Maine has gained 39,000 people in
thirty years, anil Vermont gained
about 17,000 in the same period, anil
in the ten years ending with 1890 she
gained 136 inhabitants.
In the Government of Saratov, in
Russia, horse thieves and cattle raid
ers are lynched when caught. The
latest case is the beating to death with
sticks of four men by the peasants ol
Diklei.
The lato Prince Henry of Batten
berg had a theory that every Nation
was civilized in proportion to its ap
preciation of music. On hearing a
Chinese orchestra, ho once remarked :
"These people ure hopeless ; they will
never progress."
Those married men who have al
ready provided seal skin sacques for
their wives and daughters are in big
luck, thinks tho Atlanta Journal. Tho
Alaska seal herd has decreased from
17,900,000 to 175,000 in twenty-five
years and is still falling. It is a con
eolation that a pretty woman dares not
need a seal skin cover to make her at
tractive.
Aa enterprising London tradesman
undertook to advertiso by telegraph
tho othor day, and sent to several
thousand prominent ladies a dispatch
to tho offset that a great sale was in
progress. Tho ladies havo been ac
customed to looking at telegrams as
matters of importance, and they wero
ono and all annoyed. When the
merchant got through apologizing to
indignant husbands, big brothers and
such, and had paid for tho insertion
of not a few abject anologie3 in Iko
newspapers, ho had mado up his mind
that newspaper advertisements were
the best, after all.
The entire agricultural press is
seeking to learn tho exact profit in
farming. The time has passed, as
serts tho San Francisco Chronicle,
when the agricultural paper has ful
filled its duty by making public the
most successful methods of culture.
What farmers want to know is how tc
take in moro than they pay out. A
paper published a Springfield, Mass.,
has offered 880 in prizes to farmers
who sond them articles giving oithot
actual cxperieneo of writers in money
making from tho farm, or tho experi
ence of any farmers' organization in
buying or selling togcthor—tho prizes
going to those furnishing tho most
ideas, Thoro is a third class ol
prizes to those who best toll how mark
eting ought to be done.
LosAngolos dispatches chronielo the
foot that ot tho distribution of tho es
tate of Pio Fioo, the last Governor ol
California under Mexican rulo, only n
gold watch and chain wero loft. Fioo
was tho richest ol all the native Cali
fornia hidalgos excopt Vallejo. He
ownod rnnehos which coverod hun
dreds of thousands of neros, nml his
cattlowero unnumbered, but, likoVai
lejo, he had no conception of the
value of land or money. When the
the Americans swarmed in he played
tho hospitable host for several years,
and when his ready money was gone
ho mortgaged his estates. Twenty
years taw him stripped of everything
and for the last decade the man who
was once the most powerful in tho
State simply vegetated on the bounty
of old friends. In the same way Gen
eral Vallejo, who once owned the best
lands in Central California, died in
povcrly in tho house which once wit
nessed his prinooiy entertainments.
Tlio Atlanta Constitution notes that
tbo experiments of Massachusetts an J
New Jersey in the construction of
first-olass highways have arouse t a
good deal of interest in other States.
Massachusetts spent 55700,030 last
year on her roadways, aud she is will
ing to spend still more this year. In
New Jersey, too, the peop'o aro
anxious to bo taxed if they cm get
good roads. In mmy States, North
and South, it is suggested that it
would ho a good plan to work the con
victs on the public highways. Their
labor would in time furnish every lo
cality with good roads, and thus em
ployed they would not compete with
free aud skilled labor. The outdoor
work would bo a good thing for tho
health of the prisoners, aud if proper
ly guarded they could not escape any
moro easily than under tho present
system. With first-class highways
our farms will rapidly increaso in
value, and their owners will have bet
ter facilities for carrying their pro
ducts to market, while tho item of sav
ing in tbo wear and tear of vehicles is
of important consideration. With
theso improvement, our rural dis
tricts will attract settlers, and the
country will draw the surplus popula
tion of tho towns. Perhaps this
points to the solution of tho convict
problem.
FOE TO STRONG DEINK
THE GREAT LIFE WORK OF FRAN
CIS MURPHY.
Picked Up from the Gutter, He Has
I,'ccome the World's Greatest Tem
perance Reformer—Story of His Life
and His Remarkable Success.
Hluc Ribbon's Champion.
There is no name better known in
temperance circles the world over than
that of Francis Murphy. He is without
a doubt the greatest living advocate
of the doctrine of total abstinence.
During his long career as a champion
ill the blue ribbon cause he lias carried
happiness into thousands of homes and
reclaimed from the gutters thousands
of men who liavo since grown into
prosperity and wealth. All this has
been accomplished by a magnetic elo
quence that strikes the heart of the
listener. He is not highly educated ov
even always polished in speech. Ho is
better equipped than that for tlie work
FRANCIS MURPHY.
iii which he has spent the best years
of his life. Though his phrases have
not always tlie turn of grammatical
excellence, ids words lmve tlie ring ot
truth and deep feeling and his manner
is of the genial, gracious, winning
kind that naturally attracts men to
liiui. Five minutes ill a man's company
is enough to have Francis Murpliy ad
dressing him by his first name or the
abbreviation of ids last, and slapping
him on ids hack, not rudely, but in a
genial welcoming way. Francis Mui
phy is not as vigorous a worker as lie
nice was. Sixty years of fife have left
lielr marks upon him. but while they
rave deprived him of sonic of his force
ulncss as a speaker they have brought
i gentleness which is equally effective.
Story of His Life,
Francis Murphy, as his name initi
ates, is an Irishman. "1 came to this
country when I was 10 years old. It
was twenty-six years ago in the city
of Portland, Mo„ that I signed the
pledge," says Mr. Murphy. "Before
that I had been a leader of tlie young
fellows who drank atiout that town.
But all at once a new feeling took hold
of me, a new force entered my mind
and I determined to quit the life I had
led. It was one of the surprises of tlie
town when I did sign tlie pledge. But
with me tlie first thought was of my
bottle companions. I took a pledge and
went among them, and in almost no
tiipe sixty or seventy of them had put
down their names to a promise never
to drink liquor again.
"It was noticed in tlie town at onee.
Prominent business men would come
down around where we lived, and,
speaking to some of the neighbors,
would say: 'Hello, Tom. or Joe, or who
ever It was, you're looking different
from what you did'; you look better.
What's come over you?' And Tom or
Joe would reply: 'Well, you know, I
used to have a good deal of trouble
with my hoy. He used to drink with
Frank Murphy, hut now Murphy lias
got iii in to sign tlie pledge. Since lie
diil that my wife is a young girl again
and I feci like a young man.'
His First Temperance Lecture.
"And so it went, until I had an invi
tation from the mayor of the city, Ben
jamin Kingsbury, to make a speech in
the City Hall. 'No,
sir,' I told him, 'I
neve r made a
speech in my life,
nml I'm not going
tg try In tlie City
Hall." 'Well, you
don't need to,' Ik
pear there sober:
that will lie speech
enough for you.' I
agreed to do that,
Mils, fhancis and 1 went. The-
Men pit v. City Hall wnsfilled
■tear out to tin- street, and there were
such prominent men us Tom Reed,
George Shipley and others of that
caliber. At the proper time I was
introduced to tlie audience as the
young fellow who had begun Port
land's great temperance reform, and 1
thought I ought to say something just
to show my appreciation. But lo and
lie-hold I couldn't say a word. I stood
there trying to speak, hut I couldn't,
and finally broke out crying. Of course.
I was sliaim 1 ami humiliated, and
thought I had brought disgrace on ev
cry friend I had on earth. 1 hail no
thought but to get home, and there 1
went as soon as I could get out of the
crowd. And I stayed there three days,
too, out of everybody's sight, until my
friends began to inquire, 'Where's
Frank?' Nobody could say, ami finally
they came to the house to look nic up.
Mayor Kingsbury was one of them.
They asked me what was the matter,
and I replied that I had disgraced tliem
I all and iny family nml myself and ev
| crybody else by the failure I had made
at the City Hall. 'You haven't failed;
I you've done magnificent,' said Kings-
I bury, 'and T have fifty applications foi
you to talk temperance.'
"For a while I demurred, but then 1
went out with u little pledge, not ex
peeting to make speeches, but simply
to talk to one liiau or tivo nt a time. My
success was greater than I expected,
and the work 1 did resulted in the for
nintiou of the New England Reform
clubs, with which 75,000 people signed
the pledge. That was the start of my
temperance work.
"The number of people who have
taken the pledge from me I can not
tell exactly. The only figures I have
were those that were compiled in 1878,
when it was reckoned that 13,000,000
people had taken tlie blue ribbon
through tho work I had started. In the
four years I spent with my sou, Titos.
E. Murphy, in Great Itritain, it is esti
mated that 5,000,000 people signed our
pledge. In the city of Belfast, Ireland,
my son took 10,000 signatures to the
pledge in three days. That is the great
est record ever made by a man In tem
perance work. My best work was done
in Pittsburg in 1870. I talked there for
throe months ill one ball, anil as a re
sult 45,000 men slgued tile pledge. It
was that work, too, that started the
movement that made the gospel nml
lotal astineuce eaultse. It was that
work, too, that gave me fame, and I
have never made any money since I
first had tho fame. I have refused to
turn my work into a money-making
business."
Mr. Murphy has been aided l>y ills
wife, who, lilco himself, is a winning
apostle of temperance.
WAS A MAKE-BELIEVE PROXY.
flow a Rich Texus Girl XVon u Poor
but Proud Lover,
To the knowing girl there are more
ways than one of availing oneself of
tlie maiden's leap-year privilege. A
story conies from rural Texas illustra
tive of this truth and showing how a
courageous girl may overcome difficul
ties in winning the man of her choice.
In a certain county of the I.one Star
State there lives a very charming girl,
who, being yet ill tho heyday of her
youth and witlial l-lcli in her own right,
has always had a long train of admir
ers. The majority of them were well
off as to tills world's goods, but Cupid
had in liis usual mischievous stylo so
arranged matters that none of them
found favor in the girl's sight. The
only man among them nil that had the
power to set her heart fluttering and
to whom her fancy had paid tribute
even when he was nbscnt never press
ed his suit. He belongs to that Innu
merable army of poor but honest, anil
his pride withheld the words that the
Texas belle was so anxious to hear.
The other day she went to him in tlie
most bewitching costume and a smile
that exactly matched. She told him
with blushing candor that he was old
enough and sensible enough to ho got
tiug married. She had a young lady ill
mind that would make him a capital
wife, and if authorized by him she
would volunteer to carry on negotia
tions. Tills made the young mail mad
and took him entirely out of himself.
He served notice In very ley terms that
he did not require tlie services of any
one in conducting his affairs of tlie
heart, and it was particularly exasper
ating to have the only woman he ever
did love or could love come to i Jtereedo
for someone else.
Now, tills was exactly what the sensi
ble girl knew, and accordingly she hud
laid a trap for the man of her choice.
Her calculations had been accurately
made, and when tlie poor but proud
lover had been betrayed into the de
claration of his passion and blushed
more furiously than before and stani
meringly insinuated that perhaps if he
had disclosed his feelings earlier she
might have been saved the perform
ance of a very embarrassing task. The
young man, finding tlie ground slip
ping from under liiin, grasped at the
nearest protection, which was, of
course, the girl. She did not object
strenuously, and arrangements arc now
being completed for a wedding, which
for gn.voty and general happiness shall
east into the shade everything hitlici'tp
seen In that section.
DROPS OF WATER.
The Aw."ul l'nin Their Continual Fall
ing Inflicts.
One of the Chinese modes of punish
ment, especially when a confession is
wanted from a criminal, is to place him
where a drop of water will fall upon
one certain spot in his shaved crown
for hours, or days, if necessary. The
torture this inflicts is proved by an
experience of Kaiulow, the strong man.
When he was in Vienna a few years
ago a school teacher bet liiin that he
would not he able to let a half litre of
water drop upon ids hand until tho
measure was exhausted. A lmlf litre is
only a ill tie more llian a pint. Sandow
laughed at the very Idea of his not
being able to do tills. So a half-litre
measure was procured, and a hole drill
ed in the bottom just sufficient to let
the water escape drop by drop.
Then the experiment begun. Sandow
laughed and chatted gaily at first. Tho
schoolmaster kept count upon the num
ber of drops. At about the two hun
dredth Sandow grew a little more seri
ous. Soon an expression of pain crossed
his face. With tho entrance into the
third hundred his hand began to swell
and grow red. Then the skin burst.
The pain grew more and more excru
ciating. Finally, at tho four hundred
and twentieth drop Sandow had to give
iqi and acknowledge himself vanquish
ed. His hand was sore for several days
after.
llutonr with tlie Puritans.
Tlie first boatload from tlie May
flower sera milled out on Plymouth
Bock.
"I suppose," remarked Miles Stand
isli, emptying the water from his shoe,
"that we can now be referred to as
landed aristocrats."
And when tills was repeated to Elder
Brewster and explained to him lie
almost laughed.—New York Recorder.
Don't talk of your friends as your
"set." It makes thein feel liku a vol
lectlou of souvenir spoons.
WILDS OF AUSTRALIA
CAMELS CARRY TOURISTS AND
BURDENS.
The Bcaats Consume Astounding
Quantities of Water When u "Con
denser" Is Reached—Lakes with Mir
age and Occasionally One with Wuter
Water at Kiglit Cents u Gallon.
In Australia camels are quite gener
ally in use as beasts of burden, and
journeys to the mining camps in the
desolate West Australian Hush region
are almost invariably made with them.
They are used either under tlie saddle
or hitched before a wagon or carriage.
Camels are also especially trained for
use us bearers of baggage and other
burdens, and the animals accustomed
to that can carry from 400 to 500
pounds for long distances. In the towns
at the edge of the miuing district, which
is as a rule covered with an intermina
ble and monotonous growth of dense
forest, these animals are not for sale
or hire. At Coolgardie they can be
hired at the rate of £1 per day for rid
ing, and 12s. Gd. for pack camels, a big
deposit being usually demanded on
EN KOUTE.
each one besides. A good fast animal
for riding purposes costs about £7O, as
against £3O to £4O for the pack animals.
Traveling by camels is a very uncer
tain mode of procedure. The Austral
ian animals are inured to all kinds of
hardships, but sometimes they travel
fast and sometimes with exasperating
slowness, and the efforts of the tourist
to spur them on when they choose to
advance at a snail's pace, are usually
futile. Every once in a while, when
traversing the wastes, one comes upon
a condenser, a plant where water is
collected, to be sold at the rate of four
pence or eight cents a gallon. It is as
tonishing to observe how much water
wiil flow down the throats of the cam
els, and the bill, after all have been
daily watered, is startling.
The first experience of actual bush
life is novel, and this to a great extent
compensates one for the inevitable
"roughing it," a novelty which, by the
way, however, 100 soon wears off and
leaves the bare uncomfortable facts in
all their uncompromising reality. Still,
the first experience is not altogether un
pleasant, and in the light of the big
camp fire, with the surrounding forest
extending like some huge cathedral
Into the distant gloom, the effect is dis
tinctly Impressive.
Occasionally the traveler gels into the
open country and sights a large lake,
with water in it. To the reader to
whom the wilds of western Australia
may be unfamiliar this astonishment
may doubtless appear strange; it is,
therefore, necessary to explain that out
in those parts a "lake" does not neces
sarily contain water, though it may do
so at certain times of the year, if any
rain should happen to fall. As a gen-
A CONDENSER.
crnl rule, these inland sens are lint
vast expanses of arid salty sanil, where
upon the curious effect known as "intr
age"usually takes the place of the miss
ing element, and, as a rule, so realisti
cally, that It was very hard, Indeed, to
believe that the distant rippling water,
looking so refreshingly cool under the
glare of the scorching midday sun,
was in reality hut a cruel deceptive 11
luslon, which would gradually retreat
as one advanced towards it.
It Was in His Bili.
That reminds me of a story they tell
about Itiulyard Kipling—indeed, I
won't lie sure that it isn't lie who tells
it. lie stayed at a hotel once upon a
time, in Montreal, I think it was, and
when lie came to go away lie asked foi
the landlord. The landlord appeared.
"I wanted to see you," said Mr. Kip
ling, "because you are a wonderful
man. I have never known your equal.
I have sojourned in hotels all around
the world. I have never seen one like
this.
The landlord swelled with pride. He
intimated Hint the tiling was really
nothing when you knew how to do it.
He was in a seventh heaven of de
light. Mr. Kipling waited till lie near
eil the earth again. Then he resumed:
"I want to tell you that of all the
hotels under the shining sun I have
never seen one that for unmitigated,
all-round, tineiulnrnblo discomfort
could not even he named hi the same
day with yours."
And when Mr. Kipling's Hill was
made out, one item in it read: "To Im
pudence, $3." Hut what's $3, when
one has spoken one's mind?—' Was
hington Tost.
WILD SUNFLOWER BELLE.
An Atchison girl started out the
first of the year with a resolve to say
nothing, hut always look iaterested
and sympathetic. The other girls are
still wondering what makes her so
suddenly popular with everyone.—At
chison Globe.
THE SMOOTH BROW.
The photographs of a decade ago,
or even half that period back, look
crudely old fashioued now. It is the
heavy baug which then prevailed, aud
which has now almost disappeared,
that gives them their air of antiquity,
l'ho btraight baug departed long since.
The heavy curled bang belongs to past
history. Aud even the light fringe, to
which the possessors of high foreheads
have clung, is retreating. It is being
thinned, trained back, pinned off the
forehead with sideeombs and all that
will remain on most brows before long
is a light curl or two to break its se
verity.—New York Advertiser.
AVOIDS THE PUBLIC GAZE.
Mrs. Cleveland dreads publicity for
ber children. She says her little
girls uro private persons and that the
public has nothing to do with them.
To lier they are too saered to be gazed
upon by the vulgar public. This is
to be regretted, as persons who know
the little tots declare them to be most
charming children. So bent is she on
preserving their privacy that she has
never had their photographs taken by
any professional photographer. Only
one amateur is said to have been al
lowed to mako sun pictures of them.
She is a young lady, an intimate per
sonal friend. Evidently Mrs. Clove
land's 1 rust in her discretion was well
founded. Mrs. Cleveland has no such
feeling about her own photographs,
which may he bought in agreat variety
of gracoful poses at nuv shop whero
pictures aro cold.—New York Journal.
AN INEXPENSIVE BEAUTIFIED.
If you waut to soften your face, try,
instead of rubbers and unguents and
balms, a little spiritual gymnastics.
Look at yourself in tho glass. If the
corners of your mouth aro down, and
you arc an unhappy looking object,
elevato your expression. Think of
the plcasantest thing that ever haD
penedtoyou; the kindest thing that
was over elone for you; tho merriest
timo you ever hud in your lifo; send
out tho most generous, the sweetest,
Iho most helpful thought you cau
think to your friends, and if your faoe
is not eofteucd more charmingly than
ever a wrinkle rubber could make it,
then you have not thought strongly,
buoyantly, or generously enough.
There is so much that could be written
on Ibis that thoughts play leapfrog
over my pen, and there is not time to
adjust them properly or to utter them.
It is clear, However, that she remains
youngest who has tho widest possible
range of sympathies and vivid ap
preciation. Not knowest thou, not
believest thou, but—lovest thou? is
Ibo password through tho gates of
everlasting youth, as well as to "the
ucw church."—Boston Transcript.
SPIDER WEB VEILS.
Tho very latest is a large, delicate
mesh somewhat resembling a spider's
wo'i. A curious little white speck
like a tty ncur the left eye and on the
right oloso by tho mouth is an ar
rangement of spotswhich might easily
bo mistaken for a spider. This veil is
bordered with a little narrow edge of
Honiton lace and two loveltuots with
in a reasonable distance of a pretty
mouth. If tho veil is white the spider
and the fly aro black, anil vice versa.
This might truly be oallod tho allegor
ical veil, assuming the face to be
young and innocent, looking at the
world beyond with wondering eyes.
Tho old-time useful fashiou of gather
ing the ends and front, making tho
veil lit comfortably around tho face,
has been quite done away with. In
stead, it is allowed to hang loose and
fall in fituuy little frills, resembling,
on a smaller scale, the godets of our
gowns. A few years ago this fashion
was tho special prerogutiyo of old la
dies. Some women have a born talent
for buy iug veils, and it is generally tho
woman who is not over young to
whose toilot a beeomiug veil is more
iuportant than all the rest. Tho most
popular theEe cold days is a heavy
chenille dot and very oloso together;
iu this tho white-haired woman with a
youthful faco i 3 seen at her best.—
New Yoik Journal.
Mrs. Mary E. Lease, the famous
Populist politician, has loft the lecture
platform for the pulpit.
Two women servants in Taris nro the
eolo legatees* of their mistress, who
lately died possessed of $120,000.
Miss Martha Carey Thomas, Presi
dmt of llyrn Mawr College, has been
elected a Trusteo of Cornell Univer
sity.
Mrs. Toulman Smith is the first
woman to receivo tho appointment
of Librarian of Manchester College,
Oxford.
jUiss Helen Gould has founded two
scholarships in New York University
ot SuOJO each, to yield §250 an
nually.
In England there is a woman auc
tioneer who is successful in her chosen
business, whioh sho adopted when she
was only sixteeu years of age.
There ere now in America 2338 wo
men practicing medicine in one or tho
other of its forms, and inclusive of
130 homeopathists.
After an existence of fifteen years
the Woman's Exchange, of Albany, N.
Y., has been obliged to suspend busi
ness on acoount of laok of patronage.
Mine. Hatoynma, a Japnuose lady,
is up to date in politics. When her
husband was a candidate for Parlia
ment she made publio speeches in his
interest.
Miss Ella Knowles, of Montana, set
tled a lawsuit between two mining
companies by submitting un agree
ment so obviously just that both par
ties accepted it and paid her $10,1)03.
Kitty lleed, the Speaker's nineteen
year-old daughter, is becoming a great
favorite in Washington society. She
is said to be a clever, sincexo and
unaffected young woman. She has the
Keed drawl.
Miss Alice C. Fletcher was eleoted
one of tho sectional Vice-Presidents of
the American Association for tho Ad
vancement of Science, tho first honor
of the sort extended to a woman by
the association.
Mrs. Elliins, wife of the Senator
from West Virginia, is a liruuette of
remarkable beauty. She is very fond
of society and has wealth to assist her,
and her homo will probably be one of
the gayest in Washington.
Mrs. J. Stanley Brown (Mollie Gar
fiold) is one of the most popular young
matrons in Washington. She is a
brunette, with warm golden brown
hair, largo dark eyes and an cxquißito
complexion. Sho has three children.
Mrs. Gear, wife of the lowa Senator,
has been an invalid for almost eight
years, but takes a deep interest in her
husband's career. Sho enjoys reading,
but her specialty is embroidery, and
6omo exquisite work comes from her
deft fingers.
Mrs. Hernando De Soto Money, wifo
of tho new Mississippi Senator-oleot,
is a brunetto of small, slight, willowy
figure, jet black hair nud eyes of
almost a purplo tint. She is a woman
of considerable literary talent and a
clever talker.
It is said that the Empress of Austria
is a very different woman from tho
dashing sportswoman who uso.l to
hunt like a man. She is now fifty
eight, and spends tho most of her
time iu tho search of health. She is
slowly falling a victim to consumption.
Mary E. Wilkins is one of the most
unpretentious of literary women, and
when she read in a recent issue of au
English magazine a description of her
self that mado her out both youthful
nud pretty, sho wrote and begged to
have it oorreoto J, ns she was not yn-'i-,
she said, and had no prefensiou ~
beauty. Sho is supposed to be about
thirty-seven yeai'3 old.
Tho Countess of Warwick, who is a
philanthropist of tho visionary and
sentimental sort, in addressing a meet
ing of London workiugwomen not
long ago assured them that they need
ed more recreations and more pleas
ures. Then sho described the benefits
to be derived from two or threo hours
vigorous horseback riding, n morning
at tennis or a day in yachting.
FASHION NOTES.
Slight pnniers nro shown on some
of the models of spring gowns.
The plain gored skirt of serge, well
lined, Hares to six 'yards in width at
tho foot.
Trained skirts of demi-length are
gradually winning their way back to
favor for ceremonious occasions.
Light, dressy cloth wraps for out
of-door summer wear are to bo fash
ioned in the graceful Marie Antoinette
shape.
Bishop sleeves aro to be very popu
lar in thin wash gowns. They are
worn with French waists and wide,
turn-over collars edged with embroid
ery.
Crisp taffeta ribbon is the note of
tho raomeut for millinery use. It is
to bo employed on spring and summer
bonnets in great profusion. It comes
iu all effects, Persian, olouded, chintz
and in checks and plaids.
French skirts, thoso now arriving
from tho other side, measure from
four and a half to five and a half yards
arouud. Thoy are no longer lined
throughout, but nro faced to the depth
of about fourteen inches.
Bound waists are by no means ban
ished. Thoy are still used on very
youthful, dressy gowns. A pretty
finish for theso waists on slender fig
ures is a flounce of gathered lace held
in place by ouo of the narrow belts
now so popular.
Among tho long cloaks is one stylo
which is considered sufficiently youth
ful for very young matrons. This is
the Marie Antoinette peliise of black
satin lined with some gay colored silk,
either light rose pink or bright green.
It is made very effective by several
short but full capes of velvet, trimmed
with black ostrich feathers.
Tho most favored materials for tea
gowns nro thoso which are soft nud
clinging, like nun's veiling, cashmere,
thin crepon aud crepe do chine, but
flowered silks aud priuted velveteens
are very desirable this season; and in
addition to theso there is a now kind
of tapestry cloth which is much used
for Louis XVI. tea jackots with JDirca
toire frouts of plain velvet or silk-
HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS.
SOMETHING ABOUT POTATOES.
In a bulletin issued by Professor
Bnvder, of tho Minnesota State Agri
culture College, ho makes a point of
interest to the housewife. Ho shows
that where potatoes nro poeled and
started boiling in cold water thore is
a loss of eighty per cent, of the total
albumen, and where they are not
peeled and are started In hot water
this loss is reduoed to two per cent.
A bushel of potatoes, weighing sixty
pounds, contains about two pounds of
total nitrogenious compounds. When
improperly cooked one-half of a pound
is lost, containing six-tenths of a
pound of the most valuable proteids.
It requires all of the protein from
nearly two pounds of round beefsteak
to replace the loss of protein
properly boiling a bushel of potatoes. r
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF BAKING.
A great many cooks make a failure
of baking, simply because they do not
understand the management of the
oven, and seem to bo uuablo to grasp
tho few simple facts necossary to its
successful handliug. Most cooks fire
up tho range and fix the proper point
at the dogree when the outsido of the
oven door will hiss sharply if tonchod
with the wet finger. This is a degree
of heat unsuited to almost all delicate
articles. It scorches and sears them
over; things that should rise are held
in by the crust that forms too quickly,
and daintiness with such management
is out of the question. Cakes are
crusted over and either become soggy
or burst out at tho top of the dish
and run over like volcanoes. This
spoils the shape and symmetry and is
unworthy of a culinary artist.
As a matter of fact, the number of
minutes an article should bake is but
a very small part of the knowledge re
quired for successful cookery. Ten f
minutes in some ovens is equal to .
twonty in others, and forty may make *
the article as dry as n chip.
The old fashioned brick oven had
points of grace, perhaps because bakers
know how to manage it.
It has been suggested that the
modern oven should be provided with
a thermometer and that cook-books
should have degrees of heat as well
as the number of minutes required
for bakiog. Under ordinary circum
stances the oven is of proper tempera
ture for plain cake when it will brown
a sheet of white letter-paper without
setting it on fire. Bread ought to be
baked in an over as hot ns possible
without burning, and tho heat should
be maintained steadily until done.
Cakes may have the heat slightly re
duced by putting a little can of hot
water into tho oven. This lowers the
temperature aud should bo removed
if the liro beoomes at nil slack. Prac
tice, watchfulness aud experimenting
are the only ways to successful bak
ing, and will bo so until our rango
ovens nro provided withthormomoters, A
and until our cooks learn how to use
them.—Now York Ledger.
RECIPES.
London Potatoes—Fry slices of cold
potato, about one-fourth inoh thick,
till a nice brown ; lay Ilium on a hot
dish and place on each piece a thin
''.ice of hard-boilod egg, allowing two
eggs for five persons. Pour over all
the following hot:
Bean Soup—Thoroughly mash the
remaining half of tho beans; return
them to tho liquor with a small minced
ouion and a small handful of celery
tops, dried and saved for soups; add
water or stock if there is not enough
bean liquor; season to taste.
iSauce Piquaute—Melt 'a tablcspoon
.al of butter ; sift in two tablespoon
fuls of flour, stirring all tho time;
add salt and pepper to taste, and then
gradually one giii of water and oue
gill of vinegar; stir well until tho
sauce has boiled a few momouts. A ,
little parsley may bo added. j
Fried Mush—Slice well-cooked mush
(stiff enough to mold nicely iugreased
pan or dish) about one-quarter inch
thick. Cut in neat squares or olblongs.
Drop in smoking hot fat as you would
French-fry potatoes. When a delicate
brown lay on* paper a few minutes.
Servo with or without maple sirup.
Cook enough mush for several morn
ings. It keeps well in a cold place.
Baked Tomatoes—The tomatoes
from which tho juico was drained at
luncheon should be drained again if
still wet. Put a thin layer of fine
bread crumbs iu a well-greased baking
dish, a thick layer of tomatoes, just
enough minced onion to flavor deli
cately, many tiny bits of butter, salt,
pepper nuduuotkerthiu laye.rof bread
crumbs. Bepeat until tho dish is full,
having crumbs on top. Bake slowly
about an hour.
Salad—Some string beans nnd boiled
cabbage left from yesterday's dinner,
und some beets pickled last fall, coarsely
chopped; a tablespoonful or more
piled on small lcttucu leaves on cuoh
of tho necessary number of individual
plates nnd a thiu mayonnaise dressing -
over all. Tho lettuce can bo raised
iu a roomy window-box in a sunny
window, where it looks very pretty
growing. A few leaves may be cut at
a time as needed, tho roots left to
send up more leaves.
French Beans—Soak a pint of navy
beans over night; put ou to boil iu
one quart of fresh water ; at the end
of half an hour add one teaspoonful,
or less, salt and boil again gently and
without breaking for unother half or
three-fourths of an hour; meanwhile,
cook a very small sliced onion in u
cupful of tomato juioe ; strain or not,
as you choose; about this time the
beans ure done; thioken this with
flour nnd butter ; put in half tho beans,
well drained ; reheat und serve.
Fivo-ccnt tolograms nro to be tried
in Italy. The Government is also try
ing to have tho tariff with other Knru
l>eau countries reduced.