Mi nister Woodford, our Minister to Spain, says lie never wants to see an other bull-figlit. The number of pupils in the schools of the United States last year was lfi,- 415,197, an increase of nearly 5,000,- 000 since 1890. Chicago is justly proud of her new public library. It lias taken ten years to build anil the actual cost was 1 $1315.07 less than the $2,000,000 originally appropriated. The statue to Frederick Douglass, which the Park Commissioners will place in one of the public squares of ; Rochester, N. Y., will probably be the ; first public statue ever erected to a colored man in the United States. Here is an opportunity for John Bull and his inevitable umbrella, though he may not covet it. A Ger man professor, in giving his experi- , ence us an explorer in the wilds of Africa, Rays that the best protection against tigers and lions is an umbrella, as the beasts are especially afraid of one when opened suddenly upon them. On all the new ships of the navy the American shield has displaced as a fig ure-head the designs carried ou the older vessels. This is carved out of solid brass, with the stars and stripes anil the shield proper fitted close around the slender bow, while scroll" work extends backward on either side for a distance of four or five feet. The New York, the Minneapolis and the Philadelphia have possibly the most elaborate designs, some having cost four thousand or five thousand dollars each. Novelties in advertising are not lim ited to America. In some of the for eign cities enterprising firms watch the papers carefully for records of births and promptly send the mother pres ents of soap or toilet articles. One London house, keeping its records carefully, waits fill the child is a few years old and then sends out—the sex being noted—the following: "Madame, as your little child's birthday ap proaches, aud, thinking that you may require some present for her in com memoration of the event, we enclose a catalogue of our toys." A medical man in London lost his dog; 2t was not a beauty, but hand some euougli to be stolen, and it was a great pet of his wife. He hit upon an ingenious device for recovering it at a cheap price. He put the follow- 1 ing advertisement in the paper; "Lost, a small black dog from Stay Fair street. It is of no value even to the owner, but kind-hearted persons who may have been moved to take it in are warned not to do so, as the animal Ims been much experimented upon for scientific purposes, nnd may become involun- i tarily a source of great danger." The dog came back the same day, in time for afternoon tea. A special service for old people was held in a Philadelphia Methodist Epis- ; copal Church on u recent Sunday morning. The sermon was f'-om the text, "Cast mo oft in the time of my old age; forsake me not when my strength f-.iileth. A general invita tion had been issued to the old folks j of the congregation and others were linked to spread the word among the aged and infirm of the whole commun ity. Carriages were sent for those who . were unable to walk to the church, and special arrangements were made for their comfort throughout the service, j Great, comfortable, easy chairs and rockers for the old people surrounded the pnlpit, in a semicircle, and on two tables were several bouquets of fall flowers, which were afterward dis tributed as souvenirs of the occasion. A "stereoptico-mnsical aggregation" from San Antonio visited a neighbor ing Texas town. To entertain the in. habitants they impressed au old grand piano which had lain long unused in the put,bo hall. The "professor"' opened the lids and found that the keys responded pleasantly to his touch. He launched into Wagnerian melody, and the pianissimo prelude gently awakened a colony of wasp 9 that had built n nest in a recess of the instrument during the months of its idleness. The pianist plunged int 0 fortissimo and was startled to find the rumble aud roar of his basso-profundo notes accompanied by a strange, high, angry hum. In another second, with a vicious whir of wings, the yellow jackets were out and upon professor "aggregation," and audience. There was a howling Htampede for windows and doors; and in current history it is written that the San Antonio train, which was flagged at the crossing that night, carried away a little band of men who looked as if they had had an unvictorions enoounter with a thresh ing-machine. AM AUTUMN MORNING. The frost's agleam where the dew was drip pi"* Just in the space of a day agone; The rose-deep edge of the sun is slipping Through mellow mesh oT the autumn dawn. Song of neither ttie thrush nor the linnet Wises and sweeps iu a broken flow; Only the breeze on a sweetbrler spinnct, Shivers a pensive adagio. The frost's agleam on the path I follow; Scarlet velvet the witch-hazel spreads A1 own the slope of the old mill hollow. Where dodder tangles its lustrous threads. What is there left of the summer's story— The faded roses, the daisies lost What of her opulent glow and glory, Quenched iu the fllni of an autumn frost? Deep in the fringe of its willow cover, Where javelin-points of sun are thrust, The stream that sung to asummer lover Echoes the song of uu ended trust. —Hattie Whitney, iu Woman's Home Com panion. •*' ....... , /y . , ~.s , . , • > .,y