Lord Salisbury said in a public speech that the difficulties before Europe are as great as ever. According to the Bombay correspon dent of the London Times, "the area of which the plague has taken hold forms less than a tenth part of India." The Association of the Bar of the City of New York has decided by an overwhelming vote to employ one of its members as u paid investigator of legal abuses. The Toronto Globe says that 4235 square miles of timber limits in the Province of Ontario are owned by American tinns. The exports for the year 1896 amounted to 248,746,314 feet. French scientists now come forth with the statement that rosy cheeks are simply caused by one immense rally of tiny microbes. We don't care a cent whether that is true or not, says the Philadelphia Inquirer; but it will certainly make the rosy-cheeked lassies mad, and some of the lads will weep when they think of kissing a big bunch of microbes. In many of the great cities of Europe, whenever u great festival is about to place, all the questionable and suspicious characters are "urged" by the police to take a few days' airing in the country, and to disappear for a time from their accustomed haunts. This is found preferable to putting them under lock and key. In St. Petersburg and Moscow and in Vi enna those who do not leave of their own accord on being thus pressed are shipped off by the police in a special train, and Japan has recently adopted the same excellent custom. Now, whenever a great popular pageant is about to take place in the Mikado's capital, the "Soshi-no-Kisba," or "train of blackguards," may be seen steaming away into the country with its freight of known and suspected malefactors. In a late number of Science Dr. C. Hart Merriam closes an article with an appeal to museums, sportsmen and naturalists to take advantage of every opportunity before it is too late to se cure and preserve many of our larger mammals from remote parts of their ranges. Many species have been ex terminated in Europe by man, and in this country the process is already be gun. The familiar story of the van ishing buffalo is only one of many. The giant grizzly of Southern Cali fornia, the largest carnivorous animal of the United States, is about exterm inated, and it is doubtful if a museum specimen will ever be obtained. The large wolves have been exterminated over more than half the area they for merly possessed, and no one knows what forms have disappeared. An un known form of elk or wapiti, which* within the memory of men still living, inhabited the Alleghenies from North Carolina to the Adirondaoks, has been wiped off the face of the earth. An article in the Railroad Gazette asserts that the forcing of civilization upon China is dangerous business. There is present profit, of course, in conquering the apathy of a couserva tive people and in bestowing upon them, despite frantic opposition from the Mandarin class, the benefits of Occidental inventions and methods, j but, asks the writer, "has anyone ever considered what will be the result when a rejuvenated race, conscious of its own numerical strength, armed with our knowledge, should resent the masterful spirit displayed by us? What if China should follow in the footsteps of Japan? If she should de velop her untold hiddemresources, as similate and upply our modern inven tions, and use the immense surplus created by economy to arm herself against us?" These questions have been propounded before, and they in timate dreadful things whose possi bility everybody admits with shivers of apprehension, which are, after all, more or less enjoyable. People realize instinctively that, once the Chinese are civilized, they ' will he much like the rest of the world, ami vastly better customers than they are now. The general appreciation of this fact, even by those who worry most over the bugbear of competition between the white and yellow races, is illustrated by the writer whose words are quoted above. His warning is followed by a long account of the railroad situation and prospect in China, and by detailed information as to how Americans can get their share of orders from the Celestials. Theoretically he is gravely alarmed; practically he is not at all afraid, and with rather amusing incon sistency he is at great pains to tell bow best to "drive home with sledge hammer blows every little entering wedge of civilization." A SONG. r •'That passed over, and this may, too." Many sorrows have come and gone. Pain has tarried—and then, passed on. "That passed over, and this may, too." This is the son*,' I would sing to you. Now that trial has 'ome OUI-H more. You've eonquered pain in the days of vore, "That passed over, and this may, too." HELEN'S TWO LOVERS ll •M jg By ANNA SHEILDS. ypk. 1') lie feel tri !'''' |' I' 1 1 i' I ' "' asked hi in self "W" these questions i over and over, wearying of the repeti tion, and vet never able to end it by i saying heartily that he was glad ami ! triumphant, or bitterly that lie was 1 sorry and ashamed. The plain fact < stared him ever in the face, that Kelen ] Raymond did not love him, and iliat i Mrs. Raymond had urged his suit, and i exerted her maternal iiiHueuee and i eloquence until Helen had consented ! to he his wife, telling liim very frankly ' that her heart was iu the grave of her 1 lover, George Vanhorn, who had been killed in a railway collision nearly one : year before. "Mother was never willing I should marry George," Helen said, sadly, "because he was poor, and we have ' suffered all that poverty can inflict, i He was on his way to Colorado, where ! his brother had been successful, when i he was killed." Will Spencer winced, for he was rich, very rich, but then he put to the wound that soothing salve, "J will win her love when she. is my wife," that lias wrecked so many lives, It may come, this love that will not he hid den, to a man and wife after they are bound together for life, but the risk is great, and Will Spencer knew it. Yet he cherished the delusion that love in the end would win a return, and he knew his own love to he strong and enduring. He had stepped back when George Vanhorn was met with such a smile as he could never win, had kept from pressing his suit when the name of Helen's lover ap peared on the list of the killed in the account of the railway collision, but after the lapse of several months lie hud won Mrs. Raymond to his side, and so, by proxy, wooed Helen and won—what? a cold, reluctant consent to he his wife. Yet she was not cold, this girl of twenty, whose heart had seemed crushed ever since the day when George Vanhorn s name was recorded as dead. He could have told how her eyes could soften with love's tender ness, her cheeks burn with love's blushes, her low, sweet, voice tremble with love's whispered words. He had won what all the Spencer gold, the riches of long generations, could not buy. In the "Jong ago" the Raymonds had held wealth, too, but Helen's father, to use the expression of his brother, had "muddled away two for tunes, somehow," and had died a pau per. Helen was but a child then, and her mother was sufficiently wise to "lit her for a teacher," by a course of ju dicious education, for which her uncle paid. And Helen, nervous, sensitive, quick in feeling, impulsive in speech, i \>as about as unfit for a teacher as a girl could be. Still she trudged about in all weather to instruct such pupils in music and French as she could pro cure, and helped her mother shoulder the thousand and one cares of a board ing-house when she was at home. Before that fatal railway collision she was a bright, beautiful girl, with large, expressive, brown eyes, a voice of music, the step of a fairy, singing as a bird sings, from sheer joyousuess of heart, bringing a jest to all the house hold worries, laughing merrily over her own blunders in the culinary de p'ftnient, turning old dresses, renov ating old bonnets without a complaint, living on love and hope. After that day she moved about slowly, her eyes dull ami weary, her duties met with rigid mechanical pre cision, her lips compressed, her cheeks pale, a shadow of her joyous self, Aud it made Will Spencer furious he could not break this icy calm. All in vain he brought her costly gifts, took her to every plaec of amusement where he eould coax her to go, was her openly devoted slave. The few words of thanks she spoke were dull, her smile was on her lips only, and and her eyes did not brighten. By no device could he call up one Hash of her old joyousuess. She sang for him, selecting difficult overtures that proved her proficiency, displayed a charming voice, nothing more. Never did she sing the old ballads that George Van horn had loved, when she threw her heart into every line, and made her eyes misty with her thrilling tones. Yet she was grateful, and spoke often of her own regret that she so poorly repaid all Will's tenderness. She tried not to shrink from his caresses, to give back something of the warmth of his love, aud then, in the privacy of her own room, wept scalding tears over her own faithless ness. Mrs. Raymond was often afraid that she would yet miss the golden prize she had partly won, and heartily sec onded Will in his preparations for u speedy wedding. It was Mrs. Ray mond who went with him to open the bouse that he had bought to adorn for las bride, who aided him in the selec- Who forgets that the skies are blue, In dreary seasons of fog ami rain? To-morrow the wind may sift ugain. passed over, and this may, too." God who sendeth the summer dew Guardeth the dalTodil under the snow. Spring must come, and the winter go. "That passed over, and this may, too." -Sara Al. Haughton, in Y'outh's Companion, tion of carpets, curtains, furniture, and gave him instructions regarding the j kitchen department, of whose needs he was as ignorant as most young bach elors. It was Mrs. Raymond who re ceived an anonymous letter containing a liberal sum, which she quietly ap propriated for a trousseau and a suita ble dress for the bride's mother. She was a woman of rare tact. Hav ing won Helen's consent' to he Will Spencer's wife, she never bothered her by complaints about her listless in difference to her lover or her future prospects. She simply made all the arrangements for her, without once admitting a possibility of change. The betrothal was spoken of on all occa sions, the preparation of the house, the selection of the trousseau referred to in matter-of-fact words that made Helen feel, as it was intended she should, that she had walked into a net from which there was no escape. And Will Hpencer knew it all, and writhed under the knowledge, being a frank, loyal man, whose impulses were generous and honorable, ami who loved Helen with all the strength of his heart. Often he asked himself how lie could endure life, if he found his wife a faithful slave, instead of the happy companion ho hoped to make her. "[f she never loves me!" lie thought, bitterly. "If all my love fails to win hers, what will my life be?" He did her justice. He knew that if his love failed to win her heart, his gold w as powerless to make her liappy. j lie knew that if her mother died or could not he benefited hy her mar riage, she would rather beg her broad herself than he his wife. While matters stood in this unsatis factory state, Mrs. Raymond made a suggestion: "f want you to go away for a month," she said to him, "and let Helen miss the constant devotion that she has had ever since your be trothal. Let her feel that u void bus come into her life, and how dull and cheerless it would he if she lost you. The wedding day is set for June 10, and this is April. Stay away until the sth or 6th of June." Jt seemed to him good advice, and he had business in the West that would lill his time prolltably, Jt gave him the first really happy moment of his engagement, when Helen said, gently, yet with a shudder: "I cannot bear to think of you on railway trains, Will. Write often,that 1 may know you are safe." Her lips met his in u tender pres sure, such as a loving sister might be stow, but with far more alfection than she had ever before given him. Was lie winning her? The hope ma le this unexpected absence endurable, and for two weeks life held more pleasure than it had done in all the days of his courtship. Then came a blow, sudden, sharp, overwhelming! He was in a large Western city, when, ufter night, re turning to his hotel, a man on crutches asked for charity. The voice was familiar, and, in a shock of horror, the face.struck hiui. due gasping cry escaped aim: "George Vanhorn!'* The inun would have hurried away, but he followed easily. "Let me go, Spencer!" the cripple pleaded. "1 did not recognize you! Don't you know 1 am dead?" "I know you are coming in here with me," Will said, gently, substitut ing his arm for one of the crutches, and entering the hotel where he had a room. "Steady, now!" and he led him, feeling how he trembled, until he had him seated in a great arm chair in iiis room, and felt his heart stirred with deep compassion at the havoc pain and poverty had made. He would not let his guest speak until lie had ordered a supper and made him comfortable. Then, turn ing to him, he saw that he was weep ing. "See what a woman you make of me!" the poor felfow said. "You thought I was dead?" "Yes! All your friends think so." "It was a •narrow escape, and I| wonder why 1 was spared. Nine months | iu a public hospital have left me | crippled and incurably ill. They 1 would not keep me after I could get about on crutches, but I have begged or starved, and it will not he for long! I would not let any one know for fear it would get to—to—Helen!" "You want to hide from her?" "Yes—yes! What would her life be tied to mine? You will not betray me, Spencer?" "But you may recover." "No! I should be.only a wreck if I could, but I cannot, I have internal injuries that the cold and hunger of last winter have increased, fatally," Will Spencer literally could not speak. This man asked of him only the silence that would give him his wife. Could lie let Helen remain in ignorance of this strange adventure the memory of her old love might die away in time. When ho could speak again he led the conversation to Helen, Ho was very frank, telling George Vanhorn how truly lie had been mourned, hut saying jothing of his own hopes, and it was easy to see liow George had loved her, how utterly self-sacrificing his silence had been. To spare her pain he had kept from her all knowl edge of his own suffering. But his pride yielded to Will's en treaties to he allowed to befriend him. He was very weak, very ill, and he al lowed Will to get him a pleasant room in a quiet boarding-house, to furnish him with necessary clothing, to en gage a doctor, and to take a brother's place beside him. And then true, unselfish love tri umphed. "She will never marry me," Will thought, ruefully, as he folded a long, long letter, "but she shall not, be cheated out of what little happiness life may still hold for her." He wrote, too, to Mrs. Raymond, a letter that caused that respectable lady to grind her teeth, but which she obeyed, packing her trunk and accom panying Helen in the journey west ward. It was Will Spencer who met the two at. the depot, and accompanied them to the boarding-house, where lie kept Mrs. Raymoud in the parlor after ! sending Helen upstairs alone. It was Will Spencer who smoothed away every difficulty, engaging rooms for mother and daughter, and quietly effacing him self. It was far too long a story to try to record the three mouths that followed. George Vauhorn was resolute on one point. He would not marry Helen. He had no hope of recovery, but if the unexpected should happen lie would not risk ruining Helen's life by bind ing it to his. "Oh," she would cry, "what am T to deserve the love "of two such men? Mother, it humbles me to think how they love me!" And by this love her courage was sustained through the three months, when she and her mother smoothed George Vanhoru's path to the grave. Such happiness as could be hers, she knew that she owed to Will Spencer, who showed his love only by his care of the invalid. He never spoke of love to her, giving her up entirely, but upon her lover he lavished every kind ness wealth could procure, or friend ship dictate. He gave him a brother's devotion until the last parting came, and when he was laid in the cemetery Will Spencer took Helen and Mrs. Raymond back to their home and left them. It was three years later when he came home from a European tour and called 011 Mrs. Raymond. "The old lady, sir, is dead," the servant told him, an' Miss Helen's liv in' iu street. Maybe yees didn't hear she's come into some money from her uncle, sir, and Mrs. Grady, she's took this house, sir." Come into some money! Well, she did not need him. He would wait awhile. Rut in a few days a little note reached him: "It was unkind to letme hear of your return by accident. Will yoii not come to see me?" Would he not? And when he went he could not keep the love out of his eyes or his voice, and she—at last! Her eyes drooped under liis gaze, her cheeks blushed for him, her voice faltered, with tenderness He had won his bride! And he bad no secret hidden from her loving eyes, 110 treachery lie would dread to have her discover. By the frankness he had thought would alienate her forever ho had won lier true, faithful love, a devotion as entire as that she had given in her girlhood to the man he had souobiy befriended. The Ledger. Tlo I.onguat llrl<lgea. The longest, bridge in the world is that over the Tay, in Scotland, which is 3200 meters—9696 feet long; and the next longest is also in Great Britain, being that over the Firth or Forth, 2301 meters—sss2 feet in length. The following table gives, iu meters and in feet, the leugths of the principal bridges in various countries: Moters. Feet. Tay, Great Britain 3200 %M Forth, Great Britain 2354 ftss*2 Moerdyck, Holland 1470 4820 Volga, Russia 1438 4715 Wofehsel, Germany 1325 4340 Thoen, Germany 1272 4172 Gradenz (Elbe), Germany... .1092 3580 Brooklyn, United States 488 1001 The greatest single span of the Forth Bridge is 521 meters—l72s feet; of the Elbe Bridge 420 meters—lß7Bfeet; of the East River Bridge, 488 meters —lOlO feet. Itueka Paid Dciirl.v lor Their Scrap. Two Susquehanna County young men, a few weeks ago, returned from a hear hunting trip through Pike County, Pennsylvania, bringing with tliem a pair of locked horns, which they ob tained from an old hunter in that sec tion. The hunter, iu prowling through the woods, came upon the carcasses of two tine bucks, their horns firmly in terlocked. They evidently had been lighting, and in the struggle had locked horns. Being unable to get them sep arated, and, consequently, unable to obtain any food, they had starved to death in that position. One set had nine prongs. The horns are so firmly locked together that it is impossible to separate them without sawing off oue of the prongs.—New York Press. Made u CurioiiH Apology. Among the peculiar documents on lile in the County Clerk's office in Al bany, Oregon, is the following recorded in volume 1 of miscellaneous records, which the Albany Democrat, gives without the names, as nothing is known of the present residence of the parties: "Sweet Home, September 21, '79, This certifies that I did circulate a slanderous report against Rev.——, which was told me on Williams creek, Josephine County, a report which I do not, propose to prove to be a truthful report. I know nothing against said and ought not to have said any thing and hereby ask pardon."—Port laud Oregoniau. First Bicycle Highway soman, A new episode has been added to the history of the bicycle. Iu France the other day two ladies were stopped 011 the road by a bicycle woman, who drew a revolver and forced them to surrender their valuables. This is the first authentic, case on record of a bi cycle highway woman. Th Greek Girl. A blooming Greek girl is uncom mon. The girls' faces that most strike one nre the color of yellow wax, which blazing black eyes light up as might a devouring flame. There is something in most of the faces that betrays lia bility to fever. All feeling for beauti ful drapery is extinct. The rich wo men dress in frightful imitations of French finery; the poor in sordid patched raiment, too thick and clumsy to admit of graceful folds. On Sun days, however, there is a show of fancy needlework, that, with necklaces of coins, has a pretty ett'ect, The Queen often wears a Greek costume. —New York Press. An Administration Girl. Although the present administration is distinguished for its many young people among the official families, hut one of all the host of pretty girls has the right to stand in the receiving line with Mrs. McKinley when she wel comes the public, and this is Miss Flora Wilson, the only daughter of the (Secretary of Agriculture. She is slender and graceful, and has exqui sitely dainty coloring, with dark hair and blue eyes. Her five brothers and her father unite in an effort to make up to her for the loss of her mother, who died a few years ago. All of the Secretary's children have received their education at the lowa Agricul tural College, which he presided over as President. Summer I'iiiH'ittH in Parasols. There is 110 question of keeping off the sun by means of the parasols with which the summer girl is tilling her trunks for the coming campaign. Her aim is simply to make her costume as fluffy and highly colored as possible, and the parasol is decidedly an aid in accomplishing the general effect. One of the most gorgeous of the sea son is the "sunburst" parasol, which is a mass of elaborate fluting. Then there is the parasol composed entirely of chiffon and ruffled from centre to edge. Only a shade less elaborate is the design of brocaded silk or satin, lined with a contrasting shade, and decorated with frills of chiffon, hunches of artificial flowers, or now and then u group of ostrich tips. A particularly popular fancy is that the morning parasols shall match the shirt waist with which they are worn, as the summer girl still clings to the most comfortable morning costume which she lias ever known. Thus the new parasols are made of Cham bray, linen, muslin and mull, and are prettily lined with silk of becoming shades. The number of these dainty articles necessary to the summer girl's outfit has not yet been computed. Women in Horticulture. According to the census of 1890 there were 312 commercial greenhouses, or about, one in fifteen, owned and man aged by women. We have a personal acquaintance with several women who are ; successful retail florists. Other women to our knowledge are making a success of raising carnations and other flowers for the wholesale trade. These people soon learn that the business of raising and selling flowers is beset by much care and labor that does not come under the head of poetry. And yet nearly all women florists that we have met were led into the business because they first of all loved flowers. It adds to the delight ami success of any occu pation if one has a love therefor. There is no question that, as a rule, women have a greater fondness than men for flowers; why therefore should they not engage in growing and handling them for proflt. The rougher work about flower raising, such as the care of greenhouse furnaces, the handling of soil and manure, and the like, can easily he done by men who work for moderate wages. If women are suc cessful as florists they are equally so as raisers of vegetables and small fruits, especially strawberries; they direct the rougher work, help to prepare the pro duce for customers, and perhaps take in hand the selling, thus keeping closely to touch with the state of the market. Generally speaking, we think that the raising of strawberries near our best markets is further from being overdone than that of almost any other kind of. produce. The consumption is enormous, and fresh fruit brought quickly from the fields, without a large distance intervening, always will sell considerably higher than fruit, long from vines that has been shipped. Much of the work of picking and hand ling small fruits is well suited to be done by women.—Yick's Magazine. Queen Victoria is kiud to her poor relations. The servant girls are organizing unions about the country. Ex-Empress Eugenie soon starts on a tour to Constantinople and the Black ttea country. Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who mar ried at sixty-seven, is now eighty four, and in good health. Club women have been rejoicing over the appointment of Miss Mary liedfield as Postmaster at West Point, N. Y. Miss Mary Isabella Potter, who was ordained as an Episcopal deaconess in New Haven last Sunday, is the tirst woman to take orders in the diocese of Connecticut. The recent death of Elizabeth, Duchess of Bedford, in England, makes the Duchess of Cleveland and Lady* June Ellioe the last survivors of Queen Victoria's bridesmaids. The Michigan Legislature has en acted a law to allow all people who own assessed property to vote at school elections, thus admitting some of the women to a limited franchise. Mine. Berliot Ibsen, daughter of Bjornson, and daughter-in-law of the dramatist, has just made her public debut as a vocalist of Christiania. She intends to adopt music as a profession. Miss Mary M. Barteline, of Chi cago, who has been appointed public guardian by Governor Tanner, is the tirst woman to hold the position. Her duty is to look after the estates of friendless children. Queen's University, at Kingston, Canada, has conferred the degree of doctor of laws on the Countess of Aberdeen. Lady Aberdeen is the tirst woman in the Dominion who has re ceived this distinction. "In Denmark women who foresee a life of single blessedness can make provision whereby they can at the age of forty be put in the spinster class for good and receive a weekly stipend for their support. Next to Queen Victoria, Queen Louisa of Denmark is the oldest Queen in Europe. Princess Louise of Hesse- Cassel was born in 1822 and was mar ried at the age of twenty to Prince Christian of Denmark, now King Christian IX. The St. Paul Globe says: "A pic turesque figure in the lobby of the Ryan Hotel recently was Miss Carrie Bacon, who is out in the wild West in the interest of a mammoth chewing gum establishment which has its head quarters in Ohio." The custom of wearing the engage ment ring on the fourth finger of the left hand is traced to an old pagan superstition which claimed that a vein connected this finger directly with the heart. It has also become a matter of convenience, as that is the finger least used. Great interest is manifested in Ger man medical circles with regard to an American lady student who, after hav ing taken her degree at the University of Wisconsin, has been udmitted to a post-graduate course under Professor Dr. Veisser at the University of Bres lau, Silesia. Hers is the first case of a female student's admission to u Prussian state clinic. FiiHltlon Note*. Flowered grenadines appear to be among the leaders in summer fabrics. Grenadine, both plain and fancy, takes high place among summer dress fabrics. Lilacs, white and purple,have taken the place of violets with the flower vendors. The Parisian pompadour is the style of coiffure which necessitates a "rat" to give its proper height. The mushroom bunches of ribbons wired to stand high above the hat crown are deemed essentially chic in summer millinery. Canvas is still very popular and seems stoutly to resist the invasion of double-faced cashmere ami mohair— two rivals of canvas now in the field. Senora, the new bright shade of Spanish red, is slightly less vivid than cherry color, but more brilliant than either the geranium or Danish dyes. Gray silka and poplins are trimmed with corselet and collars of yellow satin; bolero of the gray lined with yellow, and full vest of white chiffon and yellow lace. Silk blouses are made with tight sleeves, buttoning from wrist to the scant puff on the shoulders, and small gold, not brass, buttons are lavishly used for trimming. J" Gray embroidered tulle, orange vel vet, Venetian lace, a cluster of Mermet roses, and a very unique buckle of French brilliauts form a lovely model for an evening hat made by Virot. Foulards and all soft silks will be warn during the summer. They are printed in dainty designs and come in soft colors and in such a variety of patterns that they may serve for any purpose. Crepc-de-Chine is to be very much worn this season, especially for even ing dresses and in combination with other materials, and there is a new kind, ribbed like poplin, which is very delicate and soft. The turn-over stock collar of linen has been a favorite for tailor-made costumes and silk shirt waists for some time, but it has now made its appear ance in dainty embroidered lawn and is even carried out in velvet and lace. The English tailor-made coat has no gathers at the top of the sleeves. It lias a little fullness, which is arranged in small dart seams covered with fancy braiding. Many of the coats are elaborately braided, and several differ ent kinds of braid are used on one garment. SCIENTIFICT'ANO IKTOSTRIAL Paper belting for machinery is be ing made aoid used in Germany. An Oshbosh (Wis.) firm is success fully making binding twine of marsh hay. Liverpool has the largest fire en gine in the world—equal to throwing 1800 gallons a minute and a stream HO feet high. The Athens check factory is to be operated by electricity. This is the first cotton factory in Georgia to use electricity as a motive power. Natural gas is fast going. J. D. Weeks has just made a report 011 the supply and its decline for the National Labor Bureau in which it appears that the supply lius fallen a half in seven years. Fair-haired people are becoming less numerous than formerly. The an cient Jews were a fair-haired race; now they are, with few exceptions, dark. So it is in a lesser degree with the Irish, among whom 150 years ago a dark-haired person was almost un known. The suggestion is advanced that perhaps the ultimate field of acetylene will be in the lighting of lighthouses and 011 board ships. Its compactness and the ease with which it can be stowed away in the form of carbide and ease of generation of the gas. to gether with great brilliancy, and point to its adaptability for this purpose. The "stopping" qualites of the Leo Metford rifie, now in use in the Brit ish army, lias been the subject, of much comment over sinco the Chitral campaign. The bullet used was there found of very little use in stopping the rush of a determined body of fa natics. This will not be the case in future, it is stated, as a new bullet has been invented, the quality of which are said to be undoubted. A recent discovery that practical men as well as scientists approve is the complete transformation of wood into gas. The product has a power four times greater than that made from bituminous coal. Its value lies in adaptability as a motive power, which cau be applied to the produc tion of ceramics, in glass manufacture, for Bessemer hearths, and like indus tries. Rich iu carbonic oxide as it is, the gas is available for the inanufac ture of oxalic acid and other chemi cals, and, it is said, at a very consid erable saving in cost. How <enTal lolk Wan Killed. George L. Kilmer, in a war article headed "Restiu Scattered Urns," pub lished in your paper to-day, makes a statement which I feel ought to be corrected. 111 speaking of the Con federate General Polk (Bishop Polk) he states that he was killed near At lanta by a shell aimed and fired by General Sherman. This is not true. I was standing by the gun from which the shot was fired that killed General Polk, and know that General Sherman was not present. The battery, the name of which 1 do not recall, was in position 011 the left of our brigade, 011 a hill overlooking a valley, 011 the op posite side of which was another hill covered with trees. While talking to the sergeant in charge of one of the guns, an officer approached and direct ed the attention of the sergeant to 1% group of what appeared to lie Confed erate officers at the edge of the woods of the hill opposite, and ordered him to givo them a shot. The sergeant sighted his gun and fired. The result was a great commotion and scattering. Somebody had been hit. Next morn ing we discovered it was General Polk. The shot struck him in the upper arm, plowing its way through the client, and cutting him almost in two. This occurred on Pine Knob, not far from Iveuesaw Mountain. On our advance the next day I visited the spot and saw the stump of a tree against which Gen eral Polk was leaning at the time he was shot. The tree was covered with his blood.—C. Laux, in the Los An geles Times. l'cciilitii* IformMl Oraiigt*. The Chinese are very fond of mon strous forms of fruits and flowers, ami any departure from the normal form is usually cherished and highly valued. In their gardens they have numerous forms of monstrous oranges—some will produce fruit with poiuts like fingers, and are known as the hand orunge. Another form lias a long horn project ing from the apex, aud are known as the horn orange. Another variety, which botanists have known by the name of Citrus aurantiuin distoriuiu, bears a fruit in the resemblance of a cluster of sea shells. To one ignoraut of the laws of vegetable morphology, those spells of wandering from the nor mal type are very mysterious; but when it is understood that all parts of the orange, as well as other fruits,are made up of what would have been leaves or branches changed so as to constitute the various parts of the seed and ves sels, and that a very little differenee in the degree of life energy will change them into various different parts that come to make up the fruit, and the myßtery in a great measure is solved. There are few branches of botany which give the lover of fruits and flowers so much pleasure as the study of morphology.—Meehau's Monthly. Tlnibuctoo. Those who are familiar with the lines of Bamuel Wilberfon.^ Oh, would I were a cassowary 011 the plains of Timbuetoo, Where thereat the missionary, prayer book, nlble, hymn book, too! Have regarded this famous city some what as a myth. But the French reached it about three years agu, and it is a remarkable instance of France out-stepping England in a race for ter ritory. Under French influences the I city is becomiug a great centre of com merce. Unfortunately the climate is unhealthy, but vigorous steps are be ing taken by the French Government to improve its sanitary conditions.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers