One-eighth of the entire population ! of Great Britain live within the limits of London. There are no courts in the Klondike region, but perhaps they are not nec essary where everyone obseives the golden rule. Talk about the far-off gold fields, listen to this Georgia editor: "Our j City Council should make an effort to keep down the gold dust. It hasn't rained for some time, and when tho minus are at work the dust from the gold nuggets is positively stifling!" Russia, according to the recent cen sus returns, has a population close t® : one hundred and thirty millions, about equal to that of any other threo Euro pean States. Half a century ago its people numbered very nearly what ours dojnow; that is, they have just about doubled in that period. A scheme is on foot to bore a longi- : tudinal hole through the ancient Egyp tian obelisk at Paris, and utilize the monument as a kind of candlestick for electric light lamps. This seems a piece of vandalism without precedent in civilized countries. But the world has not yet heard from the French archaeologists. ! The removal of the books of the Congressional Library from their old home in the Capitol to their beautiful new palace, the new Library Building, has begun. It is expected that the removal will occupy ten weeks at least. Meanwhile the library at the Capitol has to be closed to all, as the clerks will be too busy to attend to the wants of readers. No wonder that they say France is becoming commercial. President Faure is spending his vacation at his villa in Havre. It is in a hollow, and is overlooked by the Boulevard Mari time. Enterprising fakirs havo erected telescopes on the boulevard, and crowds aro paying half a franc apiece to see the President walking in his j garden or Beated in his chair on the lawn. It seems that in Hungary tho municipal authorities take a paternal interest in the pocketbooks of the voters. An operatic manager who re- ; cently demanded the required per mission of the city fathers to give a series of performances at Kecskemet was answered by a firm refusal. Tho burgomasters and the members of tho municipality gave as their reason that the population has been very much tried by the long winter and that the hard times would not justify them in having an operatic season. It is said that there are no remain ing public lands in any of the States of New England, in New York, Penn sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary land, Virginia, West Virgiuia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky or Texas. There are 25,000,000 acres of public land in Ohio, 37,000,000 in Florida, 32,000,- 000 in Alabama, 28,000,000 in Louis iana, 36,000,000 in Michigan and 34,- 000,000 in Wisconsin. The other public lands are in the Western States and the Territories. The waterfalls of Sweden are about to be put to work at smelting iron. The idea is that of M. do Laval, the inventor of the steam turbine, and with him in the undertaking is M. Nobel, of dynamite fame. Bog turf, which is required also, is abundant in the neighborhood of the iron works at Bofors, which have been purchased. The smelting in the new process is to be done by electricity generated by the water-power, and M. de Laval e\- pects to manufacture rails, ship plates and rolled joists at a fourth of the present cost, and to transform the Swedish wilds about his works into an important center of industry. "People who are crazy with impa tience to get to the Alaskan gold fields Bhould possess their souls in patience," Baid Colonel R. B. Latham, a Cali fornian "forty-niner." "There is no need to worry about getting to the Klondike in hot haste. If one fails to get there this season he can go next year. There will be good diggings in those valleys of tho Yukon and its tributaries for the next ten years, and the prospectors who go in later need not fear that all the gold will be taken out before they get there. By the way, I remember that a celebrated Austrian scientist gravely asserted a few years ago that the world's gold supply had about given out, and that no fresh discoveries of the yellow metal of any consequenco need bo looked for. Since that prediction the rich fields of South Africa havo been developed, and now comes tho great strike in Alaska, that bids fair to ex ceed in magnitude all gold booms in the world.'? : "- POPULAR SCIENCE. A Parisian is said to have construct ed a machine which makes it possible to split a humnn hair iuto thirty-six parts. Specimens of firedamp have been recently collected from many sources, all containing nitrogen, with appar ently about the same proportion of argon as is obtained from the nitrogen of the air. , The Manhattan Elevated, the Brook lyn Elevated and the Elevated Rail way of New York aro seriously con sidering the substitution of electric , motors for steam power. They are all working together with tho view to get ting the change in motive powder made at the smallest cost. Dr. F. E. Yoakum, of Los Angeles, I Cal., believes ho has made a discovery through his X-ray investigations which will revolutionize the present method of mining valuable ores. He says that it is now possible to detect by the use of the X*ray gold and other ores in the j rocks in which they may be hidden. A reason for doubting that oxygen is an element has been given to the j London Royal Society by Mr. E. C. i C. Baly. Under the silent electric j discharge, the gas that goes to the j cathode with long sparks is less dense than unelectrified oxygen, while in | the case of short sparks it is more | dense. j Next to that of the British Museum, j the largest collection of birds' eggs is that belonging to a lawyer named Nelir Korn in Braunschweig, Germany. He intends soon to issue a catalogue of his | collection, with fifty colored jdntos, : I depicting the more valuable speci mens, of many of which no other sum- : pic is known to exist. The four great tunnels of the world are cited us an illustration of tho marked diminution of the cost of en gineering works during the last quar ter of a century. The Hoosao tunnel, tho oldest of the four, cost SSOO a foot; the Mont Cenis, tho next in date, > $475; tho Bt. Gothard, $305, and the Arlberg, the most recent, only S2OO. j Tho "penuy-in-the-slot" principle lias been applied in Franco to a ma- | chine for producing X rays. The ap- ' , paratus contains the stored electricity j j and a Crookes tube in a small box, i : separated from which by a little space ! is the iluoresccnt screen. A suitable coin enables any person to view his j bones and other marvels for a certain ■ time. How Placer Mines Aro Worked. Doubtless many people will go to the Klondike region who know little or nothing of mining. Fortunately for these the Klondike mines are j placers—the moHt easily worked mines , of any, and requiring the least ex- i j penditure. The methods of washing i out placer gold are known as "sluic ing" and "panning." The former is , employed where the yield is of ordiu- ' ary value, while all old-timers prefer the latter in rich ground. In sluicing the dirt is shoveled into the sluice box, through which water is 1 rapidly running. The box is of vary- j iug length, and lias holes bored in the ' I bottom. These holes are tilled with j quicksilver; the dirt, gravel and small j bowlders are washed over tho quick silver, but the gold adheres to it. | When a miner "cleans up," sometimes every night, sometimes once a week, ' the water is turned off and the sluice box boles are cleaned out. In panning, tho dirt is put into a gold pan—about the size of a small dish pan. This pan is made of cop per. The miner squats beside a stream, lips water into the pan, oscillates it with a motion that can only be ac quired by experience, and gradually sloughs out the water, dirt, gravel, etc., retaining the gold in the pan. Gold being the heaviest substance it is of course the easiest to retain in the pan. If it be in the sliapeof nuggets, the miner picks them out of the pan with his lingers; if the gold be in small particles, tine gold or "flour" gold, lie dries the pan in the sun and carefully brushes the deposit into a piece of buckskin or other material used for carrying the precious metal. A pick, a shovel, a gold pan, water, and, of course, some gold are the only essentials of placer mining. The gold taken out of the Klondike placers, ho far, has been coarse, or in good-sized nuggets. Machinery is only necessary in placer mining where large areas of ground that yields only moderately are worked, and then only for hy draulic power in washing down the dirt. A CuriouH American Cane. Mr. Thomas Groggan is an'Alderman elect. By virtue of the large number of votes be received he is a Police ami Fire Commissioner. Besides all this, he is generous and would give every man so desiring a place in either de partment if there were places enough. , Ho also has a fund of humor and a new cane. The cane was presented to ' him by William Meininger, who lias recently been in Mexico. It is a huge affair, as canes go, but fits the dignity of tho position held by Mr. Groggan. The stock is made of tho trunk of a j coffee tree about two inches in thick ness at the top. On it are carved the Mexican coat of arms and several huge i coffee leaves. Tho Mexicans, it is said, carve these canes with Hint and make their own dyes for coloring the | leaves and coat of arms black, red and 1 j green. Mr. Groggan, whenever any L one enters his office, hastily presents i ! the cane, thereby conferring upon all I callers the police knighthood.—Gal ! veston (Texas) News. Mining. , ' What has become of tho old-fash ( I ioned boy whose face was a mass of j freckles? The boys of to-day don't use 1 | lotions, but the boy whose face was so t covered with freckles that they ran in . i to each other and liung over the edges, jj is missing. He was the smartest boy j on earth. —Atchison Globe. ! KLONDIKE. Over tho mountains and far away, Many a husband, many a son, lu tho regions of ice and snow. And many a father, too: Many a pilgrim i* trudging to-day Many a man who is dear to some ono With a heart full of hopo and shouting Is climbing the glaciers, leading through "Vo-ho To Klondike! For Klondikei" Many a mother and many a wlfo Over the mountains, beyond the plains, And many a one that is dear. Where the great river winds to tho sea, I s dreaming to-day of A happier lifo Many a pioneer jingles his gains, . And to hoar And sings in a frenzied ecstasy— From Klondike! In Klondike! _ . And thousands and thousands of golden Thousands nndjtliousands of miles away, hopes, In tho land of the polar hear, And many a dream that Is fair Many a man b digging to-day, Aro destined to die on tho frozen slopes Only to Hud that there's nothing there— And ilnd their graves out there In Klondike! * In Klondike! —Cleveland Leader. V V ♦ v'iVV \ ' '♦ N<" s/V \/- i\y Vv'i' \. .ji as C v c * AT SEAFOAM LODGE. <F> M v %< m <t> I3y HELEN FORREST GRAVES. -£ jjs XHEIIE ulnst be no other boarders taken," said Mr. McCorkindale. "I stipulate for that." "Oh, there will be none!" said Mr. -"Tjfvr Dewey, tho board ing and real estate agent, nibbling tlio end of bis pen. "I know Mrs. Sweot elovor very well—a most respectable widow, in reduced circumstances—und I know all about Seafoam Lodge, a de lightful place, on the edgo of tho i ocean, where a man eau't help being • healthy." "Very well," said Mr. McCorkin dale. "Let her know that I consider the thing a bargain. I will send my trunks 011 Monday of next week." Mr. McCorkindale had been sum mering at the Adiromlacks, and had found that mountain breezes, black ! flies and dried pine-needles didn't agree with him. lie was now resolved to try the seaside. And ho went home, | well pleased with the bargain he had ; made. j Now, Mr. Dewey was in a partner ! ship—-Dewey & Baiter —and so neatly ] dovetailed together were the arrange ments of tho firm, that Mr. Baiter, who dined at half-past twelve o'clock, came to "keep office" exactly at the hour in which Mr. Dewey, who dined at lialf- I past one, took up his bat and eane to depart. And scarcely had Mr. Salter iighted his cigar, and settled liis chair back at exactly the right angle of the wall, than in came Miss Mattio Mil j foil, a blooming young old-maid, who 1 gave lessons in swimming at tho Aqua | l'ura Academy. | "I want board at tlio seaside for a j month," said she. "At a place, please, 1 where there are no other boarders. ! Prices must bo moderate, and surf bathing is a necessity." "Ah," said Mr. Baiter, bringing his chair down on its four legs at once, "the very place! Mrs. Sweetclover, a client of ours, has taken Seafoam Lodge, on the New Jersey coast, and has a clean, light, airy room to let, with good board, 110 mosquitoes—" "Yes, I know," said Miss Milfoil. "Just let me look at her references." Tho references proved satisfactory. Miss Milfoil struck a bargain at once. "Let Mrs. Sweetclover expect me 011 Monday," she said; and Mr. Baiter pocketed liis commission with inward I glee. j "Anything doing?" Mr. Dewey j asked, when he came back from din j tier, with a pleasant oleaginous flavor | of roast pork and applesauce about him. "I've let Mrs. Sweetclover's room tor hor," said Baiter. "Hello!" cried Dewey; "I let it, ibis morning, to old McCorkindale!" I "And I've just disposed of ittoMiss j Milfoil," sputtered Baiter. "Why the | deuoo didn't you enter it 011 the books?" "A man can't think of everything," said Mr. Dewey; "and I was going to enter it when I came back." | "But what are we to do now?" said j Salter. | "Nothing," said Dewey. "Ten to one, one of tho parties won't keep the : contract. We're not to blame, that I j can see." And Mr. Dewey, a philosopher after his way, arranged his bulletin-board anew, and sat down, a human spider, j to await the coming of any flies who might bo disposed for business. i Mrs. Sweetclover, in the meantime, i bad swept and garnished Seafoam ! Lodge, until it was fresher than a cow | slip and sweeter than roses. She lmd decorated her up-stairs room with China matting, frosh mus lin curtains, and dimity covers to the ! bureau and dressing-table, j "I do hope I shall be able to let it!" | said Mrs. Sweetclover, with a sigli. I "But there are so many seaside lodg i ings this year that—Dear me! here comes a gentleman and a valise up the beach-road, and as true as I live, he's making straight for my house!" "Have my trunks arrived?" said 1 the gentleman—"name of MoCorkin | dale." | "Sir!" said Mrs. Sweetclover. | "I engaged the room through I Dewey & Suiter," said Mr. McCork indale, "last week." "It's the first I've heard of it," | said Mrs. Sweetclover, all in a flurry. I But you're'kindiy welcome, sir, and the i loom is quite ready, if you'll be so I good us to step up stairs." j "Humph! humph! said Mr. Mc- I Corkindale, gazing around liim with the eye of an elderly eagle. "Very clean tolerably airy—superb view j from the windows. Upon my word I j like the look of things." "Do you think the apartment will suit?" said the widow, timidly. "Of course it will suit!" said Mr. , McCorkindale. "Here is a month's board in udvance—ten dollars a week, , the agent said. You may servo din ; uer at one o'clock. Blue-fish, roust clams, lobster-salad—any sort of sea food you may happen to have. I don't eat desserts. And now I'm going out to walk 011 tho seashore." Mrs. Sweetclover looked after him with eyes of rapture. "The boarder of all others that I would havo preferred," said she. "I am in luck! I thought yesterday, when I saw tho new moon over my right shoulder, that something fortu nate was going to happen." But Mrs. Sweetclover had not stuffed tho blue-fish for baking, when a light, firm foot-step crossed tho threshold, and Miss Milfoil stood be fore her, in a dark-blue serge dress, and a sailor hat of black straw, while across her shapely shoulders was shmg a flat black satchel, traveler wise. "Mrs. Sweetclover, I suppose?" said she. Tho widow coui-tesicd an affirmative. "I am Mattie Milfoil," said the lady. "I rented your room, last week, of Dewey & Salter." "Dear me!" thought the widow. "Am I dreaming?" "I like the situation very much," continued Miss Milfoil, looking at the curling edges of foam that crept up the beach nt tho left, and then at a mur muring grovo of maple trees at the north. "I shall probably remain here until Christmas, if I am suited!" "But the room is let already!" fal tered Mrs. Sweetclover, at last recover ing her voice. "Taken already!" repeated Miss Mil foil. "But that is impossible. I have taken it." "There's some imistake at tho Board ing Agency," said Mrs. Sweetclover, almost ready to cry. "It's been let twice; and 11 never knew of it until this moment. Oh, dear! oh, dear! It never rains but it/pours!" "But what am T to do?" said Miss Milfoil. Mrs. Swectclover's faded eyes light ed up with a faint gleam of hope. "I've only the eligible lapavtment, 011 the second floor," said she; "but if you don't mind tho garret, there's a nice, uiry room finished off there, with two dormer windows overlooking the ocean " "I'll look at it," said Miss Milfoil. Sho looked at it, and sho liked it, and she straightway sent to the village for her trunks, unpacked her books, her work-basket, her writing-desk and her portable easel, arranged some sea weed over the mantle and made her self at home. Mr. McCorkindale, going upstairs from the dinner table that very day, heard a sweet, clear voice, singing the refrain of some populur ballad, from the upper story. "Eh!" said Mr. McCorkindale. "Is that your daughter?" "It's my lady boarder, sh-," said Mrs.'Sweetclover. "Look here," said Mr. McCorkin dale, stopping short—"this pvon't go down!" "What won't go down, sir?" said 1 the bewildered landlady. "No other boarders taken, you know," said Mr. Corkindale. "That was my express stipulation." "I'm very sorry, sir," said Mrs. Sweetclover, "but—■" "And I'm not going to be trifled with!" said Mr. Corkindale. "Either she or I must go!" "Couldn't it bo managed, sir?" said the landlady, half terrified out of her senses. "No, it couldn't" said Mr. McCork indale. At this moment, however, Miss Mil foil herself made her appearance on the scene, tripping down the stairs in a quiet, determined sort of way, and facing the indignant elderly gentleman as he stood there. "What's the matter?" said Miss Mil foil. "The matter," said Mr. McCorkin dale, "is simply this. I have engaged my board here, 011 the express under standing that I um to be the only boarder." "I see," said Miss Milfoil. "And I am in the way." Mr. McCorkindale was ominously silent. "But," said Mattie, with an engag ing smile, "if I promise to bo very quiet, and to refrain from annoying you in nuy manner whatsoever—" "It would make no difference," said I Mr. McCorkindale. "I object to young women." 1 "But," cried indignant Mattie, : "suppose I were to object to middle • I aged gentlemen on no better pretext?" I "You are perfectly welcome to do so," said Mr. Corkindale, stiffly. I "You see, I am an old bachelor." 1 "And lam an old maid!" pleaded Mattie. "It makes no difference—no differ - i ence at all!" said Mr. McCorkindale. , "I am sorry to disappoint you, Mrs. - Sweetclover, but " f "Stop!" said Mattie, resolutely. "Mrs. Sweetclover, if either of your boarders leaves you, it is I. I came last, and I occupy the least remunera tive room. I will take my departure on the noon-train to-morrow." , And Mattie went back to her room and cried a little; for she had become very fond of her pretty little room already. "At all events," said Mattie to her self, "I will get up before daylight to morrow morning, and have one good swim in the surf." Sho supposed, when she came out tho next day, iu her dark-blue bathing suit and the coarse straw hat tied down over her eyes, that she would havo the coast clear. But she was mistaken. Mr. McCorkindalo was paddling, like a giant purpoise, in a suit of scarlet and gray, among the waves. Ho had always wanted to learn to swim, and here was a most eligible oijportunity. "He don't sec me," said Mattie, to herself, as sh crept cautiously down in the shcdo. w of the rocks. "If he did, I suppose he would issue a pro clamation that the whole seashore be longed to him. But I hope there is room enough for us both iu tho Atlan tic Ocean." And Miss Milfoil struck out scien tifically, gliding through the waves like a new variety of fish, with dark bine scales, and straightway forgot all about the troublesome old bach elor. "It's very strange," said Mr. Mc- Corkindalo, revolving around and around, like a steam paddle-wheel, "A log floats, but I enn't seem to manago it without the help of my arms and legs. I've always under stood that swimming was a very -easy business, but—Pouf—ah-h—wliust— sh—shl Help! help! Ponf-f-f! I'm drowning! Tho undertow is carrying me out, and I can't help myself! Whush-sh! Oh! ah! help! lie-c-e-elp!" And Mr. McCorkindale's voice lost itself in a bubbling cry, while the deaf old fisherman upon the shore went 011 whistling and mending his net, and tho solitary individual, who was pick ing up shells with his back toward the surf, never dreamed but that the stout gentleman was diving for his own amusement. But Mattie Milfoil, cleaving her way steadily through the waves, per ceived in a moment that something was wrong. Mrs. Sweetclover fainted away when they laid the boarder on a pile of blankets on her kitchen floor. She was one of those nervous ladies who afways faint away at the least provocation. Bst Mattie had all her senses about her; and, thanks to her courage and presence of mind, Mr. McCorkindale's life was saved. "What is that rattling on tho stairs?" he feebly inquired, as he sat up, the next day, iu an easy-chair, with a cur ious sensation, as if a gigantic bumble bee wero buzzing iu his head, and cataracts pouring through his ears. "It's Miss Milfoil's trunk going away," said Mrs. Sweetclover, with u snift' of regret. "Tell her not to'go," said Mi-. Mc- Corkmdale. "Sir!" said Mrs. Sweetclover. "Do you think I'm going to turn the woman who saved my life out of doors?" pulled Mr. McCorkindalo. "But I thought you objectod to wo men." said Mattie's cheerfuljvoico out side the door. "I've changed my mind," said Mr. McCorkindale, with a fluttering sem blance of a smile. "A man is never too old to learn. And I mean to learn to swim next week, if you will teach me." Ho did learn. Miss Milfoil taught him. And tho old bachelor and the old maid spent their month nt tho sea side, to use Mrs. Swectclover's expres sion, "as quiet as two lambs." "I declare," Mr. McCorkindalo pen sively observed, 011 the afternoon be fore his term was up, "I shall be very lonely after I leave here!" "You'll bo going back to the city, you know," cheerfully observed Miss Milfoil. "But I shall miss you!" said the bachelor. "Nonsense!" said Mattie. "I wonder if you will miss me?" said Mr. McCorkindale. "Well—a little," owned Miss Mil foil. "Did you novel- think of marrying, Mattie?" abruptly demanded Mr. Mc- Corkindale. "Very often," she answered, calmly. "And how is it that you never have married?" Mattie laughed. "Because I never found tho right one," she said. "Just my reason, exactly!" said Mr. McCorkindale. "But I think I have found her at last—and it's you, Mattie!" "Is it?" said Miss Milfoil, coloring and smiling. "Don't you think, if you were to try me, I might suit you—as a hus band?" ho naked, persuasively. "I don't know," whispored Mattie. "Try me!" said Mr. McCorkindale, taking her hand in his; and she did not draw it away. How brief a time will sometimes suffice to turn tho current of a life time! That month at Seafoam Lodge made all the difference in the world to Mr. and Mrs. McCorkindale.—Satur day Night. ,3> Hitting Torce of Cyclists. A oyclist of 150 pounds weight and moving at the rate of ten feet per sec ond (about seven miles an hour) has a momentum of 1500 pounds, without countiug tho weight of his wheel. A Collision between two 150-pound riders, wheeling at the moderate pace of seven miles an hour, would result in a J smash-up with a force of 3000 pounds! —Philadelphia Inquirer. Spain has more sunshine than any other country in Europe, >*•' '-*• - A NEW AND NOVEL GUN. UNCLE SAM IS BUtLDING A WONDER. FUL PIECE OF ORDNANCE. Said to Bo tho Strongest War Implement Ever Made—Will Bo Used For Coast Defenses : Altogether Will Weigh Thirty Tons—Terrific Striking Capacity, Uncle Sum. says .a New York letter in the Detroit Free Press, is building a new 10-inch wire gun of a brand new pattern to astonish the world. When Uncle Sam wants to do a thing he generally docs it, and consequently all the governments on tho surface of the globe watch his movements with no small degree of interest. Never be fore in the history of the manufacture of war implements has the world wit nessed a fiercer straggle for superiority between gun and armor plate in every country of the globe than nt tho present time. Governments and private concerns alike take part in this raeo at breakneck speed. At this time of the race, however, no one can safely predict which of the two, gun or armor, will bo tho victor. As far as the navy is concerned the odds are slightly in favor of the guns, for it seems as if the thickness of armor Cor men-of-war has been nearly reached. Congress, taking this fact into consideration, made an appro priation last year for the construction of a 10-inch wire gnn according to a new system invented by John Hamil ton Brown, an American. This gun is now being built at tho plant of tho Beading Iron Company, by tbe in ventor, under the supervision of one or two inspectors from the Ordnance Department of the United States Army. Nearly every power of Europe has tried its hand nt wire wound guns before and since that period. It now appears that only England and Rus sia made any headway, while Franco for the timo being dropped tbe matter entirely, confining herself to keeping watch over the achievements of other governments. At present England is doing fairly well, hut she will be left far behind if the new Brown tcn-iuch wire gun half way fulfills tho expec tations of government and inventor. Tho gnn will weigh thirty tons and and is expected to hurl a 600-pound shell with a muzzle velocity of 2988 feet per second. Such a velocity would give tho projectile, if the shell weighs 600 pounds instead of the regulation weight of 680, a striking capacity of 88,410 foot-tons. In oth er words, tho striking onpneity per ton of weight of gnn would be 1280 foot-tons at tho muzzle—something unequalled in gun construction in any oountry. This new 10-inch gun is and only can be intended for coast defense. Its great length, thirty-seven and one half feet, makeH it at once unavaila ble for Use in tho navy. The great length may also cause fortification enginedts trouble with regard to con struction of parapets when the gnu is inouuted on disappearing carriages in forts, as it must be. The core of this new gun will con sist of ninety longitudinal bars (seg ments) of approximately a little less than five-eighths of an inch in thick ness; three and three-eighths of an inch in bight at the breach and then tapering down to tho muzzle to one and one-fifth of an inch in bight. The length of the segments will bo in the neighborhood of thirty-seven feet. Tho steel .in the segments of the new gun will have a tensile strength of 120,000 pounds to tho square inch. The elastic limit will bo 70,000 pounds per square inch, and tho elougation from twenty to twenty-four per cent. There is no room for doubt that a bar of steel 100 feet long which can be stretched to a length of 124 feet be fore rupture takes place must contain a metal of excellent quality. After the segments have been as sembled and the breech nnd muzzle nut screwed on to them, thus forming tho core of tho gun, tho winding of the wire round and round the core be gins. The wire used in the new gnn has an area of 1.49 of an inch, each side measuring 1.7 of an inch. Asthe wire is to be wound round the core under a pressure of about 98,000 pounds per square inch, and must re tain an equal margin of strength in order to permit the core of the gun to expand safely in the firing and con tract after the shot, it becomes at once apparent that the wire must have a very great elastic limit. The weight of the soventy-five miles of wire amounts to 30,948 pounds. At the breech the gun will have from thirty-three to thirty-four layers of wire uniformily wound. s Tlio winding, indeed, of each inch of these seventy-five [miles of wire, with tho uniform pressure of 98,000 pounds per squaro inch represents in itself a problem which it will be diffi cult to solve. It was clear from the start that tho winding could not be done from an ordinary machine. A special one had to be constructed, and is now finished. The total cost of tho new gun is estimated at $30,000. Tho Kaiser and Nansen* When Kridtjof Nansen passed the day with Emperor William, tho Em peror introduced his children to his guest iu a characteristic manner. After dinner the young Princes were called. They filed in and stood "at attention" in military style. "Shake hands with this gentleman," said the Emperor. "Book well at him. Some day you will ho able to understand what his work is, and then you will be glad to be able to say you have met him." Mrs. Gertie Bemaek Seholtman is dead in Jersey City, N. J., in her 101 st year. She was born iu Prussia. She saw Napoleon's march through Prus sia, and waved a red handlierchief at tho great emperor. SODA WELLS. Dovclopournt of a New ami Important Industry in Wyoming;. Wyoming promises to come forward with a new and important industry. A company of Chicago capitalists re cently has purchased the soda wells at j Green River and proposes to put in machinery and to operate the wells on a big scale. The new company has been incorporated under the laws of Wyoming and is prepared to develop the property immediately. The offices of the company will be in Chicago and in Green River, John F. Waters, of j Chieago.is President and J. V. Waters, of Chicago, is Secretary of the com pany, [ The soda wells of Green River were ! aceideutly discovered in 1895. E. J. | Morris, Mayor of Green River, formed j a company known as the Green River | Fuel and Oil Company, for the pur | pose of prospecting for oil on land ad jacent to the town of Green River. A steam drill was purchased and set to work. At a depth of 120 feet the well ; digger reported that he had struck a bed of soap. On investigation it was [ found that a white substance very much j resembling soapsuds boiled out of the j well when the drill was in operation. But as it was oil nnd not soap that was wanted tho digging was continued | until tho well was 600 feet deep. | Efforts to And oil were then considered futilo and tho work was abandoned. During the following winter, when tho ground was frozen, water oozed over tho top of the well, leaving a white deposit about four inches thick over the surface of tho ground. Through sheer curiosity a young chem ist made an nnalj'sis of this deposit and found to his amazement that it was earbonnate of soda, chemically pure. Older and more experienced chemists said when the matter was reported to them that it could not he. They said that earbonnate of soda had never been j produced by nature chemically pure, and that it could bo made only from I salt brine after ten consecutive treat \ inents. But samples of the water from the well were sent to chemists in Salt Lake City, Denver, Washington, Cheyenne and elsewhere, and in every instance the analysis (showed that the water carried over twenty-three per cent, of soda crystals. A complete ex amination was made of the soda well and its products by Professor Wilbui C. Knight, of the Wyoming State Uni versity. Ho Reported that the water contained 464 pounds of sal soda to [ the ton. John F. Waters, a Chicago lawyer, who was visiting in the West last year, becamo interested in the soila well ami secured an option on forty acres of the ; land for ninety days, with a privilege of sinking wells. Two wells were sunk under his direction to the depth of 255 feet each and soda water was reached in each well at a depth of 120 i feet. -These wells were about 100 j yards from the banks of the Green ' River and were eased so that surface j and river water could not flow into i them. During December, 1896, a steam pump with a capacity of 60,000 gallons in twenty-four hours was kept con stantly working in the wells, with the result thnt the water at all times ran from twenty-three to twenty-five per ' cent, in pure sal soda. Coustant | pumping failed to reduce the water in ! the wells, which stood uniformly at | leu feet from the surface. Two other j wells have been sunk and thoroughly tested by pumping with the same re | suit, and it is now considered that the soda deposit extends under the whole i valley. ! The theory of the many geologists who have examined tho ground is that ! for a depth of 300 feet from the sur j face the earth is filled with soda and that tho water in percolating through tho earth takes up the soda. The ground thus far prospeoted lies on a tableland about ten feet above the sur face of tho Green River and extends north half a mile to tho base of tho mountains. Tho mountains hom tho land in on one side and Green River ; md Bitter Creek form the other two [ sides of the triangle. | The company owning the land will ; out in a plant costing $50,000 nnd hav ing a capacity of twenty-five tons of | onustio soda per day. As the product sells iu Chicago nt an average of S4O per ton Green River expects to reap immense benefit from the now iu ilustry.—Chicago Record. How Lightning Kill*. Last Saturday ufternoon Will Pongh (colored) was struck by lightning nnd instantly killed while nt work on Mr. E. M. Tharpe's plantation. The man was plowing cotton whon the bolt struck him. Tho horse ho was plow ing with was knocked down but not seriously hurt. Fough'sstraw hat was | torn up, but there were no marks on I his body. He was very limp, however, and it Heemed that every bone in his body had been unjointed. A piece of I the singletree was knocked oft', but j there was no other damage to tho plow stock. I'ough's wife was standing j about thirty yards away, and she was I knocked down and considerably stunned by shock. When she got up her husband and tho horse were both ! down. There were evidences that the horse had stumbled along about fifteen feet before ho fell and carried the man | with him.—Marion County (Ga.) Pa | triot. Tlio Stminc Industry. j Sicily is the great producer of this [ commodity, used so largely in leather ! manufacture. Last year the one port ! of Palermo exported 446,000 tons, worth $2,120,000, or about the same amount as the previous year. As shown in a speoial article in our j columns some months ago, the gather ing of wild sumac in our own country [ is not very profitable, trade preferring j foreign on account of quality and | cheapness.—American Agriculturist.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers