FREELAND TRIBUNE. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY. TliOS. A. BUCKLEY, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE: MAIN STREET ABOVE CENTRE. SU BSC RIPTION* RATES: One Yenr $1 •"" ! Six Months 7") j Four Months 5 , Two Months 25 Subscribers are requested to observe the figures following the name on the labels of their papers. By reference to these they can ascertain to what date their subscription is paid. For instance: Grover Cleveland 28JuneflO means that Grover is paid up to June 28,1806. Keep the figures in advance of the present date, lleport promptly to this ollieo whenever you do not receive your paper. All arrear ages must be paid when paper is discontinued. FREELAND, SEPTEMBER 20, 181)5. Teacher Won't Pay tlie Bill. Miss Tucker, a school teacher at Ex celsior, Coal tow. ship, Schuylkill coun ty, lias been arrested on a warrant sworn out by Stanislaus General, of that place, whose two children were sent home from school. As scarlet fever is prevalent in that vicinity tin; board of health issued orders to all teachers to keep a sharp lookout and send all chil dren home in whose families they had reason to believe there was any sickness. Miss Taylor heard that scarlet fever ex isted in General's house, and she sent his two children homo. Their father immediately sent for a physician and had him search the premises and ex amine all members of his family. He secured the physician's certificate stat ing that his home was free from the con tagion and then sent the bill for medical services to the teacher for payment. Miss Tucker refused to pay the hill and General had her arrested. The hearing lias not yet been held, but the school teachers are awaiting its result with un usual interest. Handy Man on the Committee. From the Wilkosbarre Louder. Tho substitution of Alvan Markle for the late Daniel Coxc as a member of the Republican state committee was avers adroit piece of work. Tho accrued de posits of the Hazleton banker outweigh- j ed the political knowledge of Colonel j Scott who wanted to get. on the committee I but who was set aside because it was thought that Markle's leg could be made longer than Scott's. Well, some body's leg will have to be pulled, for. according to all accounts, the money that is in the hands of the committee isn't weighing anybody down, the sev eral candidates appearing to think that it. is safer to keep the bulk of their own coin in their own pockets, to be used for their own personal interests. Mr. Markle Is a handy man to have on the committee. Weiss Beer Not Intoxicating. The Northampton county grand jury has decided that weiss beer is not in toxicating. The jury asked Judge Scott in court whether it was a violation of the law to sell it without a license and on Sunday. After being told it was a matter of fact, not a question of law. the jury returned and asked witnesses whether weiss beer drinking would in toxicate. They inquired patiently of weiss beer drinkers and finally decided that it was a "soft drink," and would not intoxicate. One witness told the jury that he usually drank weiss beer to "sober up" on, and invariably found ii had the desired effect. Beware of the Strolling Dentist. A few days ago a large stylish woman calling herself Dr. Alberta Oberlin, of St. Louis, arrived at Stroudsburg and advertised to pull teeth without pain. She found live victims, to whose gums she applied a liquid. Soon after tin operation the patient became ill. The Stroudsburg Times say s their faces and hands became discolored, their tongue* swollen and their stomachs a (Tec Led. Ono of them may die. The dentist has fled. llow to Got a Rebate on Koa<l Tax. The legislature last winter passed an act that ail persons who shall hereafter use wagons with tires not less than four inches wide for hauling loads of not less than 3,000 pounds, shall he cred ited by the supervisors of their town ship with one-fourth of the road tax levied and assesed against them, provid ing that the amount so allowed shall not exceed live days' labor. Hcliuy I kill Lou nt yg Democrat*. Schuylkill county Democrats have nominated tho following ticket: Or phans'court judge, I*. M. Dunn, Miners ville, district attorney, E. W. Bechtel, Pottsville; controller, M. 11. Masters. Shenandoah; coroner, Dr. D. S. Mar shall, Ashland; surveyor, William J. Downey, Pottsville; poor director, W. F. Keegan, Mahanoy City. There is more catarrh in this section of the country than all other diseases put together, and until the last few years was supposed to be incurable. For a great many years doctors pro nounced it a local disease, and prescrib ed local remedies, and by constantly failing to care with local treatment, pro nounced it incurable. Science baa proven catarrh to bo a constitutional disease and therefore requires constitu tional treatment. Hall's Catarrh Cure, manufactured by F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo, Ohio, is tho only constitutional cure ou the market. It is taken in ternally in doses from ten drops to a teaspoonful. It acts directly on the blood and mncoos surfaces or the sys tem. They oiler ono hundred dollars for any case it fails to cure. Send for circulars and testimonials. Address. K. J. CHENEY CO., Toledo, O. ty Sold by druggifito, 700. TWO LOST LETTERS. llow Postal Officials at Times Arc Com- ! polled to I'so Their Wits. An English merchant was advised by ' his agent that u check of six hundred pounds sterling would be sent to him ! by the next mail, says Mr. Raines in j his "Forty Years at the Post Office." It did not come and the merchant at once ! made complaint at tho post office. Tho postman on that route was called in by the postmaster, and, in answer to ques- : tions, said that the missing packet was duly received and delivered. He re membered it distinctly—its shape, eol- j or and postmark. As liis habit was he had poked it under tho house door, with two other letters and a newspa per. The merchant's wife had picked j up three packets and was positive there had not been a fourth. Tho postmaster went to the house j and examined it carefully. Then ho ! looked into the back garden. Ilis eye lighted on a litter of puppies. A thought struck him. "Have tho dog kennel cleared out j please." "Nonsense! Why?" "Kindly have it cleared." "Well, if it must bo. Thomas, take out the straw." On the floor of the kennel, torn into a hundred bits, lay the missing letter and chock. A current of air along the passage had blown the letter about, j The puppies, naturally enough, had | pounced upon it as und had had a good time. A merchant complained of the loss of \ a letter mailed from liis office contain- I ing some hundreds of pounds in Bank of England notes. Finally an expert I from the post office department called j upon him. "Believe mo, sir," the expert said, "I have an object in what I ask. Will you kindly sit at your desk and recall each operation connected with the miss ing letter?" "With pleasure. I sit here, I take a sheet of this note paper and one of those covers. Then I write my letter and fold it up so. Next I go to my safe and take out the notes, enter their numbers, fold them, put them in the letter and the letter in the cover. Then I seal them all up as you see me do." "Just so, and what next?" "Why, my clerk comes in and clears off my desk for the post." "But you wrote this one at noon, and the post does not go out before night." "Oh, 3 T es, of course! I quite forgot to say that a monejMetter, for greater se curity, I put in a left-hand drawer." "Which one?" "Which? Why, this one. I open it so and I—bless my soul! Goodness me! I am very, very sorry for all the trouble I've given, llere is the letterl" A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD. Plunks Mudo of Cork Will Bo Used In Now Ships. Several months ago tlie board of in spection and survey of the navy depart ment was directed to make an investi gation with a view of obtaining some practicable substitute for wood in fit ting naval vessels. Tho desire for a substitute was tho fact that a lighter material was wanted if possible, one that would not take so much space in the vessel, and more than anything else a material that would not splinter. It was also desirable to have a non combustible substance. The board, says tho Washington Post, has made a report to the secre tary of the navy and some of its recom mendations have been adopted by hiin, and it is probable that some of the new ships will bo fitted with the new ma terial as a substitute for wood. One of the best materials which lias been found by tho board is a wood sub stitute composed of waste cork, or any cork. This is subjected to four hun dred degrees of heat, and it is then pressed into blocks of any required size. It can be sawed into thin strips or handled very much as wood is handled. Cork has a gum that great heat melts and glues its particles to gether in a compact mass. After being pressed it sticks together as tightly as if it had grown that way. The cork boards may be made heavy or light, as wanted. Some of the lighter kinds are used in the walls of refrigerators. It is a non-conductor, and can scarcely be made to burn. This material is used iu the place of wood in German vessels. Commander Bradford, who made the search and examination of this particu lar substitute, found that the Germans were using it under a patent taken out by John Smith, of New York, and that companies in the United States had ob tained rights for its manufacture here. DEGENERATION IN BOSTON. Tlm-IIonor-il Spot* Being Ruthlessly Wiped from View. Notwithstanding the sentiment in the commonwealth against the demoli tion of the state house it will have to go, writes G. W. Wilfred Pcarcc, of Boston, to the New York Sun. The drawings of a new building have been completed, and the work of construction will begin next March. Tho process of disfiguring the public garden and the common goes merrily on. Tlie old burying ground on the common, wherein rested tho bones of many soldiers of the revolution and Jullien, the inventor of Jullicn soup, lias been vandalized by the promoters of that queer conception, the subway, in which electric ears running south and west are to go. Within a short time the common will be grabbed by politicians and real es tate speculators. Flaws have been dis covered in the title, and, as for ten i years it has been suffered to decay, I Bostonians take littles pride in it; the new parks have given the venerable common a death blow. Seven peanut and balloon peddlers and two astronomers who used to cater to the wants of Bostonians have shut up shop, owing* to the decay of trade on that famous ground. Even well-bred Boston dogs consider it bad form to bathe in the frog pond where the foun tain squirts only on Sunday. The good old man who for many years has served the city on Flagstaff iiill told me, with tear,i in his eyes, that the "Olild com mon is going- to the divU entirely." LITTLE DAMES AND MEN. Wo all must remember when We were littlo dames and men; When each sorrow tugged away with all Its might At our little hearts and eyes, Till tho air was full of sighs, And tho brightest day was turned to darkest night. llow we'd weep, How wo'd creep To our little beds to sleop, With wet lashes on flushed faces; oven then, Not a soul would ever know Half our agony; and so Wo should sympathize with little dames antf We must all remember when Wo were little dames and mon, When we meet the little ones from day to day; A kind word is just as chcrp. And It sinks to depths as deep A3 tho harsh ono you wero sending down their way. If you knew llow a few Gracious aots and words from you Were planted in their souls; to blossom when Golden days of ohlldhood seem To bo shadows of u dream, You would love and cherish little dames and men. —N. E. Magazine. M'GHEOGHAN'S LAPSE BY WILLIS CIIAMIJEItLAIN. Vp, '° ll E O G IIA N i . \ kept sober M&l r\X\ \ a long time. For fnflK f weeks he ha d f \ not even taken a jriass of whis ky with Jimmy Sullivan, and he used to drop into Jimmy's every evening, "just to wash the dust front his t'roat,' as he phrased it. The washing process hid developed into such proportions that McGlieoghan's wife said he might as well "dlirown himself and be done wid It." Then she applied what she called the "wather cure," and Mc- Gheoghan reformed. Mrs. McGheo ghan liad such faith in the reforma tion that she had taken the baby and gone for three days to her cousins, the O'Flannigans, in Saucelito; and the only admonition she had given her husband was tho parting injunction: "Mind yer eye, now, Maurice." McGheoghan had not been particu larly proud of his descent from the Mc- Gheoghans, of Galway, but his young wife continually dinned it iuto him that they were "a fine ould family," and that he ought not to disgrace them by associating with people beneath him. It was bad enough to be poor, she said, without mixing with the common herd. As a distinguishing mark, she always gave an Italian pronunciation to her .husband's name, Maurice, and insisted upon his doing tho same. Mrs. Mc- Gheoghan had learned Italian in her youth among the fishermen of North Beach. Maurice did not take his wife's discipline kindly, and it was only his love for her that made him endure it. Out of her sight he liked to be one of the boys, and In sly ridicule of her aristocratic pretensions spoke of himself as a "liurain illevator" —he elevated bricks by the hodful up n ladder. When McGheoghan pushed quietly through the screen doors, slipped un obtrusively past the crowd at the bar, sat down at the last table, and began looking at the prints in the Irish News, Jimmy Sullivan knew something was in the wind; for had not the O'Rourkos told his wife that Mrs. McGheoghau had forbidden her husband to have anything to do with that "low-down 6haloon-keeper, Jimmy Sullivan?" "What'll yez have, me bye?" called Jimmy, as the last uuin drew one of the three towels hanging before the bar ucross liis dripping mustache and swung himself out into the street. "Faith, but it's a long time since I've had the good luck to grip yer fist, man. Here's the crainu o' the sason till ye." If the thought of his wife came to the hod-carrier at all, it probabl}' brought a suggestion to make hay while the sun shone, for he and Jimmy filled and emptied glass after glass while they smoked black cigars and chatted over the "ould times" when they were single. Sullivan kept the clearer head, for it was part of his TIIIC TWO WERS Finiiri.YO LIKE CATS. business to do so, but even his speech grew thick and he spilled his stock as he served the two or three late cus tomers that came in before he and Mc- Gheoghan were left to themselves. Long after the usual time of closing, Sullivan's wife, who lived over the su loon, looked timidly in through the back door and asked Jimmy when he was coming home. "Git to out o' here wid ye, and mind yer own business," was his an swer. "That's tho way I talk till my wife, Morris," he said. "You'd he bet thcr off if you'd give yer own a taste av the same when she's deludhcrin ye wid her hifnlutin idees." McGheoghan recalled the time when he had known Mrs. Sullivan as pretty Kitty Lafferty; und the barkeeper's manner jarred the pleasant recollec tion; he did not like to see his old : tlarae treated like that, lie did not relish free advice, either; and when Sullivan spoke slightingly of Mrs. Mc- I Ghoeghan it roiled him. Things were rather hazy just then, but tho notion crept into his head that he was doing i wrong, and that Sullivan was rejoicing In his lapse from virtue. To maintain I his dignity ho considered it necessary to impress Sullivan with the fact that the McGhoeghans were people to be | respected, so he says: j "Me name's Mowreccliv." "That's another fool idee yer wife's made ye swally. Morris was good enough for 3-0 when ye was a bye, but when ye got married yer wife must go changin* yer name. But ye'r Morris for all that." "Me name's Mowreecliy, and If ye go fer to call me out av it, or say me wife's name ag'in, I'll bate ye wid that mug." Sullivan leered at him derisively. "Yer name's Morris McGheoghan, and 3'er wife's a flannel-mouthed chaw like yerself." The impact of a beer glass over Sulli van's left eye caused him to measure his length upon the floor. The shock roused him, however, and in a moment the two were fighting like cats. The crash of overturned tables and chairs and of breaking glass would have caught the attention of the patrol had that in dividual not been dozing in the next block. It would have awakened Mrs. Sullivan had sue not been at that par ticular time half asphyxiated in her •deep b3' a smoking mantel-spread which had fallen over the lamp left burning for her husband. The fire had smouldered for half an hour and the room was filled with smoke, when a spark fell on the table and ignited a bit of paper. In an in stant the room was in a blaze. A burn ing curtain caught the eye of a late traveler, who turned in an alarm. The liook-and-laddcr truck dashed up to the place, aud a fireman snatched the i stupefied woman out of a burning bed, | but ho did not notice the adjacent al cove where little four-year-old Kitty Sullivan lay dreaming. When Maurice McGheoghan was shoved away from his antagonist he thought Jimmy's friends, had come to take part in the scrimmage. But the firemen's uniform and Sullivan's de spairing cry of: "My God! whore's "MOWRKECIIY," HE CRIED, "OOD BLESS YE I" Kitty?" roused an idea in his head. The McGhcohans of Galway had noble blood in their veins, and never desert ed a female in distress. The firemen were busy saving Sulli van's stock. They did not liced the un couth figure, with blood 3' face and torn clothes, reeling through the back door and up the narrow stairs. Through stifling smoke and in water and flame he groped his way, while Sullivan was out on the street kneel ing beside his wife, sprinkling her face and chafing her wrists. She opened her ©3'cs and gasped: "Kitty." Sullivan had thought that of course the child was saved with its mother, but now the fear struck him that this was not so. lie ran from one to another of the bystanders, frantic in his search, but 110 one had seen the little girl. As in desperation he turned to the burning rookery, a window crashed out, and a burst of flame lighted his road to the little stairway, lie sprang toward it and nearly overturned a staggering, ragged, blackened uud begrimed man carrying in his arms a bundle of bedclothes, from out of which a voice called to Jimm3': "Papa!" lie throw both arms round the pair, and two soiled and bruised faces met in an Irish embrace. "Mowroechy," he cried, "God bliss ye!"—Lippincott's Magaziue. Spurs for Gamecocks* Steel heels or spurs foro fighting cocks to take the place of the natural spur are made in twenty or more va rieties in shape and length; they are sold all over the world. In the United States spurs of different st3'les are used In different parts of the country; longer spurs are used in the south than in the east aud north. The shortest spurs are used in New York. The standard length here is one and one quarter inches; in all other parts of the country the length is advanced. A good sot of steel heels costs ten dol lars. The spur projects from one side of a ferrule or socket, which is like an open thimble; a leather band is at tached to the base of the ferrule. The natural spur is sawed off, and when the steel spur is used the ferrule is placed over the stump and the leather band is wound round the cock's leg and bound with twine; a pad or cushion is placed within the rim of the ferrule to make it fit the stump of the natural spur snugly and firmly. It is said that if a well-bred gamecock, •which had been without food until it was nearly starved, should then be placed in the presence of another gamecock and of food, it would fight before it would rat; in other words, that it would rather light than eat.— N. Y. Sun. —Great men often produce their ends by means beyond the grasp of vulgar intellect, and even by methods diametrically opposite to those which the multitude would pursue. But, to i effect this, bespeaks as profound a knowledge of mind as that philoso phcr evinced of matter, who first pro duced ice by the agency of heat.— Col ton. A Cold Weather Joke. A business man came down to his of fice on a winter morning when it was bitterly cold. "Whew! how cold It Is!" he said to one of the clerks. "Just shut that safo, if 3'ou please." The clerk obeyed, with a puzzled look. Then, when he could restrain his curiosUy no longer, he asked: "Excuse me, sir, but wli3'did you tell me to shut the safe?" "Why," replied his with a sly chuckle, "there are a good many drafts in that safe." Coiifirleiitlous. Wife —If I thought a thing was wicked, I'd die before I'd do it. Husband—So would I. Wife—Huh! I think smoking cigars is a wicked waste; an Impious defile ment, in fact. Husband—Then you should not smoke. Hand me a match, please.—N. Y. Weekly. Criminal Note. "Whaffor has dey got Jim Webster in do Austin jail?" asked Uncle Moses of Sam Johnsing. "Fer steal in' two gallons ob molas ses." "Iso mighty sorry to hear It was mcrlasses he stole, bekase dat am boun' ter stick to him as long as he libs."— Tbxas Siftings. Safo anil Soporific. Ph3*sieian —You must not occupy 3 r our time with anything which requires the slightest mental attention. Patient—But, doctor, how can I do that? Physician—l will fix it. You are to read all the recent "novels with a pur pose."—Chicago Record. Deciphering an Abbreviation. "Ilere's a letter for Dugout, B. K.," said one postal clerk to another. "What do you suppose B. K. stands for? Not British Columbia, surely." "No," replied the man addressed. "That stands for 'Bleeding Kansas.' " It was sent to the Sunflower state.— Judge. Even Up. Ethel Singleton—But tell me, dear, does a man get really angry every time he comes home uud finds dinner Isn't ready? Mrs. Benedicf (sweetly)— Yes; just about as angry as a woman gets every time she lias it ready and ho doesn't come home. —Puck. That Ended the Dream. At midnight In his guarded tent The Turk was droamlng of the hour Whon Greece, her knoo in suppliunce bent, Would tremble at his power. And In his dreams the foeman fell Before his blade's fell stroke, Aud everything had como his way— And then the baby woko. —Detroit Tribune. The Modern Daughter. "I wish to ask your permission to pa 3' Hi3 r addresses to your daughter," said the old-fushioned voting man. "All right," said the old gentleman. "If I can got her permission to give 3'ou my permission, go ahead."—lndi anapolis Journal. Poor, Blind Papal Pereraann—Battle Is such nn affec tionate daughter. This morning I received such a tender, appreciative three-page letter from her at school. Ilattle's Sister (C3*nically)—What did she ask you for iu the postscript?— Truth. Travels of the Puff. Oldboy—l wonder where these big puffed sleeves are going to end? Guffy—l don't know; the bic3'cle girls just now seem to wear them between the waist and the knees!— Harper's Bazar. A Mean I.over. I love to make my Mabel cry, By Jealous taunts and Jeers. For then I got a chance to try And kiss uway hor tears. —Harper's Bazar. FORCE OF (RIDING) HABIT. She stood ready, dreused for cycling, In her latest costume, sweet: And her husband, charraod, enraptured, Could have worshiped at her foet. She was In the act of mounting, Yet she soemed to hesitate; Tbon she asked with old-tlmo vigor: "Are my bloomers on qulto straight?" —Truth. Mtrangc and Rare. "llow Strange a Thing Is Man." This was the title of her graduation essay. Afterwards she went to the summer resort hotel and found that he was even more so.— N. Y. Recorder. What a (Question. Chollcy Chumpey—l see that earrings nrc coming into fashion again. Have your ears ever been bored? Miss Cafcistic —What a question! Haven't I often listened to your twad dle?— Syracuse Post. Beginning to Feel at Home. Senior Partner—l think this new clerk Is getting used to our ways, don't you? Junior Partner —I think so. lie was twenty minutes late this morning.— Brooklyn Life. Tho Long and Short of It. "I hear Donaldsou is short in liis ac counts." "Well, he may be short in his ac counts, but he is long enough in his payments."-—Detroit Free Press. FOREIGN PERSONAL GOSSIP. I CHRISTINE NILSSON has just revisited i Sweden, after an absence of eight J years, to attend her nephew's wedding. MR. STEAD wants to establish a baby exchange, where those who have too many children may dispose of them to those who have too few. M. DE PARIS, DIEBLER, the execution er, was recently before a Paris police judge for libeling the wine sold by one of bis neighbors. MR. ONSI.OW FORD, the sculptor, and Mr. W. B. Richmond, the painter, have just been elected to the Royal academy. They were made associates in the same year. MRS. LESTER, who recently shot her husband in India, and was condemned to ten years' imprisonment, is a grand daughter of John Braham, the tenor, and a niece of the famous countess of Waldegra\%. CARDINAL LEDOCIIOWSKI, who bore the brunt of the government persecu tion during the period of the Knltur kampf, is to celebrate his saeredotal jubilee in a few days. The celebration \yill be general throughout Germany and Poland. Two TWIN brothers in Paris, MM. Jerome and Isidore Franclc, recently celebrated their eightieth birthday to gether. One of them wrote verses for the occasion. They are brothers of the lato Adolphe Franclc, the philosopher and member of the Institute of France. TIIE list of lady knights of the Le gion of Honor has been swelled by the name of Mine. Henry, the superin tendent of the Paris Maternity hospital, who owes the honor to the excellent service she has done in the manage ment of that institution. THREE persons wore recently saved from drowning at Ilythe, England, by the courage and skill of Miss Evans, a girl of tvvently-one. A man, woman and child wore capsized in a boat near the shore, and if Miss Evans had not plunged into the water, clothed as she was, they would not have been saved. AH THE English law officers are no longer permitted to retain their private practice, Sir Edward Clarke, who was solicitor general in Lord Salisbury's last ministry, lias refused to again take the office, though the salary is $30,000 and fees, averaging $12,000 a your, and it is a sure step toward the lord chan cellorship. MULTUM IN PARVO. SLANDER is the solace of malignity. —Joubert. BY searching the old learn the new.— Japanese. No LEOACY is so rich as honesty.— Shakespeare. THE sea drinks the air and the sun the sea.—Anaereon. TIIE truest self-respect is not to think of self. —Beechcr. UNREASONABLE haste is the direct road to error.—Moliere. DEAR weeps but once; cheap always weeps. —Hindoo. HABIT is too arbitrary a master for my liking.—Lavater. SIN is a basilisk whose eyes are full of venom.—Quarlcs. SOFT is the music that would char forever.—Wordsworth. MOST powerful is he who has himself in his own power.—Seneca. WHEN the heart speaks glory itself is an illusion.—Napoleon. THERE is even a happiness that makes the heart afraid.—llood. HE that hath not a smiling face should not open a shop.—Chinese. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. THE water in shc ocean is said to contain thousands of tons of gold, but no practical way has yet been devised to extract it. EXPERIMENTS to find whether argon can be obtained from vegetable or ani mal tissue have resulted negatively, the quantity of the new gas obtained in this way not being appreciable. PiitF. EMICRY E. SMITH, of California, has succeeded by experiments in cross fertilization in producing an entirely new violet, highly scented and of great beaut}'. In s'ze the flower covers an American silver dollar. Its color is a clear violet purple, which does not fade. The fragrance is very power ful. LiquoßS may be aged artificially by gradual I}' cooling them, in the case of brandy, down to two hundred degrees centigrade below Zero and then gradu ally bringing them up again to the normal temperature. The frigoric lab oratory in which the new discovery is to be applied will shortly be established in Paris. STATISTICAL PICK-UPS. RECENT surveys show that one-sixth of the state of Oregon, something over 10,000,000 acres, is covered with dense forests. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S orange crop this season has brought to the growers about $1,350,000. Bartlett pears arc now selling at $25 a ton. THE apricot crop in California is com paratively short this season. Pomona county will produce only about 750 tons, as against 2,800 tons last year. ACCORDING to the tenth census, out of a population of 50,000,000 over 17,000,- 000 were breadwinners, being a percent age of 84.8 of the whole. EAST LONDON has to get along with 25 gallons of water per day a head, where Hamburg has 33, Toronto 77, New York 100, Chicago 110 and Wash ington 156. MANY DOLLARS. IN 1801 there were $407,000,000 in gold, and $50,000,000 in silver. THERE are over $120,000,000 worth of hats now worn by our people. OREGON, with all its resources, is es timated to be worth $52,522,084. THE state of Louisiana, sugar planta tions and all, is worth $100,102,489. THE state of Colorado was estimated at the last census at $74,471,093. WASHINGTON, including real and per sonal property, is valued at $23,810,093. WANT TWO SMOKESTACKS. Cuislan Jews Refuse to Travel on a Vessel Equipped with Rut One. A steamship ticket agent on the East side whose business is chiefly with Pol ish and Russian Hebrews who are about to return to their homes tells of a peculiarity of his customers, says the New York Tribune. No one of them wants to travel on a vessel having only one smokestack. Somehow these peo ple have an idea that a ship is not safe, handsome, comfortable and speedy un less she has two or three stacks. Their passage costs them only twenty dollars, and they are not solicitous about baths or the decorations of their quarters, but on the point of a single funnel they are as firm as a rock. A great many passenger steamships have only one stack. Some new ones in which the steerage accommodations are especial ly roomy and well ventilated have no more, and the returning Poles insist they will not travel on them. The tibket agents feel no compunction about assuring their customers that the ship on which they are going to sail has three "rocliers" (smokers), as the Hebrews call them, and even point to a big picture of her on the wall, which serves as the likeness of any vessel which may be talked of. When the man and his family arrive at the pier on the day of sailing there is likely to bo trouble when he dis covers that his ship has only one mis erable smokestack. Sometimes the people refuse point-blank to go on board, and say they will wait for a steamer with three "smokers." An ef fective subterfuge has been invented for such cases. Solemn assurance is given that the ship has three or four smokestacks, but that all but one short one were taken down so that the ship could pass under the Brooklyn bridge. As soon as she got out to sea the ad ditional stacks would be put in place and .#lO would speed proudly on her way. The ignorant East sider doesn't know that vessels passing to sea from the Hudson river never get within two miles of the bridge, and takes his fami ly on board. What ho says and does when ho learns that he has been de ceived does not bother the ship's offi cers particularly. RAVAGES OF GRAIN SMUTS. Means of Prevention Outlined by the Agri cultural College. The ravages of the grain smuts are reviewed and the means of prevention outlined in a report of the agricultural department. The oat smut, which is found throughout the United States and is known on every continent, prob ably has the widest distribution of any of the species. The official estimate of the direct loss from it is eight per cent, of the crop, or about eighteen million dollars annually. Stinking smuts in wheatfields cost the country many mil lions of dollars annually. Sometimes fifty or seventy* five per cent, of the heads are smutted and the sound grain is so contaminated with the fetid spores as to bo nearly worthless for flour and worse than useless for seed. The dis ease is often spread from farm to farm by thrashing machines. When once introduced, if left unchecked it in creases j'ear by year until a large per centage of the crop is destroyed. The loose smut usually causes a loss of ten per cent, or more of the wheat crop, and has even been reported as destroy ing over fifty per cent, of a crop in Michigan. It is very difficult to pre vent, and ordinary treatment has little effect. Wheat growers are urged to try to secure seed wheat from fields known by eifreful examination at flour ing time to be free from loose smut. It can, however, be combated by treating rough wheat to furnish seed the follow ing year. Both the common and hid den forms of smut can be eradicated with equal ease, and by treating seed oats oat growers can save many mil lions of dollars annually. Oat smut can be eradicated by two newly-dis covered treatments of the seed by use of potassium sulphide and hot water. Hot water is also advocated for erad icating loose smut of wheat and barley smut and copper sulphate for wheat smut. The hot water and potassium sulphite seed treatment result in an in crease in the yield, averaging double or treble what would result from sup pressing the visible smut. BICYCLE GUMS. Another Physical Peculiarity Haiti to Due to the Wheel. Bicycle riding and poor teeth arc about the last two subjects one would place together, but that an overfond ness for indulgence in exercise upon the wheel is developing a diseased con dition of the gums and teeth can be testified to by many unfortunate vic tims and their dentists. It is caused, says the New York World, by the extra effort necessitated in ascending hills or in running races, and the short, quick breaths of cold air that, strike the overheated gums through the open mouth develop a con gestion of those parts. The face swells as with an ordinary toothache, pus fortius around the teeth and loosens them, and in many cases leads to their extraction later, and the pain is equal to having all one's teeth ulcerating at once. A prominent dentist stated, when in terviewed upon the subject, that he had had several cases of that kind. "It comes, he said, "from an abnormal current of air, from fast riding, strik ing the gums, and if the popularity of the bicycle continues it will develop a new feature in dentistry. At a private meeting of several dentists the other evening we found, upon comparing notes, that these cases are increasing. The only preventive is a difficult one to follow, and that is, always ride with the mouth closed. The same effect, however, is caused by an unnatural draft of air, as, for instance, sitting in front of an electric machine for a long period. I have had several cases of that nature from hotel stewards and their assistants, wnose offices are gen erally situated in the basement, where a change of air can be brought about by artificial gieans."
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers