Of the 122 honor pupils in the grain- , mar schools of Chicago only twenty live were boy 3. The giria of the re quired degree of scholarship necessary to obtain this distinction outnumbered the boy 3 in the ratio of nearly four to one. A mndstone is advertised for sale in a recent issue of a scientific paper. The advertiser offers to prove its effi cacy to any prospective purchaser. Whether the advertiser or the pur chaser is to undergo a bite from a mad dog, in order to prove the merits of the stones, is not stated. It lias been discovered that an act of the Colorado Legislature in regard to negotiable instruments repealed the statute establishing as holidays the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, New Year's, Washington's Birthday and Memorial Day, leaving only Arbor Day and the Saturday half holidays as legal holidays. The average cost of an oil well at Snmmerlaud, Cal., all complete, is about s'loo. The running expenses are $lO per month for each well. An ordinary well will yield four barrels per day, or 120 barrels per month. One hundred and twenty barrels are worth $125, leaving a balance of sllO each month on a SBOO investment. L'liere is more oil in California than in Pennsylvania. Harper's Weekly says: A new law liv Massachusetts makes the possession of the skin or feathers of any birds which is protected by the laws of that State punishable by the same penally as is imposed for killing the birds. This seems to mean that the guileless maid who buys her feathers of a milli aer runs as much risk of lino or im prisonment as the hard-hearted man with a-gun who goes out and pots the oird. In a State where a schoolmas :er is less comprehensively abroad chan in Massachusetts this law might make trouble, but the presumption is that in the Bay State every schoolgirl is ornithologist enough to know which birds are protected citizens, and which ore aliens uud safe to wear. The os" • eusible purpose of the new law is to preserve the birds which eat the bugs which feed on the crops of Massachu setts, hut the promoters of the law are not likely to grieve if it goes beyond that and discourages the wearing of feathers in hats altogether. This is certainly an ago of hurry and bustle, and things are now don a "while you wait," which formerly were subject to greater deliberation. Mary Shaw, a wealthy widow of Indiana, re. lates the Detroit Free Press, is right op to the times, too, and when she called on a lawyer of Shelbyville and announced that she wanted to get mar ried before she went home, she cre ated some surprise, especially in view of the fact that she had no idea of who the wanted to marry. .She was a good jlient, however, and the lawyer sallied out iu search of a groom. He found one in the person of William Dounard, a gardener, who was willing to "with ill his worldly goods endow" thewidow, especially as she would bring a for tune of §30,000 into the partnership, while he had not a cent to his name. Alter a brief examination, the widow pronounced the lawyer's choice satis factory, and a minister was sent for, who soon made the pair one. Then, leaving a substantial check iu the law yer's hands for bis promptitude in the case, she left for her home with her new-found lord and master. She is sixtj-live years old and Dounard only thirty-eight. "Relief work for the poor of San Francisco, undertaken in the early spring, and recently completed, had some novel and interesting features. I u the first place the money used came from public contributions and not through an appropriation, 110 . pre cedent being established for future woriiment, and no political favor be ing bought. Then the expenditure of the money was watched over by a com mittee of citizens, cbosea because of their business ability. This commit tee, to give aid without encouraging pauperism, distributed the money for labor honestly done, paying only cur rent wages. 111 engaging labor it avoided the politicians, being guided largely by the advice of the Associa ated Charities, the Salvation Army and the police. Its purpose also was to make the labor of permanent bene fit to the general public, thus render ing somo substantial return for the money contributed. The work done was in the construction of a needed c.'.id substantial boulevard, and tlie en -1 ire amount contributed was expended iu this line, the administration officers serving without compensation. Sev eral hundreds of deserving men with dependent families received aid with uo loss of self-respect. _j__ SOME TIME. Rom* time we shall know why Oar sunniest mornings change to noons of rain; And why our stops are shadowed so by pain; And why we often lie On couches sown with thorns of care nnd doubt, And whv our lives are thickly hedged about With bars that put our loftiest plans to rout. Some time we shall know why Our dearest hopes are swept so swift away, And why our brightest flowers tlrst decay; Why song is lost in sigh. Whv clasping lingers slip so soon apart— Estrangement, space and death rend heart from heart. Until from deepest depths tho teardrops start. 8?*" *" " 4 % FT THE DWARF'S & LITTLE BROTHER, T £ ?§ buy iter. Look out forTobin's foot. Don't let the old duffer from the i Clanearty stables fool with it. Tell ail tho I | "old folk." that Master Tony sent them love I aud wishin' them a good prntie crop. Love I j to dad and yourself. Toav. After Tony Dysart had evolved this characteristic missive from his insides, ho went out for a swallow of fresh air and to relieve himself of the strain of composition by a long walk. Constance was very lovely at the dauce, iu a faint-green brocade, with a quantity of creamy old lace. Some crimson poppies were twisted round her ivory shoulders. One or two more of the flaming flowers shone from her pale-gold hair. Mr. Dysart completely lost his head over her; as he had a lot of possessions in Ireland, among them a rich father and an ancient and hon orable ancestry, he could afford to do so. ll# was thinking of her as she had looked the night before, when sud denly she appeared, with her servant, coming up from a street dark ami deep, like a well, for already it was getting dusk. On the strength of being at college with her brother, he began with true manly irascibility to take her to task for her imprudence. But Miss Coil stance tightened up her soft, haughty mouth and, giving him the rear curve of a tweed shoulder to study, led him a chase home. The house the brother and sister occupied had been Senor Lopez's, but was presented to Dick, together with a mine worth millions, several black-eyed girls, and what other trilling property Don Felipe owned. However, Dick con tinued to pay the rent regularly and gazed 011 the girls from afar. The hanging-lamp was lighted in the zaguan; and when tlieinozo uuchaiued the great double doors, a Hood of melody and fragrance rushed out to greet them from the birds and flowers in the dim jiatio. Dick, in asmoking jacket, lounged out from the sala to insist that Tony, old boy, should take tea with them. Which he did. That was the first difference be tween the brother and sister. Dick adored Tony, and every night they pumped out the mine or rode to hounds over the sala floor. But Constance detested him, and, con trary to hor usual reticence, said so. She tramped around the disreputable and filthy streets twice as much as be fore, for she knew it annoyed him. Sometimes she would see hiin follow ing, and she resented his espionage. "Why don't you liko Tony?" Dick would ask. "You know my theory, Connie, that a sporty man like Dysart makes the best husband." "Oh, Dick! who is talking about husbands? I think that u man who is utterly doggy and horsey and takes Browning to be authority ou piuk-eye or glanders is a very poor companion. To quote your 'dear Tony,' 'we don't trot in the same class!'" Dick gave a contemptuous snort. This was one day at luncheon, and Constance, instead of the good cry she pined for, took a walk. She had not seen Rosita for some time, and she turned her steps toward what Dr. Dysart called "those cut-tliroat dens." She had never seen the street so de serted. All were taking a siesta, even the dogs. As she reached the sharp corner, she heard a thin little shriek full of appeal. She recognized Rosita's voice, and ran with her criada at her side into the low, open doorway she had before so slmdderingly avoided. There, snapping his teeth and roll ing his bloodshot eyes, was Rosita's "little brother" tied with strong ropes to an iron pin in the wall—but his arms were free, and he stood there, a giant in size. He had secured the key and had almost pulled the staple from the wall, but Rosita was clinging to his arm and calling for help. To aud fro he swuug her as a wolf might a rabbit. He bad the key in his black, cruel bands aud he brought it down on her up-turned face. Then again, as Con stance rushed forward with a scream, the key fell with a crunch on the little, old, gray head. At that moment the pin gave way, for adobe walls are not strong. Con stance turned with her bauds thrown out wildly. Over Rosita's body the madman tripped with a crash to the earth floor; just an lie fell, he caught Constance's gown in his grasp. She fell with him, and, falling, knew the room had filled with a clattering crowd, and that Tony Dysart, smooth-shaven and blonde, loomed above all. Constance, with the help of her criada, got out in the street, where she listened, with beating heart, to the cries, curses, and scuffling going 011 inside. There was one dominating, awful groan—then a sinister silence. A moment of sickening uncertainty for that unemotional young English woman, and Tony Dysart, panting, his clothes torn, and blood-stains on his face and hands. He walked firmly enough, to give Constance a lielpiug arm up the stairs. He said Rosita was dead, and he thought the "little brother" would die also, for, while ho was struggling with him, a policeman had crept up and struck him over the head with a heavy iron bar. "Here we are at the CaSa Stanley," she said, as they stopped before the carved doors. "Come in. Dick will want to see you. He can thank you better than I." "No one can thank me like you," Tony replied. "And I must go to the hotel. This arm of mine pains a little. No, not broken," lie answered, trying to smile, "but'little brother'wrenched it a trifle." Constance, however, would not ac cept his easy assurance that it was all right. "You must come in, Dick will want you." "Do you want me, though?" She did not answer that; but, as she let the knocker fall, turued with tears in her eyes. "Will you come, Tony?" "I will come," he insisted, "if you want me." The big doors swung open. "I want you," she said, slowly. And the doors clanged behind them. —Edith Wagner, in the Argonaut. COOO ROADS NOTES. Synonymouß Terms. We clip from Dun's Review the fol lowing : "St. Louis—Business has improved in all lines this week two to lifteeu per cent. Groceries are in the back ground, but promise improvement soon with better roads." Memphis—Since the waters receded j and country loads have improved, ; trade and collections have been < better." Moral—Good roads and good busi- ' ness are synonymous terms.—L. A. W. Bulletin. A Farmer's Views. The farmers' real taxes are not those which he pays into the town treasury, : but the most burdensome tax is the i unnecessary expense which he must meet wherever he does his work at a disadvantage. If ho insists on cut ting grass with u scythe where a mow ing machine could be used, he is taxing himself by as much as the in creased labor, but it doesn't seem like taxes because it isn't called by that name. If he goes twice to town instead of once with a given load, his tax is very materially increased, but in spite of this, ho too often objects to paying out the dollar that might bring him two in another way. In view of these facts, it is refreshing to receive n letter from a farmer, who says that he be lieves in the extensive building of permanent highways for the reason that such means of communication would decrease the farmers' taxes rather than increase them.—L. A. W. Bulletin. Good l?oauK and Stroud Tlrea, The movement, in favor of gooil roads which has at lust really begun to ugi- I tate rural communities all over the : country involves many contributory issues of considerable importance. For instance, associations which have un dertaken the task of improving the country roads are generally advising farmers to make use of broad tires upon their wagon-wheels, instead of the narrow tires which cut and rut a soft road so deeply. It is not oasy to induce the farmers to follow this advice, because it im plies aiul requires at the outset the re pairing of the road. Broad-tired wagons could make littlo or no progress over some of the muddy and rough roads which are too often found not far from the busiest and most thriving cities. Narrow wheels cut their way through more easily, but only at the cost of exhausting the horses which draw the wagon, and of still further injuring the road as a thoroughfare. If the highway could but be im proved sulliciently to bear the heavy t ires, the wheels would act like a minia ture road-roller, and assist in keeping the road in good condition instead of i tearing it to pieces. As an immediate result, access to markets would be made much inoro easy, draught animals would gaiu iu efficiency and length of service, and it would bo possible to transport larger loads with greater ease and conveni ence than is the case at present. The farmers and the rural commu nities which they control hesitate to take the first step because of the im mediate expense involved. It ought not to be bard to convince so intelli gent a portion of the community that real economy, both of labor and money, would be gained by improved road beds and the use of broader tires.—- The Youth's Companion. Avoea, la., is making some extensive road improvements. A Road Improvement Association has been organized at Lima, O. The Legislature of Massachusetts has appropriated §BOO,OOO to be used in road building in various parts of the State. Good roads throughout this Common wealth are absolutely necessary. lam for the Good Roads bill and all it means, and will bo until it becomes a law.—Representative Ebeuezer Adams, of Pennsylvania. Bad roads caused the death of E. E. Brown, at De2)osit, N. I'., recently. Mr. Brown was driving a heavy wagon through the streets of that town when the wagon caught in a rut throwing him to the ground, and the wheel passed over his head, injuring him so severely that he died in a fow hours. Convict labor in road building is be ing employed iu Duval County, Flor ida, aiul in North Carolina. In the latter case twenty-one and a half cents per day per head is said to cover the cost of food, clothes, medical atten dance and guards, compared with twenty-eight cents per day for main taining the same prisoners in jail. Growing; Crystal*. A method of growing crystals of unusual lustre and transparency has been described to the French Academy by P. de Wateville. The small crys tal is mounted in such a manner that it can be continuously rotated several times in a second while growing in the saturated solution. Atuui crystals grown in this way at fifty degrees suc cessively lose their dodecahedron and cube faces, and at la-i Lave only those of the octahedron. Especially fine re sults were obtained with potassium and ammonia alums, copper sulpliato and sodium chlorate. A Kabbit Club. The people of Wolf Valley, Texas, have organized a rabbit club. The club pays one cent for each cottontail scalp, and two and one-half cents for each jack rabbit. The organization of this club is a necessity. Babbits have ruined all fruit trees this winter which were not protected by oak bushes, if something is not done to destroy these pests the fpxmers will suffer great loss. VICTIM OF ANOTHER'S WEDDINC. ! Kiel' Thrown at a Wedded l'alr ted to a New liulo 011 u Kali road. This is the story of a grain of rieo. It was small, unattractive and un cooked, and was one of a shower that was thrown after a newly wedded couple in the railroad station at Wil mington, Del., when they boarded a i train bound for New York last week. The bridesmaids and ushers fol lowed the newly-made husband and wife to the station, secreting on the way the usual bags of rice and old j shoes to throw after the unsuspecting | couple. The bride and bridegroom I took their seats in the Pullman car, and talked to the group of friends un til the signal for the starting of the ' train was given. Then the bridesmaids : an with little hooks of various sizes and j 1 shapes. All the time the brakeman | was suffering more and more. Ho could not sleep at night, and thought -| he would go mad. He said that some insect was in his ear. Ho could hear | |it buzzing all the time. Then tho ' specialist called iu another doctor, and 1 they held a consultation. They decided I to use a pair of forceps 011 the brake man's ear. He said they could do any thing they liked with him; any- j tiling to stop the pain and buzzing. 1 So they got a pair of the finest sort of ! forceps bent about to suit the delicate ear canal, and they reached gently into j that ear and felt about until they found , 1 small, hard substance. It was drawn i out softly and carefully. It was a grain of rice. It had swelled slightly in the ear-prison. The brakeman was mad. He went l o Trainmaster Frank Carlisle, of the Maryland Division of the P., \V. and li. Railroad, and made a complaint igainst the practice of rice-throwing. ! The trainmaster issued an order to the trainmen giving them special instruc tions to prevent rice-throwiug within the station. A celebrated specialist of this city mid to a World representative: "The 1 jar is one of the most delicate of or- j ?aus. Foreign substances often lodge | there; insects frequently get in the i ?ar, and children are very much ad- ! licted to putting peas, in fact any- j thing they handle, into their ears, j The tendency of such substances is to j swell, and this causes intense pain : mil sometimes suppuration. The I lsunl method is to syringe the ear out. j This brings out the substance as a : •ule; but in obstinate cases we use j oil. If it still resists, small steel I hooks are used. "There is a slight bend in the ear i canal which makes it difficult to reach I iny object that has passed a certain point. Ido not myself approve of lsing forceps. They are apt to push s the object further iu and sometimes I injure the ear drum. "The pain begins when the sub- j stance swells. Sometimes the pain is excruciating. I should imagine that * grain of rice would havo grown soft er, but it evidently did not do so in this case. When an insect gets in the ear we hold a sponge saturated with chloroform against the opening. This kills the insect, and we then syringe it out."—New York World. Volcano UR JI Weather Prophet. Scientists have recently been inves tigating tbe belief, now many centuries old, tliat tbe volcano of Stromboli is a weather prophet. For two thousand • years the inhabitants of the Lipari Isl ands, between Sicily and Calabria, and the mariners on tlie adjacent waters have looked to the burning mountain for advance information regarding wind and weather. By day the gigantic , plume of vapor by its sbape foretold ! the coming wind; and by night the ! glare of the subterranean tires striking i upward on the clouds gave warning of storms that were brewing. Dr. Ber gert, the distinguished scientist, who has been studying the volcano, accepts and explains the popular belief. He says that if moist masses of air blow over Stromboli its plume of vapor will be greater aud will thus foretell rain. In the night this larger cloud will re flect a greater amount of light. Thus the belief that Stromboli was a prophet is justified by modern science. A Cleanly German Custom. ! Many persons of fastidious tastes probably ere this have been shocked by the habit of bakers and their help < aud salespeople of handliug loaves of bread with their unwashed hands. To } avoid this in future a baker in Han over, Siemens by name, lias now dis j covered a simple method. As the loaf ' ; issues from the baking oven it is in closed in a jacket of paper, tied at ' \ both ends. The paper may now bo I soiled, but the bread inside is only ' | handled at table or ou being purchased. 1 , This simple contrivance to do away : ; with what really is a very ancient nui ' sauce finds universal favor iu Germany. CAKE AND POETRY. What art thou, Life? A fleeing day'ot change, A trembling dawn on a wide-reaching, restless sea? A. fervid noon—Eve's shadow, dim and strange? (Oh, that reminds me. I must bake somo cake for tea.) Thy morn is beautiful, oh Lifel (I ought lo glance into the cook-book, so to ranko quite sure. "Three eggs—a cup of cream," just as I thought.) "With all its dreams, so high, so true, so pure! Grand Is thy full, sweet noontide, ("sift tho flour And stir it in." I'm glad the oven's hot and nice.) )) hen lofty purpose arms the soul with power. ( Itaisins and currants, one cup each, with spice.") Night, and tho day's fulfillment! Oil, how fair. How wondrous is this mystery! ("'Then add about A teaspoonful of lemon flavoring"—there! Now, while it bakes, I'll write my poena out.)— Madeline S. Bridges, in Ladies' Home Jour nal. PITH AND POINT. "Stark is a bicycle crank, isn't he?" "I should say he was. When it rains he stays home and runs his cyclo meter."—Cleveland Plain Dealer. The difference between the astrono mer and the chorus girl is that one studies the stars and the other under studies -them.—Philadelphia Record. First Bicycle Girl—"Oh, yes; I often fall off, but I always land ou my feet." Second Ditto—"l think you said you were from Chicago."—Boston Transcript. "These lake excursions seem so lone some." "Lonesome? Why, I am with you." "Yes, I know, but I couldn't bring my wheel along."—Chi cago Record. Fuddy—"l understand that Wigley spends most of his evenings here at your house?" Duddy—"l had an im pression that it was my evenings that he spends here."—Boston Transcript. There's the bicycle face and the bicycle back, With its queer, altitudiuous curve; And the bicycle tongue, iu the middle hung. And the scorcher's bicycle nerve. —Queensland Wheel. Watts—"Getting a little rest out your way since the piano girl took to the wheel, aren't you?" Potts—"Naw. Her bicycle suit is louder than than the piauo was."—lndianapolis Jour nal. "What made you quit the club, Billy?" "Reason enough, I can tell you. I worked five years to be elected Treasurer aud tlieu they insisted ou putting in a cash register."—Detroit Free Press. Barrow—"That's a dandy wheel you havo there, old man. I'll take a little spin on it some day. By the way, what kind of a wheel do you think I ought to ride?" Marrow—"One of your own."—Brooklyn Life. "I told her I was afraid to kiss her while we were on the tandem for fear we would both fall off." "What did she say?" "She said she hoped I didn't call myself an experienced wheelman."—Chicago Record. Gent (solicitously)—" Sir, I have here some indestructible pieplates." Mr. Hall Bedroome (grimly)—" Well, you have come to the right house to Sell them. That's the sort of pies Mrs. Skinner gives us."—Puek. Mrs. Eastlake—"You visited Venice while you were in Europe, I hear, Mrs. Trotter?" Mrs. Trotter—"Yes, indeed, aud we were rowed about by one of the chandeliers for which that city is noted."—Harper's Bazar. Fuddy—"They say you have a lik ing for Miss Spontel." Duddy— "Nonsense! The woman is insuppor table." Fnddy—"That's just it. You won't have to support her. She's got enough for two."—Boston Transcript. Gobang—"l think I'll do quite a little shooting this summer. I wonder what the close season is?" Buckshot —"Well, in your case, old man, I fancy if you applied to the legislature, they'd throw the whole year open to you."—Truth. First White Child. The first child of English parents bom in America was Virginia Dare, the daughter of Ananias Dare and Eleanor White, members of one of the bauds of colonists sent out to the newly-discovered country by Sir Wal ter Raleigh. | A This event took place on August 18, 1587, aud, appropriately enough, one of the counties ou Roanoke Islands is called Dare County. While Virginia was the first English subject born in tho then distant land, a number of col onists had settled in America two years previously; but they returned to Eug laud in 1586. Iu order to commemorate this settle ment, a memorial has just been erected on the site of old Fort Raleigh, ou Roanoke Island. This memorial bears au inscription stating that: "On this I site, in August, 1585, the colonists j sent from England by Sir Walter i Raleigh built the fort called the New ; Fort, iu Virginia." It was peculiarly appropriate that i the first child born in America should I be christened in the name of the State | which owed its own title to the desire i to pay a courtly compliment to the Virgin Queen of England. | President's Mansion Not Whitewashed. Colonel T. A. Bingham, Superinten ! dent of Public Buildings and Grounds j at Washington, in answer to an Agri j culturist subscriber's inquiry as to how the whitewash was made that was used on the White House years ago, says that not within the recollection oi the office lias the exterior of the Execu tive Mansion been whitewashed. White lead and liuseed oil is used when painting the mansion.—Ameri can Agriculturist.