The yearly income of Frauce irom
investments in foreign countries
amounts to about $180,000,000.
For the first, time in the history of
the Republic, Mexican bonds were
quoted at par the other day on the
London Stock Exchange.
Statistics show that this year's crop
of honorary college degrees is unusu
ally large. At the present rate of in
crease those classic ornaments will
soon be as plentiful as military titles
in Kentucky.
Says the Baltimore American: To
the honor of ex-Librarian Spofford be
it said that he was the father of the
plau to build the new Congressional
Library, at Washington, which is pro
nounced by competent judges to be the
finest structure of its kind in the whole
world.
Seeing that the new tax in Pennsyl
vania of three cents a day on all un
naturalized foreign laborers is to be
paid by the employer, the question
has been raised whether, in the case
of a Chinaman, the man who sends his
shirts to be laundered will bo com
pelled to pay the three cents.
Observes the Crookston (Minn.)
Times: "Within the past year 150
private savings banks have failed in
the country and tens of thousands of
depositors have been swindled out of
their earnings. Countries as backward
in civilization as Russia and Japan
have government postal saviugs banks,
but it seems that the bankers have too
much to say about the government of
the United States for the reform to be
adopted here."
Cycling is the sport of sports, and
it is continually broadening its sphere 1
of usefulness, says the New York Tri
bune. The reasons for its ever-increas
ing popularity are manifold, the prin
cipal one being that there is no other
method of locomotive that is at once
so practicable, cheap, speedy and
pleasurable. To many the bicycle is
necessity; to all it is a continuous de
light. The father will cut down his
expenses, the wife will curtail in con
ducting the household and the children
will sacrifice anything to get a bicycle,
and generally the machine proves a
blessing to all concerned in its owner
ship.
Indications point to a decided fall
ing oft'in the number of immigrants
lauding upon our shores during the
present fiscal year, notes the Atlanta
Constitution. Up to this time onlj
1b5,000 immigrants have entered oui
ports, whereas for the corresponding
months of the year preceding, some
thing like 325,000 immigrants landed
upon our shores. One reason for this
marked diminution is, of course, found
in the stringency of our immigration
laws. Within the past few years these
immigration laws have undergone de
cided modification, and the result is not
only that thousands of pauper immi
grants are yearly sent back to Europe,
but that thousands are deterred from
crossing the water. In view of this ex
planation it is evident that while the
number of our foreign immigrants lias
fallen off considerably during the past
year, the loss has been restricted al
most exclusively to illiterate and pauper
immigrants. Instead of operating to
our detriment, therefore, the string
ency of our immigration laws has
operated to pur National benefit.
There is still room for improvement,
however, as the country is not yet free
from the contaminating influences of
European pauperism and illiteracy.
The New York Post states that a
blow has been struck in Maryland at
one class of fraternal insurance asso
ciations the class misnamed "frater
nal," which, trades for profit on the
favor shown the real fraternal organi
zations. Maryland lias a good law on
this subject, requiring all fraternal
beneficiary associations to have "a
representative form of Government,"
aud to be "carried on for the sole
benefit of its members and their bene
ficiaries and not for profit." The so
called International Fraternal'Allianee
did not comply with these require
ments, and on a suit instituted by the
Attorney-General its charter has been
forfeited. The Alliance had no sepa
rate funds or accounts for its different
forms of business, conducted a direct
life insurance in addition to the assess
ment insurance, and had no represen
tative form of Government for the cer
tificate-holders. Worse than all else,
it conducted an endowment business
and failed in it signally, as did its
numerous predecessors. On one class
of endowment policies, the terms of
which guaranteed a payment of S7OO,
a note assessment of SOSO was levied
in the last year of their existence. This
was a clear confiscation of the policy,
as well as an abuse of the principles of
the corporation.
OUR LATTER DAYS.
A. cloudy morning, and a golden eve. 'Tifl an old talc, beloved; we may find
Warm with the glow that never lingers Heart stories ail around lis just the
long— same.
Such is our life: and who would pause to Speaktotho sad. and tell them God is kind;
grieve Do they not I id the path through which
Over a tearful day that ends in song? we came?
The dawn was gray, and dim with mist and Our youth wont by in recklessness and
rain: haste.
There was no sweetness in tho chilly And precious things were lost as soon as
blast; gained;
Dead leaves were strewn along the dusky Yet patiently our Father saw the waste,
lane Aud gathered up tho fragments tuat ro-
Tliat led us to the sunset light at last. mained.
Taught by Ills love, wo learnt to love aright;
Led by His hand, we passed through dreary ways
And now how lovely is the mellow light
That shines so calmly on our latter days!
—Sarah Doudney, in Sunday Magazine.
IJJJJ V ' ' ~ 3 .? ./ JLJJJJ
J| THE MAGIC BREASTPIN. JJ
By L. E. Van Nooman.
IlillilllllillliiillillilllililliliilifiSlillillliS
£\HEN I saw that it
( %) [ Qj was likely to rain all
Vn\ \f Jg (lay I determined to
\\ \# £° / visit my friend Azral,
_Va v \ who keeps the vertu
shop on Wardour
street. I had sev
(m eral holidays on hand
and knew of no more delightful way
of spending an idle hour thau in look
ing over old Azral's collection of vertu,
which had a great fascination for me.
The old man who had taken quite a
fancy to me—probably because I could
appreciate liis love for the bizarre and
antique—and who even became quite
chatty at times, was a venerable He
brew who boasted descent from David.
Contrary to the traditional character
istics of his race, he was frank and
open-handed—l ha l found him even
generous.
A fine old follow he was, tall, majes
tic, with a long white beard sweeping
his breast; stately and slow in speech,
polite, but not cringing, with that
self-respecting courtesy which Dickens i
gives us in Riali, the "Godmother." I
cannot say why, but he was my mind
picture of Aaron—he had a sort of
silent eloquence about him. Without
kith or kin, he lived in the love of his
relics, his children lie called them.
And a rare and exquisite, but decided
ly diversified, family lie had.
The shop, which was wedged in be
tween a jeweler's on one hand and a
second-hand book-dealer's on the
other, was narrow and low, but ex
tended back some distance. On
shelves in the walls, on tables, in
drawers were spread the objects of his
passion in the most enchanting disre
gard for the conventional modes of ar
rangement. Here a shelf of old
Dutch faience showed stout burgomas
ters in blue and yellow. Next was a
shelf from which gleamed arms and
cutlery, swords, real Damascus blades,
of so magnificent a temper as to admit
of being bent in a circle. Here was a
bureau drawer full of exquisite ivory
carvings, crucifixes and amulets of rich
and varied workmanship side by side
with diminutive Persian narghiles aud
squat Chinese josses. In the next was
agate from Japanese lapidaria, along
with wood fretwork from Geneva and
jet from Cornwall. Here hung a paint
ing of Cimabue, here one of Guido,
there one of Benjamin West.
To examine such a curiosity shop
was my delight, and 1 often resorted
there. He had lately bought a stock
of Moorish jewelry, and asked me to
examine it. I eagerly complied, and
while looking it over saw a curious
breastpin that immediately attracted
my attention. A delicate little golden
heart held together two swords crossed.
The swords were each about three
inches long, one a Bcotch claymore of
pure green gold, the baskethilt of the
most beautiful lace-like arabesque
tracery of gold interwoven with silver.
At the end of tho liaudle sparkled a
tiny topaz, scintilatiiig like an impris
oned sunbeam. The other was an
Eastern simitar, with broad, slightly
curving blade and an edge of some
white metal, possibly silver. At the
cross-piece of the handle there was a
ruby, and at eacli end of the cross
piece a diamond of the purest water.
The heart bore two inscriptions, one
in Arabic and one in Latin.
The Latin was "Gladii duo, cor
nnum." The whole thing had a rich
exotic look about it that stimulated
my curiosity. I asked my venerable
friend if I might buy it.
"No," he said slowly—"no, that is
not for sale; but if you like it I will
tell you its history."
I replied that nothing would please
me better.
"That breastpin," said he, "ia a
trust confided to me. Last year I was
in the Holy Laud with my mother, in
Jerusalem. Once on a journey to visit
my kinsman, Javan, at Damascus, I
came upon a poor Turk half dead by
the wayside. He had been attacked
and beaten by robbers so that ho was
dying. I got off my beast, and went
to him and tried to lift him up. He
attempted to speak. Bending close, I
caught the question in Arabic:
" 'Art thou a Jew?'
" 'I am.'
" 'I bad some faint hope that thou
wert a Christian, a European, per
chance an Englishman.'
" 'I live in England, in London,' I
said.
"The dying man clasped his hands.
'Allah is good,' he whispered. 'Do
thou lift my head up. I have a trust.
I will confide it to thee.' Hero his
breath came thick and I could scarcely
hear the words. 'My father—made
me promise—to get this—to—James
! —called Thurs—by Lon—it—nay,
by the beard of the Brophet, I will tell
thee,' he cried, starting up 'it is—'
but the spark of life wasi almost out.
It flickered, and lie had only strength
to put h*3 hand into his bosom and
partly drew it forth again when death
began to glaxe his eyes. 'Allah Ak-
Imr!' he murmured faintly, and the
spark went out.
"He had taken from his breast that
jewel; the parchment around it said:
'James Thursby, Singleton Cross,
London, England.' and I must de
liver it to James Thursby." The old
man paused.
"My wife's father was James Thurs
by!" I exclaimed, excitedly. "Ho
has been dead these ten years, and
Singleton Cross is our home."
"Then if thou art really his rela
tive thou hast been blest of fortune.
Mine eyes would rejoice to behold thy
wife."
The next day I brought my wife with
mo to see the venerable Hebrew.
"Daughter," said he, after we had
presented indisputable proof of our
connection to James Thursby, and
given documentary evidence of my
wife s genealogy—for the old man,
I friendly as he ha 1 been, was cautions
about giving up lus trust, and in that
ho was, of course, justifiable—"and
so, my daughter, thy sire was James
Thursby. Then I have fulfilled my
trust, and he handed her the beauti
ful jewel.
Once at home we were all burning
with eagerness to examine it more
closely. I held it up to the light. As
I did so the handle of the simitar
pressed against my hand, and click—
the swords uncrossed. They had been
set at angle of about twenty degrees,
aud now they were at right angles. I
was astonished, perplexed. I tried to
get them back to their original posi
tion, but they were firm. What did
it mean? I turned the pin around in
every conceivable way, pressed every
part for secret springs, but no solution
of the puzzle offered itself. Much dis
appointed I laid it down, and my wife
took it and began to examine it.
In picking it up the point of the
claymore pressed against the table,
and her finger rested on the hilt of
the simitar. Immediately there was
a click as before, but—mirabile dictu!
—the jewel did not assume its original
form, but the simitar opened like a
box split lengthwise. That is, there
were now two soimetars precisely
alike, eacli one half as thick as the
first one, joined by a most perfect but
entirely invisible hinge, and inside
was a tiny piece of very, very fine
parchment.
Trembling with eagerness I opened
the parchment. Ha!— something writ
ten but in Arabic. What a shame!
But no; I would show it to my friend
the Jew. He would interpret it for
me.
1 looked longingly at the claymore
and tried to open it. I set its
on the table and pressed its hilt. No
result! Then I remembered that when
the simitar opened the point of the
sword touched the table and my wife
pressed the hilt of the former weapon.
£ believed I had found tho secret.
Setting the poiuts of the Saracen
weapon on the table I touched the
basket bilt of the tiny claymore.
Magic! Open flew tho sword. In it
was a paper or parchment like the
other, but—triumph!—in English.
And this is what it said (I had to use
a magnifying glass to read it):
"In the Name of God. Amen!"
Then followed tho regular legal for
mula or an English will, bequeathing
to James Thursby or his heirs the sum
of SOO,OOO sterling, to bo found de
i posited in the Bank of Euglaud. It
was signed "Noureddin Aga," and
witnessed with long Turkish names.
Then followed the name of a prom
inent London business house as agent
of No'tredilin, and in whose name the
deposit ha l been made.
To say that I was utterly dumb
founded is to put it very mildly in
deed. It read so much like a fairy
tale that I almost looked to seo the pin
take wings and fly off. As for my
wife, she acted as thougtt she was be
witched. We sat staring at each
other ill silence. She was the first to
speak.
"Stephen," she said, "I think—"
but here there camo a voice from the
door. "Where's Sue?" it said, and
my wife's elder half-brother appeared.
No sooner, however, had he glanced
at the table thau he stopped short and
cried excitedly: "Where did you get
that?"
"We are just recovering from the
surprise it gave us," said I, laughing.
"Look at it."
But he had it in his hand before I
had spoken, saying as he picked it up,
"This is worth a fortune to you."
I looked at Sue in surprise.
"What is it, Arthur?" she asked
eagerly. "Tell us about it; we
don't understand."
"As I thought," he said, as he
scanned the document iu English.
"Arthur," said his sister, fretfully.
"how oar l ,*ou keep us aucii sus
pense?"
"Well," replied Arthur, "it's rather
a long story, but you shall U&ye it as I
got it from your father. The Tburshys,
you know, area very old family. They
date back further than tka Conquest.
The Jarl Malise Thursbigh, for so it
was originally spoiled, is said to have
been a Norwegian, who came to Scot
land some time about the year 1000
A. 1). His grandson Magnus was a
knight in the First Crusade. He
fought under Hugh of Vermaudois at
the battle of Autioch. During a
desperate charge Magnus* heavy Nor
man horse stepped on a wounded
Turk and crushed his foot.
"lu the heat of battle Magnus could
not stop for one wau, though he did
remark the noble countenance of the
Moslem over whom he had ridden.
But after the Turks had been driven
back, and he, like a true knight, was
caring for the wounded scattered over
the plain, he came across this same
man. Magnus cared for him, nursed
him tenderly, and they struck up quite
a friendship. Noureddin, the Turk,
was a man of alliueuce and nobility
of character. Before they separated
they exchanged weapons, Noureddiu
taking Magnus' heavy Scotch clay
more, and Magnus the simitar of the
Moslem.
"They met again at Ascalon, this
time Magnus beiug a prisoner. The
chivalrous Mussulman treated him like
a prince and had two jeweled breast
pins made by a Damascene artisau,
showing a sword crossing a simitar
over a heart of gold. Each took one as
a keepsake, and solemnly swore—a
strange compact it was —that when the
male line of either failed all the earth
ly possessions of that house should go
to the ln.,t surviving member of'the
other's family. Where did you get
this?"
I explained to him all I knew of it.
"I see," lie said, "the Turk must
have been the last of his bouse. I
have no doubt he had all his property
arranged in this way by bank deposit,
in accordance with the oath of his an
cestor made 800 years before."
There is nothing more to be said ex
cept that I went to the bank,and found
everything all correct, and my wife
heiress to £90,000. My old friend the
virtuoso I did not forget, but made
him a present of the next stock of cur
iosities I came across. As for the pin,
it is guarded with great care and vener
ation, and brought out only on state
occasions.—Arthur's Home Magazine.
Suicide of a DOR.
The tenants of Nos. 10, 12 and 14
Forsyth street, were batlly frightened
L\V a dog, which they thought mad.
Henry Westey, the janitor of No. 12,
saw the animal first, and he says its
eyes bulged, its mouth frothed, auil
its mouth snapped as it began to circle
around hiui on the sidewalk. He
picked up a child that was playing
near and running into the house,
darted into a room on the ground floor
just in time to save his life and that of
the child. For the dog, a small brown
cur, came with a bump and a growl
against the door. Then the dog went
up to the roof, the people in the house
shrieking the warning to keep out of
the way.
A few minutes later the dog leaped
off the roof to a shed five stories below
and broke its legs. A man in the shed
was frightened out of it by the thud of
the fall, hut his wife from the window
above shrieked to him to hurry back
out of sight of the infuriated auimal.
A policeman came and shot the dog.
Then a reporter arrived and began to
inquire among the neighbors about the
history of the dog's madness. It is
possible he was mad, if despair, hun
ger, thirst and ill-treatment can affect
the caniue brain. For one of the
women remembered that the dog had
been seen on the roof for three days.
Sometimes it had scratched at the
doors for food or water, but it got
none. The women drove it off with
brooms and the men burled at it the
next thing at hand. It was a pretty
clear ease of animal suicide which the
janitor might have prevented with a
drink of water or a morsel of foed.—
New York Post.
A Spnrrow'fl Grntiluilo to a Roy.
It is a rare occurrence for animals
in a wild state to select a man for a
companion and friend, yet woll-authen
ticated instances when this has been
done are a matter for record The
following incident is vouched for by a
young woman who is a close and ac
curate observer:
"Last week my brother (a lad of
twelve) killed a snaktr which was just
in the act of robbing a song sparrow's
nest. Ever since then the male spar
row has shown his gratitude to George
in a truly wonderful manner. When
he goes into the garden the sparrow
will fly to him, sometimes alighting on
his head, at other times on his shoul
der, all the while pouring out a
tumultuous song of praise and grati
tude. It will accompany him about
the garden, never leaving him until
he reaches the garden gate. George,
as you know, is a quiet boy, who loves
animals, and this may acconnt, in a
degree, for the sparrow's extraordinary
actions."—Louisville Courier-Journal.
For Poor Travelers.
Switzerland lias always beeh fore
most in the cause of charity. Kecently
a society has been formed which has
most commendable objects. The State
subsidizes and the police I authorities
assist the operations of this society,
which has been founded for the purpose
of aiding poor travelers.' In the canton
of Aargua refuges are now provided on
the main thoroughfares at regular in
tervals, where bonafide travelers on
foot, who are seeking work or who are
passing through the c suntry for a legi
timate purpose, can obtain refresh
ment and a night's lodging. The
Berne Consul Bays the beneficial re
sults of the scheme are likely to cause
its extension throughout Switzerland.
WORK OF AMERICA'S HEN
HER VALUE IS NOT LESS THAN
5290,000,000 A YEAR. • ,
Worth More Than the Knttro Wheat Crop
of the Country—Not So Far Behind
the Karnln&A of the Railroads—Could
Find I y Buy Several States of the Union.
H. W. Collingwood, of the Kural I
New Yorker, says in the New York
World:
Mrs. American Business Hen is one
of our most useful citizens. She is a
shrinking, unassuming creature, too
modest at times even to cackle over
the birth of her own egg, leaving that
celebration to her husband; and yet
Mrs. American Hen has bbeu quietly
paying off mortgages, driving wolves
from the door and hatching out nest
eggs for thousands of featherless bi
peds.
In IS3O there were in this country
Fll CTOr.IAI.LY SHOWN.
258,871,125 chickens and 26,738,315
other fowls. In that year the Ameri
can hens laid 9,836,(374,992 eggs.
There are now 350,000,000 chickens,
which will lay this year 13,750,000,- |
000 eggs. These eggs are worth
$165,000,000, and the poultry meat sold
during the year will bring $125,000,000, 1
which gives $290,000,000 as a very low j
estimate of the earnings of Mrs. ■
American Hen for one year of the '
great depression.
The 350,000,000 hens are worth
$105,000,000 of any man's money, but
we will not eousider that, but take
simply the earnings of the lien. The
average length of an egg is two and
oue-lialf inches. The 13,750,000,000
eggs will, therefore, make a chain
542,218 miles long, while the total
weight of this production of hen fruit
is at least 853,125 tons.
Does any reader of the World real
ize what this immense production of
eggs and meat means to the country?
Here are a few figures for comparison:
Value of silver production $72,510,009
Value of wool clip 38,146,459
Value of all sheep 65,167.725
Value of all swine 1H0,529,745
Value of mules 103,204,457
Value of horses 500,140,186
Value of petroleum products... 62,388,403
Value of potato crop 78,984,901
Value of tobacco crop 35,574,220
Value of cotton crop 259,164,640
Value of out crop 163,655,068
Value of wheat crop 237,938,998
Imports of coffee one year 84,793,124
Imports of tea one year 12.704,440
Total of pensions 139,280,078
Total of school expenditures —178,215,556
Total interest on mortgages.... 70,728,077
Cost of Post office Department... 90,626,296
Net earnings of railroads 323,196.454
Dividends on railroad stocks 81,375,774
The value of all gold produced in
American mines in 1895 was $40,610,-
000, and all silver $72,051,000. The
value of all minerals, including iron,
gold and silver, taken out of Ameri
can mines in 1894 was $208,168,768.
Americans are given to bragging about
our immense mineral resources, and
yet you will notice that the hens paid
for it all one year and had enough left
to just about pay the interest on all
mortgages!
Mrs. Hen will earn enough this
year to pay the entire Slate ami coim- |
ty tax (which in 1890 was $143,186,- ,
007), and have enough left for every \
cent of pensions that are paid to old
soldiers.
The average cow weighs 130 times
as much as the average lieu, and yet
all the milch cows in the country have
a total value of but $263,955,545.
Mrs. Hen iu one year will earn enough
to buy every cow, and put the entire
tobacco crop in her pocket as well.
She could pay out of her year's earn
ings for all the tea and coffee import
ed in one year and all the petroleum
products, and have enough left to buy
all the tobacco grown in 1896. The
total assessed valuation of the follow
ing States fall below the hen's yearly
earnings:
New Hampshire, Nebraska,
Vermont, Alabama,
Delaware, Mississippi,
Arizona, Idaho,
West Virginia, Louisiana,
North Carolina, Arkansas,
South Carolina, Montana,
Utah, Oregon,
Florida, Wyoming,
I North Dakota, Colorado,
South Dakota, New Mexico.
Nevada,
In other words, Mrs. American Hen
could buy any of these States from
one year's egg and chicken money.
She could buy in this way New Mexi
co, Arizona, Wyoming, North Dakota,
Idaho aDd Montana all put together.
The totnl cost of conducting the
Postoffice Department last year was
$90,fi26,29G.8-t. We can pick out
50,000,000 of our best hens that will ,
cover every dollar of this outlay in one
year.
The net earnings of the railroads in
1895 were $323,196,454. The railroad
dividends paid amounted to $81,375,-
774. The American Hen paid nearly
"twice the profits earned by American
railroads.
The total earnings from passenger
traffic amounted to $201,040,598, or
less than that of the hens. It cost in
1895 slightly over two cents to carry
one passenger one mile, .0184 of a cent
to carry one ton of freight one mile,
and ninety-one cents to run the aver
age train one mile. One single hen,
laying 150 eggs per year, could have
215 days of vacation, and would still
be able to pay for carryingone passen
ger 100 miles, or for hauling ten tons
of freight 10,000 miles, or for running
an ordinary train two miles. One hun
dred and forty such hens would pay
the salary of the average teacher em
ployed iu the public schools, while
seventy-five liens would pay the aver
age pension to old soldiers.
OMAHA'S IMMENSE UMBRELLA.
When Uul.eil It Will He 230 Feot Above
the Kartli.
The last Paris exposition had its Eif
fel tower, Chicago hail its Ferris wheel,
Nashville has its giant see-saw. The
department of concessions of the Oma
ha trans-Mississippi exposition of 1898
has also received an application for
space for the erection of a uovel me
chanical device. It resembles the
framework of a gigantic umbrella more
than anything else which might be
mentioned. The part corresponding
to the stick of the umbrella is an im
mense cylinder, thirty feet iu diameter,
constructed of steel plates firmly
riveted, making a standpipe which
rears its head '250 feet above the level
of the ground. At the extreme top of
this cylinder are fastened twelve long
arms, resembling the ribs of an um
brella. These are steel trusses, reach
ing almost to the ground. Atthe lower
end of each of these ribs is suspended
a car for carrying passengers, each car
having a capacity for twenty persons.
These monster rilis are raised by hy
draulic power, acting by means of steel
cables operating through the cylinder,
aided by a mechanism greatly resem
bling that portion of an umbrella which
comes into action when the umbrella
is opened. By means of this mechan
ism the gigantic arms are raised until
they are horizontal, the cars in the
meantime being carried outward and
upward until they reach a point 250
GIGANTIC r>nntELT,.V FOB THE
feet above the ground, the diameter of
the huge circle formed by the sus
pended cars being also 250 feet. When
the highest point has been reached an
other mechanism comes into play and
the suspended cars are swung slowly
around in a circle, after which they
are lowered to the ground. The sides
of the cars are of glass, so that the
passengers may secure an extensive
view of the surrounding country.
An octogenarian vagrant was lodged
at a St. Joseph (Mo.) police station
one night.
REMARKABLE PEAR TREE.
Trained to Grow at the Side of a House la
a Wonderful Way.
One of the most remarkable of old
trained pear trees that we are ac
quainted with is the splendid speci
men of Uvedale's St. Germain at Wes
ton House, Shipston-on-Stour, the
residence of the Countess of Camper
down. The accompanying illustration
is published in the Gardener's Maga
zine. Mr. Masterson, the gardener at
Weston House, writes that 4 'the tree is
admired at all times of the year, but
more especially when covered with
large handsome clusters of flowers.
In autumn, when laden with quanti
ties of big fruits, it also presents an
attractive appearance, and there are
many who also admire the tree when
the stems are bare, and certainly at
this season it is interesting, as the
training is very remarkable. The tree
seldom fails to ripen a heavy crop of
fruits, cropping right down to the
ground. It has never been fed or roof
pruned, and its roots are in the bed of
the carriage drive, gravel also encir
cling the stem at the base, where it
measures six feet in circumference. It
is, however, very probable that the
roots have penetrated a considerable
: distance and come into contact with
the stable drains, thus deriving the
! nourishment required by so large a
tree. The fruits are seldom thinned,
WINTER VIEW OP THE PEAR TREE.
as the tree is so vigorous as to be capa
ble of carrying very large crops, and
yet the fruits weigh from half a pound
to one and a half pounds each. The
total weight of the crop last year was
two hundredweight. Many first prizes
have been won from this tree, includ
ing firsts at the Crystal Palace in 1894
and 1895."
Tlio First PrepaiU Post.
According to M. X'iron the idea of a
postpaid envelope originated early in
the reign of Louis XIV. M. Be
Velayer in 1603 established a private
post, placing boxes at the corners of
the streets for the reception of letters
wrapped in envelopes, which were to
be bought at offices established for
the purpose. And it is said that a
Swedish artillery officer, in 1823
petitioned the Chamber of Nobles to
propose to the Government to issue
stamped envelopes for prepaid letters.
In most parts of Asia where coffee is
used, the "grounds" are drunk with
I the infusion.