THE BEETLE. The shrilling locnst slowly sbenthes His dagger voice, and creeps away Ben at h the brooding leaves where breathes TBe zephyr of the dying daj. One naked star has waded through The purple shallows of the night, And faltering as falls the dew- It drips its misty light. O'er garden b'ooms, On tides of musk, The beetle booms adown the glooms And bumps along the dusk. The katydid is rasping at I The silence from the tangled broom: On drunken wings the flitting bat Goes Btaggering athwart the gloom, Ibe toadstool bugles through the weeds, And lavishly to left and right The flre-flies like golden seeds, Are sown about the night. O'er slumbrous blooms, On floods of musk, The beetle booms adown the glooms And bumps along the dusk. The primrose flares its baby-liands, Wide open is the empty moon, Slow lifted from the underlands, Drifts up the azure-arched lagoon; The shadows on the garden walk Are frayed with rifts of silver light; And trickling down the poppy-stalk, The dewdrop streaks the night. O'er folded blooms, On swirls of musk, " The beetle booms adown the glooms And bumps ulong the dusk. —[James Whitcomb Riley. GREEK MET GREEK. BY EMMA S. ALLEN. Mrs. Winston's parlors were filled with young people on the occasion of her third j party that season. It was a bright May evening, and the warm air, laden with rose-breaths from the garden, came i through the open windows to meet the sounds of music and laughter that floated out. Everybody was having a good time —it would be impossible to have any- j thing else at Mrs. Winston's. She was : the acknowledged leader of Springfield society. Nobody had ever entered the lists as her rival. : Mrs. Winston stood between the por- I tieres dividing the front drawing-room . i frim the square hall, chatting with her latest arrived guest, William Norman. 1 4 'You don't mean to tell me that you have never met Miss Dana?" she ejacul ated. 4t lt is true. I have never met Miss Dana, although I have seen her u very few times. Since the family moved to i Springfield I have been away n great deal. She is very beautiful." 4 'Yes-, the men say so, and most of the i girls are jealous of her. She will suit ! you precisely—she is a born flirt." He laughed lightly as he threw back his handsome head. 44 0h, what au insinuation!" 4 'One that you justly deserve," laughed ' his hostess. "Don't waste time in thread- I bare denials. Come and let me introduce j you to Myrtle." They crossed the room to where Miss Dana stood listlessly carry on a common- \ place conversation with a commonplace young man of twenty-one summers. She was by far the headsomest girl in the ' room, and the most exquisitely dressed. Her beauty was of a singularly rare type. She was neither a blonde nor a brunette, having deep, violet-blue eyes, a pure, apple-blossom complexion, and dark hair the color of brown sea-weed, as full of natural ripples as the eddies of | a stream. Her dress, although no more elegant than a dozen others, had a pecu- 1 liar effect. It was a soft, lustreless silk of a pearly whiteness, frosted about her white arms and throat with cob-web lace. She wore a large corsage bouquet of waxen snow-drops, and the cold whiteness was lighted by the flash of two diamond solitaires in her cars and a thread-like necklace of very small bril liants close about her snowy throat. "She is the Snow Queen," said Norman to Mrs. Winston. "Exactly; but only in appearance. There is nothing cold about her." Five minutes later Norman had mon opolized her society. It was always the i signal for other men to retire into the background when William the Conquer or put in an appearance. Not that he was in the least degree overbearing and egotistical. There was nothing in his maimer to indicate that lie had discov ered what a remarkably handsome fellow he was. He stood erect and strong, a few inches taller than any other man in the i room. His splendid form alone, and his air of graceful self-possession, would have made him a king, socially, without his fair, captivating face. It was a face as striking in its contrasts as Miss Dana's, and its exact opposite. He possessed the unusual combination of dark-brown eyes and blonde hair—not astilT, washed-out, fuzzy growth, cut pompadour—but soft' and glossy, with a wavy inclination that the barber never quite subdued. Nearly all the girls in Springfield had bpen in love with him, at one time or another—some of them more or less vio lently. The majority of them had re covered with only superficial scars— others had not. But us yet there had been no early graves. "I have heard a great deal about you, Mr. Norman, '' Miss Dana replied. "Indeed! I hope it is nothing very disparaging." She smiled very doubtfully as she shook her head. "That is a vain hope. It's something disparaging—something very wicked." lie took up a long-handled Japanese fan from the table, one of the many that the hostess had scattered through the rooms in a promiscuous fashion. "I wish you would tell me what it is," he said, tracing with his finger the hide ously distorted outlines of Japanese art. 4 'l have never absconded with anybody's valuables." "Perhaps not in bank-notes, but I hear that you have no mercy in stealing away feminine hearts—that you urea most in corrigible flirt." "Oh, ' he laughed, folding his hands behind him, " that is precisely what I have heard about you—the 'incorrigible flirt' part of your sentence." ° "Is it?"—laughing carelessly. "Then it is Greek met Greek." "Exactly. Shall we measure swords and enter into combat, to determine which of us is most deserving of the title V J? 01 answer, she extended her white satin and ivory fun, and he instantly measured its length with the kindred gutta-perclm sticks of the Sunrise King dom. "Is it war to the knife?" she asked mirthfully. "Yes-, and the fork, too. We will go to supper together." He scarcely left her side during even ing. She certainly was not out of his sight until her carriage had driven away in the early hours of morning, leavin fr him standing half bewildered' on the sidewalk. The next evening he spent in Judge Dana's parlor. At first the judge and his wife and two rosebuds of girls, yet outside the portals of society, chatted indifferently on commonplace topics, but they soon retired discreetly, leaving Myrtle a clear field and unlimited power to torture, her latest victim. If she had been fascinating in the Snow Queen garb, Norman found her very much more so in a simply-made house-dress of dark silk. She played and sang for him in a manner that indi cated no superficial knowledge of music. "Since you are such a lover of music, you will enjoy the opera to-morrow night. It will be a treat for Springfield people to hear 'Martha.' Shall we go?" He had been thanking her for Abt's "Good-night, my love," and was tearing himself away. "I shall be delighted," said Myrtle. "Papa intended to take us girls." He had not waited five minutes in the easiest cliair in the judge's parlor the fol lowing evening when she entered the room, a striking contrast to the Snow Queen, to be sure, but quite as charming j in black velvet sparkling with musically- j clinking jets, with Gold of Ophir roses i on her bosom, corresponding exactly ■ with the artificial roses on the black-lace \ bonnet. Even the long tan gloves were ! buttoned, and her fan was in her hand. I Norman's astonishment revealed itself in his eyes. "What a remarkable young lady you are, Miss Dana!" he said, holding her | hand longer and closer than twenty-four . hours' separation justified. "Oh, certainly," she assented, stop ping back a little. "It is against my j principles to keep any one waiting. I Punctuality is one of my best virtues." I "And their name is Legion." "Oh, no, indeed ! lam not an angel. My virtues are sadly overshadowed by my faults." He stood looking at her as though he ] had forgotten all about the match game at which they were playing with edged { tools. | "I have yet to discover in what respect you are not angelic," he declared. "Oh," she gasped, with a gesture of j impatience, "don't say anything to mc j that you do not mean. Or, is flattery one of your flirtation weapons ?" There was a momentary impression of | seriousness in his splendid eyes, but he quickly collected his wits. "I always mean exactly what I say," he 1 said, smiling. "I certainly did just now. j If you chose to habit yourself in such i celestial-looking raiment at Mrs. Wins- j ton's, the other night, I was not to be ! blamed for recognizing the resemblance , i you bore to angelic beings. That was not j | what I called you then, however. You I looked like a Snow Queen." "That sounds better. It suits my cold hcarted selfishness." After that night the game became very j interesting, both to the contestants and to the curious eyes of the spectators in the arena of Springfield society. Not that anybody suspected that it was a J game, entered into by mutual consent. I The Dana family had no such conception, ' i or the sedate judge and his excellent 1 1 wife would have rested more uneasily in their shoes. As it was, they only hoped | I that Myrtle had found her real hero at j last, and would settle down into a genu- I iue love alTair. | A month slipped by, and the .Tune roses ' I were making the air drunken with their sweetness. Norman declared he had i never enjoyed a month so much in his ' I Ufe -44A flirtation is a delightful affair un ' der such circumstances," remarked Myr , tie. 44 IIave I proved to you that you are a worse flirt than I am?" I 44 Not at all. Shall we try for another mouth?" | 44 With all my heart," was the careless i reply. ! The following month was, if possible, gayer than the first; but toward its close people began to go to the sea-coast or | the moumtains or the lakes, and they were left to the quiet enjoyments they liked I best. Springfield gossips had satisfied i themselves that the case had passed its cri- | 1 sis and would culminate in a wedding and j so left oil their continued vigilance, j At the end of the second month Nor . man was in a very serious mood. I 4 'l am going away with my sisters next j week to be gone the rest of the summer," J Myrtle told him, one evening. 44 1 sup i pose you will be off for soineof the wat- I ering-places in search of other worlds to : conquer?" 1 44 1 have not thought of going anv ; where. Does the second month's end ! count me out ?" 44 Oh, not necessarily." 44 Are you tired of inc ? " 44 N0; certainly not. I think you arc the only man I ever knew that I have | really enjoyed." 44 Thank you," said he, gravely—so gravely that she blushed consciously. 4 4 There is more than that for me to acknowledge. I have enjoyed you so much that I do not sec how I can ever live without you." Miss Dana started. She had won dered, now and then, if this would come, but had tried to convince herself that it never would. Bhc made a feeble effort to misconstrue his meaning. 44 You surely do not wish to prolong this nonsense indefinitely ?" 44 No; I want the nonsense to end and the reality to begin." She was sitting listlessly in one of the rich chairs, idling with the flowers he brought her. He came from where he stood by the mantelpiece and rested an arm on the rolling back of the chair, bending over her brown head. 44 1 love you, Myrtle." She turned quickly and looked at him doubtfully, the burning blush on her cheeks spreading to the very tips of her ears. 44 Mr. Norman, you are carrying the ejst too far,"she exclaimed, still parry ing. 44 This was not in the agreement." 44 IIang the agreement! I broke my part of it long ago—as long ago as the third time I ever saw you—the night we went to hear 4 Martha. l " 4 'Then you have not been playing fair." She was half laughing, half crying. 44 1 have not been playing at all, I have been in dead earnest. I could not help it, dear. I simply went on loving you better and better every day I lived." She suddenly sprang from the chair, and the flowers were trampled under her feet. <4 ls this the way you end all your flirta i tions?" Her words cut him deeply, but he kept I his temper. 4, 1 deserve some condemnation for my past offeuses, I admit, but not for that. As I live, I never told any other woman that I loved her. We have done wrong, you and I, in trifling with a sacred mat ter. I never realized how deeply wrong until my love for you grew to be so holy i a thing. Can I wring a like confession l from your lips?" I bhc stood with downcast eyes and . clasped hands, her bosom heaving. l\a , ; came and put out hs hands to take hers I but she stepped back from him with are polling gesture. ! 44 1 will confess the wrong lhave done. ! but not the other." she said. "You will not confess any love for me?" "I am not sure that I have any to con fess. You have taken an unfair advantage of me, and you cannot blame me if you suffer for your own folly." "I have a great deal at stake. Do not trifle with me." "Trifle? It is rather late to hang out the danger-signal. When unskilled fen cers trifle with sharp swords in place of the wooden ones tliey have practiced with, it is no wonder that they arc wounded. They deserve to be." "You mean that you have not escaped injury any more than I have?" "No; I do not mean that, in the sense you do. I am sorry for you, but Ido not love you. All I can think of now is my wicked folly." He stood frowning in silence for a few moments, watching the tears that shone on her drooped lids. "And you send ine away?" "Yes; and the sooner you forget me the better." "And the sooner I go the better?" 4 'Perhaps, since your staying will do no good." "Do you flatter yourself that you have won the prize in tiiis wretched contest?" 44 Hush! You have been as much to blame as I. You need not taunt me." 44 1 have been, Ido not deny, but lam not now. You will live to be sorry for this, I trust." He was gone before she could stay him with the unnoticed gesture of her hand, and, woman like, she would have given the half of her kingdom to have called him back. She went away the next week, into the mountains with her sisters, and when she returned to Springfield in the fall she held herself aloof from all soci ety for a few weeks, and then went off to California to spend the winter. As for Norman, nobody knew where he was. It was generally understood that the biter had been bitten at last, but there was not much sympathy for him. With human inconsistency, how ever, everybody heaped maledictions upon Miss Dana's offending head. Over n year after the climax of his woes, Norman found it imperative to at tend to some business in the hated town. He went about it as quietly as possible, and hoped to get away without meeting any society magnates; but he came face to face with the brightest star in the constellation, and one day found himself keeping an engagement to lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Winston. An hour after luncheon, as he sat in the little lady's sitting-room, the postman brought around the afternoon mail. "Three letters for me?" she cried, as the maid handed them to her. "How ! delightful ! One from old auntie, one from Sister Tibbie, and one—hum ! one ' from California." ! The word California did not seem to awaken any emotions in Norman's breast, if his face was an indication. Mrs. Winston concluded that he did not know that the whole Dana family had moved to the Golden State on account of the judge's health. "I have a delightful correspondent out in that charming State, Mr. Norman. Would you like to listen to this letter of hers?" "Oh, certainly. I have the California fever very strong, and read everything I see about it." Mrs. Winston did not take the precau tion to read the letter privately at first, but began, without preliminary explana tion, a bright newsy letter, in which no ! personal mention was made of anybody j except 4 'papa," whose health was steadily improving, and 44 mamma 1 ' and 44 the j girls. 1 ' Then came the closing part of the , epistle that performed its mission as its writer had little dreamed it would do. 44 1f you continue to urge me so pcr ! sistently I may come East next summer I and stop for a wesk or two at Springfield, jto visit you. Nobody else will, in all i probability, care to sec me, as you say | you are the only one who has ever for | given me of the double sin of robbing so j ciety of William the Conqueror, as well j as ruining my own good fortune in bring ing him to my feet. (I have looked at your last letter—that is exactly the way you worded it.) Well, you have done better for me, in forgiving me, than I shall ever do for myself. That I shall never do, especially the bare falsehood I told him when I said that I did not love him. Before he had closed the door af ter him I realized that I had sent away the only man on the green earth who ever could be anything to me. It was all pride, Margery. lam sure, yet, that he would always have thought, though lie might not have said it, that I had been seriously exerting myself all through that contemptible game we played, to win him. Hatlier than marry him under such an impression, I chose to break my heart as well as his. Indeed, I think his stands a much better show of being patched up and glazed over than mine ever can. I shall live and die an old maid, in sedate penance. Forgive this sentimental confession. In your eyes at least, I wanted to be understood." Mrs. Winston did not read the name that was crowded into the last corner of the full second sheet. She looked across at Will blazing eyes. 44 Istliat letter from Miss Daua?" <4 You know it, I see. She will never forgive me for reading it to you, but I could not resist the temptation. If I had hesitated a moment 1 would not have read the last part; but 4 he who hesitates is lost.' It was a golden opportunity. I think you had better try again, Will." lie was walking the lloor in his excite ment. "If you will please give me that letter I will take it back to her," he said, at length. "I am going to start for Cali fornia to-morrow morning." A week luter he was viewing the placid waters of the Pacific from the wide piazza of a pretty villa on the mountain side, just above picturesoue Santa Cruz. The January sua poured a flood of springtime warmth upon green lawns ana flowering geraniums, and upon his own uncovered, golden head. "Since you insist upon it, and the notion has been growing upon me, I will endeavor to transfer iny worldly posses sions to the golden West," he was say ing. " But it will not take three months to make the chnuge." Myrtle was arrauging a bouquet of roses, sitting beside him on the steps. " It is a shockingly short engagement. I cannot possibly make it a day less. William the Conqueror cannot have everything his own way," she said. " That reminds me, my dear, that this is emphatically a 'Norman Conquest,'" remarked the hero, seuteutiously.— [Frank Leslie's. THE San Francisco Examiner 6ays that the fashion of wearing wooden shoes is growing into favor in this country as 1 in England. By the aid of machinery a i really neat and comfortable wooden shoe can be made so stylish that no young woman need be ashamed to wear it on ; the street. The official report of the loss of the Turk- i ish man-of-war Ertogrul says that 587 per sons were drowned und s xty-six saved. SOMEWHAT STRANGE ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EVERY DAY LIFE. Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adven tures Which Show that Truth is Stranger than Fiction. KINO JONATHAN CHARLES FREDERICK, who reign? over the Mosquito reservation, in the Nicaraguan territory, is one of the most remarkable "monarchs" outside of Central Africa. King Frederick has only been a short time in power, and is a : man about twenty-eight years of age, of i small stature, and thickly built. He i dresses in a navy blue uniform,somewhat i like that of a New York policeman, J trimmed with gold lace and ornamented \ with brass buttons, and wears epaulets of : black velvet, marked with the letter"M," I and the same letter graces the front of the small cap which covers his head. The , king's enemies say that he is a man of ] weak character and a heavy drinker. In | fact, they go so far as to assert that , whiskey of the strongest character is too ' i weak to suit his majesty's taste; so he ; dilutes his whiskey with Worcestershire sauce and Chili vinegar. King Frederick has always lived at Blueficlds or at Corn Island, where, in his earlier days, he *'worked cargo" for the different steam ship lines, shelled cocoanuts, or turned ; his hand to anything that would produce his meal. The predecessor of his maj esty had no family, and after his death (due to poison administered by a mem ber of the Council, according to popular rumor) King Frederick, who is a distant relative of the late ruler of the reservation, ascended the throne. The king's salary is 200 soles a month, "without expenses." One has heard of a good many extraor dinary suicides, and of a good many people who, despising such common helps out of life as the rope, the river or the pistol, have taken pains to shuttle off this mortal coil by means not generally used. Purely, however, we think, has anyone adopted the plan of running up aud down stairs us fast as possible in the hope of terminating his or her existence. Such a course was resorted to lately iu Berlin by a young lady. She wassuffer- ing, it appears, from heart disease, and I possibly tliis may have been the origin of her suicidal ideas. In any case, having been warned by her medical attendant that any great emotion or exertion might prove fatal, and having also been spec ially forbidden to go up or down stairs, she profited by the instructions to do precisely what she was told not to do, in order to kill herself. Being left alone one day at home, she began running up and down three flights of stairs, contin uing the exercise for an hour, when she sank down on the floor quite exhausted. She did not, however, die, as, according to the doctors, she ought to have done; and after restoratives had been adminis tered she was as well as ever, much to her distress, as she really believed she would j have accomplished her purpose. AN interesting romance comes from I the Crow Creek Reservation. B. F. I Baleh, a badly crippled veteran of the I civil war, now a settler on these lauds, has just received intelligence which; makes his heart glad. Some fourteen I years ago, while living in Missouri, Mr. Batch's little girl, then 5 years old, was stolen from her home by some unknown persons, and for many years although much money and time were spent in the search, 110 trace of the lost one could be found. A communication of his to the authorities at Washington recently in regard to his pension was published in the newspapers and caught his daughter's cyo, who had been residing in Texas. She at once opened up communication with Mr. Balch, and with the aid of a pair of ear-rings on her at the time of her capture and in other ways convinced him that she was beyond all doubt his long-lost daughter, and whom he had long since given up all hope of ever seeing again. The unbounded delight of the father can better be imngiued than described, and he can hardly con tain himself until her arrival, she having left her home in Texas to join her father in his reservation home. A MARVELOUS recovery from paralysis is reported from Eureka, Tex. The pa tient, Joel Norton, had been unable to move either of his lower limbs and one of his arms for three years, and was hound to an invalid's chair, hopelessly, it was supposed, by the grim hand of muscular paralysis, but the sight of his little daughter Lilian in flames broke the bones of his living death. The child ran into the room where her father lay with her dress on fire, screaming and fly ing about, when, without thought of his condition, her parent sprang to his feet and catching up a rug wrapped her tightly iu it and succeeded iu extinguish ing the flames. I lis excitement dying out, he realized that he was once again capable of motion, and actually fainted from joy and the nervous reaction. Physicians declare it a miraculous restor ation of vital force, and have visited him from all parts of the country. Mr. Nor ton has walked two miles daily since his recovery, and can scarcely be induced to go to bed at night for fear lest his malady attack him while he is asleep. He has also resumed his occupation, which is that of a machinist. A MONTH'S imprisonment for occasion- 1 ing the death of a woman by cutting j open one of the veins in her arm appears a light sentence, but probably, altnough no statement to that effect is made, the German tribunal, before which a man named Michael Stankewitz appeared, charged with the crime, took into con sideration that he acted under influence of a superstitious belief in sorcery and witches. The accused, a mason by trade, employed at Dantzic, came to the con clusion a short time ago that his wife was bewitched, on what ground docs not appear. He also came to the conclusion that the per son who had cast a spell "on her was a poor old creature named Nixdorf, and to break the spell he determined to bleed the alleged sorceress in the arms, his wife drinking her blood. Unfortunately the operation was attended with fatal consequences. The old woman, whose constitution was already weakened by age and privation, succumbed to loss of blood, and the authorities hearing of the affair, arrested the mason. A LETTER from Adclaido, Australia, to tho Pall Mall Gazette, says that while Capt. Hepworth, of the steamship Port Adelaide, was taking his sights he noticed a large sperm whale alongside, so close that his spouting wet the deck. Tho creature had evidently lost his "school" and mistaken the ship for one of his own species. He remained with it for four days and nights and traveled 890 nautical or 1,025 statute miles with out a rest, and, as far as one could gath er, without food. lie was never more than seventy yards away, and for the most part close against the ship under her quarter, where the draft made the swimming easier for him. The length of the animal was about forty seven feet. The first day he was very lively, diving frequently beneath the ship's bottom, on one occasion scratch ing himself severely. After that ho kept j close alongside like a tired Newfound land dog. A KKMARKAiiLE accident occurred at the Peuryn quarry, Placer, Cal., recant ly, by which John E. Owens lost a foot. Mr. Owens was engaged with others in hoisting rock from the ouarry with a ! derrick. An immense load was swinging out of the pit when the derrick cable broke and tne granite fell back with a crash. The stone did not hit any one, but the broken rope went hissing through the air like a shot, and the flying end caught Mr. Owens around the left leg at the ankle joint. The force of the blow must have been extreme, for the foot was severed from the leg by the stroke as completely as if it had been cut off with a broad ax. Dr. Todd was sent for and he amputated the leg just above the cut made by the rope, and Mr. Owens is do ing well under the circumstances. The accident is an odd one. TIIE story related below furnishes thinking material for superstitious train men : A newspaper reporter with a fer tile imagination has discovered that mail car No. 48, belonging to the Illinois Central Puilroad, is haunted and en vironed by a pale of bad luck. Since a clerk died in the car it has been per turbed by doors flying open without cause and bolts falling out in spite of the strongest efforts from monkey wrenches to secure them beyond loosen ing influence of the jar or ghost, and that even the well known magic power of an old horseshoe has exercised no potency over the spirit of unrest. When that remedy fails the car must be in a bad way, at least it will appear so to trainmen who, as a class, are as super stitious as sailors. IIENUY BASSFORD, when he was driv ing home from Suisun, Cal., the other day, saw a large bull snake stretched across the road, and lie thought it would be a good joke to run the wheel of his cart over the reptile. lie did so and the next instant the wriggling, squirming five-foot monster was in his lap, brought up from the ground by the revolution of the wheel. Henry kicked aud frisked about and the snake hissed and struck at everything in reach. The situation be came so uncomfortable that he decided to throw himself from the cart, but in an endeavor to do so he became entang led in some manner and the horse be came frightened and ran a considerable distance, dragging Mr. Bassford and bruising him up severely. When he had stopped the horse his snakeship was missing. THERE is a German living in Brooklyn, N. Y., who follows a peculiar avocation. This man goes, on request, to the back yards of his customers who keep hens but do not know how to kill them skill fully, or do not like to do so, aud there catches and slaughters as many fowls as may be desired, in a thoroughly business like and expeditious maimer. No flop ping and headless birds bowl around the yard to the terror of the children and the j horror of the women, but they die gen teelly and quietly, and the hen-butclicr I pockets his little fee. A FIRE was caused in a singular way the other day in Highland Park, oppo site New Brunswick, N. J. The large I and handsome country residence of Mr. I Peter Zimmerman was discovered tp be lon lire. The flames were first seen in a bay window at the cast end of the third story hall, where the sun was shining in. It is concluded that the fire was started by a dimple in the window gluss con tracting the sun's rays. The flames were quickly extinguished by using water from the tank 011 the roof. THERE is a curiosity in Carrollton, Ala., in the way of an eyeless mule colt. The colt is three or four months old. It is very well developed in every other re spect, but it has no eyes and no place for them. The face where its eyes should bo | is as smooth as its jaws, yet has eye mus cles, for the hide contracts regularly as if batting its eyes, but has no eyes and no e}'e shape. A Los ANGELES paper describes a to mato tree growing in that city. It i 9 a native of Guatemala, and the fruit grows in clusters, the tomatoes being smooth and perfectly oval in shape. They are now green, but they will turn first yellow and theu goto a glowing red, when they will be ripe. They taste very much like the ordinary tomato. THE horrors of "L'Homme qui Hit" have been repeated in Russia. A band of professional beggars were caught in the act of disfiguring a child whom they had kidnapped, for the purpose of mak ing her an object of pity when begging. The band included two children with out tongues. All the members of the gang were disfigured. A HINGUI.AU story is told by the mas ter of the sailing ship Linnet, recently at Singapore, India. When the ship was off the island of St. Paul's, one of tho sailors fell overboard. Every effort was mndc to rescue the man, but before the boat could reach him a number of albat rosses pounced upon his head and pecked him to death. Bears Plentiful in Oregon. Reports from various mountain sec tions about this valley iudicate that bears arc more numerous this season than for a long time. Up on the ridges betweeu Ashland and Wagner creek, and over on Grizzly Peak bears have been sheep huntiug and berry picking, and up