Fiieelaot) Tribune.
PU IlLJflll ED IVKIiT
MONDAY AND TIICTBSDAY.
'rilOS. A. BUCKLEY,
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
OFFICE: MAIN STREET ABOVE CENTRE.
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Keep the tguree In advance of tho present data.
Report promptly to this office when your paper
is not received. All arrearages must be paid
when paper Is discontinued, or collection wfll
he made in the manner provided by law.
Tho Now York pantsmakers have
struck. Now who will patch up the
breaches ?
But, after all, Anna Gould certainly
has the right to buy anything she can
pay for.
Chicago has discovered a young
genius who writes poetical advertise
ments for cigarette houses, hut the
town is uot yet really a literary scenter.
A New York woman hired three phy
sicians to doctor her sick dog and an
other bark was sighted on the shore of
eternity w'thiii an hour. Even a dog
cannot stand everything.
The National Ilay Dealers' Associa
tion declares that there is a shortage in
the hay market. Who cares? There
ure 71,5t)5 grass widows in this country.
Who cares about hay, anyway?
It is not remarkable that so many
people of the Chinese empire should lie j
ignorant that Japan is drubbing them.
It took a good long time for tin? Chinese
emperor himself to grasp that fact.
A young woman has been elected a
member of a Massachusetts tire depart
ment. Woman may know more about
hose than l ie average man does, but
she has been responsible for sparking
from time immemorial and kindles
more flames than any lire department
can extinguish.
AVlille the bottom is knocked out of
the horse market it is a good time for
farmers to supply themselves with de-
sirable animals. If you have been
working the farm with an old, jaded
nag, go to the nearest horse market and
you will be surprised how cheap a ser
viceable horse can be bought.
Tho bill Introduced in the Illinois
Legislature making it a misdemeanor
to catch trout less than six inches long
'.s all right in purpose, 110 doubt, but it
is bud in form. When the sportsman
feels a llsh 011 his hook he is going to
?ateh it if he can, without regard to
ength. What the Legislature ougnt
to do is to pass a hill making it unlaw
ful for trout under six inches to bite.
Work, either voluntary or compul
sory. is a sure cure for tho tramp cvH.
Honest men out of work should be
everywhere aided to secure it; but dls
tionest men tramping about the coun
try should be compelled to work. Wo
ire pleased to learn that in a number
>f counties the work prescription is
being administered in allopathic doses
to the tramping brotherhood with grat
ifying success.
it will be recalled that a Chicago jus
tice recently sentenced a youthful law
breaker to sixty days in the public
schools, with incarceration in the bride
well as the only alternative. This
unique sentence has been beaten by a
liockford magistrate who has just sen
tenced a wife-beater to attend church
regular every Sunday for one year in
lieu of a thirty days' sentence in tho
county jail. Whither are we drifting?
Some of those days the courts may be
sentencing husbands to stay at home
nights.
The establishment in several States
of societies for the avowed purpose of
abolishing debt, brings undeniable evi
dence that the race is making progress.
Debt, of course, cannot be entirely abol
ished, but by perseverance and practice
the habit may be acquired of paying as
we go. Indebtedness is in many in
stances a habit and one that should be
gotten rid of and the organization that
points the way to this end will be doing
a splendid work. To the poor man with
steady employment who is endeavoring
to save something for a home or to lit
the growing members of his family for
the inevitable future, the habit of ow
ing is a serious drawback. The family
with a store book nearly always buys
more than is really needed, bceause it
Is s, easy to make bills that are to bv
paid a week or a month after the pur
chases are made. By paying ou the
spot the buyer oftener sees the money
going, and then; is a fuller realization
of what is taking place. This at once
sugests economy. And what freedom
it is to be free from debts of all sorts'
Who does not remember Longfellow's
village blacksmith who "looked the
whole world in tho face, for he owed
not any man?" And who, after paying
xi debt that has for 3'ears been hanging
over him, does not feel as if a great
burden has been suddenly removed from
Ids shoulders? This generation 11113
not see a spot cash system fully carried
out, but a start can be made. As a pro
moter of morals and solid business pros
perity also, there Is nothing like spot
cash.
THE FOUR WINDS.
Tho wind o' tho West
I lovo it b
Tho wind o' tho Ea.it
1 lovo it least.
Tho wind o' tho South
Hits sweet in its mouth;
Tho wind o' tho North
Semis great storms forth.
Taken togeihor, all sorts of woathor,
Tho four old follows aro sure to bring
Hurry and flurry, rush and scurry,
Hlghing ami dying, and flitting and flying
Through summer and autumn, and winter
und spring.
—Margaret E. Songster, in Young reoplo.
THE CHIME OF JANE.
BY EVELYN THORP.
—y—ANE caught licr
1 then sho
euch.a resolve as
' never before had
. possessed her.
r~..Eg She was out of
qV tho room, up tho
Zj'ilf l -- stairs and in the
shabby, pictur-
esquo old bed
room of faded
chintz that she shared with her sister,
beforo her quick heart could take
twenty beats. Then sho paused and
sho spread open tho note that she
hold. Let her read it once more—
carefully—aud make no mistako. Yes,
Mrs. Aspinwull said distinctly that sho
could not bo at tho hunt ball that
night owing to dear Eddie's croup.
But sho would send tho carriage und
sweet Elinor must bo suro to go, all
tho same, as Mrs. Demayn and tho
other patronesses had been apprised
of her coming aud no other introduc
tion would bo necessary.
There upon tho bod lay tho gown, a
soft Huff of yellow, a cloud of chiffon
aud ribbons, which Elinor was to have
worn, and Elinor was several miles
away by this time, hurrying with
X>oor, bewildered Mrs. Voss to tho
bedsido of old Miss Voss, hor aunt
and godmother, who had dotod on tho
girl's dark, cameo-like beauty all her
life, petted and bullied her in turn
and announced her intention of leav
ing her at her death all that she ;
owned. Aud sho was dying now.
The telegram had como almost simul
taneously with Mrs. Aspiuwall's note.
There had been an hour of untold con
fusion, drenched with tears of terrible
disappointment—why not acknowledge
it?—from tho eyes of Elinor, that the
idea of tho hunt ball—tho hunt ball
which was to have introduced the
beautiful but obscure Miss Vo3s at
last to "society"—had been relin
quished, and Elinor and her mother
had driven in tho dilapidated one-"
horse Voss buggy to the station, leav
ing Jane in sole possession of tho old
house.
And now Jane—who was tho young
est and had always been called plain
and turbulent, and who had ever been
an irritating enigma to her weak, vain
mother and her lovely sister, tho
beauty of tho family—stood in the
gathering dusk of tho dingy country
house with thoughts flaming and un
hallowed in her brain. Elinor had al
ways had everything—everything !
She had tho loveliness and accomplish
ments and such pretty clothes as could
bo afforded, and tho friendship re
cently of society peoplo who would
"lauuch" her and iead in time to a
brilliant marriage for her. And what
had Jane? Nothing! Why, indeed,
should any effort havo been made for
her? For her, with her tonzled mane
of ungovernable tawny hair, her green
eyes, her mouth that was too large,
her uoso that was too short? She had
grown up almost in isolation, and
happiness was not for her.
She knew that. And yet, how would
it tasto once—just onee—to bo like
Elinor? To bo protty and admired
and loved of men?
Oh, loved of men! Jane was nine
teen, and no man savo tho country
doctor aud tho country clergyman had
ever crossed her path.
The hunt ball had fallen on a night
of full moon, and ono whose bro ith
was uuprecedently, unaccountably
balmy, and warm as that of a night in
May.
As the cotillon went on, figuro after
figure, tho long windows had been
opened, and, couples, straying from
tho dance, wandered under tho Chinese
lanterns, and amid tho plants of the
encircling piazzas.
Asketh leaned in a doorway and
looked at the maze within and breathed
heavily. Impossible! Impossible!
And yet 110 could havo sworn that that
which had Lot happened for years had
happened to him to-night. That
which had not happened for years!
Dah ! Nothing like this had ever hap
pened before in his life; a life of
thirty-five years. Ho could havo be
lieved that ho had boon drugged; had
drank a philter. In his veins was an
ardor that was that of a wild boy, but
in his brain and heart were voices that
110 boy's heart or brain could have
harborod. That absurd thing that
peoplo still persisted in writing aud
talking about, tho flash of divine lire,
exalting and consuming at once, had
struck him to-night, or elso ho was
going mad or some fever was upon
biin, and to-morrow he should be in
his lied with a trained nurse at his
pillow.
Ho laughed at those things inwardly
to cheat himself, even while his eyes
followed ceaselessly tho girlish figuro
in tho yellow gown—followed tho girl
with tho mass of tawny hair and tho
grcon-gray eyes.
Ho caught a few chance phrases
about her now and then.
Homo mau had asked her namo of
Mrs. Demayu.
"Oh, a great protcgo of Mrs. Aspin
wall. Bho wus to have chaperoned
her liero to-night; hut ono of her
children was ill, so Miss Voss came
alone. Extraordinary looking girl, is
she not? I never saw any ono quite
like her. I was almost certain that
Mrs. Aspinwall said that she was a
groat beauty."
"So sho is," said tho niau.
"H'm—do you think so?" Mrs.
Demayn coughed a little. "I thought,
too, that I had hoard that she was
dark. But evidently that was a mis
take. "
"Evidently."
Asketh had a movement of intoler
able impatience. What time of tho
night was it? The moon was not yet
set, though it was setting; and tho
hunt-ball guests had come at i) o'clock.
So few hours since ho had first soon
this girl? Why, ho felt as if ho had
known her ages, as if they had talked
together of all things under hoavon
and in earth. That men should stare
at her as Mrs. Demayn's interlocutor
was now doing, that these worldly
women should have, in speaking of
her, tho touo of patronizing conde
scension adopted by that lady, was
something not to bo borne.
110 pushed forward through tho
dancers. Tho last figure had spun its
motley whirl through tho ballroom.
One more waltz, and as Paul con
fronted Miss Voss's partner, about to
relinquish her, ho offered his arm
without a word. Without a word sho
took it.
Ho led her to tho piazza, then ho
said: "Get something for your head
und shoulders—a wrap."
"I am going homo now," sho re
plied. But a moment luter she issued
from tho cloak-room, shawled and
hooded, and when again ho offered his
arm, sho took it without protest.
"Where are you taking mo?" sho
said in a loud voice. "On the lawn?
See, tho pooplo aro going, and tho
moon is almost sot."
But thero was no real concern in
her tonos. Sho walked on with him
carelessly, as if thoy two had boon
alone iu tho world.
"You do not mind? Surely, you
do not mind," ho murmured, deserted
by his usual fluout rcadiiiess with wo
men, only conscious of hor nearness,
of tho touch of hor bare hand on his
sleeve, and all his pulses throbbiug.
"You seem so uuliko other girls,
somehow."
Sho stopped, and by a quick move
ment took off her other glove. She
raised both arms, that gleamed pule
ly in tho waning moonrays, shaking
back from them her enveloping wraps.
Sho breathed deeply, twice, three
times.
"No, I do not mind," she said, in
tho samo tone. "Aud, it is true, lam
not like other girla. I never liavo
beou, never, never. Ah, how glorious
it is to dance, to live, to enjoy, to feel,
as I have to-night, and as otner girls
do so often—so often ! I mind nothing
to-night. Time enough for that. X
will not think of it now. Let mo bo
happy just a few minutes more—just a
few minutes! It will ond soon—soon
—soon—"
Tho stately form of Mrs. Domayn,
flanked by two footmen, was visiblo
on tho piazza bohiul them in tho
glare that streamed from the now do
serted ball room.
"Ah !it has ended now!" breathod
the girl, and she turned toward the
house.
'1 was looking for you, Miss Voss,
remarked Mrs. Deinayu icily, aud the
glance she gave Asketh was almost as
withering as that which she bestowed
on tho girl.
"Yes, I know ; I'm goiug now. Don't
mind my being tho last one. It won't
matter to-morrow."
4 4 ls that girl mad ?" excitedly queried
Mrs. Demayn of her husband an hour
later in tho privacy of their own apart
ment. 4 'Did ever you hear of such
amazing conduct? And the way in
which Paul Asltcth flirted with her all
tho evening was disgraceful—disgrace
ful. What can Lucy Aspinwall bo
thinking of to tako up such people?
She told mo that this Miss Voss was
very sweet and cjuiet and modest and
ladylike. Heaven knows where she
sees such qualities in her! I thought
her prodigiously bad form liugeriug
out there, when evcryoiio had gone,
alone with Asketh, whom sho had
never seen in her life before to-night 1
That is what comes of picking up per
sons not in society. The girl is a
savage."
"A mighty handsomo one, then,
and ono not too slow to have obviously
enmeshed the best parti in town," said
her lord and master, but ho said it to
himself, having acquired wisdom iu
twenty yoars of matrimony.
"You saiil two nights ago that you
woro not like other girls! You need
not have told me. To mo you
are like no ono on earth. I am coin
ing to your homo to tell you this and
other things. If I hear nothing from
you I shall know that I liavo your
permission."
Tho note was signed Paul Asketh.
Jane had rocoivod it, and three hours
later Mrs. Voss and Elinor had re
turned from tho bedside of old Miss
Voss. who this time had concluded,
after all, that she would not die.
In tho course of the afternoon a
card was brought to Elinor. She was
unpacking her satchel in the room
with her mother, and at sight of tho
namo she Hushed a vivid crimson.
Paul Asketh! She had not for
some months known Mrs. Aspinwnl),
and some of Mrs. Aspiuwall's friends,
without being intensely conscious of
what that name represented. Why,
here was tho mau whom sho had
burned to meet, whom she had hoped
to see at tho hunt ball, beoauso of
whom her disappointment at her in
ability to attend that function had
been keenest! How had he happened
to como thero that day? Excited
anticipation ran riot in Elinor's
charming head while sho put an im
proving touch to gown and hair, aided
by the fluttering liugers of poor Mrs.
Toss, a-tremblo with eager matri
monial hopes for her idol.
Askoth roso slowly at the young
lady's entrance.
"Miss Voss?"
"I am Miss Voss?"
"Miss Elinor Voss?"
"I am Elinor Voss."
"Ah—a thousand pardons! I fear
that there is somo mistake. You have
a cousin, a sistei, perhaps."
"A sister," murmured Elinor, Bo
wildored.
"Ah!—whom I had the pleasure of
meeting at the hunt ball—"
"Tho hunt ball! Impossible!"
She turned as tho door was flung
open. Asketh stood transfixed. It
was Jauo. It was tho girl who had
wound him in inextricable toils, and
yet it wasn't? The marvelous mass of
tawny hair was drawn straightly back;
tho strange, wonderful life had gone
out of her green-gray eyes; tho noble,
alluring curves had loft tho lips closed
tightly, and almost as pale as tho
cheeks.
"Not impossible. Elinor, I was at
tho hunt ball, and Mr. Asketh met me
there. I wore your gown and I played
tho part of tho beautiful sister—foi
once, I deceived everybody—the pa
tronesses, who wero expecting you,
all those great ladies and tho club
men and all. And I deceived Mr.
Asketh. Don't look at me as if I wero
mad, Elinor. Perhaps I seem to be,
but I really don't think that I am."
Iler eyes turned to Asketh. "You see
how plain t I am. You took me to be
pretty the other night. It was the nice
dross and the excitement and the de
termination that was in mo to feel
once as Elinor feels every day.! She is
lovely as you can see, too. She is sweet
and good also. But lam altogether
horrid. If you ever thought that I
was nice you will think differently
now. lam criminal, for isn't it crim
inal to lie and misrepresent and de
ceive people? And that's what I have
dono. And I am criminal in another
way. For I was envious of Elinor,
who is so lovoly and ;has always been
made much of, because sho was good
and deserved it. But I deserved noth
ing. Oh, lam quite bad. Forget me,
please." And she went, stonily from
tho room, beforo speech returned to
the other two.
A scandal? There nevcr had been n
greater in that part of tho country,
given over to tho "hunting >ot." Mrs.
Domayn blamed Mrs. Aspinwall for
taking "up any such people as the
Yosses" at all. It had, she said, all
come from that. Mrs. Voss, on the
other side, was ill in her bod with
mortification mid Elinor palo with
chagrin. Mrs. Aspinwall, irritated,
turned upon Asketh.
"Why did you flirt with that un
lucky younger sister, anyway? Not
but that I have chauged my opinion
of her looks within tho last day or
two. Somo now life seems to have
come into her. Sho has great possi
bilities, if only sho and her mother
and sister would give them a chance.
They say that she was beautiful at the
ball. Perhaps the ugly duckling will
outshine the white swan of tho fumily
yet."
Asketh made no iramediato reply.
Then
"You ask me why I flirted with her?
I did not flirt. It was dead earnest."
Mrs. Aspinwall stared.
"Not really? Good hoavens!"
"Beally. As earnest as anything on
this earth will ever bo for me."
"You will forgive that chit's mas
querading. I think it showed horri
bio duplicity."
"I judge moro leniently." Ho
laughed. "Yes, I forgive it, bocauso
1 understand it. lam going there to
day. And I may as well tell you, I
shall ask her to marry me."
"Good heavens!" baid Mrs. Aspin
wall again.
Ho kept his word.
Tbreo days later Mrs. Aspinwall mot
tho criminal faco to face ia one of tho
country lanes. She was driving ami
leaned far out of her carriage. Asketh
aud Jano wero walking.
"Call that girl an ugly duckling!"
exclaimod the lady to herself. "Well!
well. Seo what love and happiness
can do! Elinor, poor child, will never
hold a candle to her. I prophesy that
Mrs. Paul Asketh will bo iu time the
greatest beauty in town. So much
for tho crimo of Jane."—Now York
Mercury.
Amusing Form of Misspccch.
In tho Contributors* Club, in tho
Atlantic Monthly, a writer speaks of
a form of misspeech to which most of
us aro occasionally subject—tho ex
change of syllables. A certain young
lady, who, to her intense mortifica
tion, often reverses licr vowels thus,
says sho is entirely unconscious of it,
even after speaking.
Ono summer cveuing sho was
Rauutering with a friend towards tho
village postoflice of tho little town
where they were staying. Oil the way
they encountered an acquaintance
with a handful of letters.
"Ah, good evening," sho said, iu
her peculiarly gracious, suave man
ucr. "Aro you strailing out for your
mole?"
Tho mystified young woman made
somo inarticulate reply and passed
on. As soon as the friend could re
cover her gravity, slio gasped, "1
suppose you intended to ask Miss May
if sho was strolling out for her mail?"
Tho same youug lady was relating a
sad story of various misfortunes which
had overwhelmed a dear friend.
"Think," she concluded pathetic
ally, "of losing husband, children,
property and homo at ono swell foop!"
And a howl of laughter rent tho roof.
A Merchant's Decline,
Ho started a six-story store
Then dropped to five and then to four
Gould searoo believe his eyes.
: And now lie lias a store no lr.ore,
Ho peddles goods from door to door,
lie didu't advertise.
[ Joston Courier,
COVETED BY MEXICO.
GUATEMALA, INTERESTING BUT
UNDEVELOPED COUNTRY.
A Region Rich in Rnina and Old Asso
ciat ioiiH Strange Remains of an
Karly Civilization—The Guatemalans
of the Present Day.
People Arc Indolent.
. EW peojjle know
m u c ii concerning
G u ate m a 1 a, the
• country with which
1 Mexico has been
having trouble. So
mala of the present
is concerned, tho
country is so iusig
nlticant as scarcely
to deserve mo r o
than passing mention among the na
tions of the earth. In area it is far
from large, having only 40,000 square
miles, or about two-thirds that of Mis
souri. At the last census there wero
1,200,000 population, of which over GO
per cent were of Indian blood, tho re
mainder mixed, pure whites being de
cidedly in the iniuorlty.
The Indian population may be said to
give tone to the entire republic, and the
tone It gives, by the way, Is by no
m ns as exalted as it might be, for a
lazier set of people than the Central
American Indians are hard to find.
But they are philosophic in defense of
their laziness, for their country pro
duces all tilings necessary to the sup
port of human life, and why should
they work? Why, Indeed? The ques
tion is a conundrum, for when bananas
and oranges ami bread fruits are to be
had for the plucking, it Is not easy to
see why man should exert himself, par
ticularly in a tropical climate. In a
certain lazy way tho Guatemalans do
exert themselves, however; they export
ii good deal of coffee, the greatest trou
ble of which is in the picking. A good
many hides, gathered from the half
wild cattle that roam over the plains,
and here lately, a considerable quantity
of bananas, every bunch gathered at
the risk of mortally offending a centi
pede or venomous serpent that may
be concealed therein. But of the re
sources of their magnificent country
tlicy really know nothing at all.
Though limited iu extent, tho terri
tory of Guatemala is capable of a de
velopment that, in the hands of enter
prising men, would make the State uot
only by far the most important in this
section of the continent, but, also, capa
/ie of wielding no inconsiderable !o
gree of foreign intluencc. The country
Is an elevated table land, rising abrupt
ly from the Pacific in n range of lofty
mountains and sloping gradually away
to the sea on the east coast. It is a
continuation of the table lands of Mex
ico and Yucatan, ami has many of the
principal characteristics of both. While
there is no mountain range, in the geo
logical sense of the word, there are in
numerable mountains, which rise in the
most unexpected quarters, solitary in
their grandeur, and so irregular and
broken that the Indian legend of Cen
tral America, regarding it as a placo
where all the waste material left by tho
Creator was dumped, is far from being
ridiculous when illustrated by a view
of the mountains themselves. And the
mouutains command unbounded re
spect in Guatemala, for no small pro
portion of their number are volcanoes
of the most eruptive and aggressive
kind, liable at any moment to send out
a shower of stone or lava, and capablo
of generating more earthquakes than
any other set of mountains on the plan
et. The native-born Guatemalan docs
not mind earthquakes much—lie is too
well accustomed to tliera. lie general
ly lives in a one-story house of flimsy
construction and the earthquake cau do
no more than knock it down about his
ears, and when this happens, as in
some quarters it does about once in six
months, he crawls out of the debris gen
erally with no worse injury than a few
scratches, builds another house and
continues the even tenor of his lazy
r J *v
A GUATEMALAN CHURCH AND CONVENT.
way until tho next seismic convulsion
compels him to renew exertions iu tho
line of domestic architecture.
Gautemala lias not developed for an
other reason than the earthquakes. It
is almost destitute of ports, and equally
bare of navigable rivers. There are
many streams, but all so broken by
rapids, cascades and falls that they are
practically useless to the country, save
for purposes of irrigation They might
be employed for that, but as during
half the year rain falls every afternoon
ns regularly as the afternoon comes,
irrigation is not so much needed as iu
some other regions, where the skies are
not so bountiful. As for the ports, the
two or three on the Pacific side are
hardly worth the name, being for the
most part open roadsteads, while the
solitary port town ou the Atlantic
slope is a miserable collection of huts,
not deserving the name of town. With
only about 100 miles of railroad, with
no navigable rivers and no ports worthy
of the name, a considerable develop
ment could not soou be expected. Bui
more could have been done than lias
been by a different class of poulation,
for, besides their unconquerable repug
nance to work, the native Guatemalans
are not in the least enterprising, nor do
thev seem to understand or annreeinte
the natural resources of their country.
1 With mines of silver, gold, copper and
oilier metals, With a land of almost in
conceivable fertility, with forests of
valuable wood, with plains that in
many quarters could be made to pro
duce two crops a year, they are yet con
tent to move along the same lines as
their fathers.
Ancient Inhabitants.
' But the beautiful region they Inhnblt
was not ahvoys peopled by men of their
kind, for before the coming of the Span
iards this part of America had attained
a degree of civilization such as was
known to no other portion of the north
ern continent. The ruins of scores of
cities which must, from the extent of
tiie remains, have been of very consid
erable size, and probably had each a
population of many thousands, attest
the former populousncss of the coun
try, while all over Guatemala the pres
ence of irrigating works of great ex
tent, the remains of highways over
grown Willi forest trees, tile ruins of
temples and palaces show that the
country must have had a powerful, or
ganized administration, capable of tak
ing In hand the functions of govern
ment, and also of looking after the gen
eral Interests and welfare of the people
iu a manner similar to that of the
Peruvian ineas.
Tho remains of upwards of fifty cities
antedating the Spanish conquest have
been found in Guatemala alone, nnd
lliis number in a territory only two
thirds the size of Missouri probably in
dicates a density of population similar
to that of the most crowded Darts of
ALCALDES Oil HEAD MUX OF A GUATE
MALAN* VILLAGE.
EHrope to-day. Tho word probably
is advisedly used iu this connection,
for aside from the statements of the
Spanish explorers, little or nothing is
known as to the nimiber of the nations
that once Inhabited Central America.
Tho only ancient structures whose
use can positively be stated are the
huge pueblas, or communal towns, in
which all the inhabitants resided under
a common roof and in a sort of fortress
of their own construction. Best known
to us from their presence in parts of
New Mexico and Arizona, these curious
community towns are found in great
umnbers In Mexico, and to some extent
also In Guatemala nnd other purts of
Central America. That they are not
so numerous in the Central American
States Is explained by the fact that they
were originally built for defense, and
that the Central American Indians,
having no hostile neighbors, did not
need them, and so gradually abandoned
their use.
More imposing than the ruined pu
eblas nre the remains of the gigantic
pyramids that abouud iu Guatemala,
Mexico, particularly in tho Yucatan
peninsula and almost everywhere in
Central America. They are often enor
mous in extent, some covering as much
as ten or twelve acres, thus almost
equaling in area of base that of the
great pyramid of Cheops, In Egypt,
which is thirteen, but they nre by no
menus so lilgli, rarely exceeding 200
feet. That they were erected for the
purposes of worship is clear from the
testimony of the Spaniards, but there
is notliiug to indicato the character of
that worship save the ghastly fact that
tho human sacrifices formed a part,
and, perhaps, the most conspicuous und
Important part. It is impossible to con
template without emotion these gigan
tic monuments of n people whoso arts,
civilization and letters have complete
ly vanished. The scenes of blood, the
gorgeous parades of painted and be
feathered chieftains and their retain
ers, the magnificent assemblies, and,
finally, the carnage that made their
stops nnd pavements slippery with
blood in the last great struggle with tlio
merciless invaders, are nil called up
by the crumbling walls and terraces of
. the pyramids that were already old
j when Columbus landed.
3 Tlic Spanish Invasion.
In the general destruction that fol
lowed the Spanish invasion the Cen
t Iral Americans fared no better than
f the people of Mexico. The worst butch
,, eries by the Turks, the Saracens, tlio
y Huns, were surpassed by die cruelties
e that tlio Christian Spaniards inflicted
6 on a helpless and Inoffensive people.
I The acts of the Spaniards were foolish
. as well as brutul, for 111 destroying the
a Indians they destroyed the only means
i. of making a paying Investment of the
□ country. The early conquerors, how
c ever, were, for the most part, men who
c had no Idea of settling permanently
e in America, but who were desirous of
0 making a fortune as soon as possible
c and then returning to their native
c country, to spend their blood money
i, in tho baznrs of Madrid and Barcelona
h aud Cordova. The greed of gold burned
h out of their sordid hearts all consldera
j tious of humanity, and in wanton
>. cruelty they butchered tho natives in
it discriminate!}' until finally only a few
6 stragglers In the remote recesses of
i, the forests remained of all the popu
t latlon that filled tlie cities and eultl
s vated tlie fields. Central America has
c never recovered, and may never reoov
e er from that deadly blow. In a country
where tropical rains nre succeeded by
tropical sunshine, where the winter
does not deserve the name, so mild Is
the season, nature Is bounteous, nud
all sorts of vegetation grow with a
rapidity and luxuriance unknown else
where. In many parts of Guatemala,
when a road Is cut through jungle,
constant labor and watchfulness ar®
required to prevent its obliteration by
tlio encroaching verdure on either
hand. Itoads neglected for two weeks
can not be traced, so completely aro
they overgrown by the trees and vines.
The abundance of nature in the fields
overpowers the industry of man. A
farmer can cultivate only a limited
area on account of the rapidity with
which the native plants grow. Under
the chiefs who formerly ruled this
country, the roads were kept open by
gangs of laborers employed by tho
chieftain, and tho farmers were com
pelled to keep their fields clear of
weeds. With the coming of the Euro
peans, all tho conditions which had
tended to the prosperity of tho peoplo
were completely changed. The roads
were obliterated, tho reservoirs v.cro
ruined by lack of attention during tho
rainy season, the irrigating ditches
were soon covered by undergrowth,
the temples were overgrown with
trees. For three centuries incentives
to industry were taken from the popu
lation, and in that time the natives lost
all memory of their former greatness,
and now could not perhaps revive
their ancient prosperity even by ardu
ous effort It Is probable that even
during tho period of Guatemala's '
greatest glory tho country was ruled
by chiefs of a superior and different
race, who treated the people like serfs,
and compelled them to work against
their will. Even, however, if tills
were not the case, three centuries of
idleness create a hereditary aversion
to labor that is not easily overcome.
In spite, however, of its lazy popula
tion, of its climate, of its almost im
passable forests, thick with venomous
reptiles and insects, Guatemala must
always be an interesting country—in
teresting from Its associations connect
ed with the early Spanish conquerors,
for here Cortes was lost for nearly two
years, and here Alvarado made one of
his earliest expeditions', interesting
from its savage mountaineers, whom
neither the Aztec chiefs, nor the Span
iards, nor tho Guatemalan rulers have
ever been able to bring under control;
interesting from its ruins, showing, as
they do, the former richness and pros- *
perlty of the country.
CORN AND COTTON.
Two Staples in Which the United
States f.ead the Whole World.
Cotton and corn are the two great
American staples, and the two in which
the United States stand easily at the
head not only of all countries, but ot
nil countries combined. Tho total cot
ton supply of the world, figured on the
basis of bales of 400 pounds eucli, is
about 12,000,000 bales, and of this
amount the United States produces
about 9,000,000 bales, or two-thirds of
the whole amount. Tho crop hero at
tained the highest figures before the
war in 18G0, when it was 4,000,000
bales of 470 pounds; ISO 2 was tho best
year for cotton since, tho crop being
9,000,000 bales of 470 pounds.
The corn of the United States fot
1894 Is 65,000,000 acres, and the total *
product 1,200,000,000 bushels, of the
value of about $600,000,000. The gleal
corn year was 1889, with a crop of
2,100,000,000 bushels; 1891 followed
with 2,000,000,000 bushels. In 1802
and 1893 the figures were about the
same —1,600,000,000 bushels. Compared
with the value of the corn and cotton
crop, the other agricultural produc
tions of the United States occupy a
subordinate position, the value of the
Wheat crop being $225,000,000, cats
$214,000,000, potatoes $91,000,000, bar
ley $27,000,000, rye $13,000,000, and
buckwheat $7,000,000.
Two surprises because of the differ
ence in value compared with ordinary
public expectations nre hny niul to
bacco. The hay crop of the United
States amounted lust year to .f 158,000,-
000 in value; the tobacco crop, on the W
other baud, amounted to only $27,000,.
000. The last year preceding (1893)
the tobacco crop was 50 per cent, great
er, and considerably more than half
of it came from two States, Kentucky
and Tennessee. Kentucky stands at
the head of the tobacco States. Penn
sylvania is at the head of those in tho
North. Connecticut comes next; New
York is fourth.—Sun.
(Becoming an Island of Mutes.
' Of tho 146 Inhabitants of the little
town of Chilmark, on the Island of
Martha's Vineyard, tlilrty-slx, or almost
one-quarter, are congeultally deaf and
dumb. The town records show thai
two of the original settlers of tho place,
away back in the seventeenth century,
1 were deaf and dumb, nud the infirmity
lias thus been transmitted to our own
day. Tills hereditary intiuence shows
no plan of uniformity in its workings,
deaf and .dumb parents having children
In full possession of all their senses, -%
and vice versa. This peculiar commun
ity, shut in from the outside world, is,
however, alive to all the social and po
litical Influences of the time ami does
not differ in great degree from tho thou
sand and one secluded villages which
dot our New England hills and shore
line. It affords, however, ample oppor
tunity for the minute investigation of
both the sociologist and tlie student of
evolution and physiological heredity.—
Boston Transcript.
Little Ethel—Why is it womons is al
ways complainin' about the hired girls
Little Dot—Oh, that's just so folks will
know they can afford to keep one.
Suitor—l have come to ask for your
daughter, sir. Father—Take her, young
man. You are tlio duly one who want
(id more than my daughter's hand..