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.