i
England has one exclusion act which
is strictly euforced. It is against
dogs. .
Home "inn-down" rural neighbor
hoods still furnish goo.l material Vo
enrich nud strengthen life in the city.
The snp is running In the old stock.
Much success lins followed the or
ganization in Chicago of a body of
employers who refuse to engage boys
who smoke cigarettes. The extension
of the plan will probably help to the
extinction of the evil elsowhere.
Machinery for the establishment of
complete steam lanndry has just
been shipped to China. This seems
hardly fair, in view of the fact that
we no longer admit human lanndry
machines from the Celestial Kingdom.
Indiana agrees to appraise all lands
for taxation at only 81 per acre that
are planted in forest trees. It is said
many landowners are taking advan
tage of the offer. There are other
states that might follow with profit
the example of Indiana.
American wooden ware is in great
demand in England and Her many, and
is now finding its way to Knssia. It
is also exported to the West Indies,
South America, China, Australia, New
Zealand, India and South Africa. The
articles which find a most ready mar
ket abroad are clothes pins, pulls,
chopping bowls, folding chairs, re
frigerators, ice cream freezers, wash
tnbs and churns.
The other day when Lord Roberts
asked a wounded British soldier if
there was anything he could do for
him, the-man said: "Yes; yon can
keep my name off the casually list"
Somehow this appeals to one more
than many things they give Victoria
Crosses for. It is a very exceptional
man that does not want other people
to know when there is something the
matter with him.
We live and learn, and we are be
ginning to learn that there is snch a
thing as over exertion of the muscle,
and that in taking exercise, as in all
other things, the rule of moderation
is the rnle of reason. We are learn
ing from experience that bodily
fatigue is not a enre for mental fatigue ;
that violent straining on gymnastic
apparatus hurts more than it helps,
and that the real benefits of exercise,
which are health, good digestion, good
temper, good spirits, resistance to
disease and resultant longevity, are
acquired by moderate exertion in the
open air, rather than by unnatural ex
ertion in the achievement of feats or
the breaking of records.
The debts of the civilized nations
now add up a total of over $32,000,
000,000 most of it incurred in wars.
To realize what thirty-two billions
means a few comparative statements
are necessary. The highest total value
of the entire cotton crop of the United
States in any recent year was less than
8300,000,000. If, therefore, the whole
American cotton crop were sold for
100 years in succession, and the .pro
ceeds applied to the payment of the
world's indebtedness mainly incurred
for ware and war preparations there
would still remain an unpaid balance
of nearly two billions. Professor H.
C Adams of Cornell some time since
calculated that the interest payments
aloue on these aggregated debts of the
nations equal the valne of the labor
of 3,000,000 men working constantly
at SI. 50 per day per man.
The experiment of Illinois in estab
lishing a Jnvenile Conrt is atttacting
widespread interest The law, which
became effective last July, is more far
reaching than the probation law in
Massachusetts, and is thought to be
much superior to the laws of any
other state for the correction and ref
ormation of juvenile offenders. It
makes provision for a conrt separate
and apart from all other work, and
trial in this court of all cases of de
pendent, neglected and delinquent
children, L e., all boys and girla un
der the age of 10 years; trial to be
upon petition, which may be filed by
any reputable citizen, npon knowledge
or belief. It prohibits the imprison
ment in police station or jail of any
childreu under 12 years of age before,
during or after trial, and establishes
the parole system, with probation offi
cers; power being vested in the judge
to determine what shall be done with
a delinquent, not only aa regards the
specifio offence charged, but with rela
tion to the child's home environment
obool and court reoord, and personal
habits. Incases of dependent and neg
leoted children, the onrt may commit
to some suitable publia institution, to
the custody o! some reputable citizen,
to a training or industrial school, or
to some accredited assooiatiou, the
purpose of which is to care for such
children or to obtain homes for them.
THE UNCHANGEABLE.
they toll us that nothing Is sure In this
world,
Tlint glory soon flli.'ieri away!
to-morrow the beaut; may crumble to
ilnst,
to-morrow the monarch may peg for a
crust
llnu'i power Is but for a day.
To-morrow the courses of rivers may
change,
And mountain may sink out of sight;
to-morrow (be friend wbo to-day was your
aid
Uay stnal up behind you with glittering
blade
The world Is maile over each night.
they tell us that nothing Is sure In this
worm,
That all Is but change or dooayi
let one thins: will change not as long as
winds Mow;
Bome men will be high and some men will
be low
Till the blast na the Judgment Pay!
I.E. Kliier, In Chicago Xlmes-Burald.
5CX50OOOOOOOOOOOOO0OO
The Story of Wasted Ml.
O0OCO330OOOOO0OOOOO0OOOO0O
IIEREhad never
been a bnsh
ranger before
Bill (I forgot
his "outside"
name) in West
eru Australia,
and I don't snp
pose there will
ever be another.
At school he
had formed a
strong friend
ship with an
other lad of his
ace. who was
exactly opposite to him in character,
tastes, and pursuits, but, neverthe
less, they were inseparable "mates,"
ind all Bill's people hoped that the
influence of this very quiet, sedate
youth would in time tame Bill's wild
ind lawless nature. As the boys
rrew into their teens it became the
jnestion of choosing a career, and the
juiet boy always said be wanted to
jet into the police. That ws his
great ambition, and a more promising
recrnit could not be desired. Itcame
jut afterwards that when the lads dis
sussed the subject, the embryo polioe
man often observed: "K you don't
look out, Bill, and alter your ways,
I'll be always having to arrest yon."
Dili;iaughed this suggestion to soorn,
not that he had any intention of
imending his ways, but he could not
believe that any one, who knew his
great physical strength and utter reck
lessness, would dare to lay a hand on
him.
The strange thing was that, in spite
of a strong instinct for plundering,
Bill waa universally acknowledged to
be a splendid "busbman" that is,
sue familiar with all the signs and
jommon objects of the forests. lie
would have mado an ideal explorer,
ind could have lived in the bush in
plenty and oomfort, under conditions
In which any one else would have
itarved or died of thirst.
Time passed on, and one of the boys,
it least, got his heart's desire and was
enrolled in the very fine police force
of Fremantle. Just about this time
one of the neighbors imported, a spe
cial breed of fowls, which Bill forth
with proceeded to torment in his
leisure moments. One Sunday even
ing, just at dusk, Bill was hanging
ibout the poultry yard with evil in
tent, when he suddenly perceived his
friend in uniform and on duty, the
other side of a low hedge. The
owner of the fowls bad asked for a
nonstable to watch the place, and, as
ill luck would have it, Bill's friend
as sent The two boys looked at
eaoh other for a moment, and then
the polioeman said:
"Now, Bill, yon had better come
along quietly witli me; there s a war
rant out against you, and I've got to
take you to the police station."
"If you come one step nearer I'll
shoot you dead," answered Bill.
"That's all nonsense, you know,"
the poor young constable replied, and
began pushing the hedge aside to get
through ft. Bill drew his revolver
and shot the friend and playmate of
hi whole life dead on the spot Ee
then rnshed back to his own place.
and, hastily collecting some food and
cartridges, was off and away into the
nearest "bush" or forest, the fringe
of whioh almost touched even the
prinoipal towns in those days.
It is hardly possible to imagine the
state of excitement into which this
crime threw the primitive little com
munity. Murders were comparatively
rare, and I was told that they were al
most always committed by old "lags,"
men who bad begun as convicts per
haps thirty-five or forty years before,
and bad generally only been let out
abort time before on a ticket-of-leave,
But this catastrophe waa quite a fresh
departure, and called forth almost as
muoh sympathy for the relatives of
the wretched Bill as for those of his
viotim. The native trackers set to
work at once, and picked up Bill's
trail without any difuoulty but the
thing waa to eatoh him. No Will-o'
Wisp could have been more elusive.
and he led the best trackers and the
most wary constables a regular danoe
over hills and valleys, through dense
brush and scrub-covered sand, day
after day. News wonld eome of the
police being hot on his tracks thirty
miles off, and tbat tame night a store
in Fremantle would be broken into,
and two or three of its best guns, with
suitable eartridges would be missing,
As time weut on the various larders
in Perth were visited in the same nn
expected manner, and emptied of
thc'.r oontents. Bill never took any
thlug except ammunition, food and
tobuoco, but whenever the polioe
came up with his camping-ground
often to find the fire still smouldering
they always found several newapa
pers of the letenLJates giving particu
tart of where 1 Vas supposed to be.
aooooo
In the course of the many weeks
nine, I think that this chase weut on,
the polioe often got near enough to
be shot at. One poor constable was
badly wounded in the throat so tbat
he rould never speak above a whisper
again, and another was ihot dead.
But Bill was never to be seen. Some-
times they came on a pannikin of tea,
standing by the fire, and another time
he must just have flung away his pipe
lest its amell should betray him. One
is lost in amazement at bia powers of
endurance, for he conld have had no
actnal sleep all that weary while. The
general plan of campaign was to keep
him always moving, so as to tire him
out. What strength must he have
possessed to do without sleep all that
time, and to oover such fabulous dis
tances day after day. The polios
themselves, or rather their horses,
and even the trackers, got quite
knocked np, in spite of a regularly
organized system of relief; eo what
must it have been for the hunted boy,
who could nover have had any rest al
all?
At last the end came; at earliest
dawn one morning Bill, resting on s
log in the bush without eveu a fire to
betray him, opened his eyes to the
sound of a command to "put up hit
hands," and saw hnlf-a-doren carbine
levelled straight at him a few yards
off. He showed fight to the last, and
managed before holding np his hands
to fire a shot at the approaching con
stables, wounding one of them in the
leg. The men rushed in, however,
and he was soon overcome and band
euffod, and brought into Perth. But
the most curious part of the story lies
in the nniversal sympathy, and, in
deed, admiration, immediately shown
by the whole of our very peaceable
and orderly little community for this
youtb. Of course, tue olllciala did
not i-hare this strange sentimentality.
for they regarded Master Bill and his
exploits from a very different point of
view, and I need really to feel quite
ngry, especially with my female
friends, who often asked me if I was
not "very sorry" for the culprit. My
vmpathies, I confessed, were more
with the families of his victims, espe
oially the poor polioeman with his
mangled throat, whom I had often
seen tn my weekly visits to the hospi
tal. When I expressed surprise at
the interest all the girls in the place
took in the young ruffian, the answer
always was; "Ub, but he is so brave.
It appeared to me the bravery lay with
his captors!
He was duly tried, but the jury did
not convict him of premeditated mur
der, and in face of the verdiot he could
only be sentenced to imprisonment for
some years. Master Bills captivity
did not last very long on that ocoa
sion, for he watched his opportunity,
sprang npon the warder one day,
knocking him senseless, scrambled
over the wall of the exeroise ground,
near whioh chanced to be a pile of
stones for breaking, and so got away.
Then the pendulum of publio opinion
that strange and unreliable factor
in human affairs swung to tho other
end, and a violent ontery arose, and
Bill s immediate death was the least
of its demands. He was canght with
out muoh difficulty that time, how
ever, and it was strange to find no
one taking the least interest in his
second trial, which resulted in a
lengthy and vigorous imprisonment,
Poor wretch I I believe even I ended
by being "sorry" for him and his
wasted life, with all ita splendid pos
sibilities. Cornhill Magazine.
Sweet Itevengel
She sat in a tram with a little smile
of satisfaction on her face, for she was
well and tastefully dressed, and that
means a great deal to a woman. As
she moved np to make room for
newcomer a man entered, and as he
sat down he said to the comfortable
one:
"Why, Jane, this isn't your after
noou off! How did they come to let
you out to-day?"
The young woman grow very red in
the face, for all the occupauta of the
tram were looking and listening, and
stammered out, as she half rose and
then fell baok in her seat:
"Now look here "
"How well you're dressed, tool"
continued her tormentor. "They
must give you 800 a year. Eh? Is
your mistress about your size?"
aow, do be quiet." cried the nn
comfortable one. "If yon think '
"Diamonds, too," went on the mis.
erable man, as he caught a flash from
her waving fingers; "or are they arti
noiair '
loo tormented one sprang np
stopped the tram and made a rapi
exit, followed by the cause of the
trouble, whose farewell remark to the
inmates of the car was:
"Well, well, but some people are
too sensitive!"
They were husband and wife, an
this was his weird idea of taking his
revenge for a curtain leoture. Phila
delphia Times.
A Tremendous Upheaval of Nntur
.There is in Western Utah, sixty
muet xrom nooue, a sort oi lava for
mation running through an immense
canyon, whioh shows plainly that
some tremendous upheaval of nature
visited the oonntry and probably de
stroyed everything it enoountered for
miles round about. In the dryeet
part of this most desolate spot a large
stream of water comos gashing out of
a high cliff, as if it came from the
gigautio nozzle of a great hose, and
falls a cataract into the abyss below,
Before reaching the bottom, however,
the water ;is disseminated into fine
spray and spreads out like a huge fan,
the play and aport of the winds. It is
a strange and beautiful sight. Prob
ably in some period long past the bed
oi u river waa where tue water merges,
but a voloauio upheaval has obanged
the faoe of nature, sinking the bed of
the river many hundreds of feet an
leaving the water to pour from its ex
alted perou into empty air.
?r n
M I mm m m & ana. a a. A A .Sn S I sW I
i UHlLUKtl 5 UULUMN. .
The Had Adder.
There was a little adder who said lie
wuuldn't add,
A h shi In suhool one pleasant summer
dim
The teacher said such conduct was vary,
ver bad.
And the naughty little adder ran away.
1 ne garuen giite was uarreu,
llut ha ant ilnnn In the vnrd.
A monstrous adder standing very nigh)
Ann the ainler
('limbed the ladder,
At eaob round a-gruwlng maddor
Till be seemed to reach the sky.
And I bavn never beard
Another plmrls word.
And of our hero not a trane I've found,
llut, oi course, vou must a unit
I n there he still mint sit.
As he never tins descended to the ground.
Ami I m sure there s nothing tuliler
Than to tie a little adder
A sitting ou a ladder s topmost round.
When ? nt-Onrklng Wan a Clinrch fnstom
The modern minister likes to have
things quiet when he talks. It dis
concerts him to hear a baby cry or a
woman rough or nil old man snorrt,
If be is put out by such trifles as these
it is interesting to conjecture what he
would do if he were to take hold of a
congregation where everybody brought
nuts to crack during the sermon.
Worshipers used to do this in K up
land, and even in our own states iu
colonial days. This disturbance was
not a weekly occurrence by any
means, if it had been, the poor preacher
would have undoubtedly left his con
gregation to admiuister spiritual con
solation to suit themselves. But aa it
only happened once a year he was
forced to endure it This one day
which was attended by mioh remark
able licenso came the Sunday before
Michaelmas day.aud was called crack
nut Sunday. Nobody, no matter how
dons he might be, hesitated to avail
himself of the peculiar privilege
granted him, and men, women and
children came to church with their
pockets stuffed with nuts, which they
complacently cracked and munched
during the sermon. It can be easily
imagined that when forty or fifty
people get to cracking nnts with all
tbeir might the noise is apt to be
something terrific, anil many timea
the minister was hard pnt to it to
"hear himself think." The custom,
from being regarded with high favor
for many years, finally came to be
looked upon as a nuisance, and in the
beginning of the present century the
habit was suppressed, although the
air of suppression was attended with
considerable difficulty, ao firmly bad
the nut-cracking fever taken hold of
the fancy of the people.
Father of NHturitl Hlstnrr.
Carl Linnncus, the eminent Swedish
naturalist was born in Swedenin 1705.
His father was a great lover of nature,
and when Carl was but four years of
ge, he begau giving him simple les-
sous iu botany. lie taught him the
names of the Swedish pluuts aud
flowers that grew iu their gurdou, and
of many foreign ones also.
Often, after having shown the child
a peculiar plant or Mower, ami pointed'
out its chief characteristic, he would
aend him to search for another like it
In order to vary the lessons jand thus
make them as interesting as possible
to the boy, the father would sometimes
teach him to transplant and some
times he would allow him to sow the
seeds. Mauy times he took him to
the woods for the purpose of pointiug
out the different kinds of trees, and
teaching him their names.
When Carl was six years of age, he
waa taught the Latin namea of the
plants and flowers that grew about
him. He found the Latin names ditll
cult to remember, aud wished to give
up trying to learn them.
"Try to conquer difficulties, my
son," said his father, "you kuow not
how much of your success in life may
depend upon that little word try."
Thus encouraged, the child perse
vered, and at last his botany lessons
grew easier to him, and he found real
pleasure in them. While yet a youth
lie determined to devote himself to
the study of natural history. He told
bis father what he wished to do, and
asked tlrat, if possible, he might be
sent to the University of Upsal to
prosecute his studies.
"My incorao is so small," his father
replied, "that the most IcouldpoB'
sibly allow yon would be but 40 a
year. How could you live on that at
Upsal?"
"Thanks to my early training," said
the young man, "I will at least try to
conquer uimamtie.
He went to the university and took
np his chosen study; but so great was
his destitution while trying to fiuish
his education, that he ofteu had not
enough to eat Hia clothes after a
time became very shabby, and be
mended his shoes time after time with
folds of brown paper. Yet be dili
gently persevered, never ouce swerv
ng from his pnrpote.
At last ue was rewaruel by a
scholarship, which slightly increased
bis income, and aoon afterward, bav
ing attracted the notice of some of the
university professors by his untiring
industry, they got private pupils for
him. Then the professor of botany
appointed him his deputy lecturer.
took hiin into bis bome aa tntor to hia
children, and gave bim free access to
a Una library and a collection of draw
ings.
Euoouraged beyond all expectation
Ivinnsens worked faithfully on. com
pleted his education and went to live
iu btockbnim, I here be was em
ployed by the government to deliver
lectures on botany aud miueralogv.
He wrote books ou the subject that
were read and greatly admired. Hit
fame as a botanist spread throughout
Europe, and be was styled the "Father
lit Auturai History.
His works on ootany are particularly
fameJ for his system of names a sysJ
tern by which every known plant cm
be spoken in two Latin words, lie
rose steadily in his profession, aud
wasatiengiu appointed proiessor oi
botany in the University of Upsal,
where, in other days be bad studied
as a half-clad, half-starved youth.
This position in the university he
filled with honor and renown for a
period of 87 years. He died at the
age of 71, and was buried in the
cathedrat of Upsal. His death caused
general mourning throughout his
native land, and Oustavns HI caused
a medal to bo struck expressive of the
publio loss, aud in a speech from the
throne be introduced the subject re
gsrding the death of Linnaeus as a
national calamity.
The Starr of Wednesday.
The story of Wednesday is the story
of a Scundiuavian god. His name is
Woden, or as he is more ofteu called,
Odin.
Wednesday used to be called
Woden's day, and from that has
gradually bcuu changed into Wednes
day.
Odin was the greatest of all the
Scandinavian godn aud is ofteu called
the All-Father.
He lived in a beautiful gold and
silver palace called Vulhulln. Iu this
palace be bad a great throne, aud
when he was seated on tbat he could
look over heaven and earth.
But even that did not seem to be
enough for Odin, for on his shoulders
be kept two ravens. They were named
Uugiu and Muuin.
And what do you suppose was their
duty. Every day they were obliged
to fly over the world. And when they
came back they had to tell all they bad
seen aud beard.
So you see there is nothing that
went on that Odin did not kuow.
Like the ltomans, Odin waa very
fond of Biting feasts. that seemed
odd, too, for he ate nothing himself.
All be ever took by way of refiehtuent
was a drink called mead.
There was another strange thing
about Odiu's feasts. No oue could be
invited uuless he bad been killed in
buttle.
He said they were only for beroea;
but some of us think that it is possible
to be a hero without going to war.
They always bad the same thing
for dinner at these feasts, the boar
Scluimuilr.
This is hard for us to understand,
for when we have meat cooked and
enteu thut is the end of it. But though
this animal was roasted and served up
every morning, it grew ogiiu every
ni'ht.
To be rolite they wo ild offer some
of the meat to Oil in, but as he never
ate" it, it was given nlays to two
wolves wbo lay at his feet.
Do you wouder how they got their
guests? In the palace of Odin lived
many mnidcus called Viillcyrior.
They have beautiful horses to ride
and uro nru.o 1 with shields and bel
nets and spears just as if they were
soldiers. But they are not.
Still whenever there waa a battle on
earth Oil in sent these muideue down
to choose which men should be killed
ami to briug tbeui to him in the Val
halla. Sometimes, perhaps, yon have seen
a bright light iu the sky. Vou have
wondered what it could be for it was
quite too late for the sunset
Then von have been told that it was
the Aurora Borenlis, or Northern
Lights, nud your papa r teacher has
tried to explain to yon what causes
them.
If yon understand yon are much
wiser thou the Norsemen, for when
they used to see it, they thought it
was made by the light shiuing on the
armor of these maidens as they started
on their jouruey.
Even to this day, if you should go
to Deutnark, or Sweden, or Norway,
yon would see atones covered with
curious little Utters that look like
sticks.
These are called Bnnio letters, and
the people ouce thought they were
made by Oil in. Of conrse now they
have grown wise euongh to know that
Odin never lived.
Not long ago the people really had
many little sticks called Kuues. When
they wanted to know what was about
to happen, they nsed to shake the
sticks up together much as we do
when we play jack-straws, I fancy.
They would study the sticks as they
fell, and thiuk they formed letters and
words that told what was going to
happen. And yet I think their proph
ecies were no more likely to come true
than these of the Bomau augur.
I suppose yon are each thinking to
yourself that they were very stupid
to try to make words of sticks, and
that you kuow much better thau that
To be sure you do little lads aud
lasses, but your parents have always
been taught not to believe such
things.
So perhaps tbat is the reason you
are so much wiser aud more seusible
than the people of long ago. The
Favorite.
t
An Apple Enter.
Paring a visit to the south of Eng
land a geutleman was met with who
related a unique aud most interestiug
experience in dietetics. It was that
for the last three years he had lived
on one meal a day, and that meal waa
composed chiefly of apples. Further
astonishment was evoked by the reply
to my qnestiou as to what he drank,
when be stated tbat the juices of the
apples supplied bim with all the mois
ture or drink he needed. This, be
claimed, was of the purest kind, being
in reality water distilled by nature
and flavored with the pleasaut aroma
of the apple. He partook of the one
meal about 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
eating what he felt satisfied him, the
meal occupying him from 20 minutes
to half au hour. He looked the pio
tare of healthful maubood, and is en
gaged daily in literary work. Cham'
bars' Journal.
POPULAR SCIENCE.
The bubonlo plague is primarily
due to a specific organism or microbe
of infinitesimal size so small that
probably 250,000,000 of them would
be required to cover a square inch of
surface.
A brood of five wrestling sparrow
hawks has furnished Dr. K. W. Shu
feldt some enrions rosults. The birds
were so graduated in size that it ap
peared that the female must have laid
the eggs at regular intervals, proba
bly three or four days apart, and that
incubation commenced immediately
after the first egg wss deposited.
Still more remarkable was the fact
that the sexes alternated, the oldest
bird being a male, the next a female,
and so on.
A German physician has devised an
ingenious method, of massaging the
smaller joints. He takes the patient'
band and puts it in a deep glass two
thirds fnll of quicksilver. The mer
cury exerts an equal pressure on
.t ... a ...
every -portion oi tue nngers, auu me
pressure inoreases rapidly as the
flnirnrs sink fnrtlior Into it. Tim hand
is alternately plungod and raised
about twenty or thirty times at each
treatment, and after a second treat
ment there is notioed marked dimiuu-
tlon of the swelling of the joints.
The "Jigger Flea" is a South Afri
can pest whose recent spread from the
vicinity of Delagoa Bay to points
further south has been brought to
Government notice. It differs great
ly from the ordinary flea, lacks the
letter's agility and attacks only the '
soles of the feet, into which it bores
boles and lays eggs therein. The re
sults are liable to be very painful.
Sanitary precautions have been rec
ommended, and medical men at the
various points of the Cape have been,
reqnested to give the little invader N
their attention.
Everybody wbo loves to watch the
heavenly bodies has frequently noticed,
when the crescent of the new moou
appears in the west, the phenomenon
called "the old moon iu the yonng
one's arms." Partly embraoed by
the horns of the cresceut is seen the
whole round orb of the moon, glim
mering with a pale, ashy light. The
cause of the appearance is that the
earth light npon that part of the
moon not reached by the sunshine is
sufficiently brilliant to render it
faintly visible to our eyes. Lately
successful attempts have been made,
particularly in France, to photo
graph this phenomenon, and the)
pictures thus, produced are very in
teresting. Young long-leaf pines, according to
Mr. Pinchot, of the Department of
Agriculture, protect themselves against
forest fires in a most interesting and
remarkable manner. For four or five
years the stems of the infant trees at
tain a height of only as many inches
above the soil. During this time
their bark is extraordinarily thick, and
that alone gives some protection. But
in addition, the long needles spring
np above the stem, and then bend
over on all sides "in a green oascade
which falls to the ground in a circle
about the seedling." This green bar
rier can with difficulty be made to
burn, while the shade tbat it casta
prevents inflammable grass from
growing near the protected stem.
Mr. Pinchot thinks that it is owing to
this peculiar system of self protection
which the pine seedlings have devel
oped that the growth of evergreen
oaks in Florida has been restricted in
regions where fires have raged while
pure pine forests have taken tbeir
place.
Ship rrotceU Sea Onlls. .
The slaughter of gulls which for
some time has taken place in South-.,
ampton water is officially declared by
the local municipal authorities to be
a matter of general regret, though
none of the publio bodies conoerned
appears likely to put down such wanA
ton destruction, f
The commander of the ironcladf
Medea, on station at the big southern!
port, baa, however, adopted a differ
ent poliey to the corporation apathy
declaring at be doea, an intention c
commencing action in the event o
the shooting going on in the vicinity
of his vessel.
This praotioal threat has had a most
salutary effect, the bird slayers sneak
ing off from where Jack is on the)
alert to stop such heartless laudlnb
bera.
Our tars have a speoial love for the)
pinioned messengers of the deep that
herald the coming storm. It is the
gulls that, far from their nestling
places in the white cliffs of Albion,
are the last to bid Jack good-by, just
as their welcoming note is the first
sound the sailor hears as his ship
near home. Pearson's Weekly.
A CaM of Petty Larceny.
There was an exoited group of girl
aronnd the centre-table iu the boarding-house
hall. Little appreciative
squeaks were heard betwseu the ex
clamation! of delight which some few
were able to express. It was all s
mystery to the little messenger boy
who stood by the door, not daring to
investigate and nnable to penetrate
the phalanx of backs. Little by little
the group dispersed and the object of
their attention was revealed. Tb
boy stepped forward, hesitatingly, half
stealthily, and tten quickly tore a
blank page from his book and rolled
it into a cornuoopia. Still there waa
no one about. Just two steps more,
. and a little courage, aud he could
make the little sick sister so happy.
snouia ne do it?
Whec the maid returned with the
answer for him he was standing ita
passively as before at the door, but
his pocket nestled three of the tiny
wild nowers from tne great bowlful oa
lbs taU, Detroit Free Press.
he J
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