The speed of the fastest Atlantic |
steamer is now greater than that of
the express trains oa Italian railways.
There is a deal of "yellow journal
ism" in these reports about the yellow
metal in Alaska, maintains the Louis- ,
ville Courier-Journal.
A mill employing fifty men is now
engaged in making paper from the
bagasse, or sugarcane refuse, which
was once the greatest nuisance to the
sugar grower.
Apartment life has grown so uni
versal in Paris, according to a special
writer, that no such thing as a home
exists in the French capital. Inas
much as there is no such word as
home in the Freuch language, the
thing itself may not bo so much
missed.
The King of Denmark is still estab
lishing his claim to be called the
father-in-law of Europe. A grand
daughter has just been married to
the third son of King Oscar. There
are few royal families not connected
in some way to the dynasty of King
Christian.
Russia's average annual export of
wheat reaches nearly 50,000,000
bushels, but this year she will not
have enough for her own people, put
ting on the overworked but willing
Americau eagle the responsibility of
keeping the bread in their mouths.
That generous and conscientious fowl
will not be found wanting in this
emergency or any other which cau be
met by tilting its copious horn of
plenty, this year more overflowing
than usual.
General Lew Wallace and Rev. Dr.
W. H. Hickman, Vice-Chancellor of
Depauw University, have raised a
storm of protests because of highhand
ed criticisms of the wheel. During
the reception of a well-drilled com
mandery at Orawfordsvilie, and while
General Wallace was making the wel
coming address, he claimed that the
best appearing mou were those who
had received a military training, and
he took occasion to deprecate the use
of bicycles, saying that the riders
looked more like monkeys than men,
and that bicycling was time wasted. It
remained, however, for Dr. Hickman
to come out flatfooted in denouncing
the use of bicycles for women. He
declares that it is one of the most
baneful agencies ever invented in so
far as it concerns the gentler sex. It
takes the yonng woman from her homo
and home duties; its tendencies are
altogether wrong. He also asserts that
it affords a means of easy escape from
the restrictions of conventionality,
and is harmful from a hygienic stand-
Point.
Assistant Chief Alexander Scott of
the division of drafting of the Patent
Office has an interesting list of the
patents granted to women inventors of
the United States, compiled from 1790
to January 1, 1895. Up to that period
there had been issued 531,018 patents
to all persons, the number of women
included being surprisingly large. The :
articles ou which the patents have
boon granted compriso everything in |
the patentable liue, from a curling iron i
to a cooking stove, aud from a war
vessel to a handsaw. While many of j
ihe patents are no objects of peculiar
interest to women, many of them are
on scientific machines, objects of war- |
fare, miners' utensils and things which i
would bo only useful to the male por
tion of humanity. Of course, the baby
has not been forgotten, and the articles
patented to make the "mother's joy" j
more comfortable and contented form
a department all to themselves. Col
lar buttons have been invented by
wives, mothers and sweethearts. Evi- j
dently this was done to ease the mas- !
culine mind or nrevent the accustomed,
or, at least, accredited, profanity
which is supposed to flow when one of
the buttons becomes detached from a
garment and rolls somewhere out of
reach or "cannot possibly be found."
"We have found," said Mr. Scott to
the Star reporter, "that the objects
patented by women are of just as prac
ticable a nature as those gotten out by
the men. Very often it happens that
men invent an object which is of in
terest exclusively to womankind, as a
new style of hair fixer, but the reverse
is often the case. It frequently hap
pens ihat a woman will suggest some
thing to her husband, or some male
member of the family, who acts upon
it, taking out the patent and getting
credit for it, of course, fully with the
consent of the one suggesting the idea.
Any one who thinks that a woman is
incapable of inventing anything really
useful is making a great mistake, as a
look over the list of the thousands of
objects will testify. Some of the most
important things in use nowadays
have been invented by women and
brought into general use by them.'*
THE DAY BEYOND.
(7 hen youth is with us, all things see®
But lightly to bo wishe<l ami won;
Aul take our toll for work undone:
•'For life is long, and time a stream.
That sleeps and sparkles In the sun—
What need of any haste?" we say,
"To-morrow's longer than to-day."
And when to-morrow shall destroy
The heaven of our dreams, in vain
Our hurrying manhood wo employ
To build the vanished bliss again;
Wo have no leisure to enjoy.
•'So few the years that yet remain;
So much to do, and, ah!" we say,
"To-morrow's shorter than to-day."
But when our hands are worn and weak,
And still our labors seem unhlost,
And time goes past us like a bleak
Last twilight waning to the west,
•'lt is not here —the bliss wo seek;
Too brief is life for liuppy rest.
And yet what need of grief?" we say,
"To-morrow's longer than to-day
—A.St.Johu Adcook.ln Chambers's Journal.
gOOOOOOODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
| BESIDE THE LOOM, G
ioooooooooooooooooooooooS
ELL, Nelly," said
' ll y uuo ' e . joining
a lua on *' le ' ou^
M P ' l, i° you
see any clinnges?"
rival. I had beeu
looking at the
jjdSiC' blue mountain s,
C ffi/jgSE* breathing the
rose-perfumed air,
and saying over and over to my liappy
self: "I'm so glad to be in dear old
Virginia once more!"
"I have noticed but one change," I
answered Uncle Allen, "and that is in
the occupants of the cottage by the
spring. The Trents were there when
I was here before. Baby May was a
gloat pat of mine."
"May's father prospered while here,
and has bought a little place of his
own down by the river."
"And who lives in the cottage now?
I saw two young men come out of
there before breakfast."
"Yes; they're my farmers this year.
They live down there with their
widowed mother—a weaver of great
renown —"
"And a big talker!" said AuntMyra,
from the doorway. "You're such a
girl for stories, Nelly, you must get
Mrs. Erie to tell you some. She can
serve you with any kind, from a ghost
story to a panther yarn, having met
both phantom and 'painter' face to
face!"
"That woman has seen hard times;
stirring times; exciting times!" said
Uncle Allen. "She is said to have
been a very beautiful girl, with scores
of lovers; but she went through the
woods and chose the crooked stick—"
"And got many a beating from her
crooked stick," interposed Aunt Myra
again.
"Yes; beatings and abuses of all
kinds. Finally the stick ran away,
throwing the support of three little
children upon her. But she was moun
tain-born and bred, and had the rugged
strength and steadfastness of her sur
roundings. Who has been the heroine
of many an adventure. You will en
joy her yarns, Nelly."
Impetuosity has ever been one of
my characteristics.
"I should like to go down right
away and see her weave and hear her
talk!" I cried. "But how can I get
her into a reminiscent train of thought ?"
Aunt Myra laughed.
"No matter what you say, child,
you will remind her of some interest
ing bit of personal history."
So I donned my hat and ran down
the hill to call upon this woman of
such varied life memories.
I heard the tramp of the treadles
long before I reached the open door.
So busy was the weaver that I had to \
j knock before she saw me. At the
| sound she started and gave such im
petus to the fling of her shuttle, that
i it fell at my feet.
j I hastened to restore it, at the same
time begging her not to rise.
"You are Mrs. Erie?" I asked,
doubtfully, for I had pictured a bent
and care-worn woman, bearing the
j marks of her struggle with the wolf.
I saw instead, a figure as straight as a
plumb-line; a face that suggested
trailing arbutus to my ever fanciful
mind; a pair of dark eyes as bright as
a baby's, and heavy black hair twisted
high on a well-shaped head.
( Beautiful as a girl? Who could
doubt it, or that she had quaffed of
Ponce de Leon's fountain?
"That's who I am," she answered,
cordially; "and I know who you are
! without asking.' Your unclc/a been
! expectin' you for more'n a week. You
| look enough like him to be his daugh
ter. Take that rockin' chair and lay
off your hat."
"Don't let me interrupt you," I said!
"I never saw anybody weave, and
came down to watch you."
Having thus stated half the truth, I
drew my chair beside the loom.
The weaver smiled like one humor
ing a child, and bent to her task with
the brief information:
"I'm wen via' jeans."
When the jeans had increased about
two inches in length Mrs. Erie gave a
sudden short laugh.
"It didn't look very friendly for mo
to fling the shuttle at you," said she.
"That was my fault. I knocked so
abruptly it startled you."
"I'vo beeu a weaver, off an' on, ever
since I was a girl of eighteen. This
is the Becond tiino in all those years
that I tossed my shuttle so hard it
went out the door. I thought of that
other time the minute it flew out to
day."
She stopped weaving and looked
past me through the open window
with so thoughtful an air that I scent
ed my story.
"Tell me about it, please," I said,
| inwardly smiling at the remembrance
| of Aunt Myra's parting assurance.
"It was in December and dreadful
ly cold. Father was in the war.
Mother wan weakly and I had to take
caro of her and the children. I was
older than the rest by a good deal. I
had the crops to raise, had to plow,
hoe, cut and shuck corn, chop down
trees and haul them, and do all that a
mau does and a heap that a woman
does. The four years of the war
seemed forty years to me. All the
men for miles around were gone, and
all the boys that were big enough to
shoulder muskets.
"But at the time I was speakin' of,
one of our neighbors, a young man,
was home on a furlough; lie'd been
wounded in the arm. Him an' me
had always known each other and
liked each other the way boy and girl
will, you know. Well, one day his
mother ooino over to our house and
she says to me:
" 'Rose, where's Louis gone to?*
" 'I don't know, I'm sure,' says I,
and blushed up, for I was bashful and
it plagued me to have her make out
that I knew more about Louis' com
ings and goings than she did. I'd
been wondering why he hadn't come
around the day before, for he'd been
in the habit of droppin' in every day.
"Louis was a great hunter. I've
known him to go off in the mountains
by himself and stay a week or two,
hunting and trapping. But I knew
that wasn't where he'd gone now, for
his arm wasn't strong enough yet to
carry a gun.
"A few days after his mother was at
our house the door opened and Louis
walked in. Mother had taken all the
children and gone to see a neighbor a
little ways oft*, so I was alone. I was
weaviu' a carpet.
"Louis came over to the loom. He
had a buckskin pouch in his hand.
Without sayin' a word ho took out a
ten-dollar gold piece and laid it on the
carpet right under my eyes. Then he
took out another and laid it alongside
of that one, and then another and
another, till they stretched the full
width of the carpet and part way back.
There was fifty of them. Then Louis
says:
" 'Rose, will you share these shiners
with me?'
"A little streak of sunshine
came through the window and
made the gold glitter till it hurt
my eyes. I looked up at Louis.
His face shone yellow like the gold. I
dou't know why, but as I looked at
him I didn't like him as well as I did
before he went away and came back
with all this money. I was trou
bled in my mind.
" 'How did you come by all this,
Louis?'
" 'I earned it.'
" 'How?'
" 'By saving an army?'
" 'What army? And how?'
"He began to brush the gold into a
pile with his hand.
" Tt ain't fair for me to answer a
dozen questions for you before you
answer one for me,' says he, laughing
kind of queer; 'but a girl must always
have her curiosity settled. Well, this
army that I saved from bein' cut to
pieces had got into a mighty tight
place. The enemy had heard it was
goin' to cross the mountain, and they
throwed up fortifications on top and
fixed a regular trap for it. At a cer
tain place that they'd have to pass,
trees were nearly cut down so that a
few licks would fiuish them. Men
were hid waitin' for the army
to go by, and then they wore to topple
these trees across the road and shut
off retreat. Things were planued
mighty well but the army got wind of
it somehow. They couldn't go back,
for they were ruunin' from an enemy,
au' they couldn't go on, for there was
another enemy waitin' for 'em in front.
They didn't know how to got out of
the trap. Then a feller who knowed
about me bein' at home, goes to the
General, ami says: 'There's a man not
fur from here that knows every inch
of ground on these mountains. If any
body kin lead us out of here, he's the
man.'
" 'Fetch him here double quick!'
says the General.
" 'So this feller—'
" 'Who was it, Loui9?' says I.
"But he clinked his money against
my shuttle and laughed at my curiosity
again.
" 'This feller and five more, armed
to the teeth, comes across me one
morning and says: 'You're to come
with us and 110 questions asked.'
" 'So they takes me to the General.
He tells me the fix they're in and asks
if there's any escape. I says yes. He
waits for no more.
" 'Lead me out and you'll be richer
by five hundred dollars. Refuse, and
you'll be a dead man inside of five
minutes.'
"'I thought of you, Rose, and led
them down through the valley aud
well on toward Covington.'
" 'Was it our men?' says I.
"I remember how dry my lips
were and how choked I felt in the
throat.
" 'lt was life or death to me,' says
he, 'so what difference does it make
to you which army I saved?'
" 'lf it was our men 'twas outrage
ous for you to tako money, poor as
the South is! If you helped the
Yankees and prevented a great vic
tory for our side, you're a traitor!
Aud if you mean to say that thinkin'
about me made you a traitor, I'll
thank you to stop your thinkin*.'
"Ho took his hand off the gold and
looked at me with a black face.
" 'lf it had been you, I suppose
i you'd have told 'em to fire away!' he
says, witn a sneer. 'You're mighty
brave, but I cau tell you it don't feel
so nice to be shot.'
"I knew as well as if he'd told mo
I that he had opened the Confederate
trap and let the Yankees out.
"I took the buckskiu bag and put
all the gold back iu it,
" 'I won't share money, and
i I wish you good day,' says I.
"He took the bag and turned away
without a word, and I bcgau to weave
again.
"I was full of temper in those days,
and I was all on lire for the South. I
gave my shuttle a tremendous fling,
and it hit Louis iu the back as it went
out the door. Of course he thought I
did it a purpose, but he never looked
around. Well, all kind feelings be
tween him and me was over, anyway.
He joined the other side. After the
war hp weut to Texas."
"And did you ever find out what
general it was he helped?" I asked.
"Oh, yes; it was General Av'ril. It
was our General Echols who was lay
in' in wait up on the mouutain. Have
n't you read about it iu your school
books?"
I confessed that I have a bad head
for history, except when served by Sir
Walter Scott.
"Do you think Louis would really
have been shot?"
"A man I know saw General Av'ril
at the White Sulphur after the war,
and asked him that very question.
'On the spot and like a dog!' says
he."
"That, wouldn't have saved his
army. But, tell me, would you have
refused to guide him out?"
"Miss Nelly," said she solemnly,
"when Louis was telliu' his tale, I
had no other idea. That was the sol
dier in me—and the Virginian. But
many a time since then I've laid
awake at night tliinkin' about it. Of
course, promises or threats wouldn't
a-moved me; but if I'd a-stood there
lookin' around over hundreds of men,
aud kuowed that I could be the
means of savin' 'em or destroyin'
'em, I'm not goin' to say I wouldn't
ha' led 'em out. I'm a woman, and
God's put soft hearts in us women."
I was strangely moved by the fire
of her glance and the rugged pict
uresqueness of her words.
She leaned over her neglected
work, aud tossed the shuttle through
the warp, back and forth a dozen
times. Then she gave me a sideways
look, and asked curiously.
"What would you have done, Miss
Nelly?"
And I, too, have asked this ques
tion of myself in those rare night
hours, when sleep has refused to
"weigh mine eyelids down."—The
White Elephant.
No Prisons in Iceland.
In Iceland there are no prisons, and
the inhabitants are so honest in their
habits that such defences to property
as locks, bolts and bars are not re
quired; nor are there any police in the
island. Yet its history for 1000 years
records no more than two thefts. Of
these two cases one was that of a na
tive, who was detected after stealing
several sheep, but as he had done so
to supply his family, who were suffer
ing for want of food, when he had
broken his arm, provisions were fur
nished to them and work was''found
for him when able to do it, and meam
while he was placed under medical
care; but the stigma attached to his
crime was considered sufficient punish
ment.
The other theft was by a German,
who stole seventeen sheep. But as he
was in comfortable circumstances and
tho robbery was malicious, the sen
tence passed upon him was that he
should sell all his propeity, restore
the value of what ho had stolen and
then leave the country or be executed,
and he left at once.
But, though crime is rare in Ice
land, and its inhabitants are distin
guished for honesty and purity of
morals, there is, of course, provision
for the administration of justice, which
consists, first of all, by appeals to the
court of three judges at Reykjavik, the
capital; aud lastly in all criminal and
most civil cases, t" the Supreme Court
at Copenhagen, the capital of Den
mark, of which kingdom the island
forms a part. The island of Panaris
(one of the Lipari group) is equally
fortunate in having neither prisons
nor lawyers, and being absolutely des
titute of both paupers aud criminals.—
Boston Trnuseript.
America's First Cotton Mill.
Tho tablet which is to mark the site
of the first cotton mill in America was
put in place yesterday at the corner of
Dodge and Cabot streets, North Bev
erly, says the Boston Herald. There
was no formal exercises, but among
those invited by the Beverly Historical
Society to be present was tho Hon. R.
S. Bantoul, of Salem, as tho result of
whose researches the fact was demon
strated that this was really the first
cotton mill in America. It seems that
when Mr. Bantoul was Mayor of
Salem he was invited to Pawtucket,
R. 1., to attend the celebration 6f the
centennial of the opening of the first
cotton mill in America. He did not
go, but he began to look up the history
of the cotton mills. The result de
monstrated beyond doubt that the mill
in Beverly antedated that in Paw
tucket by some years. The facts are
substantiated by no less a person than
George Washington, who on his tour
through New Englaud made a visit to
this mill in 1879, and rocorded at
length his impressions. This was a
year before *.§ later came to America,
and two years before he started his
mill in Pawtucket. The Beverly mill
was built and running in 1788.
Homo Queer NUIIICD.
The subject of queer names was re
cently called by the dedication of a
church in whioh the subscribers in
cluded a Mr. Senseinan, Mr. Poet, Mr.
Sourbeer and Mr. Pancake.
This particular church seems to
have broken the record for fresh no
menclature. One member remembers
that she had once taught a class in tho
Sunday-school connected with it in
which three of the pupils were named
Porter, Ale and Sourbeer. Another
woman recalled the fact that at a re
ligious gathering she had once enter
tained Mrs. Sprinkle, Mrs. Shower
and Mrs. Storm.—New York Tribune.
THE ROAMING ROMANIES.
INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT
THE GYPSY RACE.
Many Thoa*nmU of Them In the United
States—Tliey Are f*oo<l Horse Traders*
I.oyal Friends and the Pawnbrokers
llest Patrons—Kind to Their Offspring.
"The gypsy race shows no signs of
extinction. The Romanies are as
strong and as numerous to-day as they
have ever been."
Thus spoke Paul Kester, playwright,
ethnologist and student of the lives,
habits and language of the gypsies.
Mr. Kester is one of the greatest living
authorities upon the American Romany.
In his play "Ramar," one of the late
Alexauder Salviui's successes, he dealt
broadly with his favorite subject; aud
a volume from his pen, soon to be pub
lished, will shed still further light up
on the much misunderstood wanderers.
"The gypsies," he says, "came or
iginally from Hindoostau. The mi
gration of the race occurred during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centur
ies. The sobriquet 'Egyptian' which
they assumed was, it is supposed, ow
ing to their temporary sojourn in
Egypt. The name Romany ethnolo
gists derive from the Hindu 'rom,' a
man. Armed with protecting letters
from one or more of the popes, they
appeared in Germany; and thereafter
swarmed over Europe. I cannot say
when they first came to America; but
certain it is that they were not long
after the first white colonists.
"There are many thousands of them
in the United States, and they per
meate all branches of society. I know
of an eminent and respectable Episco
pal clergyman in Boston who has Bo
many blood in his veins. Once a year
the old wandering fever comes over
this good man; anil then, hey, presto!
the pulpit is temporarily abandoned,
and he follows the pattrin-trail or
lounges contentedly among his kin
dred in the shade of the caravan tent.
In many of our cities there ore wealthy
men and women, millionaires and so
called 'society people,' who are Bo
many-ohals (gypsy men), or Bomany
chis (gypsy girls), and who cannot re
sist following the pattrin when sum
mer time conies round. But, of course,
the great majority of the raoe live in
their caravans all the year round, tell
ing fortunes and trading in horses for
a living—going Bonth with the ap
proach of winter, and returning north
ward when summer is at hand. An
American gypsy has only one wife,and
a very good husband he generally
makes her. They are excellent fath
ers, too. In all my long experience I
have never seen a Boinauy father beat
his offspring.
Since the death of Matilda Stanley,
11., of Dayton, Ohio, a few years ago,
the American gypsies have had no
generally recognized queen. This
Matilda succeeded her aunt of the
same name (Matilda Stanley I.), whose
great funeral and the vast bonis of
gypsies that attended it will still be
remembered. The Irish-American and
German-American gypsies have rulers
of their own. There are 760 families
of German-American Bomanies, and
their queen is Sophia Freyer, a Bom
any chi of nearly eighty years.
"The nomadic gypsy bands are not
so large as in less settled times, when
the Bomany was forced to travel in
large numbers for self-protection.
From twelve to twenty persons make
up the average caravan to-day; al
though in some cases the bands num
ber fifty or sixty. A very large band
is the famous one of which old Chiv
odine Lovel is the chief. Every year
Level's band comes north and camps
between Newark and Elizabeth, N. J.,
in the woods by the boulevard. These
Lovels are over sixty in number.
Chief Stanley's big family yearly en
camps on Crow Hill, Kings County,
N. Y. Iu the suburbs of Denver,
Col., the gypsies ruled by Mrs. Caro
lina Smith meet annually, while
branches of the royal Stanley family
of Ohio encamp near Dayton, Cincin
nati and Cleveland.
"The pattrin is the code of signs by
which gypsies tell each other the road
to be followed. The word comes from
the Sanscrit pattra, a leaf; and the
; commonest form of pattrin is the scat
tering of little tufts of grass or tiny
bundles of loaves along the route pur
' Bued. Straw, sticks, pebbles' and
crosses in the earth are also used. The
form of pattrin for night guidanoe is the
placing of a small forked stick upward
in the ground, with a smaller stick
poised in the cleft to show the direc
tion. Nowadays, however, the gypsies
are getting so unromantio that they
do a great ileal of telegraphing. Oddly
enough, the great gypsy exohang.s iu
the various cities are livery stables
[ and pawnbrokers' Bhops. The first
| fact is explicable when one recalls the
horse trading of the Bomany; but the
second calls for explanation. Gypsies
are the pawnbrokers' best customers,
j They buy lavishly all sorts of gold,
I silver aud amber and cowrie orna
ments, and nearly all their dealings is
done with the pawnshops. The gypsy
woman has an oriental taste in jewelry,
anil every Bomauy-chi possesses a box
full of trinkets,, especially in silver,
amber and (inheritance from Hindu
ancestors) cowrie beads. The pawn
brokers keep in touch with the various
I oaravaus and at the sign of the three
golden balls the Bomany learns the
i whereabouts of relatives anil friends.
"Many ourious customs prevail
among our Bomanies. For instance,
j it is common among the Colsrado and
California gypsy women; while secret
ly conniving at the marriage of their
daughters,| to apparently oppose the
suitor's advances bitterly. This ne
cessitates an elopement; after which
the young pair, having shown their
Bomany spirit, are welcomed back to
the maternal tent pole. Their cook
ing and eating habits are often odd
enough. For pork they have a great
fondness: and in old times they were
aocustomed when passing a form
house to 'drab the baulo' (poison th
pig) and beg the carcass from the
farmer. The poison known as 'drab*
is one of the Romany secrets. It is
a curious drug which affocts only the
animal's brain, leaving the rest of the
body unpoisoned.
"In so far as I know him (and I
may safely say that I know him well)
the American gypsy is one of nature's
gentlemen courteous, considerate
and loyal. The average Gorgio, of
course the Romany dislikes and dis
trusts; but win the gypsy's affection,
and you keep it always. The vagrant
tendencies of the race can never be
crushed out. They are in the blood,
bred in the bone, of the true Romany,
So long as the pure gypsy strain ex
ists, chal and chi will follow the pat
trin trail, tell fortunes, trade horses,
woo the Gorgio's gold, and sleep with
the broad arch of heaven for their
canopy."—Detroit Free Press.
WISE WORDS.
Thine own friend and thy father's
friend forsake not.
There is pleasure in meeting the
eyes of those to whom we have done
good.
The criminal is not another kind of
being; k he is ourself in our worst
moods.
Every great and commanding move
ment in the annals of the world is the
triumph of enthusiasm.
A set of mortals has risen who be
lieve that truth is not a printed spec
ulation but a practical fact.
Some women seem to think they
ought to be loved, whether they do
any of it themselves or not.
Men of the noblest dispositions
think themselves happiest when others
share their happiness with them.
Do good constantly, patiently and
wisely, and you will never have cause
to say that life was not worth living.
Everywhere ar.d always a man's
worth must be gauged to some extent,
though only in part, by his domesti
city.
Men of humor are, in some degree,
men of genius; wits are rarely so, al
though a man of genius may, amongst
other gifts, possess wit.
Manhood begins when we have in
any way made truce with necessity;
but begin joyfully and hopefully only
when we have reconciled onrselves to
necessity.
Every attempt to make others
happy, every sin left behind, every
temptation trampled under foot, every
step forward in the cause of what is
good is a step nearer heaven.
The greatest and noblest work in
the world andtiu effect of the greatest
prudence and cure, is to rear and
build up a man and to form and fashion
him to piety, justice, temperance and
all kinds of honest and worthy actions. '
We should ponder the particular
characteristics which are needed to
encounter manfully all failures in life, 1
and secure from them whatever bene
fit they are capable of bestowing, for
these are very different from the quali- j
ties which enable a man to ride trium
phantly on the tide of success.
Always there is seed being sown
silently and unseen, and everywhere
there comes sweet flowers without our
foresight or labor. We reap what wo
sow, but nature has love over and
above that which justice gives us—
shadow and blossom and fruits that
spring from no plunting of ours.
Curving Knife Mightier Than Sworil.
It is well enough to train the girls;
they need it. But if you would con
fer n blessed boon on humanity, teach
the boys to carve; they will be a
pleasure to themselves and their
friends. The carving knife is mightier
than the sword, and the man who
goeth forth to the feast, proud in the
consciousness that ho can carve a
turkey, is a person to be envied. What
shall we say of the man to whom the
carving for a company is merely a
pleasing incident in the daily routine?
What shall we say of that wonderful
being who can carve and tell a good
story at the same time? Such men
actually exist. Their name is not
legion, it is true; but they dwell
among us, aud seldom, if ever, give
themselves airs over this accomplish
ment. Yet, is it not a remarkable ac
complishment? To carve well is a
grent thing; few can do it. To tell a
good story is perhaps greater. But to
carve and tell a story at the same time!
To what heights does not man some
times attain! I know such a man.
He moves among his fellow citizens
like common humanity. Dignity,
wealth, learning, all are his; I envy
them not. But when be carves, I
take off my hat and prostrate myself
at his feet. Friends forget their hun
ger in watching the poetry of his
movements; and, as a crowning glory,
one which sets him apart from or
dinary mortals, he can carve and tell
a story at one and the same time.
Charles P. Burton, iu What to Eat.
At Garibaldi's Tomb.
The other day the Crown Prince of
Naples, when nt sea, sailed in the
neighborhood of Capera and suddenly
landed in the company with an/officer
andvisited Garibaldi's tomb. The Prince
remained a long time in contempla
tion, with his head uncovered, and
gathered a branch of Oleander growing
near the hero's grave as a present to
the King. The improvised visit was
not known to the Governor of the
Island until after the Prince had left.
C" * The Small Girl]Diploinat.
Diplomacy is often practised by a
child that would do credit to a much
older head. A little girl was being
carried down town by Iter father when
he said: "Which do you love the best,
your mother or papa?" She looked at
her father and t-zen said: "I can't
talk," and closed her little lips with
the firm determination of not opening
them.—New York World.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
A strong microscope shows the sin
gle hairs of the head to be like coarse,
round rasps, but with teeth extremely
irregular and jagged.
The oyster is one of the strongest
creatures on earth. The force re
quired to open an oyster is more than
nine hundred times its weight.
The sole of the English coast when
when placed over a gravelly bottom,
will at once assume that shape to a re
markable degree. Placed in a white
bowl it becomes almost as white as the
dish.
In France it is a punishable offense
for anyone to give infants under one
year any form of solid food unless sucb
be ordered by written prescription
signed by a legally qualified medical
man.
Beamur says that each thread of
what we call a "spider web" is com
posed of about five thousand separate
fibres, and that it would take 27,048
full-grown spiders a year to spin a
pound of such silk.
The summer coat of the polar fox is
dark, in general harmony with the
ground of the rocky Arctic regions,
where the sun has molted off the snow.
In winter it is so white that it can
hardly be seen as itruusover the snow.
More than six thousand species of
plants are cultivated, and most of
these have been broken up into varied
forms by the hand of man. Horticul
turists create new species, and show
numbers of cultivated plants of which
no one knows the original form.
Spanning an inlet of the Yellow Sea
near Sangang, China, is a bridge five
and a quarter miles long, with 300
piers of masonry, and having its road
way sixty-four feet above the water.
This work is said to have been accom
plished by Chinese engineers 800 years
ago.
The drill of the woodpecker has an
other tool inside, a sort of insect
catcher. On the end is a bony thorn
with sharp teeth like barbs on a fish
hook. As he works and finds an in
sect ho opens the drill and sends out
this barbed tongue and draws it (into
; his mouth.
A testing-machine of wonderful
power has recently been devised for
; the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
; uology. It is capable of exerting a
pressure of 500,000 pounds. It can
be applied to testing the strength of a
! complete arch of masonry, and it is
said that similar tests on so large a
scale have never before been applied.
An experiment station for what has
, been called the "vivisection of plants"
has been established by the Depart
ment of Agriculture in Washington.
Somewhat similar stations exist else
where, but it is said to be the inten
' tion to make this more extensive than
any other. Valuable results are ex
i pected from the study of the diseases
of plants, and it has long been sug
gested that this may lead to the em
-1 ployment of "plant doctors" just as
now we have doctors for men and ani
| trials.
A Smokeless Fuel.
In the future we may be importing
masut instead of exporting coal. Masut
is a by-product in the distillation of
i raw petroleum. It is also manufac
tured from a cheap, brown coal found
in Saxony. There has been, until re
cently, great trouble, says the Chicago
Journal, in finding a furnace suitable
for burning it. It is now blown by
steam into a special furnace, on the
principle of the Lnoigen light, and
used without difficulty. It is said to
! be forty or fifty per cent, cheaper than
coal, and is twenty per cent, better as
I a heat raiser. Steam can be got up
riuicker and kept at a higher pressure
I and more work be done by the mach
inery. From a naval point of view
these are vitally important facts. No
; sign of a ship under full steam will be
shown in the sky, for masut is a smoke
less fuel. Russia and Italy ure using
it in their navies, and Germany has
lately made some valuable experiments.
At Kiel, Wilhelmsliaven and Danzig
are tanks from which it can be pumped
into ships. Its specific gravity being
so much less than that of coal, a ship's
buoyancy is greatly increased when
the bunkers are filled with it. Heavier
armor or cargoes can be carried. The
beating capacity being greater, the
ship can travel faster or farther. It is
yet to be learned what improvements
the Germans have introduced into
their furnaces and what are the disad
vantages of masut.
The Truthful Citizen.
The other morning a careless mason
dropped a brick from the second story
of a building on which he was at work.
Leaning over the wall and glancing
downward he discovered a respectable
{ citizen with his silk hat jammod over
his eyes and ears, rising from a re
| cumbent posture. The mason, in
t tones of apprehension, inquired: "Did
that brick hit anyone down there?"
The citizen, with groat difficulty ex
i tricating himself from the extinguisher
' into which his hat had been converted,
replied with considerable wrath: "Yes,
J sir, it did. It hit me." "That's
right," exclaimed the mason, in tones
lof undisguised admiration. "Noble
i man, I would rather have wasted a
| thousand bricks than have you tell me
a lie about it."—Baptist Union.
Cyclone's Effect on Bicycles.
It baa remained for the French to
study the resisting power which the
bicycle has in a cyclone, and to pro
duce an instantaneous photograph of
a bicycle and rider as they appeared!
when caught in a furious whirwind.
During recent tempests a number of
bicyclists were caught on the high
ways, and, although a few machines
were wrecked, they were of the cheap
est grades. Bioycles of the best make
showed remarkable powers of resist
ance. They were bent into all sorts
of shapes, but they did not break.