The average daily attendance of children in the public schools is high est in Pennsylvania, being 779,000, while in New York it is 757,000. Five years ago there were two direct Steamship lines from Southern ports to Europe. Now there are eleven cities, each of which has one or more lines across the Atlantic. Governor Fingreehas suggested thai the present capitol of Michigan be turned into a lunatic asylum ; and th Legislature of the lake State is won dering whether he meant anything by that remark. In 1869 a Rev. Dr. Crane wrote tract on popular amusements,in whict he said that "novei-reading has becomt the vice of the age," and warned hit readers and listeners against RO evil i habit, so soul-destroying a recreation, as novel reading. His son is Stephei Crane, who has lately been making considerable reputation as a writer ol novels. An adventurer's share" in tho New River Company was sold recently in London for $025,000. The company was started in 1009 by Sir Hugh Myd dleton to supply Loudon with water from the Hertfordshire hills, forty miles away. Half the shares went to James the First as the king's moiety, the others to the thirty six adven. tnrers. Myddleton was ruined by the speculation, but the company owns a great deal of property in the city of Xiondon and the counties of Middlesex and Hertford. The interest on a share is about $13,000 a year. Under the operation of the child labor law in Illinois, as enforced by Miss Florence Kelley, Chief Factory Inspector, there has been a positive decrease in the number of children employed in the factories. This de crease has continued notwithstanding the fact that a larger percentage ol children usually finds employment in these concerns during dull times, their cheaper labor being sought and idle fathers sometimes finding it necessary to 6end them to the shops. Tho num ber of children found unlawfully em ployed in 1890 was 3.7 per cent, of the total number of employees, as against 4.5 in 1595, G. 2 in 189-1, and 8.5 in 1893. This decrease is the more marked because the inspectors covered 2007 more establishments than in any previous year. In the stock yards there is no noticeable change in the number of children employed, but the reverse is happily the case in glass factories, where the report says the dwarfing of children by their arduous labors seems to have been decisively checked. Sweat shops are still the greatest evil to be contended with, one-sixth of all the children employed in the State working in the garment trades. The ratio, the report says, increases yearly in spite of persistent persecutions of violators of the law. The only complete remedy, the In spector says, would be the prohibition of tenement manufacture. Mr. Peary, U. S. N., the arctic ex plorer, told some interesting things of the polar regions at a recent public dinner. He said he could talk of only one thing, and then laid hold of the pole. Picturinga man standingover the north pole, he said that this person would have but one point to his com pass, and that would bo south. He could not move, except south. Time j would he unknown to him. He would i know no night or day. Experiences I of Nansen and himself during the last ' three years, he said, had shown that the ideal party to discover the pole must consist of only two or three per sons. The old idea of a large party must be abandoned. By modern meth ods the pole could be reached without any of the horrors of the Franklin and Greely expeditions. He considered that the man who makes the discovery will rank with Columbus. The ques tion as to what good it would be to such a man to discover the pole would be like asking what good was tho wreath at the Olympian games. It would be a tribute to endurance, en crgy, persistence, the conquering of obstacles. It would bo the peerless prize of the day, and should go to an American. It had become possible, with all tho recent light on the sub ject, he said, for him to advise and propose within the last month a prac tical plan to get there. There were only 200 miles beyond the highest point already reached to be traversed. He thought tho only way to reach the pole would be to follow up Greenland as it leaches toward the pole. A cer tain tribe of Eskimos there could be relied upon to furnish assistance. A fund of $150,000 would keep such a small party as he advised for ten years working away. Under the arrange ment he proposed, he said, to reach the pole would be "entirely possible and entirely practical." BRING BACK TO ME. You ask me what—since we must part— You shall bring home to me; Bring back a pure and faithful heart, As true as mine to thee. I ask not wealth nor fame, 1 only ask for thee, Thyself—and that dear self the same— My love bring back to me. You talk of gems from foreign lands, Of treasure, spoil and prize. Ah, love, I shall not search your hands, Bat look into your eyes. 1 ask not wealth ncr fame, I only ask for thee. Thyself—aud that dear self the samo— My love bring back to me. You speak of glory and renown, With me to share your pride. Unbroken faith is all the crown I esk for as your bride. I ask not wealth nor fame, I only nsk for thee, Thyself—and that dear self the same— My love bring back to me. You bid rae with hope's eager gaze Behold fair fortune come. 1 only dreatn I see your face Beside the hearth at home. I ask not wealth nor fame, I do but ask for thee, Thyself—and that dear self the same— My God restore to me. —Juliana Horatio Ewing. TRUSTING JN"PROVIDENCE. BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES. /> it's goin' \f *° a B ? a PP* n ' mum Miss Elsa Rob- bins, warming vH MUIBL Gr D^erß ° Ver "Am/'rm lerj glad, mother, that we've got the rus set apples safe into the cellar, for it's on them I place my main dependence for the interest money this year." Mrs. Robbins sat knitting in the cushioned rocker—a wrinkled, bright eyed little old woman, whose caps were always spotlessly clean, and whose dresses never seemed to wear out. "Frost, eh?" said she. "I rather guess so," responded Elsa, with a shiver. "Stars shinin' like so many little diamond specks, and a new moon behind the pines." "Well, it's a good thing we ain't stinted lor wood," cheerfully observed Mrs. Robbins. "You're always finding out some good thing or other, mother," said Elsa, a little petulantly. "La, child, the world is full of 'em!" said Mrs. Robbins, who had a sweet, plaintive voice. "The Lord, He's a deal better to us than we de serve !" "Well, then," quaintly remarked Elsa, "I may as well tell you, now, as ever, that the roof's leakin' dreadful bad." "Leakin', is it?" said Mrs. Robbins. "Where?" "Up garret," said Elsa. "Over the west store room." "Well, it's lucky it ain't leakin' over the rooms we live in," said the inveterate old optimist. "If it was to leak at all, it couldn't have selected a better spot." "And the fence is down in the north lot," remarked Elsa, "and neighbor Carter's cattle are all in !" "Bless mo!" said Mrs. Robbins. "Well, there ain't much but rock and mullein-stalks in that lot,anyhow, and Neighbor Carter don't half feed his cattle. I'm glad the poor creeturs cau have a good bite lor once in their lives." "And I've had a letter from Walter's widow," added Elsa; "and she wants to come hero with her children." "Tell her to come," said Mrs. Rob bins. "It ain't a fine city place, and mavbe she and the little ones will find it hard to make out ou mash and mo lasses and baked potatoes, as we do. But she's my nephew's widow, and she'll be welcome here." "But, mother," said Elsa, "think what you are doing. Another family in this cramped up little house—a lot of noisy children, racing and scream ing about—a fine lady to be waited on, who is certainly as able to take caro of herself as wo are to take care of her. And you know that we owe a large bill at the grocer's, and we haven't paid for the cow yet, and the tailoress business is getting duller ever year, now that folks have taken the notion to go to the city for their little boys' suits." "Well, child—well," serenely inter posed the old lady, "God will pro vide. He always does. And it's a dreadful thing to be a widow and homeless. Write to her, Elsa, and tell her to come." "But she has no money to travel with," bluntly added Elsa. "She wants us to send her twenty dollars. She has written to Cousin Marrett, up at the grange, and they won't even answer her letter." "Dear, dear! that's bad 1" cooed Mrs. Bobbins. "No money at all. Poor soul! poor soul!" "Well—but, mother," pleaded Elsa, "we haven't got any money, either—to spare!" "There's the chicken money," said Mrs. Robbins, looking wistfully up. "But, that was to buy you a warm, new cloak, mother." "Well, I'll make the old gray Bhawl do for another year," said Mrs. Rob bins. "And Walter's widow must have money to pay her traveling expenses poor thing! It was very wrong of Olivia Mmrrett not to answer her let ter—vo?y. But Olivia and her husband was always close. It's their nature, I do s'pose." And Elsa broke out laughing, with tears in the corners cf her hard, gjay eyes. "You dear, old mother!" said she. Let Walter's widow and her children come. We're poor, and in debt, and can't find bread for our own two selves; but I believe, for once, I'll follow your example,mother,and trust in Frovidence." And fiho sat do wit and wrote to Wal ter Robbins' window, inclosing that last twenty-dollar bill, with which she was to have bought the warm winter cloak for the old lady, who was so con tentedly knitting in the coral glow of the firelight. Mrs. Walter Bobbins was sitting by the fire also, but not such a fire as il lumines the farmhouse kitchen with a softer shine than any electric light. It was a mero handful of coals, in a rustic grate, over which she bent with a shudder, as the wind howled by, shaking the window-panes and rattling the paper-shades. She was mending the children's stockings, and as she worked a little girl crept out of the bed and stole across the floor to her side. "Mamma, T can't get warm," said she. "Isn't there any fire?" "There's a fire, dear," said Mrs. Robbins; "but we can't have much, for t here's only a peck of coal left in the box." "Mamma," went on thechild, "why don't our fires shine red and bright like the lires 1 see through other peo ple's windows, someiimes?" "We can't ailord it, dear," sighed the widow. "If you let the coal blaze and crackle it soon turns into ashes, aud we must economize." "Mamma," spoke up a tiny voice from the bed, "I didn't eat quite enough supper. Can't 1 have another half slice of bread?" "There is no more, Bessie," said Mrs. Robbins, with a pang, sharper than an./ serpent's tooth, at her heart. "Go to sleep, dear; you'll soon forget that you aro hungry, and in the morn ing we are to start for the country, you know." Bessie's eyes sparkled. "We can have all the milk we want then, mamma, can't we?" said she. "And pick up nuts where they grow among the leaves, and eat apples with* j out paying two cents apiece for them," chimed in Lillie. "Oh, mamma, why don't every one live in the country? Mamma, don't you love Cousin Elsa and her mother? Is Cousin Elsa a little girl? Will Rhe play with us?" "I don't know," said Mrs. Bobbins, with a quiver in her voice. "No, Rhe is not a child ; she is a woman, like me. But I think she must be an angel in her heart." For Elsa Bobbins' had been the first helping hand which had been stretched out to lift the poor little widow out of the abyss of troubles which had al most overwhelmed,her since her hus band died, in the far-away ?<lexican lands whither he had gone to make the fortune which, alas! was never made. She had become sadly used to sharp words and cold glances, but kindness, sympathy, tender recognitions of her claims to kinship, were new and pre cious to her. Just then there came a heavy, creak ing footstep on the floor—a tap at the door. Little Lillie jumped up and scam pered back to bed. Bessie drew her curly yellow head under the sheets. "It's a mistake," said Mrs. Robbins, spiritlessly. "Nobody ever comes here." But she rose and opened the door. There stood a stout, middle-aged man, with cheerful blue eyes, a ruddy com plexion, and leg-01-mutton whiskers, slightly sprinkled with gray. "Does Mrs. Walter Robbins live here?" he aaked. Miss Elsa had made waffles for sup per, and had fried some fresh crullers, brown aud light as butterfly wings. She had brought in the parlor lamp, and bunted up two little china mugs, handlelesß, and with the gilt inscrip tion faded off, which had been hers and her dead sister's, as children, long ago. "They'll please the little ones," she thought. And Mrs. Robbins, in her clean cap, sat smiling by the hearthstone, when Walter's widow came in, her black dress powdered over with the snow which had begun to fall at the gather ing of and with the two little girls clinging to her hand. "My dear," said Mrs. Robbins, "you are welcome—kindly welcome— you and the dear little girls!" And Elsa came in, her face softened for the moment, anil led them hospit ably to the fire. "It's a poor place," said she; "but mother is right—you aie welcome !" The children looked timidly around at the black beams which traversed the roof overhead—the deep-set windows, with their broad ledges filled with nmsk plants and fish geraniums—the strings of red peppers above the man tel—and the brass candlesticks, which glittered as if they were made of gold. And then the fire—the great, open chimney piece—the blazing logs—the tunnily shaped andirons, with round heads, and the great Maltese cat, asleep upon the gaudy rag rug. Was it all true? or were they dreaming? But when it came to hot waffles, and j maple molasses cookies, with fjnnel seeils in them, and milk—just as much as they could drink out of those dear little antique mugs—the children de cided the matter in their own minds, that they were not dreaming at all. And alter they had gone to sleep in a bed room just off the kitchen, where the sheets smelled of tweet clover, and the wallpaper was covered with bunches of cabbage roses, with impos sibly green leaves, aud blue ribbon fillets around the stems, Mrs. Walter Bobbins found courage to thank the friends who had been so good to her in her neceasitv. "But there's something I haven't told you yet," she said, timidly. "I couldn't write it, because I did not know it myself at the time that I ap pealed to you. lam not so poor as everyone thought. Boor, dear Wal ter's mining* ventures have turned out better than anyone expected. A law yer from the South came to see me last night, and told me that I am to have at least a thousand dollars a year." "Eh?" said Elsa, almost incredu lously. "It ain't possible?" chirped Mrs. Bobbins. "And," went on Mrs. Walter, "if yon will allow me to live here and share it with you—" * "No," said Mies Elsa. "We have no right to it!" "But," pleaded the widow, "yon were willing to share all that you had with me." "That's quite another thing," said Elsa. "No, it isn't," said Mrs. Walter. "It's the same exactly. And I have always longed for a home in tho coun try, and it is so lovely here; and—and I feel that I love you already, and I should be miserable anywhere else. Please—please let me stay!" And what could Mrs. Bobbins and Miss Elsa 6ay but "Yes." And when the gentle widow retired to her room, Miss El6a looked at the old lady with tears in her eyes. "Mother," said she, "you were right. Providence has provided. The mo ment I made up my mind to leave oft* caring and planning, and trust in God, He has laid a blessing at my feet. I think I will never doubt or despair again."—Saturday Night. Salaries of High Official An American Cabinet officer gets SBOOO a year, and has an allowance for stationery and for a private secretary. As principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Salisbury drew $20,000 a year and S2OOO for a*private secretary. The salary of the First Lord of the Treasury is $25,000. The Chancellor of the Exchequer also receives $25,000. The salary of the Lord Chancellor is SIO,OOO. The English Attorney General is not a member of the Cabinet, but he draws $21,000 a year and about $20,000 ex- ! tra in fees. The Lord President of the Couneil draws SIO,OOO a year, and so do the presidents of the Boards of Trade and Agriculture. In addition to the Prime Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister and the : Lords of the Admiralty get residences in Downing street. When an English Minister's term expires he may receive an annuity of SIO,OOO if he makes affidavit that he actually needs it. The English Minister of Foreign Affairs is supposed to give three re ceptions a year. If he is a poor man he gives only the great dinner and ball on the occasion of the Queen's birthday. This sometimes costs SSOOO. The Queen's household often helps out by supplying the flowers from the royal conservatories. The Sheriff's "Poser. 99 When Jack Ringo was Sheriff of Menefee County, Kentucky, and a good one by tho way, says tho Hazel Green Herald, he found that the own er of some property in that county had not pnid his taxes and was a non resident, us he lived in the adjoining county of Powell. So Jack, finding nothing in his own county upon which to levy lor the tifxes rode over into Powell and drove one of the delin quent's cows into Menefee to secure the debt. Subsequently he met with the lamented Congressman Wick Ken dall, who was then Prosecuting Attor ney of that district, and put the question: "Wick, can the Sheriff in one coun ty, whero taxes are due, go into an adjoining county, and levy on prop erty to satisfy toe claim?" "Why, of course not," replied Wick. "Well, I know better," said Jack. "But I tell you it can't be done," persisted Wick. "I know better," retorted Jack, "for, by gum, I have just done that very thing," and Wick admitted his defeat in the argument. Jlis Definition. Tho best definition of good house keeping that I ever hoard was that given by a little slip of a boy, who, after listening a loag time to a very learned discussion from some of his mother's club associates on the best way to order a home, was asked: "Well, my little man, what kind of a home do you think is best?" A beautiful light came to the child's eyes. He tossed back his yellow hair and shook his head: "I don't know much about it. Just the ouly kind that I like is the home that it's nice to goto." And when all the philosophy, theory, science and wisdom of the sub ject had been exhausted, the women there assembled had to agree that the very beet home, after all, was the home that—it was nice to go to. — Philadelphia Press. Prince of Wales Buying Land. The Prince of Wales is buying large tracts of land in the Dartmoor dis trict of England, apparently intending to form an extensive deer forest and hunting region. To obtain the neces | nary purchase money ho has, through j his agerts, disposed of South African ! and other securities. There are signs of a marked clearing up in the Prince's | financial affairs. Any sums he owed j to Baron Hirsch, Sir Albert Bassoon ! and others have been paid off. These | debts never amounted to anything like i the large sums generally reported. I The Prince is now able to invest largely in land,—New York Tribune. THE FIELD OF ADVENTURE. THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DAR ING DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA. A 31!uer's Heroic I)ce<l_Under an Avalanche In Idaho—Geu. ilrant's Toolness When a Lieutenant. 7T S brave an the noble Sparta /V ens himself is miner Jim Hems worth, of Rossland, <£" British Columbia, was the de claration of those who stood by while a corps of physicians amputated his arm at the shoulder to save him from the fearful possibility of blood pois oning as a result of his terrible in juries, sustained in his heroic rescue from certain death of two fellow-min ers. That ho still live* is the marvel of all Rosfclaud, for few have ever been wrenched, mangled and bruised as Herasworth was and lived through his injuries as this hardy sufferer bids fair to do. The doctors declared their belief that he would survive in very hopeful tones. .Tern Smith and Frank Coneon were working at the bottom of a narrow I shaft of the Young America mine at 1 Rossland at a depth of nearly 150 feet, engaged in loading ore into an iron bouud bucket, while Jim Hemsworfch's duty consisted in hauling the bucket to the enrfaoe by means of a windlass. The heavy bucket tilled with ore had almost reached the top of the shaft when the iron crank of the wind lass suddenly snapped in two like a bit of pine, hurling Hemsworth to the ground. Springing to his feet, half dazed by the blow, Hemsworth saw the windlass whirling around at a frightful rate of speed as the loaded bucket shot down the shaft upon the men below. He had not a second to lose. There was just one chance to save them, and he took that chance. Jumping for ward,, he threw his body upon tho cogs of the whirling windlass, thrust ing his arm and shoulder between the swiftly revolving wheels. Their iron jaws crunched and tore the flesh, crushed nerves, bone and sinews, tore ghastly wounds from linger tip to shoulder, but the wind lass stood still. With an awful jerk the loaded bucket stopped just above the heads of the two terrified miners far down in the shaft. Pale as death, and with the blood flowing from him in streams and suffering intense agony, he never uttered a cry nor even a sound as the jaws of the wheels pinioned him fast as in a vise. Superintendent Shields witnessed the accident from a short distance away, but so horrified was he at the sight that for u moment he stood as if paralyzed. Quickly recovering his faculties, he rushed to Hemsworih's aid, and in a twinkling had blocked the machinery and caused Hemsworth to be released from his perilous posi tion. As Hemsworth staggered back and was about to fall, Shields caught him in his arms, at the same time exclaim ing, "My God, Jim ; this is awful!" •'Oh, what's the difference," answered the plucky fellow, "so long as I saved the boys?" It was not long, however, before the intense pain be suffered, together with the loss of blood, began to have their effect on Herasworth's powerful con stitution. and he became too weak to stand. A litter was hastily formed bv men who had by this time arrived. Tenderly the wounded man was placed upon it, and with the utmost care Hemsworth wa6 carried to Kossland, a mile away, and placed on a cot in the hospital. He was unconscious theD, but Dr. Bowers, who had been hastily summoned in advance of the arrival of the litter, was at his side, and with restoratives Herasworth was soon brought to consciousness. His wounds were dressed and the injured man made as comfortable as could be under the circumstances. Smith and Coneon, who were hauled up from the shaft and assisted in carry ing their brave comrade to the hos pital, stood with eyes dimmed with tears as they witnessed the sufferings of the man who had made such a heroic sacrifice to save them from death. Smith said, in describing their sensa tions at the bottom of the shaft: "When I heard the bucket falling I expected nothing but death, as there was no way for us to avoid the heavy load dropping upon us with such frightful rapidity. I'll admit that I was paralyzed and fully expected that my hour had come. When the bucket Btopped but a few feet above us, Con son and I, iu awful suspense, stood with heads bowed, awaiting to bo crushed to a pulp. It was several minutes after the bucket stopped bo fore we recovered ourselves sufficiently to realize that in some manner we had been saved." Superintendent Shields said that in all his mining experience of tweuty live years he had never witnessed a more heroic ellort to save the lives of fellow workmen than that of Jim Hemsworth.—San Francisco Exam iner. Under an Avalanche. AD extraordinary escape from death was lately recorded by a newspaper of Mountain Home, Idaho, a mining town high up among tho mountains, where avalanches of the most fearful descrip tion are not infrequent. On the first day of last December a citizen of Mountain Home, Frank Andreas by name, started at an early hour in the morning to go from a mine to a black smith shop, some distance away on the side of the mountain. With him were his two big dogs, which are iu part of St. Bernard blood. The dogs were gambolling about in the snow some distance from their master when a great snowslide, which the warmth of the sun had dislodged some two hundred feet np the mount ain, deecondcd upon Andreas with such velocity that there was no escaping from it. He was borne along with and under the nnow, and lodged against the side of the gulch much farther down. Above him the snow was packed hard. Andreas did not know how deep it was —in reality it was about four feet deep above his head—but he did not know that it was so hard that he could scarcely move a muscle. Andreas quicklv began to experience difficulty in breathing. Luckily he had been carried along by the aval anche in an upright position; he had thrown up his hands in an effort to save himself, and his left arm had re mained in that position—thrust up ward. By working it from side to side in the hard packed snow, he made a small opening up into looser snow in which there semed to be some air; at any rate, he could breath enough to save himself from suffocation at present. He knew, however, that he could not live in such a place long. He struggled and pushed, and tried to enlarge tho opening made by his left arm, picking pieces of snow from about hs body with his right hand and working them into the opening. But he would certainly have grown discouraged, after ho had worked vainly thus for half an hour or more, if he had not heard a scratching and burrowing sound above his head. He knew by this that hin faithful dogs had escaped the avalanche, had found the place where he was overwhelmed, and were digging him out. This gave him strength for new efforts. Now he bent all his own en deavors, not to getting out—he left tho dogs to uncover him—but to get ting air enough to keep him alive un til the dogs should succeed in digging down through the hard snow. He worked his left arm upward and about, and as the dogs dug downward, he soon succeeded in getting a little hole through to the air. For an hour and a half he and the dogs were at work, and at the end of that time he succeeded in dragging himself out upon the side of the excava tion the dogs had made. There, more dead than alive, he took deep draughts of the mountain air till these revived him, and he was able to go 011 his way. (Grant's Coolness. While General Grant, then a lieu tenant, was courting tho lady whom he married, there occurred an event to which he never reverted without a shudder. A writer in tho Midland Monthly, describing an adventure which the young lieutenant and Miss Dent met with, says: While the water is high in the Mis sissippi the swift current abrades tho banks, and they frequently "cave in" for Heveral yards or rods at a time. In early spring, in one of their af ternoon explorations, Lieutenant Grant and the young lady were riding along the bank of the river, passing from one cove or valley to tho mouth of another. Miss Dent was nearest the water. The land was but a few feet above the surface of the turbulent stream. Suddenly Miss Dent's horse began to sink. The earth had given way un der his hind feet. Grant's horse was close beside hers. In an instant ho saw that her horse was sinking into the awful abyss! Grant's cool head and splendid horsemanship here had opportunity to displav themselves. Quick as a flash he leaned over, threw his right arm around Miss Dent's waist, and drew her to him as her horse disap peared in the seething and murky eddy that a moment later boiled and surged in angry tumult over the place where bank and horse had vanished from sight. It was a frightful moment. Fortunately the earth parted be tween the two animals, leaving Grant's horse on solid ground. Lifting aud firmly holding Miss Dent, and apply ing the spur to his horse, he was on safe ground in a moment; then he gently lowered her to the earth —all this without a word from "the silent man," or u scream or murmur from her. As he hastened back to rescue her horse she stood holding the bridle of his, outwardly as composed as if noth ing had happened. Her horse had disappeared. Grant followed down stream and hailed a boatman in a skiff, who found the horse swimming several hundred yards below, amid driftwood and debris. He lauded the animal at a place where it could climb the bank, and it was soon on safe ground, none the worse for the fright and the bath. Wedded to a Tree. A curious custom prevails in certain parts of India, which may be called a symbolical marriage. In families where there are several daughters the sisters may only marry after the elder sister is married. That, of course, is not always the case, but the obstacle can easily bo surmounted if the elder sister declares herself ready to marry some tree or large flower or some oth er lifeless object. The elder sister, must,'however,take care not to choose a poplar tree, au elm tree or a pine; if she chooses a plum, apple or apricot tiee, she may get a divorce—that is to say, shake it off as soon as a real maa will ask for her hand, while if she marries one of the first three named trees she cannot easily shake her mar ital bonds, for theee trees are sacred and must not be trifled with. Expensive Obituaries. The obituary addresses delivered upon the occasiou of tho death of a member of Congress cost the Govern ment a good deal of money. Usually 12,000 copies nre printed, with a steel plate portrait of tho deceased, fifty of which, bound in full morocco, with gilt edges, nre for the family of the dead Congressman. The cost of obit uary volumes in the Fifty-tirsfc Con gress was over $50,000. WHEKE IS WISDOM? They sny that ho is wisest who can always listen best; Who thinks in silence, an-1 so leaves the | talking for the rest. This may be so; but there are fools who pasd as wise to-day, Because they sit and listen and have nothing much to say But stay! Is that man, after all, not passing wise who knows Enough to hide the ignorance that talking would expose? —Cleveland Leader. IIUMOR OF THE DAY. Perdita—"l wish I were a man.' Penelope "Yes, with all your money you'd be quite a catch then, wouldn't von?"—Truth. "What is pronunciation, Uncle .Tim?" "It is something you hunt up in a dictionary one day and forget the next."—Chicago Kecord. Editor (to comic paragraphiet) "Your jokes lack originality." Comic Paragraphist (irritably)—"So does your criticism."— Tid Bits. "Do you thick that Wiggins is really your friend?" Gosling—"l suppose eo; he's always giving me disagreeable advice."—Truth. Bacon —"I see the editor has come out for athletics." Egbert—"That's strange! He told me he was going in for them."—Yonkers Statesman. Cynthia—"Do you think Frank will love me when I am old, Maud?" Maud—"Well, there's one thing, dear —you'll soon know."—Pick-Me-Up. "Is the sail the only thing that guides a ship?" asked the green pas senger. "No," said the mate. "There are rudders."—lndianapolis Journal. Kind Lady—"What would you like to eat, my poor man?" Tired Tre fethen "Soup, if yon have it. It doesn't need chewin'."—Up-To-Date. Physician—"Yon have only a few minutes to live. Have you any last wish?" Patient—"l wish I had en gaged another doctor."—Yale Record. With the first pall the bell rope parted. The sexton was in despair. Then a happy thought struck him, and be wrung his hands.—lndianapo lis Journal. Mrs. Ton—"You used to say I was the light of your life." Mr. Ton— "Yes; and I suppose that's why you are so easily put out now we are mar ried."—Judy. The Customer—"Confound you! You have Cut my cheek." The Barber "By Jove, so I have! I was won dering what had taken the edge off my razor."—Standard. Riggs—"Halloa, old man !" Briggs "Excuse me, sir; you have the ad vantage of me." "Yes, I guess I have. We were engaged to the same girl, but you married her." Friendly Criticism.—Artist— "This is one of those peculiar pictures that one has to be far off to appreciate." She—"And 'way off to paint, I imagine."—Harper's Bazar. Ted—"How did that English noble man manage to borrow tho money from Cbollie ?" Ned—"On being in troduced ho asked him if he wasn't born on the other side."—Judge. Often and Often.—"Ah, my poor man," said the benevolent old lady, "I suppose you aro often pinched by want and hunger, are you not?" "Yessum ; and by de cops."—Cincin nati Commercial Tribune. "It's a shame," cried the young wife; "not a thing in the house fit to eat. I'm going right home to papa!" "If you don't mind, dear," said the husband, reaching for his hat, "I'll go with you."—Yonkers Statesman. Waiter (to cook) "Steak for one! Gent don't want it raw, nor he don't want it burn't black." Cook—(an grily)— "Is that what ho said?" Waiter—"No; not exactly. I asked him how he wanted it, an' he said •medium.' " —Spare Moments. Mamma—"l don't see why you call Daisy Martin sellish. 1 think she is a very nice little girl." Ethel—"Oh, mamma, but she i* selfish! She's al ways at tho head of the class, aud she won't let any of the rest of us get ahead of her."—Harper's Bazar. "What do you mean, sir," roared the irate father, "by bringing your trunk to my bou6e and ordering a room?" "I'm adopted as one of the family," coolly answered tho young man. "Your daughter said she would be a sister to me."—Detroit Free Press. Customer—"l don't 6ee how any body can handle a big stock of glass like this without doing a lot of break ing. Persuasive Salesman—"They can't, ma'am. Two firms broke all to pieces trying to handle this lot. That's why we can sell it so cheap."—Chicago Tribune. He—"l suppose your thoughts were all on your new bonnat during the sermon this morning?" She—"No, indeed, they were not." "I don't believe you can repeat anything that was said during the service." "Yes, I can, too. I heard a lady behind me say, *lsn't it stunning?' " "I don't like your milk," said the mistress of the house. "What's wrong with it, mum?" "It's dread fully thin, and there's no cream on it." "After you have lived in the town a while, mum," said tho milk man, encouragingly, "you'll get over them rooral ideas of your'n."—Tit- Bits. "Theoretically," remarked the man who had lived in flats for years, "there are always two sides to a story. Practically, however, after you get above the fourth story, the inside doesn't amount to much." He spoko somewhat lightly, as knowing the po tency of an afl'eotation of gayety and insouciance to lighten the sternest Borrows.—Detroit Free Press.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers