"Ink suitable for love letters" is ad vertised by a Paris stationer. It fades in about four weeks. The Hural New Yorker prints letters eceming to fihow that tho odor of sweet peas is poisonous to common house flies. Tho first of a series of memorial "tablets was put in position the other day at the public library, KausasCity, Mo. It was in memory of Horace Greeley, but the name was spelled "Greely." The silver coinage of France con tains only forty per cent, of its face value ie silver. Tho Government re fuses to accept francs bearing tho effigy of Charles the Tenth, Louis Philippe, and Napoleon the Third without the laurel leaf. The question of tho "stopping" capacity of a bullet, fired from the rifle which is now the standard arm of British infantry, has reached a some what acute stage. Wherever the rifle has been used against a savago foe, it has proved comparatively ineffective. Unless the bullet strikes a vital organ, it no more stops a wounded man' d charge than would a popgun. Eveiy political campaign has its pe culiar superstitions. These supersti tions are often powerful agents in bringing men to the polls and serve to wiu votes where logic proves inef fectual. When Franklin Pierce en tered tho Presidential race some forty years ago, relates the Atlanta Consti tution, it was discovered that his initials, "F. P.," were identical with those of fourteenth President. In like manner it was also found that the let ters composing his full name num bered exactly fourteen. As tho Presi dent to be elected was the fouiteenth in regular succession, this startling discovery had a most potential effect upon the campain. If the Japaneso are cleaning out tho Chinese in the south of Formosa, it is because these people are in league with the savage natives. The policy of Japan in Korea as well as in For mosa, has been fair and merciful. In Korea no slaughter of natives or Chi nese was permitted unless bushwack iDg occurred ; then the Japanese were merciless, as they had a right to be. In Formosa they have carried out tho earne policy, but they have met more savagery. Their lossas have been mainly duo to ambuscades of small forces and stragglers, and to the doad ly fevers of tho island. The Chinese naturally resent tho encroachment of the Japanese, and it is probable that they have adopted the guerrilla meth ods of the head-hunting savages. In this case they will be exterminated, for tho conquerors have an Oriental way of wiping out opposition that is barbarous, but very effective. A vexatious question just now among cyclists and pro spective cyclists is tho price that a first-ciasa wheel will bring in 1897, remarks the New York Sun. Whether one may be had then for the same price or less than it fetches now, or whether the price will be advanced, no one seems able to tell absolutely. The oldest makers of 8100 wheels say that it would be disastrous to their business to sell machines at the low figure which several younger manufacturers have named, and at the same time furnish each customer with a guarantee. Ou the other hand, it is said in some quarters that enough money is made by many of tho con cerns which have cut their prices to warrant their continuing tho experi ment next year. It is understood al so that certain of them have promised to offer even better wheels at a cheaper price next year than now. Experienced wheelmen seem slow to believe that the difference in quality of the component parts of high grade bicycles is so marked as some of Ibe makers of those machine? would have the public believe it is. Theso riders say that skilful workmanship is re quired iu the construction of all dura ble wheels, unJ if it is true that some of the high-grade wheel makers em ploy more ikillul workmen than others, the fact is often indiscernible both in their wheels* appearance and use. Whether the wooden bicycles which are promised for uext year will materially affect the wheel trade, re mains to be seen. Their advocates say that the wheels will have many ad vantages over those with metal frames. Nobody was surprised when wheels of disputed quality were sold at a low price, but now that those of a stand ard make can be bought for half price, everybody is set to thinking. Wlion tho stock of wheels now selling so cheaply is exhausted, cyclists wonder what move the dealers will make then. Persons who will want wheels next year are probably safe if they wait till then before baying. MY DAY DREAMS. Come ramble with me through the streets ol Day-Dreamland; The city is charming, and not hard to find. I wander there often. When twilight hours soften The light, and to earthland my weary eyes blind. All my dear ones inhabit the realms of Day- Dreamland. They live In rich palaces, lofty and grand; They fail not to meet me, And lovingly greet rae Whenever I stroll to their beautiful land. There lives in the castle of Mother's Fond- Longing, A maiden, sweet, regal, and loving, and fair. And pure as the snow and The blossoms that blow, aud As bright as the sunbeams that dauce In her hair. She looks very much like the sweet child be side me. Growu older and wiser and ofttimes she leaves Her palace to come, to Mo, here in my home, to Allay the dull care which the mother-heart grieves. And there, in the palace of Fondest Ambition, A princely knight dwells, full of goodness and truth. He's much like the boy who Is now bringing joy to My earth-home, iu days of his innocent youth. How pure are the rays of the light in Day- Dreamland; How pleasant the prospect that glaJdens the eye; No earth-clouds arise thore, To darken the skies, where Fond love is the beacon and hopes never die. Then come with me now, to the realms of Day-Dreamland; Rich comforts as I have, you're certain to find. You'll wander thore often When twilight hours soften The light, and to earthland your weary eyes blind. —Josephine Page, in Independent. THE GIRL AT RANGER'S. BY CLYDE FORD. i./UD LAKE is an <1 1/WjjS expansion of tho vl /©jit! old channel oa oust side of Sugar T\\ /Mnm Islai >d. filling up •' Wqi 6M kv a big bond of tho v\/7 f \ river. It ie roily Voi / £ and dirty, as its rSiJ II name indicates, -W Ijl and its waters are / <M scarcely dis turbed by the vL>' seems to lose it self almost in its muddy shallows. Above and below hero the river is winding and interesting, losing noth ing from the commonplaceness of the lake, which really enhances the beau ties of the rest of the river from con trast. Quaint but lonely farm houses are scattered along the Canudian shore, and one or two villages may be found. The Sugar Island shore of the lake is wild aud wooded. Now and then there is a clearing, usually marked iu the summer time by a hov ering pall of smoke, but the few log houses indicate that the settlers are neither numerous nor prosperous. A half mile below the lower end of the lake is Ranger's Landing,the most important and well-known sign of thrift on the Sugar Island side of the channel. Still, the traveler would probably be disappointed in "Ran ger's," us the river folks call tho place, for it is just a log dock facing the river at the bend, und long ago fallen into a dilapidation which bus been hastened by increased grinding of the boats and washing of the current. Tho background of the scene is completed by a large barn, a comfortable look ing log house, and a few fields. Ranger's was the place iu the palmy days of the channel where boats tied up for the night when caught in a passage up or down. Occasionally a stubborn captain would pass by at dara on his way up, but the fleet de parting at daylight next morning usually found him hard aground at some turn of tho channel in Mud Lake, and little sympathy did he get. "Slow and sure," is the rule of the river,and anyone who does violence to channel traditions is never pitied. Before Hay Lake was opened the people at Ranger's flourished. From spring till fall they did a brink busi ness with the passing 'shipping, for every boat that tied up could be count ed on to buy a few chickeun or a bushel of potatoes, or butter, or eggs, or something which the people at Ranger's always had and the steamer cooks always needed. Naturally the family were well known to every captaiu from Buluth to Bullalo. They were somebody's mutual lrionds, and enjoyed every body's good will. The gruffest cap tain would unconsciously relax into something like amiability as soon as he caught sight of the big gray barn and log house at Ranger's. He might even lean over the ruiling of his pilot house and greet the old man affably, and perhaps throw a bundle of papers to Mrs. Ranger if she happened to be on the dock, or at least make some kindly inquiry as to things on the farm. But tho chief charm of Ranger's was Ranger's girl. She was a sweet littie lass of sixteen or seventeen, and an swered to the prosaic name of Jane, "Miss Jauo," the captains named her. "How's the folks,"MissJano?" they would call out as their big barges rounded the bend, and passed tho garden by the landing where she worked; "I shall want some garden truck when I come back." And if ' they happened to tio up on the re turn, Mini Jnno disposed of moro po tatoes ami batter and chickens than the rest of the family combined. Dredge No. 4 was stationed for a time one summer just above Hanger's at the entrance to the lake. It worked night and day with two crews; the day crew went to work at six o'clock in the morning and quit at six o'clock at night, when the night crew came on. There wasn't much difference be tween night work and day work ex cepting in the matter of sleep. The day men, of course, could sleep all night; but it was not so easy for the night men to sleep days when the sun was blazing down on the tarred roof of the quarter boat. Everybody agreed that the only drawback to night work, paradoxically put, came in the day time. As the summer wore on it got worse and worse with the night crew. If they went ashore to wrap up in their blankets in tho bushes, mos quitoes or saud tieas drove them out; if they tried to sleep on tho shady side of the quarter boat, some passing steamer would bellow and snort them into wakefulness, so they settled down to sleeping u couple of hours in the morning, and piecing out again with another nap in the afternoon when the sun got low. This was tho best plan, but still far from satisfactory, lor it left a gap of four or live hours in the middle of tho day when there was nothing to eat or do or see, ashore afloat, and when it was impossible to sleep. Probably it was this that caused Mr. Colo, night inspector on No. 4, to wander down to Hanger's Lauding frequently. As is often the case with inspectors, Mr. Cole was not exactly like the men among whom he worked; he talked very much as they did and used all tho colloquialisms of the river as freely as they, but still he was not one of them. He treated them well but made no friends among them. At tirst Mr. Cole went down to Ran ger's to pass the time of the long days on the quarter boat. But as he grew better acquainted he went down from pure enjoyment of Laviug somebody to talk to, somebody with whose life and manners he felt himself somewhat akin. Mr. Cole was not a philosopher or a hermit, and in the exile of uncon genial companionship with tho night crew, he often felt a tug of homesick ness lor surroundings that were not quite so sordid and aimless, so he was often at Ranger's. lie was treated with the hospitality that characterizes the plain and honest hearteduess of river homes. They were a simple folk at the landing, and Mr. Cole was, they vaguely felt, a man from the outer world, a little of which they saw in tho guise of slow moving steamers, aud read of in papers that were long eiudo out of date. Mr. and Mrs. Ran ger accepted his visits with no embar rassment; but not so Miss Jane. She begun to feel for the lirst tirno in her life that possibly they were a plain people, yes, uncultured even, on tho river. True, she had no very clear ideas of what culture was. How could she have? Tho only life she saw or knew was summers of work and tratlic with passing boats, and long, cold winters when they were shut away from the world by deep snows, furi ous storms and lonesomeness. Tho few books she read described a life which she could not imagine to her self; and the men and women who looked down from the steamers on their log house aud little farm were people from that vague, mysterious world which she could not compre hend. As long as these thoughts came as passing thoughts she was not dis turbed ; but Mr. Cole recalled them continually, and in a diflerent. way. He talked with her about lite on the river, aud often fell to picturing life as he knew it himself away from the river. And as ahe learned more about life elsewhere, she felt an indefinable sense of discontent, or, if not that, of uneasiness when tho iuspectoi came to visit them at the lauding. The dredge never worked Sundays, inoro from deference to some forgot ten tradition than piety on the part of the owners. The tug usually went to the Soo for mail, repairs and groceries. Of course, the men went along. Mr. Cole had always gone with them before he made the ac quaintance of the people at Hanger's, but now he preferred to spend his Sundays there rather than in the hilarious company that the tug curried on such trips. The men noticed it, and they cracked many jokes at his expense, some sly, some bold. Jokes were jokes, but when a fellow one day made some disparaging remarks about a girl at the lauding, Cole promptly knocked him into the river. From this the river commune argued that the inspeotor was in love. And they were right, they found that out beforo Mr. Cole did himself. The inspector hud a few books with him on the quarter-boat—books of poetry and novels. Those ho carried down to the landing; but nobody rend them much except Miss Jane. Poetry was too deep for Hanger's folks; and the novels too foreign to their mode of life. Miss Jane, how ever, read and re read them, and Mr. Cole offered explanations occasionally. One Sunday they sat by the river I bank, not far from ike house and | watched a big passenger boat crawl round the bend. "I wonder if those folks are like the people of the stories?" Jane asked. "Of course. Why not?" "Oh, I dunno, only they seem so happy-like with nothing to do, and folus in the stories nro always in trouble, or fallin' in love or—" she stopped in some embarrassment. "How would you like to live among such people?" Mr. Cole asked when she did not finish her sentence. "Me?" she said in surprise, "you don't mean that, of course. Why, we people on the river couldn't live among them." "Why not? So far as I know you river neonle are as good as they." "Yes, ns good, bnt it ain't A ques tion of goodness; it's a question of living. What do we know about tlie world? We ain't noboby, we don't know anything, we never see noliody, we don't even know what good clothes are." Here she stopped in her ve hemence and looked at her own shabby dress. Mr. Cole noticed this too. "Then you are satisfied to live here?" he finally asked. She hesitated. "I suppose so," she said, "1 ain't never known anything else." After a long silence he remarked, "I'm going to quit the dredge." "Oh, I knew you would," she burst out, "you are tired of us, too." "No—not tired, but 1 think I'd better leave." He was going to ex plain what he meant, but further con versation was interrupted by the ap paarauce of old man Ranger, and after n while Mr. Cole said he must go back for he had some packing up be fore he left next day. He looked around to say good-bye to Jane bnt she had disappeared. As he came down by the river path be found her with the books he had given her. "Here are your books," was all she said. "Won't you keep them, Jane?" he asked kindly, almost tenderly, but she turned around and was going back. He started to follow but stopped. "X go down to-morrow on the Milwaukee," ho called after her, but sho did not look uround. That wns the inspector's last night on the dredge, and he passed abstract edly up and down, lost to the rumple and roar and shriek of the heavy ma chinery. Ho was thinking of the girl at Ranger's. He loved the girl; the dredge hands were right alter all. Bnt she belonged to the river; he be longed to the outer world; life meant more to him than being in love with some sweet-faced girl of Sugar Island, nt least ho tried to make himself think this, and so ho was going away—to forget her and tho river. At noon the next day the Milwaukee came through Mud Lake, and slowly drew near Ranger's Landing, Her decks wore crowded with people who laughed and chatted and promenaded. Some of them glanced casually at tho sober-faced man who stood by tho gangway on the lower deck, but they forgot him again. He wns leaning against a post, and scanned the river hank ns the boat turned into tho bend. Fiually he caught sight of a figure by the garden fence, and a smile came over his face, a radiant gleam of delight. He pulled a bout trailiug at tho steamer's sido up by tho gangway opening, threw in his satchel, then sprang in himself. With a few vigorous pushes he cleared the Bteamer, then drifted off. All this time the figuro on the bank by the fence stood motionless, watching the boatman ns if entranced. Tho bout grated on the beach ; the man leaped ushore : "Jane," ho said, with a glad cry, "I can't leave you. I belong to you and tho river." If tho people on the steamer had looked back they could have seeu a mau and woman leaning arm in arm over tho old fence by the dock ut Ranger's.—Detroit Free Press. Dining 0:1 l uttlettsli. There used to be a club in New York, perhaps it still exists, culled the lehthophagus Club. It was com posed of men iiko that enthusiastic fisherman, Robert Roosevelt, and that great dealer in fish, Eugene G. Black ford. The club once a year used to have dinners at which all kinds of strange Eea food wero served, the courses geuerallv beginning with a "puree of sharks' fius." Its object was to teaeh the people that there were more things iu the sea lit to be eaten than was dreamed of in the ordinary cook's philosophy. Perhapß the ex periments of the club were a little too radical, for, though at these banquets good health waited upon appetite, in digestion sometimes followed both. The son of Joachim Murat, tho King of Naples, while living in exile in Florida, used to experiment in tho availability of strange creatures for food purposes, and has left a record of his experiments. The Spaniards have a dish of which they are fond, which cau bo bought at any of tho Spanish restaurants about the end of Maiden lane. It is cuttlefish, and to an Amer ican it is anything but pleasant. Rut the Spanish might retort that many Americans are fond of Lim burger cheese.—New York Press. The Heat in Arizona, "I have heard a good deal of com plaint of the heat since I liuvo been in Washington," said 11. A. Reynolds, of Y'-.imn, Arizona, ut the St. James. "The people of this city cannot real ize how hot it gets iu Southwestern Arizona. Cattle die in great num bers, and it is almost impossible for human beings to live there during the summer months. Some extravagant stories are told about the effects of the heat, and I have read of frying eggs in the sand out there. Of course, they do nothing of tho kind, but I kuow an egg story that is true that is nearly as remarkable. I was camping out on the desert not very far from where those two men died, an account of whioh I read in the Star, and among our provisions were seme eggs. Being suspicious of their condition, we did not cook them and did not happen to throw them away. Just left them iu tho tent. Ouo day I heard a chirping, and upon investiga tion found that more than half the oggs had hatched." A Paradox Indeed. "Your honor," said a lawyer in t recent trial in England, "theargument of my learned friend is lighter thai vanity. It iB air ; it is smoke. Fron top to bottom it is absolutely noth ing. And, therefore, your honor, i falls to the ground by its own weight.' j THE MERRY SIDE OF LIFE. I STORIES THAT ARE TOLD BY THE I FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. ! The InsnndOuta-A Bad One—Either Would I>o—The Queen Anne Stylo —The Intruder Survived, Etc. •'He'll set well now." they said outsido. ' ••There isn't any doubt. For by the doctors' bulletin They've got the bullet out.'* —Chicago Tribune. | A BAD ONE. She—"ls this dress a fit?'* He—"lt couldn't be much more of n fit without being a convulsion."—De troit Free Press. THE QUEEN ANNE STYLE. Customer—"l would like to have n nice gown to wear around the house." j Salesman—"Size of the house, please V"—Philadelphia Record. NOTHING STRANGE. "They say that tho Kickeys have a ; big skeleton in the closet." "Wouldn't be surprised. Thero , are a great many bones ot' contention around there."—Detroit Free Press. j EITHER WOULD DO. Conductor—"Your ticket, please." Passenger—"l'm traveling on my j face." Conductor—"All right; I'll punch that."—Town Topics. DOMESTIC METHODS. "Paw, what is your busy day?" "Well, happy urchiu, it is when I ! stay ot home to rest and your mother ' gets mo to do a few l'ttle odd jobs around the house."- Detroit Free Press. ONE WAY OF LOOKING AT IT. Alethea (blushingly)--"Now, don't, Mr. Dnsnap ! 1 know little Ferdinand is watching at tho keyhole." j Duanap— "Well, let's gratify his I curiosity, and then he may go away. ' , —Pack. THE INTRUDER SURVIVED. Watts—"l wonder if the water is fit to drink yet?" j Potts—"Guess it is. An eel came ! : through our hydrant this morning and j it. seemed to be in good health."—ln- j diauapolis Journal. THEIR BATTLE HYMN. "Mosquitoes are hateful, aren't they?'" "Yes; I don't mind their eating me j if they didn't keep its such an everlast ing complaint about the way 1 taste. ' < —Chicago Record. THE FISHEEEOI'S LUCE. When the minister caught the little [ boy fishing instead of being at school J i the parson asked the lad what his j mother did when he ran away like that and gave her the slip. "Gives me the slipper." ONE THINC. CERTAIN. Caller—"Thoy tell mc, Mrs. Sourly, that your husband is a bull on the board of trade?" Mrs. Sourly—"Don't know any thiug about that, but I do kuow that he's a bear ut home."—Detroit Free Press. A FT.AT-DWELLER'S WISH. "I wish," said Flatlev, who had been to the circus and was tired; "1 wish these buildings could be trained to lie down when we entered them." He glanced at the sixteenth story and heaved a great sigh.--Texas Sifter. LOSING THEIIt WIND. "You have a fine climate here," said the visitor to a resident. "Such a bracing air." "Yes," replied the resident, gloom ily, "but them there bicyclists come along and pump the air into their pneumatic tires and carry it uli'."— Truth. > RAY OF HOPE. "My son," asked Farmer Goshley, "what is it that causes the rotary mo tion of the earth?" "I'm sure I don't know, father." "My son, como to my arms. Yon have been six mouths at college aud there is one thing you are sure you don't know 1" A CALLOUS SOUL. "Orlando," she exclaime' "tho baby lias a tooth!" , "Has he?" was the response in a tone which betrayed no emotion. "Yon don't seem a bit surprised." "I'm not surprised. All the babies have first teeth. If this one didn't have any I'd manage to get up somo excitement, maybe." "I thought you'd be pleased and happy about it." "No. I don't see that iL s any oc casion for especial congratulations. The baby lias my sympathy. "Sympathy! What for?" "For having his first tooth. He has just struck tho opening chaptei of a long story of trouble. Pretty soon ho'll have other teeth." "Of course ho will." "Every one he outs will hurt him. Then his second teeth will come and push these out. That will hurt him again. Some of the new ones will come in crooked, like as not. and he will have to go to the dentist aud luve a block and tackle adjusted to them to haul them around into line. Then he'll cut his wisdom teeth. After that ho have to go to the dentist and let him drill holes and hammer till his face feels like a palpitating Btone quarry. I wouldn't want him to go through life without teeth. But I must say that I don't see any oocasion for the customary hilarity over au event that means so much in the way t of sorrow and humiliation."—Detroit ' Free Frees. - WISE WORDS. We want no time, but diligence, for great performances. A man seldom thinks of reforming until he goes broke. A man's best friend is the one who marries the girl that jilted him. It is easier to tell others how to be j good than it is to be good yourself. | It wouldn't take much of a hypnotist to make monkeys ont of some men. An eho is the only thmg that can I flimflam a woman out of the last word. The man who hesitates before ho makes a promise is the one who is most apt to keep it. The trouble with a great many young men is they don't like to work between meals. Shallow men are generally despised, but they don't require as much watch ing as deep ones. The true ballot reform is that which enables the voter and not the poli tician to do the voting. Some people want to hide their light under a bushel, when an empty sardine can would serve just as well. A girl is never considered a good singer until she has caused a concert to be postponed because she has a cold. It is rather discouraging to a man to be forced to wait until he is dead in order to discover what a good fellow he was. When a boy begins to wash his neck without being told, it is a sign that he is passing into the oideal of his first love affair. Times may be as good now as they ever were, but it is waste of time to argue the point with a man who has an empty stomach. If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous lie will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. A woman can drive a man crazy for twenty-four hours, and then bring him to the gates of paradise in two seconds by simply tickling him under the chin. The Kangaroo. Captain (then Lieutenant) Cool:, with Mr. (afterward Sir Joseph) Banks, set sail in 1703, and, the ob servation of Venus having been com pleted, porceeded in the spring of 1770 to Eastern Australia, visiting among other places a spot which, on account of the number of new and strange plaDts there to be found, re ceived the name of "Botany Bay." Subsequently, when detained by an accident in Endeavor River, some sailors sent on shore reported they "had seen an animal as largo as a greyhound, of slender make, and ex tremely swift." "Two days after ward," Captain Cook continues," as I was walking in the morning at a little distance from the ship, / myself saw one of the animals." A fortnight af terward (July 8) some of the crew "set out with the first dawn in search ol mime, and in a walk of many miles they saw four animals of the same kind, two of which Mr. Banks's grey hound fairly chased, but they threw him out at a great distance by leaping over the long, thick grass, which pre vented his running. This animal was observed not to run upon four legs, but to bound or leap forward upon two, like the jerboa. This animal is called by the natives kangaroo. The next day our kangaroo was dressed for dinner and proved most excellent meat." Such is the earliest notice of the observation of this animal by Eng lishmen. As Australia bocame better known it was found to be inhabited by beasts ol many kinds, all of which were pre viously unknown, while they almost all agreed with the American opos sums, iu that they were "pouched" or "marsupial" animals. Not unnatur ally, therefore, some of these creatures were also called "oposums," though the name had better have been re served for the American marsupials exclusively, which aro the only "true opossums."—Fortnightly Review. Onions as a Nerve Tonic. A German scientist says that people who habitually use onions are mucb less liublo to nervous diseases than those who affect to despies them. They tone up systems that are run down and assist the digestion and as similation of food. As an interesting item in this connection, the same sci entist says that if a sprig of parsley is chopped hue, sprinkled with vine gar and eaten after onions, there will bo no trace of this vegetable on the breath. This is well worth knowing, if true, and certainly it is not difficult to try the experiment. As a further item of interest in regard to onions, it is claimed that they are one of the best cleansers of the skin, tiud that onion eaters, all other things being equal, will have the liuest of complex ions. This being the case, the market value of onions and parsley ought to increase with great rapidity. A Bliuil Physician. Dr. James R. Cocke, a well-known physician of Boston, is entirely blind. In speaking of him the Boston Jour nal says: "So far as can bo ascer tained Jthere is only one man who, blind from infancy, has taken up the study of medicine and succeeded. That man is James R. Cocke, whose book, 'Blind leaders of the Blind,' has just been issued. Dr. Cocke has met with deserved success in bis pro fession, and in his home in Boston is surrounded by all that a man of cul tivated tastes would choose. He is a member of the Boston Athletic Asso ciation, where his chief enjoyment is in the game of tenpins, which he plays, as he does everything else, with zest and enthusiasm." SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL. London will soon substitute electri city for steam in its underground rail ways. Electric coal mining machinery is 1 oing rapidly introduced in Western To nusylvania. The non-tidal part of the Thames is 138 miles in length and drains an area of 6000 square miles. Seventy-two races inhabit the world and use 3001 different tongues. Thero arc about 1000 religions. The British admiralty is about to take up the work of training carrier pigeons for conveying messages at sea. The annual number of births is esti mated at 36,792,000 —an average num ber of 100,800 a day, 4200 an hour and seventy a minute. The Thames scoops out of its bank about 500,000 tons of matter iu a year. The Mississippi is doing similar work, but at the rate of 800,000,000 tons a year. According to the most careful com putation, only one person in 100,00.1 of both sexes attain the age of 100 years, and six to seven in 100 the age of sixty. The total population of the earth is estimated at about 1,200,000,000 souls, of whom 35,214,000 die annually—an average of 98,848 a day, 4020 un hour and sixty-seven a minute. There are about 100 grains of iron in the average human body, and yet so important is this exceedingly small quantity that its diminution is attend ed with very serious results. The number of men and women is very nearly equal, the average long evity of both sexes being only thirty eight years. About one-third of the population dies before the ago of seventeen. The Roentgen rays burn the skin like sunlight is the latest information from Berlin about the phenomenon. Professors Grambach and Dubois Ray mond have succeeded in rendering visible some of tho softer parts of the body, liko the larynx aud the dia phragm, by means of improved tubes. Professor J. E. Todd, State Geolo gist of South Dakota, who is in charge of a geological surveying expedition party in the Black Hill, discovered an old volcano on Sand Creek, in tho Bad Lauds, near Formosa. Near tho junc tion of Sand Creek antl White River is a hill eighty feet high. This hill vi brates and groans with constancy. Its tremblings have upset wagons and tho Indians are much in fear of it. The Tables Turned. Alphonse Karr, tho well-known French humorist, told tho following story in a circle of friends, vouching for its truth: Ho owned an estate iu the southern part of France, and one of his neighbors was an elderly Italian Count, whose library was exceedingly well stocked and was considered a sight well worth seeing in t hat locality. One day the witty author of "Les Guepes," who had not yet met his neighbor, sent a Eervant with a card to him, requesting the loan of a cer tain book. The Count replied in a very polite note that he was extremely sorrv that he could not oblige Mr. Karr, but that it was with him a mat ter of principle never to loan any books for use outside of his own library. At tho same time ho invited his neighbor to come to his house at any time, aud his library would be at Mr. Kurr's disposal all day. Karr, who was anxious to obtain certain in formation, went to the Count's house and made notes from tho particular book iu the Count's library that he wanted. A short time afterward tho Count needed u sprinkler, and sent to his literary neighbor, askiug for the loan of one. Karr, wbc had not forgotten tho way his request for a book had been answered, now sent to the Count an extremely polite note, couched iu the following terms: "I deeply re gret tho impossibility of obliging you by the loan of a sprinkler, but as a matter of principle I could not pos sibly allow my sprinkler to be used outside of my garden ; but if you do sire to use it on ray own lawn I shall gladly place the sprinkler at your dis posal all day."—Philadelphia Record. A Town's (Jueer Name. "I think the name of ray town is one of the most euphonious I ever heard," said A. L. Harding, of Vanda lia, 111., ut the Regent. "It was for merly the State cnpital, and Abraham Liucolu was, at one time, a frequent visitor. It has many of the best fam ilies in Illinois as residents, but it is a railroad center, and there have been oases of trouble among the railroad men that had given it rather a hard name, which reminds one of how it came to get a nnme at all. The owner of the land before the place was laid outdid not possess much learn ing, but wanted to appear classical. Hence, when he ccnoluded to start a town he went to a friend and asked him to suggest a name of some famous people or city of ancient times. The friend was a wug, and replied, 'Well, tho vandals who helped conquer Rome were a noted people. Name it Van dalia, which means the home of the Vandals.' Hence, Vandalia it be came."—Washington Star. Canaries From Germany. Harper's Round Table, speaking of the trade carried on by Germany iu the rearing aud exporting of canaries, says that the largest establishment in the world for the breeding of these creatures is situated within the domains of that Empire, away up among the Hartz Mountains of Prussia. From this and the few surrounding but much smaller nurseries, uo fewer than 130,000 birds are despatched every year to the United States and Canada; while in the same time at least 3000 go to Great Britain and about 2000 go to Russia.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers