The Countess of Ancaster has ere- j
ited a great stir in the fashionable j
world of London bv her declaration
that dancing has degenerated into a
graceless romp.
The New York Sun says there seems ,
to be no doubt that this is going to he :
the farmers' year in this country. Kit- I
rope is clamoring for our wheat. The ,
short crop abroad, and an abundant j
one here, point to an influx of gold. |
The year 1898 will not witness a di- j
amond jubilee, but it will be a golden
oue. Emperor Francis Joseph of Au- !
stria, who is sixty-seven years old this
month, will celebrate next year the j
fiftieth anniversary of his ascent to the
throne.
Travelers in the wilds of Africa will
do well to take a plentiful supply of
umbrellas with them, according to
Professor Pecliuel-Loesehe, the Ger- j
tnau explorer. He says they are the ;
best protection against the wild beasts, j
tigers and lions especially being afraid
of them when suddenly opened.
A Territorial newspaper claims for I
Arizona the possession of a single sea
port. This is Yuma, at the point I
where the Gila River joins the red and I
rolling Colorado. The town is one
of the oldest in the Territory. Its 1
climate is such that the inhabitants
can raise about everything that can be '
grown in the tropics.
Npftin admits that she has lost 45,-
000 men in Cuba since the preseut
war begun, but it is believed that her !
real losses are more than twice that
number. Aud all for that vain, vague,
despicable thing called "Spanish lion- j
or," muses the New York Mail aud j
Express. All the glory thus gained .
has been achieved by making a desola- i
tion aud calling it peace.
-
The State of Georgia is $1,000,000 j
short in tax returns. All except I
eleven of the 137 counties have made |
their returns of taxable property, and
of this number eighty show increases
aud forty-six decreases, as compared
with the returns of last year. The
total decrease for eighty counties is
$4,000,910, and the total decrease for
forty-six is $5,000,091. The few
counties not reported will not change
these figures materially. The tax
rate this year will he higher than ever J
before.
A German professor, Dr. Marpmann,
of Leipsic, has discovered that we in
cur great danger every time we use a
pen. He says that there are deadly
bacteria in ink. From one out of
seventy samples he secured a bacillus.
This he proceeded to cultivate. H
evolved something which was able to
destroy a mouse in four days. Now,
as mice dou't use ink much, and as
those persons who put their pens in
their mouths are comparatively few in
number, there does not appear to he
any serious cause for alarm.
The establishment of a sort of "Si
beria" for the Anarchists of all Na
tions has been proposed by Spain. A
penal colony where dangerous An
archists, who have not yet taken the
life of King, Emperor or President,
can be confined for life. It is said
that Austria, Germany, Italy and Rus
sia have received the proposal favor
ably, but Great Britain, France, Swit
zerland and the United States have
not yet been heard from, and will
probably not consent to the proposal.
Uncle Sam showed clearly at Chicago
some years ago that he had made up
his mind what to do with the An
archist when he catches him, com
ments the New York Commercial-Ad
vertiser.
The fact that one of the strongest
and most popular of New York's clubs
has been obliged to issue to its mem
bers a sharp circular letter on the
"tipping" abuse, shows how that in
sidious evil has extended even into the
strongholds of masculine independ
ence, observes the New York Mail and
Express. So universal has the im
ported tip-giving and tip-receiving
habit become on this side of the At
lantic that not only the hotel or res
taurant waiter, hut the barber, the
porter, the hall boy, the chambermaid
and the cabman expect a gratuity in
addition to the proper cost of the ser
vice rendered. Gradually this Euro
pean abuse has crept into American
society until it seems almost impossi
ble to eradicate it. Every one who
gives a tip know s that its action is an
imposition upon himself, and every
American who accepts one feels that
he thereby sacrifices bis independence,
manhood and self-respect; yet the
shrinking of the giver from appearing
conspicuously stingy, and his unwill
ingness to suffer from inattention at
the hands of an expectant receiver,
suffice to keep the pernicious fee
tern in growing vogue.
TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK.
SOME FUNNY INVENTIONS FOUND
IN THE PATENT OFFICE.
A Bracelet That ltemtmln One of One's
K n gaff eme nt—A lied Which Throws
Out the Sleepy on Time—A Device
Which Prevents Blowing Out the Ga*.
Psychologists assert that civilized
human beings are growing more ab
sent-minded. The average man of in
telligence to-day is not so alert, not so
conscious of his immediate environ
ments as he was a century ago. He
does more thiukiug than he did then,
aud a greater part of his business in
life is left to the purely mechanical
brain functions.
The inventors, always a step ahead
of the requirements of the times, are
already at work devising contrivances
to summon absent attention. One of
the latest of these is a bracelet that
has an alarm watch attached to it. The
wearer, having an engagement at a
certain hour, sets the watch, and when
the time arrives a little needle point
pricks her arm and reminds her of the
duty to be performed. This is only
one of many devices for like purposes.
People want to he relieved of the
trouble of calling things to mind, and
that is one reason why there are so
many inventions employing clockwork.
At the Patent Office, in Washington,
a large class of inventions is com
prised under the head of "alarms"—
these being machines by which per
sons who otherwise would not think
are made to think. The average in
dividual is obliged, however unwilling
ly, to get up at a certain time in the
morning. To provide for this require
ment many ingenious persons have ap
plied their talents to the production of
contrivances for awaking people and
compelling them to arise. There is a
kind of bedstead, for example, which
holds its mattress in a frame that is re
tained in the normal position by a
catch. At the proper hour the catch,
operated by a clockwork mechanism,
loses its grip, and the mattress frame
becomes vertical instead of horizontal,
throwing Sleepyhead out upon the
iloor.
There is another sort of bed which
lets the head of the sleepy person drop
when getting-up time arrives, one end
of the mattress frame collapsing. But
one of the queerest of the patented
methods of waking people up involves
the employment of a tin pan and a
weight hung l>y a cord. When the
hands of a clo'clc reach a certain point,
the w eight is released and falls upon
the pan, making a direful racket.
Another oddity is a frame from which
are suspended a number of corks.
During the night it is lowered gra
dually, by a clockwork mechanism,
until at the proper hour and minute
the dangling corks begin to bob against
the nose and face of the sleeper. Of
i course he wakes up. The most ob
vious advantage of these sleep alarms
is that they render anxiety on the part
of the sleeper unnecessary, so far as
, rising is concerned. He' can snooze
| undisturbed by the necessity of watch
ing himself.
! To provide against accidents, a
I citizen of Ashland, Wis., has invented
a little apparatus that is intended to
be attached to every gas fixture in a
| hotel. The breath of a person who
attempts to blow out the gas tilts a
delicately balancedelectrode and closes
u circuit, giving an alarm in the office.
Another kind of alarm, patented by
a Chicago man, notifies the house
! holder of escaping gas. If you are
afraid of pickpockets, you cau obtain
j protection by wearing a small machine
j that makes a big disturbance in case
j anybody tries to put his hand into
your pocket.
Even after death yon may find alarms
a service. If a grave robber comes
along, a torpedo placed in the coffin
for that purpose will blow him to
| smithereens. Supposing that the dis
turbauco wakes you to life again, a
clock-work mechanism will start a
j bell to ringing, while a red flag runs
up to the top of the tombstone, giving
! notice that a prompt resurrection is
j desired. Speaking of waking up, sug
j gests mention of some odd contri
vances for doing necessai'y things be
fore getting out of bed in the morn
ing. One of these, patented by a lazy
i Vermonter. enables one to turn on the
draught of a stove or furnace and then
turn over for a supplementary snooze,
j This, however, is a primitive conlri
| vance compared with the invention of
i a resident of Providence, It. 1., which
provides for the feeding of a whole
I stahleful of live stock at daybreak,
i Mr. Sleepyhead simply turns on his
pillow and jerks a cord, which opens
a valve in the stable and lets down the
requisite quantity of feed into a
traugh.
I There are quite a number of inven
tions for lighting the fire in the morn
ing without getting out of bed. They
are all operated by clockwork. The
! newest and best of them is credited to
!an Illinois genius. A clock is set for
a certain time, aud, when the proper
minute is reached, the mechanism
"throws" a lever, which draws a match
across a piece of sandpaper and ignites
the kindling. One of the latest pa
tents is for a street lamp which has a
clockwork apparatus attached to it. At
the correct moment for which the ma
chine is set it closes an eleotric circuit,
at the same time opouing the gas pipe.
Immediately the gas is ignited, and it
| burns until shut off by the clockwork
at daybreak in the morning. In this
j way the street lamps all over a city
J may be made to light themselves sim-
I ultaueously without the intervention
I of human hands.
Something quite new is a contri
vance by which eggs are made to time
their own boiling. A little wire basket
j containing the eggs is put into the pot,
! and a clockwork mechanism is set for
i three minutes' stay. At the end of
three minutes the machine pulls the
basket out of the pot. Parenthetically
it may be remarked that there are a
great many interesting inventions
that have to do with eggs.
A eitizen of Austin, Texas, is the
author of a sort of water clock that is
wound by rain. On the roof of a
house is a trough that catches the rain
water which flows into the tank.
When the tank is filled to a certain
point, it empties the water into a
bucket which is connected by a cord
with the winding drum of an ordinary
clock. The bucket falls, and by its
weight pulls up the clock weight, thus
winding the clock. Finally the bucket
reaches the floor, when a valve in its
bottom opens and the water runs out.
Then it ascends and resumes its
origiual position, so as to be ready to
wind the clock up again after a while.
Another lazy method of winding a
clock has been patented by a San
Francisco man. The opening of a
door pulls up the weight, and so there
is never any necessity for keeping in
mind the business of making the time
piece go.
KLONDIKE POSSIBILITIES.
Thero Will Be Plenty to Do In Aluska
Bel<le* Digging (iold.
Gold hunters will regret it if they
do not prepare themselves for the
Alaskan trip with prudent foresight.
Cautions on this point are heard on
every side and it is not safe to disre
gard them. Men who are too old, in
feeble health, or with insufficient
means should not venture into the
distant northern wilderness. The
aged and the weak will surely break
down; and one without money enough
to tide over the first necessities
should remedy that trouble before
starting.
By next season probably 20,000 or
30,000 men will be at the mines and a
population as extensive as that means
a larger number engaged in other oc
cupations, especially those of a me
chanical kind. Thousands will be re
quired to look after the facilities of
transportation. The miners must be
fed, sheltered, clothed, doctored, bar
bered, amused and supplied with local i
newspapers. Towns must be built,
even though to be eventually aban
doned. Roads must be constructed
and convenient stations established
for wayfarers. Fortunes will be made
by some without washing a shovelful
of earth, or seeing a mine. Wages
will be high, and people of a saving
disposition will get on. All who are
sound in body and know how to take
care of themselves physically will have
good chances of success, perhaps not
as great as they anticipate, but cer
tainly better than have existed in
settled communities during the last
three or four years.
But above every other encouraging
prospect in Alaska, except the sensa
tional discovery of gold, is the fact
that vast territory is almost unexplored.
Its area is eight times that of Missouri.
What its mineral wealth may be in
richness and Variety is unknown, but
it is conjectured to be very great. In
fisheries and furs it is all that could be
desired. Its agricultural possibilities
are undetermined. The short summer
is hot enough to produce certain crops,
and the climate of southern Alaska is
humid rather than intensely cold.
Those who have tried to farm in Alaska
say that the moss-covered soil is un
suitable. But there are marshes with
humus that could be drained, and
mountain meadows that need only to
be rendered accessible. Native grasses,
where they grow, are abundant and
nutritious. Agriculture as conducted
in the States cannot be carried on in
Alaska, but the samo is true of
Iceland und the Shetlands. Alaska
may oiler something to the farmer
when a proper system of work is
devised. What the big territory says
to Americans is this: "I contain 577,-
390 square miles. Now, interpret
me."—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
An Allegory.
The Polar Bear awoke with a con
sciousness of intestinal vacuity. Gaz
ing about him, he executed a smile
that suffused the landscape with a rosy
glow. A line of moving objects ar
rested his wandering eye. A pre
science of deglutition instantly fringed
his jaws with a congealing drip. The
rapt look suffusing his countenance
troubled the tenderness of his mate;
she feared lest he had fasted too long.
"Visions?" she murmured. "Dogs."
She followed his glance with a scru
tinizing gaze, then added, not without
suppressed excitement, "Men." The
strategy of the campaign was brief.
As the pair, oppressed by a too copious
repast, lay iudolently cracking mar
row bones upon the snow which was
richly tinted with animal juices, the
Polar Bear addressed his companion.
"Beats dog," he remarked. "Every
time," was her laconic, but emphatic
reply.
The discovery of the vestiges of the
feast was heralded under the heading,
"Latest from the Klondike."—New
York Sun.
Mad to lliivo a lteul Cottuiro.
She put her arms around his neck
and looked up into his eyes.
"Yes," she said, "I believe in love
in a cottage. I know that I could find
happiness there with you."
"My darling!" he exclaimed raptur
ously.
"But,"she persisted earnestly, "you
must not get it into your head that I
am not an expert on cottages. You
musu't think that you can palm off a
cabin or a shanty on me and make me
think it is a cottage. Many a dream
of bliss is wrecked through a misun
standing of the meaning of the word
•cottage.' When you have one that
you would like to show me I would
gladly pass upon it. There must be
( room enough, you know, so that love
won't be crowded on to the back steps
; every time one of us wants to turn
i round."
As he stalked moodily away in the
■ gloaming he realized that he could not
j play the flim-flam game of love upon
! her.—Chicago-i'ost.
HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS.
To 801 l Cracked
A cracked egg will boil perfectly
well if wrapped in greased paper, tied
j round with a piece of string and nut
, into boiling water.
Salt ami Apple Sauce.
j Salted apple sauce is among the
good things of life. A quarter of a
' teaspoonful to a quart of the sauce is
sufficient. A bit of butter is an uddi-
I tiou, too.
Frame* For Bodices.
The wire and wooden frames for
hanging handsomely trimmed bodices
and fine shirt waists are now made
things of beauty as well as useful.
They are wound with cottou batting
and then covered with a full piece of
I china silk to match in color the decor
ations of the room they are to be used
in. The silk is made one-eighth of a
yard longer than the holder at each
end; a piece of ribbon is tied around
' it and the frill of silk left to hnug.
The hook for hanging the holder up is
wound with silk and finished with a
bow of ribbon. These holders have
two uses, for besides keeping a waist
in good shape, they perfume it, the
batting being freely sprinkled with
some fragrant powder before it is
wound over the frame.—New York
1 Sun.
Cucumbers Are Harmless.
Many people think they cannot eat
cucumbers, when the fact is that they
have never eaten them when properly
prepared. Friends of mine, who for
years excluded them from their bill of
fare, are now eating them without in
jury. Never eat them directly from
the vines, no matter how cool and
dewy they may be; they need to stand
in cold water to extract the unwhole
, tome greenness which some call
poison. Again, those who use ice
keep the cucumber in the ice box un
til meal time, then pare and slice it,
and because it is crisp they consider it
all right. My custom is to pick them
| early in the morning, before the sun
has heated them, immerse them in
cold water in a cool pantry, then about
the middle of the forenoon pare and
place them in more fresh water,
changing this once more just before
dinner time when they are sliced.
The last water may be suited to good
effect. Avoid overgrown cucumbers,
also those which show a distinct green
when cut.—Mrs. J. W. Wheeler, in
New England Homestead.
llow Serve Vegetable*.
The German method of serving veg
etables is very pretty and novel. A
dish will be passed to you, a large
fiat platter, on which there are four or
five different kinds of vegetables, not
mixed together, but arranged in sym
metrical rows, side by side, across the
plate, and flavored with a nice butter
sauce. They will combine peas, car
rots, string beans, turnips, etc. The
contrasting colors, arranged taste
fully with reference to the general
effect, are pretty and take the dish out
of the commonplace. One is sup
posed to help one's self to a very small
portion of each kind. The Germans j
have a peculiar taste for combining
vegetables aud show a remarkable
good sense as to what flavors should
be united. A dish of spinach aud
turnips we have often tried since we
first tasted it in the Black Forest.
The spinach is chopped very fine and
highly flavored with salt, pepper, but
ter, a little nutmeg ami a table spoon
ful of soup stock. The turnips are
boiled and then cut in thin slices. To
serve them, the spinach should be
first placed in a vegetable disli, then
the sliced turnip put over the top, so
as to cover the spinach, and u rich
white sauce poured over the whole.
The combined flavor is very good.—
St. Louis Star.
Albany Pudding—Grease a bowl
thick with butter, put seeded raisins
around it, then line with bread. Make
custard, pour in, bake aud eat with
liquid sauce.
Sponge Cookies—Two eggs, one cup
sugar, two teaspoonfuls of baking
powder (rounding), oue-k&lf saltspoon
ful saU, two teaspoonfuls lemon juice
or one teaspoonful of vanilla. Flour
enough to roll.
Plum Sauce For Meats—To each
pound of Damson plums add half a
cup of sugar, half an ouuee each of
cinnamon, mace and cloves. Tie the
spices in a bag. Remove the stones
from the plums and boil until it be
comes thick like jam.
Beef Omelette—Four pounds of
, round beef, uncooked; chop fine. Six
tggs, beaten; five or six soda crackers,
rolled fine; little butter and suet, pep
per, salt and sage, if you choose.
Mako two loaves, roll in cracker, bake
about an hour and slice when cold.
Blackberry Bread—Stew blackber
ries and sweeten to taste. Butter some
slices of stale bread with crusts cut
off, then put a layer of the buttered
bread in the bottom of serving dish
and pour over it hot, stewed fruit.
Repeat until dish is full or fruit used;
eat cold with cream.
Chicken Fritters—One cup of flour,
one teaspoonful of baking powder,
half u cup of milk, two eggs. Beat
the eggs thoroughly, add the milk,
then pour on to the flour and baking
powder sifted together. Beat thor
oughly with a wooden spoon. Cut
chicken or veal into thin slices and
sprinkle with salt; dip them into the
batter and fry in hot fat.
Cream Salmon—One can of salmon
minced fine; drain oft' the liquor aud
throw away. For the dressing boil
ono pint of milk, two tablespooufuls of
butter; salt and pepper to taste. Have
leady one pint of fine bread crumbs;
place a layer in the bottom of the
dish, then a layer of fish, then a layer
of the dressing and so on, having
crumbs for the last layer. Bake uutU
i brown.
! CHINESE WHITE WAX.
THE CURIOUS METHOD BY WHICH
IT IS PRODUCED.
Formerly It Wan Made Up Into Candle*,
But the Introduction of Kerosene HUH
DlmliiUlitnl the Demand—The Wax-
Tree and It* Peculiar Treatment.
The Chinese insect white wax is
made the subject of a report from our
Consul at Chungking. There are cer
tain trees growing in the valley of a
river tributary to the Yangtse upou
which the white wax iusect breeds in
great numbers. The valley is at least
5000 feet above the sea. In March
and April each year brown, pea-sliaped
excrescences, or "scales," are found
on the bark of the trees. Each
"scale is tilled with the eggs of an in
sect, and it has been deposited there
in the regular course of nature by the
! female of this odd little creature, and
I the species propagates itself in this
way. At the end of April the "scales"
are taker, oft' the trees and are brought
j to a town which is in the centre of the
district. To this place large numbers
| of porters annually resort to carry the
j eggs 200 miles across the mountains
Ito a great rice Held. In earlier years
| these porters numbered as many as
i 10,000, but with the lessening of the
| demand for the wax there has natur-
I ally come a decrease in the number of
the men who engage themselves in the
industry. The "scales" are made up
into paper packets, each weighing
about sixteen ounces, and a load
usually consists of about sixty pacKets.
Great care has to be taken in the
transit of the "scales." The porters
travel only during the night, for, at
j the season of transit, the temperature
is already high during the day, and |
; would tend to the rapid development
of the insects and their escape from ;
j the "scales." At their resting places 1
: the porters open and spread out the 1
packets in cool places. Notwithstand- i
ing all these precautions, however,
each packet, on arrival, is found to be
more than au ounce lighter than when
it started.
When the porters reach the rice
fields with their burden, the work of
producing the wax begins. The plots
of ground here are divided with
stumps which are from three to twelve
feet in height. Sprouts rise from the
gnarled heads of these trunks, the
tree seeming to be a species of ash.
1 The Chinese call it the "white wax
tree."
The scales on their arrival, about
the beginning of May, are made into
small packets of from twenty to thirty
scales, which are enclosed in a leaf of
the wood-oil tree. The edges of the
leaf are tied together with a rice straw,
by which the packet is also suspended
close under the branches of the wax
tree. A few rough holes are drilled
in the leaf with a blunt needle, so
that the insects may find their way
through them to the branches.
On emerging from the aoales, the
insects creep rapidly up the branches
to the leaves, among which they nestle
for a period of thirteen days. They
then descend to the branches and twigs,
| on which they take up their position,
the females, doubtless, to provide for
a continuation of the race by develop
ing scales in which to deposit their
eggs and the males to excrete iho sub
stance known as white wax.
During the thirteen days after their
escape from the scales and their future
life when studded on the bark, the in
sects must derive their nourishment
from the sap of the tree, although to
the unaided eye there is no visible
impression on leaves or bark. From
the absence of any such marks, the
Chinese declare that the insects live
on dew and that the wax perspires
from the bodies.
The wax firs; appears as a white
coating on the under sides of the
• boughs and twigs, and resembles very
much a covering of snow. It gradually
spreads over the whole branch and at
tains, after three months, a thickness
of about one-fourth of an inch. When
the white deposit becomes visible on the
branches, the farmer may be seen go
ing the round of lus trees, carefully
| belaboring each stump with a heavy
wooden club, in order, he says, to
bring to the ground the la-kou, or
"wax dog," a declared enemy of the
wax insect. This probably refers to
the beetle mother. clubbing of
the stumps is done during the heat of
the day, when the wax insects are said
to have a firm hold of the bark.
After the lapse of a hundred days
from the placing of the insects on the
wax tree the deposit is complete. The
branches are then lopped oft' and as
much of the wax as possible removed
by hand. This is placed in an iron pot
of boiling water, and the Vax, melting,
rises to the surface, is skimmed ofl'and
placed in a round mold, whence it
emerges as the white wax of com
' merce. Where it was found impossi
ble to remove the wax by hand twigs
and branches are thrown into the pot,
so that this wax is darker and inferior.
Finally, not satisfied that all the wax
lias been collected, the operator takes
the insects, which have meantime
sunk to the bottom of the pot, and
placing them in a bag, squeezes them
uutil they have given up the last drop j
of their valuable product. They are ;
then—an ignominious ending to their
short aud industrious career—thrown
to the pigs.
As the branches of the tree are
taken off and boiled with the wax the
scales are thus destroyed and it is
therefore necessary every year to send j
• the porters across the mountains for
fresh ones. When the boughs are
I lopped off a wax tree a period of three
years is allowed to elapse before the
| same tree is used again for the same
, purpose. Wind aud rain are greatly
I dreaded at the season of suspending
the insects and the sprouts of one and
j two years' growth are considered too
j weak to resist a gale.
| The introduction of kerosene oil in
; China has diminished the demand for
the insect wax. Formerly it was made
up iuto candles and found wide appli*
cation. The price has also declined
with the demand. It.is still used to
day for coating the exteriors of tallow
caudles, as it only melts at a high
temperature. It is also used in sizing
paper and cotton goods, for imparting
a gloss to silk, as a furniture polish
und as a coating for pills.
COLD ,N NORTH CAROLINA,
Some Big Nuggets Taken From tlie Pio
neer Placer Mine*.
"About ten miles east of Charlotte,
N. C.," says 'an [expert gold miner,
"is a locality known as Surface Hill.
A good many years ago a man from
Virginia went down there and bought
some property because he thought
there was gold on it. He didn't find
any gold, and he abandoned the prop
erty, leaving it in the hands of tribu
ters. Triliuters were gold diggers
that worked land and paid the owners
a certain percentage of what they found
as tribute for the privilege. These
tributers prospected a while, and on
the top of a hill they found a bed of
decomposed slate not more than a yard
square, from which they took seventy
five pounds of free gold, one nugget
weighing 9J pounds. This is all the
gold they could find on the property.
They sold the gold for SIB,OOO. The
nugget was purchased by M. Cheva
lier Vincent Riva Finola for S2OOO.
He sent it to Paris.
."The rich placer deposits iu North ;
Carolina had been pretty generally
worked out when the California gold
discoveries were made, and ' quartz
mining was being extensively and
profitably developed. There are mines
in Rowan, Meckleuherg, Stanley, Ca
barrus, Union, Montgomery, nndother
counties, that yielded from $1,000,000
to $3,000,000 each during the few
years they were in operation. They
are not exhausted yet, hut nre idle be
cause the ore is low grade at the depth
they have reached, and will not war
rant mining under present conditions.
"It is no uncommon sight to-day to
see men, women, and even children, j
with primitive pan or rocker, working
over the gravel in and along the creeks,
especially in the South Mountain field,
and although that gravel has been
washed and rewashed innumerable
times during the past half century it
never fails to yield these latter day
prospectors enough to make a good
day's wages. With the exception of the
Crawford mine and the Sam Christian
—another locality where nuggets of
from five to twelve pounds iu weight
have been foniul in recent years—the
widow Smith's diggings at Smith's
Ferry are probably the most impor
tant placer mines now in the State.
The widow Smith is a member of the
Bonaparte family of Baltimore. She
is the professional woman miner in the j
North Carolina gold fields. She works
with the old-fashioned rocker and riffle
box. She employs miners to help her,
and she runs the ferry herself. She j
is so sharp-eyed and shrewd that it is !
said no one ever crossed that ferry yet
and failed to disgorge gold dust from
somewhere about his clothes when the
widow Smith fixed him with her eye
and boldly and sharply exclaimed:
" l'ou've been washing out gold on
me to-day! Hand it over, or over
hoard you go!'
" 'The widow Smith is an expert
mineralogist and metallurgist, and pre
pares all her own gold for the market,
sending it chiefly to Baltimore. She
has made a fortune by surface mining,
and her diggings are still yielding
richly."
Cellar I'nder tlie Floor.
Chicken Bill and Tabor were part
ners in numerous mining ventures in
the mountains in the early days, be
fore the Governor became known to
fame as a bonanza king, and each was
in his Beveral ways helpful to the
other. After Tabor had struck it rich
and had money to burn Chicken Bill
approached him with a scheme which
ho represented to be very promising,
and easily induced him to take some
stock in it. Before long the fact de
veloped that Tabor was a minority
owner, associated with a number of
shady fellows, from whom his in
stinct told him fair play could not be
expected. Thoroughly dissatisfied
with the deal and incensed at the de
ception practiced upon him by a man
he had so many times befriended, he
sought him out aud demanded an ex
planation.
4 T thought you told me I was in ou
the ground floor in that transaction,"
shouted Tabor.
"Well, you were, Horace,"replied
Bill, with a grin. "You were iu on
the ground floor, just as I told you—
but there was a cellar to it!"— Denver
Times.
Sotno Little Thins®.
The smallest elephant is, according
to a contemporary, one from Sumatra,
which was recently exhibited iu Ber
lin. Three years old, it stands only
thirty-six inches from the ground. It 1
is a little over one yard in length and
weighs 168 pounds. The normal
elephant weighs at the same age
at least three tons. A pigmy race of
camels exists iu Persia, which are
only twenty-five inches in height aud
weigh but fifty pounds, while any or
dinary camel is larger than mostEng
lisli horses.
The smallest bird's egg is that of
the tiny Mexican humming bird, which
is scarcely larger than a pin's head.
The smallest tree in Britain is the
dwarf willow, which grows on one of
its highest mountains—Ben Lomond
—and which at maturity only attains
a height of two inches. Ben Lomond
is 3291 feet in height. The smallest
newspaper in the world is published
in Guadalajara, in The E ]
Telegrafo, a weekly publication, is
printed in eight columns, each 4J
inches in length aud lj iuohes wide,
on thick manilla paper.—Lodon Tid-
Bits. w
MICHIGAN'S" PEACH CROP. .
I 3reatest Fruit Belt North of the Ohio
River*
| Along tlie eastern shore of Lake
Michigan from New Buffalo to Lee
lanau County is the greatest fruit belt
north of the Ohio River, according to
the Detroit News-Tribune. It is a
| strip of laud covered with sand and
sand hills, 200 miles long and from
three to twenty miles wide. Here is
grown the best flavored and most per
fect peach in the whole world, livery
farmer raises peaches, and from now
on tlie peach industry of western Michi
gan is one of vast proportion, employ
ing thousands of employes and netting
a handsome return to the grower.
Every spring there are published pre
dictions that the peach crop has been
blighted by the late frosts, but never
theless there has never been a decided
failure in western Michigan. The
peach orchards, especially those in Van
Buren and Berrien counties, are in
flue shape and loaded to the ground
with young fruit every year. About ten
acres planted to peaches is all that one
family can take care of, though there
are orchards that contain hundreds ol
acres. There are not enough weeds
to be found in a good orchard to fill a
straw hat, as they are cultivated more
times than a prize corn field. The
trees commence bearing the third year,
and increase their product until they
are six or seven years old, when they
are supposed to have reached maturity.
There are some orchards near South
Haven that are twenty years old and
continue to grow a full crop of peaches
each year.
Each year soon after the blossoms
have fallen and the fruit has first as
sumed form the practical peach grower
goes through his orchard and picks
off about half the baby peaches. He
does this for two reasons: First, that
there will be better and larger peaches;
and, second, if left alone the weight of
all the fruit would break down the
trees. Even if half the young peaches
are destroyed the balance will in many
instances grow so large as to break
the branches. There is hardly a
grower but what has to brace and
and bolster up the heavy-laden limbs.
There is great rivalry among the
growers as to who will get the first
peaches on the market. .Tust as soon
as the fruit commences to turn red
they are picked and hurried away. Al
this stage they are hard as bullets and
scarcely fit to eat, yet by the time
they arrive in market they commence
to mellow, and are soon soft and
sweet. That accounts for the saying:
"No peaches to eat in the peach
orchards." I
There is a dozen or fifteen factories
scattered through the fruit belt mak
ing boxes, crates and baskets and em
ploying hundreds of hands. It is esti
mated that the receipts for the peach
crop of western Michigan last year
was near the 83,000,000 mark.
WISE WORDS.
Malice drinks half of its own poison.
—Seneca.
Good will, like a good name, is got
by many actions and lost by one.—
Jeffrey.
He that calls a man ungrateful sums
up all the evil that a man can be guilty
of.—Swift.
Friendship improves happiness and
abates misery by doubling our joy and
dividing our grief.—Addison.
Gaiety is not a proof that the heart
is at ease, for often iti the midst ol
laughter the heart is sad.—De Genlis.
Men of the noblest dispositions
think themselves happiest when others
share their happiness with them.—•
Taylor.
Good qualities are the substantia)
riches of the mind; but it is good
breeding that sets them off to advan
tage.—Locke.
He who cannot forgive others breaks
the bridge over which he must pass
himself; for every man has need to b
forgiven. —Herbert,
He that is a good man is three-quar
ters of his way toward the being a
good Christian, wheresoever he lives
and whatsoever he is called.—South.
Energy will do anything that can be
done in this world, and no talents, nc
circumstances, 110 opportunities will
make a two-legged animal a man with
out it.—Goethe.
It is impossible to make people un
derstand their ignorance; for it re
quires knowledge to perceive it; and,
therefore, he that can perceive it hatb
it not.—Bishop Taylor.
A rartner in Crime.
"Parson," said the dying man, "do
you believe in a deathbed confession?"
"Under certain circumstances," said
the reverend gentleman.
"Well, it is this way. Years ago I
was a passenger on the Great Consoli
dated Street Railway."
"Yes, go on."
"Oh, I hate to tell it."
"Go on."
"And one day, in a moment of
vicious insanity, I beat them out of a
nickel fare!"
He sank back exhausted.
"Listen," said the reverend man,
"it may comfort you. Can you hear
me?"
"Yes, yes."
"You needn't feel so worried about
beating that gang of robbers out of a
paltry nickel—l beat 'em every chance
I get!"
And the dying man passed away with
a peaceful smile.—Cleveland Plain
dealer.
To Enlarge Antwerp'® l>ock.
Five million dollars are to be spent
by Belgium's Government in enlarging
Antwerp's dock accommodations. A
channel twenty feet deep and 200 feet
wide is to be constructed, the quays
are to be extended 3000 feet to the
Bouth, and this is but the prelude to
more extensive improvements.