Says tho Dallas (Texas) News: Tho Tennessee typewriter who rejected a poet and married a butcher ha J a level head. The poet could never have made a stake for her. Some physicians saylh.it people who ride up and down six or eight stories in an elevator two or throe times a day will invariably develop some ner vous trouble. They go so far as to say that the daily use of an elevator in" duces headache, heart trouble and even brain fever. The New York Tribune says: The foreign trade of the United States was greater in 1890 than in 1895. The foreign trade of New York was less in 189G than in 1895. In 1895 New York had considerably more than half the foreign trade of tho Nation, and in 1890 it had considerably less than half. Those are facts of serious im port, which New Yorkers will do well to take to heart. Dr. 1\ Peuta has studied tho fingers and toes of 4500 criminals, and finds a deficiency in the size of number of toes quite frequent among them, al- j though very rare among ordinary men. He has also observed that prehensile toes, marked by a wide space between the great too and tho second toe, is n condition quite common among crim- 1 iuals, also a webbed condition of tho toes, an approximation to the toeless feet of some savages. It often takes a season's profits at Coney Island to pay the damages j caused by one storm, learns the San j Francisco Chronicle. Austin Corbin, tho founder of the great New York watering place, said several years ago that he would have been better oil by j 8100,000 if he had never seen the j island. Once ho was compelled to employ four or live locomotives to haul ' his big hotel out of the way of the surf, i though when the building was put up it stood a thousand feet from the shore. This week has seen another inrush of | the waves, and there is danger that Coney Island will be cut in twain. It would be worth millions a year to At lantic coast watering places to have a sea like tho Pacific, which permits house-building within fifty feet of aver- 1 ago high-water mark. The Wool and Cotton Reporter states that of the 87 mills tho Southern States may lay claim to over 50 per j cent., as 51 will be operated south of ' the Mason and Dixon line. Of tho , remainder the Eastern States include 50, while the remaining half dozen are scattered through various parts of the middle West. Twenty-seven mills are located in the Carolinas, 15 in North and 12 in South Carolina, ranging in Hize from the largo Louise mill at j Charlotte, the centre of Southern tex- j tile manufacturing, t.* minor plants, representing a comparatively small in vestment. From this it may be seen that the experiment"entered upon dur ing the last decade is proving a suc cess, and that the North lias now ft rival in the field worthy of serious at" ! tention. While it is probable that in the manufacture of line goods the North has yet experienced little com- , petition, still in the production of tho coarser grades a large share of patron age has been transferred from the j North to the South. One of the Board of Inspectors re cently called attention to the fact that j if the collegiate and scientific schools j of the Greater New York should amal- j gamate, it would produce the largest, i greatest and richest university in the 1 world. Iti this aggregation there would be Columbia University, with 1900 students; New York University, with 1800 students; the College of the City of New York, with 1900; the Nor- J inal College, with 2000; Barnard, with j 200; the Teachers', with 400; tho Adel- j phi, of Brooklyn, 900; the Theological I Seminary, with 129; Manhattan Col- j lege, with 350; the Brooklyn Poly- j technic, with 750; St. Francis Xavier, j with 800; the Union Theological Sem- I inary, with 150; St. John's, ut Ford- j ham, with*22s; New York College of ! Pharmacy, New York College of Dentistry, New York Law School, the ! various separate medical schools, such j as those of Bellevuo Hospital, Long j Island College Hospital, the Woman's j Infirmary, the Woman's Hospital, the j Post-Graduate, the Polyclinic, the 1 Homeopathic, the Eclectic, the two colleges of veterinary surgery, the four great art schools, the leading con servatories of music, and the leading business colleges of this city. Those united would make a huge body of about 25,000 students, with property worth 850,000,000 and an income of $5,000,000 a year. Alongside of this Oxford and Cambridge, Goettingen and Heidelberg, Berlin and Leipzig, Munich and Zurich would besmull in stitutions. THE DAYS OF LONG AGO. In penstr© mon l T often sit through evening hours aglow And think of nil tho happy clays that pass • i in years ago: I love in fancy to re -all those joyous lroam<of'yore. To visit past remembered scenes and live them o'er and o'er. My eyes are growing dimmer with tho years that roil away. My step is slow and feeble, and my locks' alas! are gray; ' Yet when iu pensiveness I sit I feel again i he glow Of youth that thrilled my happy heart iu days of long ago. In days of long ago, alas! how joyous wa? my lot, Those dear old s -enos and happy dreams shall never bo forgot; Tho world was filled with music and with blossoms over fair, And beamed a loving welcome ever courteous and rare. ' A happy song of cheer rang forth from every leafy tree. Till every mountain, every doll, was echoing with glee; One blest, sweet melody divine charmed all this earth below And rose afar to sklos above in days of loug ago. Tho days of long ago—alasj how distant now they soom, The past is but a memory, a dear, remembered dream; The future brings us palsied ago and many letter tears, All hopes and joys have long since passed through dim, receding y\iro- And yet it doas a mortal good to muse o'er youthful days To tread in fancy once again life's unforgotten wavs; And that is why I often sit through evening hours aglow And dream again of happy days- the days of loug ago! —Sidney Warren Mase, in Little Rock Gazette. | THE HONORABLE ANNE. I — ii 30 D y EDITII ALLANDALE. • y ♦. _ , , , VaSMf/YX 11 GTXG ' S tbs*!-' ■■■/ /r 1 como wheu 1 V 1 / I came, n bride, to t U '"-V / \ t! '° raucll W£lS //,.■ f ' £LJ not the warmest. ""-'A?* ~^ lG dusky adobe YftS tfc ' A - : % M will. throwing /• 'X ' 7$ ' ' him into pictur es, l n ® relief, lie V** " stood 011 the ranch-house ver anda, hfs face full of suppressed ex citement. "You telle mo," lie muttered, "who boss, now Mr. Allaadale got raalliod?" "All same as before," was my ready 7?joinder. The crafty features relaxed, and Ah Ging disappeared kitchenward, his pig-tail having struck the dominant note in mv first impressions of Ya qitero Water. Cedrio smile 1 at mo approvingly. "Glad you were so diplomatic, else he'd have left by the morning stage. It's awfully unroiuantic, darling, but the drive has made me beastly hun gry. Lot's see what tho old chap has for us." ~\\ e dined in a long, low room, hung with spurs and sporting prints, sou venirs of English days, the happiest couple in California. In its lack of excitement, ranch life proved disappointing. Lynchings were unknown—bandits and despera does conspicuous by their absence. 80 life flowed on, smoothly, monot onously, till after tho birth of Billi kins. Ah Ging then announced his de parture. "Better girl cook," lie de clared. "No likee baby. Heap tlouble. Allee time cly." Tho next Celestial left after a hasty glanco at the kitchen wall. "Meflaid," ho explained, pointing to a red hiero glyphic unfortunately unnoticed by us. "Ah Ging he write, 'Debbil in this house.'" "He meant the baby," suggested Cedric. "He say debbil. Me go. No China boy stay hero. Heap seared of deb bil." "Try a girl,"implored Cedric. "It's no joke driving ten miles a day to the station." Wo tried, in turn: Gretchen, who left within the week to "learn relig ion;" Bridget, who declined working under an Englishman; the widow, whose tears, as she recounted her woes, sizzled over tho stove; Dieie, who disliked low wages, though she found 110 fault with me, and Samau tha, who objected to the lack of "scenery." Useless to point out the Brush Hills' mellow charm, distant mountains, oak-dotted meadows, Ba mantha remained obdurate. "It may suit you, Mrs. Allandalo," she con tinued, pityingly, "to see nothing but land. I like it like it was in Tulare. There you kin see houses thick as peas in a pod an' people passin' all day. That's tho scenery for me, so I guess I'll pack my freight." Which she proceeded to do, and had barely driven out of sight when a young girl, tall, slim and neatly dressed, stepped on the veranda. "If you please, ma'am," she quiet ly said, "I heard that you wanted a girl; can I have the place?" I heard her history, which was simple. Tho previous year sho had come from England to join her broth er 011 a claim, had fallen ill, had gone to the county hospital at La Huerta, had come thence to me. While hear ing these details, Cedrio returned. But 0110 conclusion could be drawn from his utter dejection. "No girl," was stamped 011 every feature. Ba mantha had recommended mo to Odessa Green, who, less exacting in regard to scenery, was willing to leave tho family pig-pen for a month's change, provided the washing was put out, Mrs. Allandalo helped with the dishes, tho afternoons were free, and a horse every Sunday was at her dis posal. I knew tho typo, ignorant, slatternly, familiar. Contrasting with it the new-comer, my resolution was taken. "No, Cedric, I have a servant already." "Where did shecomc from?" "La Huerta, where she has been in the hospital." "Is she pretty?" * "That's an irrelevant question. Y'es, rather—blue eyes and short, curly, yellow hair." "You know nothing about her." "But I know that Billikius has tlio whooping-cough. I must nurse him, j niul you can not cook. Help is needed, and behold Anne." "80 that's her name?" "Yes, Anne James." He still demurred. "Frudence is au admirable virtue, Cedrio, but you carry it to aa ex treme." Cedrio yielded, still holding to his own opinion. "Keep her! Keep her!" ho cried; "but remember, if anything happens, be iton your head." Since tho days of Ah Ging, life had not been worth living. Annie came, and comfort followed after. Capable, retiring, a vague sense of mystery pervading her, she proved in our monotonous existence a source of in exhaustible interest. "I scent a romance?" Cedrio de clared; "when Anne draws near, find find out about her." "She is so reticent—a contrast to Samauthn." "Teach her something. Learning unlocks a woman's tongue." So Anne was instructed in more housewifely mysteries, and grew more communicative. But Cedrio received all details of her past with scornful in credulity. "Papa" was a barrister. Anno herself had been born in the snored precincts of the Temple. Their crest figured as a dove. "Faneyone's parlor-maid having a crest," he ejacu lated. For a briefless barrister he had done singularly well, marrying a nieco of tho celebrated Countess of Melligan. Many a torrid afternoon was whilcd away with descriptions of the Irish castle where the weddiug took place, the beauty of the bride, the eccentrici ties of the noble aunt. Cedrio sooffcil, still crying for more. One languorous September day, en sconced in the veranda's shadiest nook, wo gazed on the Brush Hills and sighed vainly for a breeze. Cedrio broke tho stillness. "What about Anne? No news of late?" "She 1)03 a sister who lives in Franca and is possessed of independ ent means." A look of reproach shot from his dark-blue eye. "You told mo that last week," 119 murmured. "And did not tell you that she goes by tho name of the Lady Emily Brown." "Brown 1 Why, she married a Frenchman." "True." "Why lady? What title has he?" "None. I particularly asked Anne." "Absurd! He could not be 'Brown' or she 'lady,' unless, indeed, tho title is in her own right. In that case your pearl of a handmaiden is an 'honor able!' The Honorable Anne brings out tho -tray," ho added, as she ap proached our corner. "No, it's all false, yon may depend upon it. Ask MoPherson what ho thinks; he is com ing up tho drive." Fergus MoPherson—caution person ified—opined that Annie had lied. He put it plainly: "Deceitful iu speech, deceitful in deed. Better watch her, Mrs. Allendale." My suspicions were not excited. In California nothing is impossible. Had not a seion of a lordly honse died on a neighboring ranch—a lonely, neglect ed sheep herder? No. It was the uneasy air and restless look increas ing day by day. I heartily wished for some pretext whereby Cedrio, dis patched into La Huerta, might inquire into the antecedents of the Honorable Anne. Chance favored me. "MoPherson has been telling me," began my spouse, a few days later, ' 'about some bloodhounds in town that belong to the sheriff. They are A1 at tracking criminals—borrow them all over the State. Beastly shame it's such a journey—it would be rather jolly to see them." "Why not go? A change would do yon good." "Go! And who would milk the cow?" "I, myself." "You? Nonsense!" "Who is the sheriff?" I idly asked, meditating my next move the while. "Waite—Hiram Waite." "Our Honorable," who had entered, bearing that ranch stand-by, a smok ing bowl of "mush," started, growing visibly pale!—fresh food for uneasiness. Clearly, to learn Are art of milking was imperative. The woman won, as usual, and Cedric, before theweekwas over, started for La Huerta, with strict injunctions to interview both hospital superintendent and sheriff In charge of the ranch were myself, Billikius, and the Honorable Anne. Uneventfully passed the first few days; but on Monday, from the veranda, I espied a band of men, who, leaving the county road, camo slowly up the drive. Anne, perceiving them, grew white to the lips, and, bearing Billikins, pre cipitately fled. "Good evening," the leader began, as he lifted bis sombrero. "We're a kinder rough sight for a lady. You sea, we're a posse over from Tulare, trying to find a man named Smith. His tracks, they seemed to p'int this way. Ain't seen any stranger round here lately?" "No, indeed." "No wood-chopper nor nothing?" "No, none. What has this man done? What does he look like?" "Heal nico and young and kind. Not more'n a boy. Murdered a man over there. Here's his description," and he handed me a coarsely printed "Heward." Well, boys, get a move on. We're on our way to La Huerta," he added, "to borrow Waite's dogs. Well, good day, ma'ain. Better not harbor any strangers." A moment more and, left alone, I thought over the situation. Cedric gone, no neighbor near, and a mur derer at huge whose steps "p'inted this way." Suddenly it was borne in upon mo that Anne was the fugitive. A firm believer in woman's intui tions, yet hoping desperately that mino was at fault, I unfolded the paper the sheriff gave me. It tallied well. Moroseuess, agitation, all were explained. Did Anne guess that her identity was known, my life, I feared, would pay tho penalty. To ignore the situa tion, live through the night if possible, and trust to someone turning up in the morning was all that could be done. Milking-time brought fresh terrors. How guard one's self, with both bauds engagod letting down floods of warm, innocent milk? Dinner was eaten hurriedly, with the same feeling of uneasiness. Billikins tucked in his crib, Anne retired early, anil, every sense on the alert, I was left alone to watch the nursery door. It fascinated me. Who would open it? Anne, to hide among the canons till the posse had returned to its Tulare home? Or Henry Smith, to make an end of me and flee? Truly, the ranch monotony was broken at last. Sol emnly tho clock ticked, slowly the hands went round, au hour passed. A movement in the adjoining room, nud literally my blood ran cold. That had hitherto seemed a mere figure of speech. The sound ceased, and still I watched the nursery door. At last, when my brain would have turned with more, I heard a sound which, faint at first, grew louder and louder. "Oh, heaven," I cried, "the blood hounds!" and fell seuseloss to the ground. * * • • Slowly returned to consciousness, my gaze fell on Cedric, the La Huerta sheriff, and Anne—Anne auxiously ap plying restoratives! "Take him away," I gasped; he will murder us." "You aro raving!" cried Cedric; "that is Anne." "No; Smith, the murderer. The blood-hounds tracked him to the very door." Here Hiram Waite thought fit to interpose. "Guess I can straighten out this kink, Mrs. Allandale. You did hoar tho hounds, they're up at tho barn now. Your husband, ho heard at La Huerta wo was beatin' up this part of tho country, so he lit out for home, thinkin'you'd be seared. We caught our manhidin' by the 'Dobe Hill, and the Tulare boys took him back to town. Your husband and me was tired, so we made tracks for here. Sorry 'bout the dogs. Might ha' known they'd scare you." The Honorable Anne next dnygave warning. "If you please, ma'am, you aud Mr. Allaudale have been very kiud, and I love Mr. Billikius like my own, lmt I can't stay where I've been so misjudged." "More candor on your jrpart would have prevented your being mis judged." She blushed. "1 often wanted to tell you, ma'ain—what I first said wasn't true. I came from England when I was a baby. I haven't any brother, aud, I never went to La Huerta." "Ah!" "Tho kinder you was, ma'am, the meaner I felt; and I was afraid Mr. Allaudale would go to the hospital; and, worst of all, my heart stood Btill when he spoke of Mr! Waite. For he and my stepfather are cousins, and I was afraid ho would guess who I was." "Your stepfather?" "Yes, ma'am, mother married Jim Waite the second time, and it was him thai came with the posse aud frightened me. He was such a bad. cruel man that I couldn't stand it, so I ran away." "How did yon happen to reach Vaquero Water?" "With some friends in one of those big wagons they call 'prairie schoon ers.' Tulare folks go to the coast every year; but they don't dare go there straight, it's too much chauge. They alu ays stop at the Iron Spring to cool off first." To cool off at ninety in the shade! "Soon as we came to the spring, I heard about you, aud thought I'd try for the place." ' 'But how much bettor to have told me the truth." "I knew Mr. Allandale was English, ma'am, and they are that particular I was afraid he'd send me home." Surely the story of Lady Emily Brown was unnecessary." Anne's eyes flashed. "Jt's every word true, ma'am. Not that I ever saw her; she was by father's first mar riage; but it's true. Why, they lived in a beautiful house in St. John's Wood, and tho night before they went to I'aris the Prince of Wales diucd with them." "And do you believe it, my d6ar?" asked Cedric on hearing the last ver sion. "She believos in the family tradi tions. But she will care less about such nonsense when she is Mrs. Hiram Waite." "Why, alio met tUo man only last night." "Something will come of it, trust a woman's intuition." "Thanks, no!" he retorted, with a cheerful grin. "No telling into what mare's nest I might be led. Never mind, darling, you did your best. We can't all be born detectives." Cedric to the contrary, my prophecy came to pass, and our Honorable Anne was transformed into Mrs. Hiram Waito. At last accounts she was well and happy, supplying the boarders at Wait's Hotel with meals at "four-bits a head." While wo on the ranch are still wondering whether the Countess of Melligau and the Lady Emily Brown are myths.—The Argonaut. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL' Jamaica is pointed out as the land of ferns, its species numbering between 400 and GOO. It has been estimated that an oak of average size, during the five months it is in leaf every year, sucks from the earth about 123 tons of water. The iridescence of the soap bubble arises from the fact that tho bubble, being thin, reflects light from both the outer and inner surfaces of the film. An important discovery by M. Pfister, an Austrian engineer, is that sea-water may be freed from salt and rendered potable by forcing through a tree trunk. Pictet's discovery that liquors may be artificially aged by cold is about to be applied commercially in a proposed frigoriflo laboratory in Paris. The liquor is gradually cooled in 200 de grees C below zero, then gradually brought again to tho ordinary tempera ture. St. Etienne, near Lyons, France, has apparently solved the problem of distributing electrical energy cheaply in private houses over a wide district. Two dollars a month is tho charge for sufficient power to drive a loom, the service extending as far as thirty miles from the central station. Results of a German inquiry prove that overhead wires tend, to reduce the violence of thunderstorms and lessen the danger from lightning. Cases of damage from lightning were about five times as numerous in places without telephone systems as in those having them. Since Homer's time vast falls of or ganic particles, a3 well as of| meteoric dust, have been known at various times and places. Dr. T. S. Blair, of Har risburg, Penn., argue 3 that the organic matter may have largely come from spaco and that showers of still-living germs may explain the sudden appear ance and rapid spread of many historic epidemics. J. L. Hebrahn, the German arc bio logist, lias just completed an explora tion tour through the State of Chiapas, - Mexico, where he reports haviug found another ancient buried city in the depths of a tropical forest, about sixty miles west of the Guatemalan border. He brought away with him a number of relies of the place, and says that he will go to the United States and thence to Germany, where he will;organize an expedition for further researches in Chiapas. The duck mole of Australia, which Sidney Smith declared made Sir Josepli Banks miserable from his utter inability to decide whether it was a bird or beast, is a mammal with webbed feet and a duck's bill, aud is remarka ble for laying eggs like a bird or rep tile. It was loug thought harmless and without defense. Dr. A. Stuart has lately found, however, that a pow erful spur of the male's hind leg, ap parently connected with a gland, may infiiet a liornet-like sting, which is sometimes fatal to dogs. •*** ArttflU in I>aiiffrr. Artists are proverbially lacking in what people of coarser clay call horse sense. Seldom does it occur to these highly gifted persons to guard the scaffold on which they stand with a hand rail. Many times have artists fallen in consequence, aud frequently they have lost their lives in this man ner. Lord Leighton, who died a year or so ago, it has been stated recently, wa3 saved from such a fate only by the vigilance of his nssistaut. He almost stepped backward off the trestlo work in front of one of his frescoes at South Kensington Museum. Murillo was less fortunate, for he died from the effeotsof his fall. Among other painters who came to au untime ly end in this way wore Munoz, Perez, Gabbiana, Gambara, Coxcie, Bozzone, Cavedone and Stothard. Michael An gelo escaped with a broken leg, and Frederigo Zucchero after a frightful fall recovered 'in sui-prisingly short time.—Now York Press. Theatre Fires, Since 1797 there have been 1100 theatre fires with 10,000 fatalities, ac cording to Mr. Sach's "Fires and Ptiblio Entertainments," just pub lished. Of these 462 took took place in the United States, 139 in Great Britain and 101 in Germany, France having nearly the same number. Lon don bus had thirty-five fires and Paris twenty-eight. Oat of 343 theatres,de stroyed by fire, one-half were burned within ten years after they were con structed, forty of thorn within tho first year. Upsets the litill by Twisting His Tall. When the Venezuelan cowboy wishes to catch a bull or cow for branding, or for any purpose, he rides alongside it and, with horse aud bovine on the dead-run, stoops from his saddle, BTasps the creature's tail, and, with a sharp, peculiar twist sends the animal rolling on his back. From the force with which. it falls, the creature's horns almost iuvariaby pin its head to the ground, giving tlio vaquero time to dismount and sit on its head, hold ing the animal helpless to rise, whilo a companion ties its legs. SOUTHERN ROAD-MAKING NORTH CAROLINA'S METHOD OF CON STRUCTING HICHWAYS. now Certain Classes of Convicts Arc Util ized With Little or No Exponas ty tile Counties—Under Tills System tile State is Getting llid of tlitf Tramps. The law in North Carolina permit ting the sentencing of offenders to work upon the roads has been in exis tence for six years, but as yet, says a Raleigh letter to the New York Post, only seventeen of the ninety-six conn ties have availed of it, and in the ma jority of the seventeen it is of compar atively recent application. Its good results, however, are manifest, and the plan having passed beyond the ex perimental stage, many additional counties are expected to avail them selves of the law's advantage at an early date. Several committees from other States have inspected the system with a v iew to its adoption. A mistaken impression has gone abroad that practically all the convicts in the State are thus employed, when, in reality, only the petty offenders, or those receiving sentences of less than five years, are sentenced "to the roads." The penitentiary convicts, ahout 2000 in number, are employed 011 the "State farms." These farms, three in number, are plantations of several thousand acres. As three fourths of the convicts have worked at agricultural pursuits, the force so ob tained is a very good one for farming purposes. At these farms the con victs raise cotton and corn principally. They are worked under the guard-sur veillance system, and are confined in strong stockades and prison-houses at night. The State has several thousand bales of cotton to sell every season and great quantities of corn and other farm produce. For a number of years the penitentiary has been self-support ing, the profits of the farms being suf ficient to feed and clothe all the in mates and guards and to meet the other expenses. The law gives Superior Court Judges the discretion of sentencing prisoners to "the roads" or to the penitentiary. But the main sources of supply of road-iunkers are the Mayors' courts and those of justices of the peace. The convicts from these courts, es pecially if they are residents of the locality where convicted, require little or no "guarding," one guard being ample for a squad of tweuty'to fifty of this class of workers. This fact probably accounts for the misstate ment going the sounds that the con victs require no guard and are allowed to go home and spend Sunday with their families. The latter privilege is not accorded to any of the convicts, though in some few cases it probably could be done with safety. This system of working petty offen ders not only assures good roads, but it has the effect of ridding North Carolina towns of the vast army of Northern tramps who make their way South every year with the beginning of cold weather. Whenever a tramp is arrested here, under the general vagrant laws or municipal ordinances, he is invariably given thirty days on the roads as an initial dose, at the end of which period ho is ordered to leave town. If he does not comply with this order within twenty-four hours he is sentenced to a sixty days' term, but it is seldom that u second dose is necessary. The tramps leave as soon as opportunity presents itself, and warn all of their stripe to beware of the State. These convict road makers do not come in contact with free labor, for the reason that they are not employed on the roads or streets inside the corporate limits, but on the country roads leading into towns which heretofore) have received little attention. For miles in every direction the roads leading into this city are now macadamized, and present a beautiful appearance. Homo of the countrv roads are better than the roadways of some of the streets within the corpora tion, nltliough the convict system has been in operation only a year or two. The work is now being extended farther into the country, and it will not be long before the country roads through out the counties where the system "is in force will be in splendid condition. The best roads in the State are to be seen in Mecklenburg County, of which the cotton manufacturing city of Char lotte is the county seat. There the system has been in operation longer than elsewhere. Even before the pres ent general law was enacted Mecklen burg hired the convicts from the Com missioners of neighboring counties to work its public loads. The result is that for twenty miles or more in every direction around Charlotte there are fine macadam and shell roads, a ride over which is a treat. One great point is that practically the only cost of the improved roads is the material, as it costs no more to feed the convicts when they are employed than when they were idle. With the good roads comes an agitation for wide tires, to the end that what has been gained may be re tained. Now, as to the profits in good roads. The towns nnd cities which have made entrance easy find that trade thereby comes to them. Farmers desert olil markets for the new ones, although the old markets may be nearer home, be ing influenced by tho knowledge of how much cheaper large loads may be hauled over well-made roads. Of course they buy where they sell, and one consequent gratifying result is a competition between business cen tres in the matter of good roads. An English paper declares that at a recent concert Paderewski played the piano continuously for two hours and a half. The Prussian crown is very plain, the royal house of Prussia having been celebrated for its economy. HOW THE COLD 13 EXTRACTED. An Export Talks* Abcrat tlio Wonderful Klondike Gold Fields. Dr. William H. Dull, one of the cur* ators of the National Museum at Wash ington, is familiar with the region of country in which tho Klondike gold fields are situated through having been on several geological expeditions to the region iu Alaska adjourning the gold district, and says that in his opinion the reports from there prob ably are not exaggerated. He said: >' "When I was there I did not find gold, but knew of it being taken out iu profitable quantities for fifteen years or more. It was first discovered there in 18G6. In 1880, when I was in that country, my last trip having been made two years ago, the first party of prospectors who made the mining profit started out. The gold is found on tho various tributaries of the Yu kon, and I have been within a com paratively short distance of the Klon dike fields. I made one trip to Circle City, just over the boundary of Can ada. "The gold-bearing bolt of North western America contains all the gold fields extending into British Columbia, what is known as the Northwestern Territory and Alaska. Tho Yukon really runs along in that belt for 500 or COO miles. The bed of the main river is in the lowland of the valley. "Tho yellow metal is not found in paying quantity in the main river, but in the small streams which cut through the mountains on both sides. These practically wash out the gold. Tho mud and mineral matter are carried into tho main river, while the gold is left on the rough bottoms of these side streams. In most cases the gold lios at the bottom of thick gravel deposits. Tho gold is covered by frozen gravel in the winter. During the summer, until the snow is all melted, the sur face is covered by muddy torrents. When the snow is melted, and the springs begin to freeze, the streams dry up. At the approach of winter, in order to get at the gold, the miners find it necessary to dig into the gravel formation. "Formerly they stripped the gravel off until they came to the gold. Now they sink a shaft to tho bottom of the gravel, and tunnel along underneath, in the gold-bearing layer. The miners build tiros over the area where they wish to work, and keep them lighted over that territory for tho space of twenty-four hours. Then, at the ex piration of this period, the gravel will bo melted and softened to a depth of perhaps six inches. This is taken off, and other fires built, until the gold bearing layer is reached. When the shaft is down that far tires are built at the bottom, against tho sides of tho layer, and tunnels made in this man ner. Blasting would do 110 good, on account of the hard nature of the material, and would blow out, just as out of a gun. The matter taken out containing the gold is piled up until spring, when the torrents come down. It is certainly very hard labor. "I see many reasons why the gold fields should be particularly rich. The streams which cut through the moun tains have probably done so for cen turies, wearing them down several hundred feet and washing out the gold into tho beds and gravel. "It is a country in which it is very hard to find food, as there is practically 110 game. Beforo the whites went into the region there were not more than 305 natives. They have hard work to support themselves.—New York Times. er "* riiyalciiiiiH l'rono ft® Suicide. Statistics show that the medical profession is more prose to suicide than any other. During tho last three years tho number of suicides occurring among physicians has been respective ly forty-five, forty-nine and forty-seven per annum, an average of nearly one to 2000; or, as the death rate among pliysiciaus is about twenty-five to 1000, nearly one-fiftieth t\ v . all the deaths iu the profession havo been by suicide. It has been suggested that an ex planation of this tendency may be found in the development of morbid fancies in tho 111 iud of a doctor on ac count of his constant association with the sick and dying, or of an actual in difference to death, or because he has the requisite knowledge of how to die painlessly and conveniently. A medi cal journal dissents from all those views, and holds that the leading fac tor is the accessibility of the poison ous drugs, which are almost invariably used.—Pittsburg Dispatch. Migration of CunadluuH. 9 JThe migration of the French-speak ing people of Canada to the New Eng land States has assumed enormous proportions in recent years, and shows 110 signs of diminution. The French population of the Province of Quebec is 1,200,000, while, according to the census of 1890, the number of French Canadians and of persons of Canadian extraction in the United States was 840,000. The late M. Mercier pre dicted that by 1910 there would be more French Canadians by birth and descent in the United States than in Canada. —Boston Herald. Mrs. Stone's Stutue. Tlia bronze statue of Harriet Beeelier Stowe, which will soon be erected in Hartford, Conn., will be twelve feet high and will represent Mrs. Stowe seated with a suppliant figure of Uncle Torn stretching forth a pair of brawny arms, from which hang broken shackles. Tho statue is the work of W. Clark Noble. A Novel Industry. The hand-knitting industry which was organized by Lady Arrau in County Mayo, Ireland, to give em ployment to her husband's lias proved a success Seven thousand pairs of stockings were knitted last year and #3OOO spent in wages.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers