Russia in not only to build her own railroads through China, but is to build China's own railroads (or Lor. It ia estimated thnt the present wealth of tho United States exceeds the wealth of the whole world at any period prior to tho niiiMlo of the eighteenth century. Tho New Some j grunge docs not believe iu giving tobneco to tho ton victa in the penitentiary. Part of their punishment, it think, should be deprivation of such luxuries. A mining prospootor, whoso export' euce is said to cover almost every mining region of the Northwest, has been lately waxing enthusiastic ovor tho future of the Cascade rango in Oregon as gold-producing section. The Houth is brooming a formid able rival to Now England in tho mat ter of manufactures as well as to other sections of tho country in tho matter of product ami in her foreign trade, observes tho Trenton (N. J.) American. Kir John durst, who is at the head of the educational department iu Eng land, is in hot water for declaring iu a public specoh that "at birth tboro ia not much difference between a baby and a monkey," and that the monkey has the advantage. A Boston man who dines regularly at a prominent hotel was interested to discover the other day that his waiter. whom bo has beeu tipping liberally all along, owns five teuemeut houses in the Hub, all clear of mortgages, and that his tax bill is considerably larger than his patron'. The Eisteru expross and railroad companies have adopted tho proper method of discouraging train robbery by offering bonus of 8500 for every robber moiuied and $1,000 for every one killed. This may seem cold blooded scheme, bat it is perfectly legitimate, and we are rare that it will do moro to cheek train robberies than offers of big rewards for the capture of the criminal after they have once escaped with their booty. At any rate, it gives employe somo return for risking their lives in defence of rail' road or express property and furnishes a stimulus to the mrcbsHe of the best weapons as well as to practice in using them instantly and cffjctivoly. Instead of diminishing from year to year the fatalities incident to min ing in this country seem to be stead- ily iuoreasiug. The reports from eight mining districts of Pennsylvania for the year ending December 1, 1896, show uo less than 1,801 accident a, of which 497 proved fatal. Besides re suiting in the death of these miners, me various a masters ol the year pro duced C71 orphans oud 223 widows. In 1893 the accidents numbered only 1,513, of which 331 ended fatally. The widows BUiubered 189 and the orphans 15. Iu 1831 the records disclosed only 1,133 accident, with 439 fatulities, 210 widows and CGC orphans. These figures show that our mining laws are seriously defective, and that something must be deue to check the constantly increasing num ber of fatalities, declare the Atlanta ' Constitution. With proper vigilauoe on the part of mine owners there is no reason why aucU tragic accidents hould oceue. ' Farms ia Euglaud are selling at ruinous reduction of their former vatne, aud in aaany eases eannot be old at all. Many propertiea with fa two hoars ride of London are de serted. Reoeutly at the sale of Laug don Abbey 639 seres of land, with fufmhouse, stabling, homestead and seven modem cottages, only realized 28,500, or less thau' $L5 per acre. . . , fiiteen years ago mo property wa valued at over 1100,000, nud foui years ago it was mortgaged at $70,000. In Essex County, withiu a day's walk of the Bank of England, a farm which ia 1875 rented for (2,000. has for the last five years rented for fj per annum, the ocoupaut payiugthe taxes,amouut ing to about 9750. In luauy cuset farms have been sold for less than one-tenth of their value twenty years ago. Well-to-do farmera are aban doning the business and go ing to the colonies or tc oities to start life anew. Nor doe there seem to bo any hopeful outlook for the industry in the future. Al though the situation is grievous, tbors may be some consolation in tho fuel that it is worse on the Continent aud .seems to be equally irremediable, W have not yet suffered so severely in this oouutry,adds the New York Trib une, but have by no mean escaped the depressing influences whieh seem to have fallen on agrioulture everywhere. Swept Content, Art thnu p,nr, yet hat thou golden slum O Kwi'nt content I Art thnu rii'h, ynl In thy mini perplexed ? O punishment t Dost thou laiiKh to see how fools am vexed ? To ailil to goldi'ii number, golden num ber ? O sweet content ! O swept content ! Cnn'st drink tho water of the rrlspoil spring? O sweet content ! 8wlmmot thou in wealth yet xlitkoth tn thlno tears? O punishment I Then ho that iatiently wnnt's burden Ix-nr, No burden hears, but I a king, a king t U sweet content ! O sweet content ! THE BIG ARMCHAIR. DT I1KI.F.K FORHKHT (IIUVFH. "It wasn't my fault," said Mrs, Brickctt; "nor yet I won't take it upon me to say that it was Briokctt'a, But we couldn't agree, me and Brick ett. So we soparatud." "Dear raol" said Mrs. Marrowfat. "It was nil about Grandfather (in uu's big armchair," said Mrs. Brickctt, stitching rosolutely nt her new Sunday gown- "Now I look back on it, it doos seem silly that I and Briokott should quarrel about such a little thing. But when your temper's up, you know, you can't stop to reason, as you do at ordinary times." "No, indeed I" said Mrs. Marrow fat, '"Grandfather Gnnn willed Brickett thnt big armchair," went on Mrs, Brickett. "lie hadu't n great deal to leavo, poor old fellow, but he did what he could. It was a great, ngly, old-fashioned thing, ns cumbrous to move as a horso and chaise, and dread fully old-foHhioncd in the make. So says I, 'It ain't fit for any placo but tho store-room.' 'Store-room, in deed I' says Brickett. iMy Grand father Gunu's armchair ain't going to be huntled away into uny store room. I'm just going to have it down stairs, wbcro I can sot in it, aud take my comfort,' says Brickett, says he. 'It don't match any of my furniture,' says I. 'Thou tako your furniture sumowhero elso,' says Brickett. Well, the first we knew, we came to light words, me. aud Brickett, 'I'll go homo to mother,' says I. 'Tho sooner the better,' says he. 'I've stood your temper till I can't stand it uo longer 1' So I came home to mother aud Brick ett, he's let the farm and gone out West, so the Widow Simmons writes me; for, of course, I've no way of knowing anything ubout it myself." And Mrs. Briokott brushed a tear out of the ooruer of her eye with the frill of her apron. "Dear, dear I" said Mrs. Marrowfat "I suppose Mr. Brickett was a great trial to yon?" "No, I can't say that he wan," acknowledged Mrs. Brickett. "He had a temper of his own, had Brickett; but so had L I'm 'most sorry, now, I didn't let Grandfather Gunu's arm chair stand by the settin'-room fire just where he wanted it!" "Why don't you write and tell him o?" suggested Mrs. Marrowfat. "I won't be the dust under any man's foet t" said Mr. Brickett, with spirit. "I've left him, and I'm not the womau to go fawning back again and usk his pardon, for standing up for my own right no, that I'm Botl" , But after Mrs. Marrowfat bad folded her knitting work, into its bag, put her best cap into a pasteboard box, and gone, home, .Mrs. Brickett sat sadly looking out where the tall, red hollyhocks uodded their bead above the garden wall, and the bees earns huiBiatug home from the white- blossomed buckwheat fields beyond, ad thought of the pleasant old farm in the Unudtlla Valley, with the stoop roofed, old-fashioned house, and Grandfather Gunu's big armchnir staudjug vacant by tho unused hearth stou,uud she almost felt as if she hud done wrong. "But I'd die I fore I'd own as much to Brickctt!" said she. So, by way of scouring a change of air and aeeue, aud diverting her mind from the folly of her oouditot, Mrs, Brickett concluded to go out West, and visit an old schoolmate who had married and settled there. . "Perhaps, if I like Kaunas, I shall stay there," said she, to herself. "It don't matter very muoh . whether I live iu one place or another, nowa days." It was long, tedious journey-res- peoiully so to Mrs. Brickett, who .was uot an accquipliahed traveler. , The, evening of the seoond ' day closed iu wet aud windy, as they oarao s'teauiiig steadily along on the edge of an almost interminable prairie, ,: ' They had stopped for supper at an imigtiacunt little town where they changed conductors, and, ns Mrs, Brickctt leaned bsok iu her corner, with a veil over her faoe aud a camphor-bottle at her nose, she could see the stalwart figure of tho now con ductor gathering tip the tickets right nud left, "Just such n mitli ns Brickctt nsed to be," thought the poor, solitary wife. "Doar, dear I I don't see what keeps putting Brickett into my head the wbolo time!" mid she cried, quietly, behind her vciL "It's because the camphor is so strong," said sho but sho knew better all tho while. Tho conductor had taken up nil his tickets nt Inst. Uo enme and sat down beaide a stout, genial-faced man, in tho sent direotiy in front of her. "So your goiug home, Wallis,"sald he. ("My goodness me, it is Briokott I" gaspod the weary traveler, nt the familiar ncaentaof tho Voice.) "Yes," tho genial-faced man made prompt reply. "I'm off duty uutil Monday morning; audi haven't soon my wife in a month nor my home." "It's a great deal to have a homo to go to," said Conductor Briokott, a little huskily, "and a wife, l'vo got neither." "Your wife is dend?" "I have lost her," tho conductor replied, evasively. "I suppose you sot a deal of store by licr?" said the stout man, sym pnthizingly. "I did," answered the conductor; "I do now. But l'vo lost her." He roso abruptly from his sont, and went to tho glazed door nt the end of the car it was tho last on the train to look out at the wild laudscupe the eternal flat samonoss of tho prairies. Presently, a touch fell lightly on his arm. "Brickett," said a soft, hesitating voice, "you have loat me I" "Hester I" ho cried out, with a start; "it is never you I Here? aud alone? "l'vo bchnvod liko a fool, Briokott," said the wife, trying hor best to keep down tho hysterical lump in her throat. "And I won't say that you was alto gether right " "I was a brute, Hester I" ho inter rupted. "But, oh, Briokett I Ihavcu't known a happy moment siuco I want awny and left the old farm in tho Uuadilla Valley!" pleaded tho wife. "Nor I!" he ntterod, hoarsely. "HoHter wifo shall we go back?" "And how about Grandfather Gunu's armchair?" she said, hulf laughing, half crying. "We'll split it up for kindling wood," said Brickett. "No, we won't, "said Mrs. Briokott. "We'll varnish it up and recushion it, and Bet it by the sitting-room fire just where you wanted it I" Mr. and Mrs. Briokett went on to the eud of the journoy, and then Mr. Brickett resigned his conductor's cup aud badge. "Isu't this rather a snddan notion of your, Briokett?" said the superin tendent of the roud. "Well, yes, rather," said Briokett. "But I've made up my mind to go back to farming." So Mr. uud Mr. Briokett returned once more to tho old homostead. Levi Cartwright, the incumbent, was only too glud to leave the farm. He was tired of , the monotonous life, '.'But there's ono thing I'd ought to tell you," said he. "The keepin'-room eeilin' fell down oue day Inst week folks don't put up plaster now ss they did in my 'teens und siiniBhod that there old nrmoliair of your'u into splinters. Good thing no one chanoed to bo sottiu' iu - it just then ; but we was all out at the baok of the house, bivin' a swarm of hues. RjhI provi dential, wusu't it?" And Mr. aud Mrs. Briokett looked at each other, unci ugreed that it was, Saturday Night. History or Steam Power. The powur of steam, says the St, Louis Olobo-Domocrut, was known to Hero of Alexandria, who exhibited what seems from the description to have beau a small steam eugiue to Ptolemy l'hiladelphus and his court,' about 150 B. C. Pliny describes a small boat, built by a "magician" of Homo, which moved by uieausof wheel, "driven by a pot of hot water.'' Watt's invention of a rotary steam eugiue was patented in 1709, The first railway locomotive was built by Trovithiok, in 1801; the first practical locomotive .was perfected -by Stephen sou ia 1829, As early as 170J. Uooys Papin built n model of a steamboat, which was destroyed by, a mub; of boatmen. ' The (list practical steam boat wiis built by William (Symington Iul8oi.,lui803 Iiobm t ' Fulton, ia ijouneotion with ChuuceUor Livings ton, built' u' steamboat,' 'which was tried; on the ', fMue,'.!.'; J ., 1807 )h Cloioiiiout buguu trips from Now York to Albuoy, .. II Milling In Dreams, James Bolton, a New Yorker who visits the Adlrondioka evory yonr to hunt deer, hns a leau-to camp on a a stream iu Northorn Herkimer coun ty, whore he entertains his friends. Ho sees things and does things some times iu his dreams thnt make him a source of auxiety to hie friends and his guides. Last fall Sara Cooloy, one of Mr, Bolton's g u Id os, was lying in tho guido's shelter half awake, when he siw some one slip out of the owner's camp with a rifle iu bis bands. What was more serious, tho figure was slip ping 88-culibre shells into the mags nine. Cooley divined the situation instantly, and started toward the man, whom ha reoognized ns Bolton, but Bolton got beyond tho firelight before the guide could reach him, and theu stopped and soemod to be steering off into the woods. Up came the rifle, and aevou shots wore flrod, each sounding like a can non's roar in tho porfoot night quiet of the woods. Everybody except Bol ton woke up, and tho dogs lot out howls of wondermont. Mcautimo Cooley had grabbed a water pail half full of water and thrown the contents over Bolton just as he was about to fire again. It was Bolton's turn to howl thon. The oold wator woke him np, and ho was iualinod to swear at the guide before he ronlizod thodangorhe bad been iu. Ho bad boon 'shooting, he thought, nt a buok doer. All tho bullets wero found noxt day iu a hem lock stump, aud they could have beeu covered with a lint. Mr. Bolton once went still hunting, a little after midnight, and was not found until 7 a. in. Ho had awakened onco during his trip,but Jiad been nu ablo to make hi way back to camp, A fisherman fell nsloep whilo fishing for blaok bns nt Philadelphia, N. Y., ono day nnd dreamed he had a bite. He yaukod his pole up and a one pound bass swung into bis faoe. Ou waking up ho found thnt ho bad pulled tip his polo, but instead of a bn, a tin can swung against his chuck.- New York Situ. Products of Hawaii. Besides sugar and rioe, tho staple products, coffee, bananas, oranges aud other fruits are largely grown. Pood product aro abundant, especially o! tho kind suitablo to a hot olimtito,says "Paradise of tho Paoitlo." The native food consists largely of the taro plaut, of which the . best va rieties are grown iu the shallow ponds of fresh water. From this plant is made the poi, which is the ordinary food of the Kanaku. Tho sweet potato grows even among the rocks aud flourishes abundantly in good soil, whilo the common pota to sometimes grows well, though it is often injured by worms. The quality of the coffee raised is equal to the choicest. The climate is also very favorable to the growth of the loug staple sea inland cotton ; but as this variety must be picked by hand, tho high price of labor iu the islands renders its culture unprofitable . Tropical fruits of nourly all kinds grow in the richest ubuudiHioe, the orange, lomou, lime, mango, pine apple, hirimoya, or custard apple, the alligator pear.poniegranate and gunvo, nil of whjch are exotic The bauaua is indigenous, and is the most abundant of nil fruits; be. aides it there nre the ohia apple a fruit peculiar to the Paoifio islands, soft, juicy and mildly noid many varieties of pulms,tbeohoioeat trees of India, the ououtohouo, tho papaya, the traveler's tree of Madagascar aud other foreign plants. Measuring; Starlight. Amoug the curreut inventions re corded in the soieutifio papers is that of an instrument by an English in veutor for aoourately measuring the quuntity of light giveu out by a star, stars being designated as of the first down to the twentieth magnitude, ac cording to tho intensity of the light from them. By this uew devioo the rough dosiguutiou of uiuguitude is represented by numbers, which give the exact ratio of one star to another in light-giviug'power, the star Aro turns, for example, being estimated by this means to give 75 8-4 times the light of Regulns. The nmouut of light which readies the earth from the stare varies aoourdiug to. the state ot the atmosphere, and it is claimed that this instrument will bo of valuable service not ouly iu astrouomy, but ia meteorology also. ' ' ' '" , ' ,. Equipped, ' ;'. : "Oue of your wife's- lungs is gone pjy dear sir," ' ' , , "That doesu't do me any good, doc tor, the oue she has loft is a star." Truth, , , , ., :: . FL0ATEDJ5Y KITES. Novel Experiment by a United States Army Officer. He Was Elevated Forty-Two Feet by Four Kites. The utility of the kite iu war times has been tested at Governor's Island with satisfaction, says the New York Press. Li entensnt Hugh D, Wise of the Ninth Infantry, who has boen ex perimenting for months, was elevated to an altittido of forty-two foot, and swopt the surronuding country with bis glass. He was assisted by Corpo ral Lewis and tive other officers of the post. Pour kites were used. They were attached to a windlass running out a half-inch mauilla cord connected with an irou ring drawn up tirty feot above tho ground. From the ring the kites ran up ou two ono-iuuh curds Two kites, ouo above the other, wero attached to each of the latter cords. To tho ring was also nttaohod a tackle nud bloak running a heavy rope to tho ground. Ou this rope Lieutenant Wise was pulled iuto the nir by two of the offi cers. At the time tho estimated pull ing foroe of the kites was 430 pound. The wiud was blowing nt tho rate of fifteen miles per hour from the south wost, Liouteuant Wise plaood himself in a seat attached to the tnokle rope. At first tho kitos were unable to lift him more than twelve foot, owing to the variation of the wind. When a steady blow was finnllyon nt 4 o'clock iu tho nftortioou, ho was haulod up a little above tho eaves of the officers' quarters, nt which the test was made. Tho distuuee wus estimated at forty two foot. Ho remained thoro for some time, brought his glass to bear ou all sides, and theu signnlod to be loworod, Tho test was ropoated, and Liutitonuut Wiso expressed himself as highly gratified. The four kitos nsod woighed sixty five pounds aud their cost was calcu lated to bo about 12 eaoh. Iu form they were parailulopipedons, consist ing of frame boxes braocd out with wire and covered with strong cotton cloth. Lieutenant Wise is the only porsoa in this oouatry who has succeeded in accomplishing this much with kites. Exporimouts, however, have been suc cessfully made in England and Austra lia. Captain H, Baden Powell, of the British army, was elevated one hun dred foot a year ago, and Lawrence Hargrave asconded forty feet recently in Australia. When seen Lieutenant Wiao said : "Captain Powell bad tbo ubo of a parachute iu his ascension. I may use a parachute in connectiou with the kitos in a nhort time I thiuk that the kite may be exceedingly useful. Such able persons as President Laug ley, of the Smithsonian Institution ; Professor Marvin, of tho Weather Bureau, i.nd Civil Engineer Chanut of Chioago, have boen investigating the subject. I think ultimately a kite will be perfected which will carry a man in a gale which would tear a balloon into pieoes. The portability of these contributes to their usofuluoss. They will, however, always lubor under the disadvantage of requiring a strong breeze. My kites uro a modification of tho Hargrave iuveutiou. I attri bute my eucoess to hard work and study. I bavo uever made any experi ments without working the theory out beforehand. I had a great deal of bad luok, and the number of kites broken, and the work wus sometimes very dis couraging. 'I have now, altogether, about sixty kitos of various sizes and forms." Nuw York Press. Tho Teredo and tho Cubic. An Atlantic cable' has, fortu nately, few animal enemies, al though iu the English Chuunel, the Irish Sea, nud the North Sea the teredo, the special cable pest of the Mediterranean, does some mis chief. This "miserable little mollusk," as the cable meu call it, first made itself a reputatiou by euting up woodeu ship hulks, uutil builders took to plating theiu with irou, and by burrowing iuto the dikes iu Hollaud until the whole oouutry was tbreateued with inundation. - When the cable oume, it took to it at ouoe. It wriggles its way iq between the steel wires of the most tightly wrapped oore, and eats away jute aud guttaper cha uutil thore is uothiug'but a wire skeleton left. . Happily, however, as already indicated, our. owu particular oable has little to fear from the tere do; and the best wish we oau givo it, as it lies at the bottom of the Atlan tic, is that it may never huva a his tory, and that the timo may bo long before tbu "Faraday" sees it again. Henry Muir in Mod lire's. rF.AHLS OF TIIOl'UHT. Scnso shines with a double lustre when not in humility. Poan. Kindness is wisdom ; there is nono in lifo but needs it, aud may learu. Bailoy. Look at it this way l The world and everything in it Is yours to help you make a truo man of yourself. Ram's Horn. A religious man making money fast is just a man iu a cloud of dust; it will fill his eyes if he be not careful. C. H. Spurgoon. Much of the trouble in this world is caused by the man with the bourn in his eye trying to point out tho mote iu his brother's eye. Euter into the business or trade that you like best and for which na ture soems to have fitted you, pro vided it is honorable. Work. The world is not going to pay you for nothing. Ninety por cent of what men call taleut is only a genius for bard work. Be honest. Dishonesty soldom makes one rich, and when it does riches nre a curse, Thore is no such thing as dishonest success. The South West. A beautiful and ohnste woman is tho perfect workmanship of God, the true glory of angels, the rare miracle of earth, and the sole wondor of the world. Hermes. Wo can never see this world in its trne light unless wo consider our life in it as a state of discipline, a condi tion through which we are pacing to prepare us for another statu beyond. J'. W. Alexander. The secret of success is concentra tion ; wherever there has been a great lifo or a groat work that has gone be fore. Taste everything a little, but live for ouo thing. Anythiug is poMBiblo to a man who knows his end, and moves straight for it, and for it alone. Olive Schrciuer. ForgivcncHS of siu is tho greatest boon to tho human hcurt. Other blessings follow richly in its train. It is the koystono of the arch binding together God's covenant. It is tho open door through which come troop. ing the blessings of divine love. Get this, and yon get tho key to the store house. Rev. Georga Cooper. A Poor Man's Idea. There ere many geniuses and in ventors hard nt work todny on devices for saving time and money, and one might say that daily the product of their thought is placed before tho world in machines that i-eera almost human in their workings The chief essential iu saving time is to acquire a system, and operators placed before a new mechanical invention quickly establish a systematic method of work ing it, end eventually find a way of improviug on it. These men sel dom profit by such ' little im provements, but their adopted sys tem suggest valuable ideas to the out sider, upon which he realize-. This is evidenced by tho following: Years ago, iu the cotton mills, the bobbius of tho looms used to catch the filaments of cotton uud clog the ma chinery, necessitating a stoppage of the works to cleau up. This wus u loss of both time and mouey. One man, however, a seemingly dull fel low, found a way to keep his bobbin free, and his loom never had to shut down. The owner of the mill, Mr. Peel, father of Sir Robert Peel, no ticed this, and obtained from the mun his socret for an agreement which, financially, amounted to next to noth ing. He simply chalked the bobbin, thus preventing tbu thread from stiokiug. Peel adopted this idea, and iuvented machinery for tho sole pur pose of chalking the bobbius, and pa tented it. He realized a fortune from it, and gave the original inventor a handsome peusioti. Harper's liouud Tuble. - 1 TckIu oil Sleep. It is suid that Gludstoua takes plenty of sleep. Iu reply to au inquiry whether it was wise for n man to deny himself nud get along with a few hours of sleep a day to do moro work. Teals, the great eleotriciau, said : - "That is a greut mistake, I am convinced. A man has just so mauy hours to be awake, and tho fewer be uses up each day.tho more days thoy will Inst-that is the longer he will live. I believe that a mau might live 200 years, if ho would sleep most of the time. That is why negroes ofteu live ut udvuiieod old age, because they sleep so much. It is suid that Gladstouo sleeps 17 hours everyday; that is .-why. his fuoultiua are still uuiuipuired in spite of his great age. The proper way to econo mize lifo is to' sleep every moment that it is not necessary or debited that you should be awake."
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers