln wan brought after be wan shot by John Wilkes Dooth. Htop with me to that side window and I will show yon an old man who was one of the White Hotife messengors at the time, and who is still stationed at the door. His name is Pendle. He told me once how little Tad Linooln came running to him the morning after tho (hooting nnd cried : "They have killed ray papa J they Lave killed my papal" He will tell you how he picked np Tad and tried to comfort him, and how he carried him upstairs to his THE IlED rAItLOIt OF room and talked to him nntil he dropped off to sleep. It was through that name door that Oarfleld was brought after he wan shot by (Huteau. He hnd been but n few weeks in tho Whito House, and, tired nnd worn out by fighting with the of-flco-seckers nnd tho Senate, was just about to go to Long Branch for a few days of much-needed rest. Ho came out here and took the carriage for the depot, not half a mile away, and was waiting for the traiu to start when the assassin's bullot brought him back. He was carried in through thin door and lay hero for weeks, raoked with excruciating pain. We passed policemen when wo came into tho yard. They patrol the streets about tho White House night and day. Thero are now more thau a dozen on duty within tho White Houso grounds, and President McKinloy will be watched almost as carefully an any king. There are guards wituin the estibuln on the other side of the door. There are guards in the base ment, and tho messengers who con duct yon from room to room, though thoy look very harmless, have by long watching beoomo expert detectives, and enn tell a orank almost at a glance. There are only four hours of tho day when strangers without urgent business can bo admitted to tho Whito House. This is from 10 n. in. till 2 p. m. After this, if you call and ring the bell, you will nee a guard's face at the little round hole tilled with pinto glass in tha mosaio window of the door and a pair of ahnrp eyes will ex amine yon before tho kuob is turned which lots you in. If you are so fortunate as to pass this inspection, you will eee the doors open inward and a moment Inter you will find yourself standing in what OB .MCAVE OP ALADDIN." might be called a very cave of Alad din. Columns have been -written nbout the east room and the wonders of the parlors of the White House, The most beautiful part of the whole building to my mind is thin great ves tibule, with its frescoed ceiling, its beautiful walls covered with tho coat of arms of tho United States, its floor of many colored tilos, and the jeweled wall whioh separates it from tho corri dor opening into the bluo room, the red room and the graen room beyond. One of tho great monnrcbs of India made a throne of gold, the baok of which was set with jewols to represent the feathers and colors of the pea cock's tail. i The throne cost $J0,- I 000,001, and it is described na having been wonderfully beautiful. It wan, J however, not runoh larger thnn chair. I visited the loom whore it stood during my stay in Delhi some years ago. The throne room was, I venture, not ns large as this White House vestibule, nnd here, instead ol chair of jewels, there is a whole wall made of bits of glass and costly stone pnt together in the form of a magnificent ruosaio. It baa cost not an many thousand dollars as the pea cook throne oost millions, bnt when tho eleotrio lights shine behind it it is, I venture, far more beautiful. It is in this vestibule that the Marine Band, dressed in their gorgeous red uni forms, with their brazen instruments shining like so much gold, play at tha President's receptions, and over thin mosnio floor step the diplomats of all the Nations ol the world, clad in their gold lace; the gay uniformed officers of our army and navy, and the pow dered and bejeweled throng whioh makes np what is known as Washing ton sooioty. THE WHITE HOUSE. - You will go to the left through this vestibule to reach the seoond floor of the White Honse, whore the offices are, if yon hnve business with Presi dent McKinley, but if yon wish to see Mrs. McKinley and nre so fortunate as to be a friend of tho family, you will be taken right across the ves tibule, nnd a door in that wondcrfnl wall will open for yon and admit yon to the pnrlors of the Whito House. At tho President's evening receptions the AOTnen, THE WHITE nOTTflE MESSENGER. rooms to tho left of tho White House will be fitted up with shelves, where the hats and ounts of tho men can be put away, while the wraps of the ladies will be stored for the time in the Btato dining room. It will be in the blue room that President McKinley will receive at suoh times. -This has beon the custom from time immemorial, and it will not be changed, I doubt, however, wheth er Mrs. MoKinley will be able to be with him. She is not at all strong, and she could not stand the wear and tear of an evening reception. It took all of Mrs. Cleveland's vitality to enable ber to carry out her part during her first years in the White House. I know of receptions at which sbo shook hands with nt least 6000 people, and at whioh it seemed to mo she gave a smile to each one and no two alike. Mrs. Harrison tried to save herself by not shaking hands, and at some of tie receptions she earned n bouquet in order to show the people that she cou'd not do this. Some think that it was tho care, overwork and worry of the White House that killed her, and the same is said to have caused the death of the first Mrs. Tyler and also of Mrs. Fillmoro, although she survived, I belieye, until a few weeks after she left the White Home. It was in tho blue room that Mrs. Cleve land was married, and here she bade goodby to her guests and took the carriage with the President to the speoial car on the Baltimore and Ohio road, which was seoretly waiting al most half a mile from the station to take the White House bride and groom to their honeymoon cottage at Deer Park, Wiutergreeu Oil, Distilling oil of wintergreon is now carried on to a small extent in northern Maine, bnt recent news paper reports of its magnitude there are no doubt exaggerated. The bulk of all the wintergreen oil coming on tho market is still produoed iu Penn sylvania, while practically all of tha oil of birob, wbioh is both chemically and commercially the same thing, is shipped from North Carolina. New England Homestead,. JAIMYANpNEW, A COSTUMK ADAPTKD FOR GKN- KRAIi UTILITY WKAti. Mafle of All-Wool Cheviot nnd Useful for Traveling, Shopping or Ilusl ness Purposes Pretty Klun nel Wrapper. HIS jnnnty costume, deploted in the lnrge illustration and described by May Manton, is particularly adapted to travel ing, shopping, business or general utility wear. As represented it is made of all-wool cheviot and the free edges A JAUSTY COSTUME sre finished with maohino stitching. The neok opens opon a linen ohomisette and smart tie, and' a leather belt with fanoy buokle encircles the waist. The shaping of the basque is accomplished by single bust darts, while the baok and side seams extend to the shoulder ; the usual nndor-arm gores separating the fronts from the baok. The close fitting double-breasted frontsjlap wide ly and olose on the left-front with handsome pearl buttons and button boles. The npper edgos are reversod to form pointed lapols that meet the rolling cost collar in uneven notches. At each side of the front and back wide plaits are applied that are carried bolow the waist line where thoy term inate in points. The stylish sleeves, of moderate fulness, tit closely below the elbow, the top being gathered in gigot style and tho wrists are finished with pointed tabs. The skirt emphasizes the latest out of modified skirts. It fits smoothly at the top aoross the fronts and sides, with the back laid in close plaits that turn toward the oentre-back, where the plaeket is finished, the lower edge having the fashionable flare is finished with maohino etitebing to tho depth of a wide hem. To make this basque for a lady in the medium size will require two and one-half yards of forty-four-incb wide material, A PRETTY LADIES WRAPPER, Fancy figured French flannel in mixed wool tones is here deoorated A PRETTY LADIES' WRAPPER. with fanoy stitching in leaf-green silk and bows of golden-brown satin ribbon. This very servioentOo negligee gown is simply fitted by shonlderand nndejf arm seams, small tncks are laid to yoke, depth on the fronts and back whjch cause it to fit smoothly across, the shoulders and the fulness thus caused! falls to the lowet edge of the gown; being laid in baok and front and ar ranged over a round yoke nnderfaoing,1 A box plait 'finishes the overlapping right front, whioh oloses in the centra with button holes. The neck is fin inhed with a neat rolling collar. The sleeves, in modified Uishop shape, are extended to form a frill at the lower edge, the fulness being held at tha wrists by a cluster of plaits at tha baok. Flannelette, outing or other woolen fabrioa make useful and com FOR OENEltAL USE. fortable wrnnriers in this st yle, percale, India silk or muslin being adopted.if a lighter weight garment is desired. To make this wrapper for a lauy in the medium size will require nine yards of twenty-one-inoh wide mate rial. A DATXTT APnoS T3T. A Oir.Ti. Dotted Swiss, laeo and insertion were selected for this dainty apron. The skirt consists of three sections. hisses' fancy apros. that are extended above the waist line, the centre section at the waist lino collected in alternato rows of gathers. The seams joining the sido sections to the centre section are well curved, forming a trim adjustment to the figure. The extension ibove the waist line, falling well over the shoulders, is oarried down iu the back, terminat ing in a deep, square collar. The free edges are decorated with lace, and wide ribbons of mink-pink are fastened at each side of the front beneath tho side sections, and are carried about the waist to to ceutrebnek, where tney are bowed and fall iu long graceful ends. The model is adapted to muslin in plain, striped or crossbar pattern, also Swiss, sb.ecr lawn, nainsook and similar fabrics, with trimmings of em broidery, lace, insertion, etc. Black or changeable tattetu, may also be em ployed in making with narrow satin bebe ribbon or ribbon velvet outlining; the free edges. For soheol wear tha design is both attxuotiva and praetioal
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers