Of nil ii'oti iu the world, drug clerks
end railroad engineer should not lie
no overworked a to imperil their pres.
ence of mind, observe tlie New York
Trilmne,
Science luring demonstrated thnt
the stomach in superfluous, dyspeptic
gentlemen who contemplate n trip to
the Klondike region thin spring should
lie e ireful to cheek oil uuueeessary
baggage at home.
The loosening of white dove nt the
launching of the Jnpnnefie cruiser
prompt the Philadelphia Pre to
suggest the appropriateness of Retting
free young eagle when a United
States war vessel fir.it meets the
water.
Philatelists are protesting against
the proponed new issue of stamp
commemorative of the Dinahs (Neb.)
exhibition. They say the issue will
serve no good purpose.atid speculators
will liny the stump and hold them for
high price.
-
The pastor of a London church, in
order to popularize his service, per
mit the male members of his congre
gation to smoke, and furnishes the
tobacco. Now Jersey is bound to
keep pace, Itoctor Stoddard of Jersey
City having started a diuicitig class iu
his church.
Prussia's paternal government has
ordered two private schools in a little
town near Potsdam to be closed be
cause they interfere with a rival es
tablishment. One may be kept open
for a year longer provided the pro
prietor engages to take in only twenty
pupils and to teach them no foreign
languages.
Eai ly morning exercise is denounced
nowaday! by the majority of hygienic
teachers. At that time, they say, vi
tality is at its lowest ebb, and needs
the stimulation of food. About mid
afternoon Is the best time for gentle
outdoor exercise. At this time, too,
it is most desirable that mental labot
should cease.
A great improvement has been made
iu Parisiau duels. The seconds in an
affair of honor between a dramatic
author and one of his critics made n
mistake iuthe place of meeting, there
by sending their principals to op
posite ends of Paris. This made a
subsequent meeting at close quarters
unnecessary.
A recent writer on the Chinese cot
ton industry states, as a remarkable
fact, that in China cotton yarn can be
produced for ten cents per pound. In
our southern mills cotton undershirts
can be produced for a fraction ovei
ten cents apiece. There is hope foi
our cottoii manufacturers, even in
competition with the Chinese.
The chief aid-de-camp of Don Car
los is quoted as saying that all his
master wants to enable him to get the
crown of Spain is the help pf "God
and His Vicar-General." Being in
terrogated as to the individuality oi
the latter, without whose aid even
Divine help is vain, he frankly ex
plains that the Vicar-General is nc
other than money I A potent vicar,
truly! exclaims the New York Tribune.
England's scheme to get Chi-i
heavily in her debt is shrewd in more
ways than one. By that course China
can be made to leave her customs in
British bands, which implies that the
great trade ports are not to be ceded
away, nor territorial relations changed.
Then by insisting that part of the loan
shall be nsed to pay off Japan, the lat
ter power is given the means to buy
more ships and guns in the British
market. The thrifty side of British
diplomacy was never more apparent
than it is in this Chinese undertak
ing, which sufficiently aoconnts, thinks
the San Francisco Chronicle, for the
alarm in other quarters.
' The present year will not be lack
ing in political interest. In twenty
five states of the Union elections for
governor will be held, and these elec
tions will serve to throw much light
upon national issues. Governors and
statehonse officers are to be elected
in Alabsma,Arkansas, California.Con
neotiout, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota,
Oregou, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Wisconsin and Wyoming. In the
above list of states every section of
the country is represented. Rhode Isl.
end's state election will ooonr in April,
Alabama's in August, Arkansas's in
September and Georgia's in October.
The remaining ones will all occnr in
November. With this outlook ahead,
there is not apt to be much idleness
Wtong the politicians.
FIGHTING SNOW DKIFTS,
TH2 WHITE FOE OF TRAFFIC IN THE
CANADIAN NORTHWEST. ....
hallway Lines Hlorkaded II r Sweeplna;
AvalancheaAn Army of Men Ite
mi I red to Clear the Traeks (Irani
fcnow Sheds For Protecting1 the Trains.
"North America is the battle ground
of the biggest snow tights on earth.
There are thousands of men in the
northwest whose only occupation dur
ing the winter months is to right snow.
It is exciting work, too, a life that in
volves the greatest hardships and con
tinual risks. Due might search the
world over for a more desperate and
dangerous employment."
It was a Canadian Faciflo engineer
who spoke. We were traveling over
the Hooky Mountains at midnight.
Through the glass-paneled door at the
tail of the train one could see the icy
crests of the Mountains in the pnle
moonlight. In the wake of the sum
mer fires the trees stood np thiu and
rakish, like the masts of ships. Else
where they were shrouded with droop
ing branches and spnttered stems, in
the universal snow. The snow gave
an impressive sense of peaccfiildens to
the impenetrable silence of the moun
tains. I looked out npon the solemn
stillness, the broad stretches of mo
tionless white, the deep passages of
avalanches carved along the mountain
sides, with a feeling of awe for the
immensity of tho power thnt had so
changed tho face of nature.
Hut the railroad man had no
illusions. To him the snow was a
foe, a foe to be feared, a foe against
whom men and engines had often
measured their strength in vain.
Every now and then tho scenery
1 a, 1 J
TIIE ROTARY
was blotted out; the glass panols sud
denly showed us nothing but the re
flection of the car and bobbing light
of the overhead lamp. They were
snow sheds through which the train
was passing. The railroad, cut like a
single step in tho side of the mountain
chasm, was roofed in as snugly -as a
house. Above, for all we knew, the
snow might be tumbling head-lung
over the slippery lodge in a tempest
of passion; but for all its malevolence,
impotentto inflict an injnry to the poor
snake of a train hiding beneath its
shelter.
These snow sheds have been erected
among the mountains at an enormous
cost. They are of massive timber
work heavy beams of squared timber,
dovetailed and bolted together, and
backed with rook. They are fitted
into the mountain so that they be
come, as it were, a part of the moun
tain side, so as to bid defiance to the
most terrifio avalanche.
Anything may precipitate an ava
lanche down the steep declivities of
those piled-up precipices, among whioh
the single-track railway lodks like a
pin's scratch wonld on the hand of
man. It need be no more than a loos
ened scrap of rock that has started
rolling downwards with no forethought
of the immeasurable cataclysm that its
passage, will create.
In a few. yards it has beoome imbed
ded in a mighty mass of moving snow,
a wool-white torrent licking np the
leviathan trees as it passes like straws
swept np in a storm of autumn leavas,
growing more venomous, more power
ful, more h-resistible, until the rush
of the wind before it clears a passage
through the forest anticipating its
ravages, removing all obstaolos as the
outriders to- a royal equipage make
way through a mass of human beings.
It is truly a royal foe that the rail
road men of the northwest have to
encounter among the mountains. An
onrushing, terrifio force, something
which can not be checked. It is nec
essary to resort to subterfuge, to cheat
it, to hide from it, or to make good by
artificial means the path that the rail
way has strnck out for itself.
Among the Cascade Mountains I
have seen seven and eight engines
linked together charging impotently
against the snowbanks, and at night
time there is no more wonderful sight
than this, each hissing engine throw
ing its sheath of firelight on the ten
ders, with their heavy loads of wood
fuel, on the gleaming snowbanks, on
the great trees seeming to press round
to mock by their stillness all this use
less fuss and fury, this powerless rag
ing, this resnltless disturbance of their
peace.
Under favorable circumstances, the
snow parts readily before the onslaught
of the plow. At times, however, un
der the battery, to which it is sub
jected, it only beoomes more rigidly
compressed, more solid, more impen
etrable at each renewed charge, a
olid, nnbndging block of ioe. The
engine may go back a mile, the throt
tle may be thrown open, it may rush
npon the barrier at a speed of forty or
thy miles an hour, but whan the how
dust has cleared sufficiently for the
engineers to see around them, it msy
be that they have only advanced a
yard, posssibly tr - engine fires have
been extinguishes, not improbably
the engine may have been thrown off
the line.
The one recourse which then re
mains is to call in the assistance of a
smoll ormy of mon, that a way may be
forced through the snow with pick
and shovel, and, while these opera
tions are progressing, the passenger
train has to be kept constantly on the
move, lest in a few hours it become
iucapable of movement at all.
At such a time it is no unusual thing
to see several hundred men at work
on a single drift. Perhaps eight or a
dozen platforms are cut in the snow,
and thus what is removed from the
line is passed upward from stage to
stage, climbing the steep walls in tiny
shovelfuls, until it finally reaches the
open waste, thirty or forty feet above
the heads of the workers on the ground
level.
The men are brought to the spot in
special trains and fed and honsed as
best they can be. They work day and
night, sometimes shoveling for thirty
six hours at a stretch.
The thing that has simplified the
task of snow fighting more than any
thing else, especially in the prairie
country, Is the rotary plow. The ap
pearance of the "rotary," as it is fa
miliary called by railroad men, re
minds one of nothing so much as the
screw propeller of a steamship. It is
a huge rosette of flanges, about twelve
feet in diameter, that bores its way
into snowbanks, clearing just enough
space to enable the waiting train to
pass through. As the winter goes on,
the snow is piled higher and higher
on both sides, nutil we have the per-
' ml
TLOW AT WORK.
pellicular embankment throu gh whioh
the train often passes for miles with
out a break.
As the wheel revolves, the snow
chips pass back through the intervals
between the shovels, fall into a large
sized fan elevator, and are hurled
forth on this side or that side of the
lino, aooording to the quarter from
whioh the wind is blowing. In a
graoeful arch of silver dust, the snow
is flung into the air' to a bight of sixty
or seventy feet, descending like a
fountain over the half-buried posts of
the telegraph. From the smoke stack
a volume of fire is rising. There is an
uproar like the sound of artillery gal
loping over a cobbled street. As a
spectacular effect the snow plow is a
great success. Some of the bigger
plows weigh over fifty tons by them
selves, and with the machinery that
operates them the total weight is over
100 tone.
The cutter, with its own private en
gine, as it were, is placed on a mass
ive truck which is iaolosed like the
cab of a locomotive and linked to a
heavy freight engine, the "Hog."
Following behind this travels another
engine drawing its load of tools and
its complement of workers. The men
who operate a snow plow draw high
wages, the expenses in this respect on
one job amounting to over a 8160 a
day. A rotary in good hands will
clear a snow blockaded track at the
rate from two to twelve miles anb.our;
THE ENOI.NEEB ATTEB A BIDE IX A STOB1I.
but the consumption of cool is one ton
in 30 minutes.
With a rotary plow the engineers do
not run the same risk as they do on
the plow of the old-fashioned type,
with whioh it is often necessary to
charge the snowbank at top speed, not
merely cutting through, but burrow
ing nnder the snow. But even the
rotary plow is liable to be disabled by
encountering the frozen carcass of a
horse or a steer in a snowbank, or the
debris of fallen telegraph poles, or,
among the mountains, the trunks of
Khzantio trees. It is nominally the
- -m,T1 SIM IILivrr-wn-w. w,.
lip
duty of the section men to look out
for this, and if possible, to warn the
engine driver, and to telegraph for a
gang of workmen with pick and shovel
to olear the track in the old-fashioned
way. But it is needless to say that
the most vigilant section men cannot
always be relied upon in such a matter
as this.
PREFERS BICYCLE TO BRONCO.
This Indian Hides tho Wheel With Ease
and Grace.
Onward progress - in the case of the
bicyole in the affections of the Ameri
can people was never better illustrated
than when IJole-in-the-Day of Devil's
Lake, N. 1)., swapped his sure-footed
noLE-lX-TriE-DA? ON HIS WHEEL.
bronco for a ''bike." The mann-nvres
of the bicycle squad attaohed to the
military post at that point filled him
with admiration and a desire, and now
he can ride with the case and grace of
an old-timer. Hard falls and jmuct
ures came his way while learning to
master the silent steed, but such trials
did not cause him to swear in his af
fection for the pneumtic-shod vehicle.
Uole-in-the Day's example has been
followed by other Indians, and an In
dian cycling club may now be organ
ized. (flow Chamalaon Chnngaa Color.
The chameleon is a little lizard, who
possesses the wonderful power of
changing his oolor to suit bis own con
venience. Florida produces several
species of these lizards in abundance.
Up to the present day no one has un
derstood the process by whioh the lit
tle lizard effects his changes. Now it
is known.
Certain colors through the medium
of the optio nerve produce a contrac
tion or expansion of the pigment or
color cells. The result is a protective
tint or one whioh resembles that upon
which the animal is resting. The eye
receives the stimulus or impression,
which passes from the optio nerve to
the sympathetic nerve, so reaching
the various series of the lizard's little
color cells under tho skin.
The pigment cells are distributed all
over the body with more or less regu
larity, and upon their contraction and
TEB LITTLE CHAMELEON WHEX BLIND
FOLDED CAW 'T CHANGE COLOR.
expansion depends the prevailing oolor
of the animal.
"The soientist discovered this by
blindfolding a lizard, and found that
when it couldn't see the oolor of the
surrounding foliage it ceased to chanjo
its own color. ,
Disappointed In Lots.
There is an old lady residing south
of Kokomo, near the Howard-Tipton
county line, who has been a "man
hater" for forty years. She is a spin
ster leading a hermit's life, and has a
comfortable sum of money secreted in
her home.
Sinoe being disappointed in love
forty years ago she has never spoken
to a man. She is seldom seen in town,
and her small trading is always done
with women clerks. She has made a
will and purchased a cemefery lot.
Explicit directions have been given
that no man shall preach her funeral
sermon nor act as pall-bearer. A
women is to offer prayer at the grave.
Women shall act as pall-bearers, a
woman shall drive the hearse, and
women lower the body and fill the
grave. No men are to be allowed in
the funeral procession, and newspa
pers are forbidden to mention her de
mise. Indianapolis (Ind.) Sentinel.
Bow to Avoid Golds J
Cold and exposed extremities and
too much wrapping around the body
create congestion and pave the way
for diseasei The hygienio and sensi
ble method is to give the throat, chest
and arms a dash of cold salt and water
every morning upon rising. An en
tire sponge bath of this sort is of great
advantage, but this treatment of the
throat and chest is almost absolutely
necessary if one would avoid a multi
tude of ills that affect this portion of
the system.
A Mnch-Prlwd Cola.
Among numismatics one of the most
sought after colonial coins is the
Highly copper. They are of several
varieties, and were struok in 1737 by
Samuel Highly, who w.as a physician
and a blacksmith at Granby, Conn.
He obtained the copper from a mine
neat by and shaped the coins at his
forge.
Tha Rrarnm Cat.
rmelons dolly Dorothy.
I ra been having trouble,
A tul tha weight of nnjlnusncse
Nearly bant me doublet
For I tnw tha Hcarum eat,
In tha lumber tilllows.
Creeping, creeping toward m
Through the bending willows.
Oh, my dolly Dorothv,
I whs frightened, frightened!
For the clouds were very dark,
And It lightened, lightened!
And the creeping Soarum cat,
romlng through the willows,
M ide my heart (to plt-R-iiit,
in tha slumber pillows!
And 1 wanted to cry out,
Hut. oh dear, I couldn't!
And 1 hoped the cat would turn,
Hut, oh dear, 'twouldu't!
And I tried to run away,
lint "onld not leave the willows,
And the creeping Kenrum cat,
In tha slumber pillows!
Then, my Dolly Dorothy,
I was nearly (ninth. ,
When a foamy wave earns np
From the bin Athititto
Caught me from the, Hcarum eat,
Allium; the Lending willows.
And dropped me In my little bed,
And woke mo on the pillows.
Jfnmmn said. though dreams are dread
They vanish like a bubble)
"Hut, ' mid she, "a simple tea
Would save you such a trouble.
If you ant just broad and milk.
You will not see the willows,
And the creeping Hcarum cat
lu the slumber pillows.
Mary Klizaheth Htonn,
Why Ilo Your Skates Slip?
Why do your skates slip on ioc?
ntos is just as smooth, but you
couldn't possibly sknte on it. If you
doubt it try your skates on a piece
of glass and see whether they will
slip or not.
The reason why ice is slippery ond
glass is not is very simple. Ice always
melts a little under pressure and fric
tion.. When the steel of the skate
touches it a little water is formed, and
this acts as til between the skate and
the ice, and the skater slips merrily
along, The expression in regard to
glare ice, "It's as slippery as if it had
been greased," is not fur wrong. On
glass this liquid lubricator is lacking,
and the friction Iret ween the skate and
the glass renders slipping impossible.
Put two pieces of glass together with
a few drops of water between them,
and see how easily they will slip
about, one over the other. Chicago
Itecord.
A rurlnna Incident.
Horses will form strong attachments
for dogs, but it does not often happen
that a horse derives any real benefit
from having acunine friend. The fol
lowing case will show that a dog inny
sometimes return a horse's affection
in a very practical manner. A man
living in the country had a horse
which happened to be turned out jusi
as bis carrots were ready for pulling.
He also had a dog that was on the
best of terms with the horse. One
day he noticed that his carrots were
disappearing very fast, but he was al
most certain that no one had gotten
in and stolen them. Btill be deter
mined to watch and see who was rob
bing him. . His vigilance was re
warded, for he caught the thief in the
very aot of pulling up the carrots.
Then he cautiously followed bin from
the garden and found that he went
off iu the direction of the field where
the horse was. Arrived there, the
owner of the carrots saw that his horse
was the receiver of tho stolen goods.
The thief was his dog. In some way
the log bad discovered that the horse
had a partiality for carrots, aud was
unable to gratify its taste; but with a
sagacity that is almost incredible, the
dog found the means of obtaining the
succulent morsels for bis friend, and
this he did without scruple at his mas
ter's expense. There was something
more than instinct in this dog's head.
But any one who takes real notice of
the habits and curious doings of ani
mals must inevitably come to the
conclusion that the theory is not
tenable which maintains that animi.!
cannot think aud reason. Detroit
Free Tress. .
Raw a Fox Is Caught.
Winter is the propitious season of
the hunter and trapper. His game is
out aud ' nature obligingly acts the
part of detective by spreading her
mantle of snow to register their move
ments. Each kind of animal possesses
its own peculiar habits and strategic
methods which must be familiar to
the pursuer who hopes for success.
Any other denizen of the forest is be
lieved to be more easily outwitted
than the fox. All know how high his
reputation is for caution and cunning,
yet he has acquaintances of human
kind so intimately acquainted with his
ways as to see just how to overcome
bis scruples and make him an easy
victim of the trap.
If Beynard has paid a recent visit
to the henhouse, or whether he has or
not, if his den can be located with ap
proximate .certainty he may be ap
proached in that locality on the sub
ject of capture; not in plain language,
to be sure; not by open methods, but
in accordance with bis own stealthy
tactics. The whole plan rests on the
tripod of caution, patience and perse
too
Take the remainder of the fowl tie
partly devoured, or, in absence of thst,
a freshly killed animal, or piece of
butcher's meat, and at night place It
nnder a log to which Ills instincts will
be likelv to ld Mm. if i.. . i.
- ....... al,ll,pnr in
gnawing he will find It and what fox
is not hunirrvt Tii t.-.t ill .1
rt- ,- a u v .1 en, " tit HUH nil
! , . CPePte(1 to Rood faith, but it
will be sampled. Repest the offering
the same place night after night, till
its daily disappearance shows that hie
confidence is gained and there is no
evidence of hesitancy in his approach.
Theh set the trap; a strong steel one,
well staked and entirely concealed
with leaves. He will come as usual
for his snpper, and this time be be
comes a prisoner. M. A. Hoyt, in
Farm, Field and Fireside.
Tha lerrl r.rt.
This enrionsflsh, which exhibits the
singular phenomenon of voluntary
electrio power residing in a living
animal, is an inhabitant of the fresh
water rivers and ponds of Hnriuam
and other parts of South America,
where it was first discovered in the
yesr 1077.
The power of emitting an electrio
shock is apparently given it in order
to enable the creature to kill its prey.
Thoso who have seen the electrio eel
in the I'ol.vtechnio while being fed
will have little doubt of this. The
fish given to it are.dircctly it becomes
aware of their presence, instantly
struok dead, and then devoured. This
specimen Is n 11 fortunately blind, bnt
it has learned to turn in the direction
of a paddling in the water, made by
the individual who feeds it. The fish
is scarcely in the woter before a shock
from theg.vmnotus kills it. The usual
length of tho gymnotus is about three
feet.
('Aptain Stedman, in his account of
Surinam, gives an account of the
electrio eel, which he, of course, had
many opportunities of seeing. He at
tempted, for a trifling wager, to lift np
a gymnotus in his hands, but accord
ing to his own words: 1
"I tried abont twenty different
times to grasp it with my hand, bnt
all without effect, receiving just as
many electrical shocks, which I felt
even to the top of my shoulder. It
has been said that this animal must
be touched with both hands before it
gives tho shock, but this I must fake
the liberty of contradicting, having
experienced the contrary effect." The
eel mentioned was a small one, only
two feet long, but one that had ar
rived at its full growth would have
given a very much stronger shock.
An English sailor was fairly knocked
down by a shock from one of these
eels, nor did he recover his senses for
some time. It is said that the shock
can pass np a stick, and strike the
person holding it. Mr. Bryant and
a companion were both strnck while
pouring off ice water from a tub in
which the eel had been placed.
Humboldt, in his "Views of Na
ture," gives a very animated descrip
tion ( f the method employed by the
Indians to take these creatures a
method equally ingenious and cruel.
Knowing from experience that the
powers of the gymnotus are not ade
quate to a constant volley of shocks,
they contrive (hat shocks shall be ex
pended on horses instead of them
selves. Having found a pool containing
electrio eels, they foroe a troop of wild
horses to enter the pool. The dis
turbed eels iietuediutely attack in
truders and destroy many of them by
repeated shocks; but by constantly
forcing fresh supplies of horses to in
vade the pool, the powers of the gym
noti become exhausted, and they are
then dragged out with impunity.
Detroit Free Press.
Cocoannta In Hawaii.
Five years ago Hugh Mclntyre im
ported 2000 nuts for . Lindemaun,
which the latter planted along the sea
coast at Wailua, Kauai. Today be
has 2000 cocosnut trees in bearing and
some of them hsd fruit when only
four years old.
Mr. Linderaann says that in some
places he hsd to dig holes in the rocks
to get the nuts planted. As copra
and co.oaunt.it is in great demand, the
psoduct of each tree being worth at
a very low estimate 50 cents. Ton
have 81000 net, or say you value the
tree (six yesrs old) at 10. There yon
have 20,000 worth of property.
Mr. Lindemann has now gone east
to sell this year's crop. These are no
fancy coffee figures, but facts. Yon
can get one of these beautiful Samoan
cocoanuts, sprouted, of Hugh Mcln
tyre for 23 cents. They are worth
85. If you have a place to plant them
they will increase' the value of your
lot After you get them growing
these little cocoa palms are worth a
dozen of the almost worthless trees
(with fictitious names) that you get
from the government nursery tor noth
ing. The cocoanut is destined to become
one of the most valuable products to
civilized man. Honolulu Star.
' Financial Wntki.
Boarding Mistress (indignantly)
Two of my boarders were brought
home last night in cabs.
Friend Disgraceful, ain't it?
Boarding Miutress Worse) They
haven't a cent left to pay their board.
Puck.
, Mot Apt Kaoack.
Mr. Middleflat The professor says
my daughter sings like a nightingale.
Mr. Topflat Well, the professor is
wrong. The nightingale sometime
rests. Chicago New,
t.