The government cultivation of cof fee in tho Dutch East Indies is fall, lug off so rapidly that other means hnvo been ordered for raising reve nue. During the last fifty years Great Britain has been at war more fre quently than any other nation. The total number of large and small wars waged during that time amounts to about fifty, or one a year. Perhaps it is owing to Lord Kelvin's paper at Toronto, in which he showed that the existing fuel of the wrrld would only last 500 years, that ;he Canadian Government has changed it? policy with regard to the limber of Manitoba and the Northwest. Tho heavier belts are to be withdrawn from settlement, and yonug trees to bo saved for the future. Guardians will be appointed to take caro of the reserves, especially in tho Turtle and Moose Mountain regions. Fires and the cutting of young trees by settlers will bo prevented as fai as possible. Roads are also to be mnde through the reserves between the lakes. Judging from a recent article in a loadiug English magazine, the politi cal job is not as unknown in Great Britain as some of our fellow country men would have us suppose. There is at present a scheme on foot to build over and romodel a large portion of Westminister, the district of Loudon in which Parliament House is situated. Now streets are to bo opened and old oues closed; houses are to be pulled down nnd new ones erected. A bill has been prepared which Parliament is expected to pass that will give the promoters of the scheme tho right of eminent domain in the section to be improved; and while the bill contains provisions for the preservation of his toric churches and other like edifices, it places no restrictions on the sort of buildings that are to surround them, or the sort of streets that are to ap proach them. The region contains a large tenement district, and itisosten sibly to clear out this district that the j undertaking is planned. But the tene ments are not especially unhealthy and considerable sections not covered by tenements are included in the scheme. A writer in tho Shoe and Leather Reporter from Lynn, Mass., noto3 this peculiar incident: A manufacturer em playing cutters by tho piece reduced the prices for cutting. The workmen accepted the cut. The manufacturer then gave them stock to cut that cost him two to four cents per foot more than the kid he had been using. What was tho result? The men, under the reduced scale of prices, using the bet ter grade of stock, enrued more wages the first week under the new schedule than during any week for months past. The manufacturer did not put any thing into his pocket by making the reduction. He made it go toward purchasing a better grade of upper stock, with tho result above noted. Previous to tho cut the men had to cut n spongy aud a very unsatisfactory grade of skin, but under tho new ar rangement they aro provided with stock that does not require planning and stretching, thereby consuming much time in the endeavor to get out satisfactory uppers. This was a case where the men displayed eommou sense in accepting the reduction. The annual report for 1807 of the Consumers' League of New York, just published in Harper's Weekly, gives the league's "White List" of the retail houses which approach nearest to tho league's standard in their dealings with their employees. The list includes thirty-six names of firms, among which are to he found about a dozen of the large dry-goods concerns, though several of the big gest are not in it. Tho league's purpose is to make consumers feel re sponsibility for producers, and by tho influence of its members to better the condition of working-women and shop-girls in New York. Its members undertake to favor houses which use inoir working-women well, aud shun tnose which don't. A fair house, ac cording to the league's standard, is one in which equal work gets equal jiav, irrespective of tho sex of the worker; in which adults get at least six dollars a week, paid weekly; in which fines go into a fund for em ployees' benefit; and in which cash girls get at least two dollars a week. The hours of a fair house are from eight to six, with three-quarters of an hour for lunch, aud one half-holiday a week for two months in summer. Fair houses also comply with sanitary laws, provide seats for saleswomen (as required by law), use employees humanely, show consideration for fidelity and length of service, and employ no children uuder fourteen years old. "3T WHY AMD WHEREFORE. <t I know not whonco I cam®, I know not whither I kq, But the fact stands clear That I am liern In this world of pleasure and WO9, And out of the mist and murk y Another truth shines plain— " It is in my power Each day and hour To add to its joy or Its pain I know that the earth exists. It is none of my business why, I cannot And out What it's all about— I would but waste time to try. My life is a brief, brief tiling; I am hern for a littie space, And while I stay, I would like, if I may. To brighten and belter the placo# 1 THE PALE RIDER. 1 # ©■ / ,' • jT't] HEY wrapped Is ) 3 | ( dale ili bis I blankets when Jfftj I they bad out ,ft spanned, an d placed birn un der tho wagon to shelter him J from the night f d o w s. Ho y~ moaned a little, k"* Beemet l un " conscious ns to VAALLI who was about t-jigs&t'J* him and where he was. They made their fire near him, and sat as close to him as possible, and honed the boy would slip off that way quiet ly during the night, without pain. Nothing more could they do to save him. Their experience of tho fever made them feel assured his death would be easy, but the great horror was that he should perish in the veldt wilderness, and he but six months out. from home. For the others, to whom home was but a dim, retreating mem ory, sucli an end at any moment would seem natural enough—the expected finale. But the boy! He had read them scraps of his sister's letters to him, because ho was so frankly en thusiastic about her and the fortune he was going to astound her by mak ing speedily, that ho could not keep quiet about it. Lions and big game he had longed to meet beyond the Zambesi, but he had left the fever out of his plans. No doubt be had told his sister all about tho game. Which one of the party would have to write to her about the deadlier peril which he had not escaped? The great full moon, which seems to gaze more nearly and more sadly on Africa than on other lands, was di rectly over the camp. In its light tho thin-bushed veldt glimmered as an ocean of silvery billows, close bound ed by solemn shadows. From these shadows what would come to tho men to-night, stalking unseen through tho midst of them, bearing the sword of death? Copeland laid his pipe down and knelt beside Isdale, feeling his pulse. "How is it?" Paget asked when Jack came back. "Very feeble. He don't know me at all. Smiles and whispers something about going fishing with Judy in the river. Wants to know whyit'ssocold to-day on the banks." "Judy's his sister," Paget said. "He showed me her photo. I fancy they were a lonely pair—playmates." "Fishin' in tho river, eh?"oldHan nen grumbled in his gray beard. "Then it's all up wi>U the kid. It's always the river when they're goin' off. It was so with me, too." Somebody laughed grimly. "When did you die, Hanuen?" "I didn't. Might say I wouldn't. It was on the Northwest plains of the States, and I was hunting with a party of Eastern swells. Got typho-malarial, same as Isdale got his, don't know how. Nobody else got it. They dropped me at a half abandoned army post, for there was no town near, and put me in the soldiers' hospital. I was in an awful bad way—a most interesting case, tho bloomin' doctor told me af ter. and off my head most of tho time, and thin! I was afraid of the lookiu' glass for a month after it was over. They had swing doors at the end of tho ward, an' the bed at the doors was called the death bed, because it was handy, you know, to get a cold man out without disturbing tho other pa tients. Ho ono evening when I was lying in a cot near a big box stove the doctor came round, and 'Put him in the death bed,' says ho to the hos pital steward, 'he'll go some time to night.' They thought I couldn't hear, I suppose, but I did, and was too bad ly sick to care a rap. They changed me, an' put a screen round mo an' left me to die whenever I got ready. "I suppose I went right off my head again. I hail the queerest dreams, off through tho prettiest green fields you ever saw, with hedges and daisies an' children playin' in them, only I was cryin' all the time because I was BO cold. Bomeliow I got to a river, not a big one, it seemed, yet it was sort of dark on the other side, aud the water was tumbliu' down, brown and noisily, liko a trout stream in the Heotcli hills. I lay down about ten yards from the bank an' it was awful cold. Years and years before a boy I'd been chums w:)U at school had died an' I'd near broko my heart about it. Now, from the other sido of that river that boy sang out to me, only his voice wasn't very near like: 'Why don't you come, Jim? You can wade across.' An' somethin' seemed at the same time to be drawin' me to the water. Well, I wouldn't; I was bom pighead ed, I suppose. It was too cold an' that settled it. The more tho boy called and the more it, whatever it The trouble. I think, with us all Is the lack of a high conceit;; If each man thought lie was sent to tho spot f- To make it a bit more sweet, How soon we could gladden tho world. How easily light all wrong. If nobody shirked And each one worked To help his fellows along. Coaso wondering why you came* Stop looking for faults and llaws; Else up to-day In your pride'nnd say: "I am pnrt of tho first groat causo; How ■ ver full; he world, There is room for uu earnest man; It had need of mo Or I would not be— I am here to strengthen the plan." —Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in forum. was, tried to push me an' drag me to the water, the more pigheaded I got. I gritted my toet'u an' held on to the bunk. Next thing I knew it was moriiin' an' tho doctor was hustlin' mo back to the stove sayin' that I'd a wonderful constitution. That's all. But I tell you the people who made up these songs about 'The Other Hide of Jordan' and 'When We meet Beside the River' and all that, knew what they were talkin' about." He looked thoughtfully at the moon. "If I ltadu't been born pigheaded," lie added dreamily, "I might have been bavin' good times now with my old ehum instead of wearin' my heart out for years in this unholy country." "Well," said Paget, "if tho end of a fever is as easy as that," and he glanced at Isdale, "with green fields and trout streams, I shouldn't mind that way so much, though I've always thought I'd prefer a bullet." "But it isn't always that, said Cope land. "I think, somotiiues, death never conies twice in the same form. But, don't you know, I'm suro that, under certain conditions, people whom —a —don't you know, he—death, you know—wasn't after at all, might know, you know, ho was near nt hand. I'll tell you what I mean—if I can, you know, i [I was really beastly sick when I was in the sixth form, with small pox, and lots of other fellows were down, too. There were three or four of us in tho sick bay and wo pulled out all right in the end, except one. Wo who wero convalescent were put in a room by ourselves and bad a whacking time getting well, feeding like pigs and treated like angels. But Wyking, who was horribly ill, they left with trained nurses mid all that kind of thing, you know, in the sick bay. "I was pretty weak and one night I woke up about 12 o'clock with the most ghastly feeling. I could barely breathe and I couldn't cry out for the nurse. I knew somehow nt onee that dentil was in the house. I was cov ered with a cold sweat and my breath seemed to come with terrible effort. I thought it was me who was wanted and I never thought of praying, you know, or anything liko ithat. I did like Hanuen. I bit tho pillow and held on desperately. I fancy it lasted about ten minutes, and then there was suddenly the sweetest relief. The swent passed, I breathed gently mid wont to sleep again, but I knew death had passed and taken somebody. "In tho early morning I was awako when tho nurse came with her medi cines, and I asked her at onee, 'What time did Charley die?' Charley, you know, was tho boy left in the sick bay. Hhe stared and gasped and asked me who had been in the room talking to me. I told her'nobody.' She looked frightened, and told mo I was foolish to think of such nonsense, and all that sort of thing, you know. But she rnn out and brought in the doctor, who chatted me, you know, hut felt my pulse and his eyes looked strange. They stuck it out between them that Charloy was all right, but I knew from their eyes thoy were afraid to tell tho truth, because of the shock it might give us in our weak state. They owned up after wo wero strong that Charley did dio at I' 2 o'clock that night. But why, I wonder, you know, did Death pass so clo3e to me on his way? The other fellows rested quietly that night, and Charley was too far off in that big school for me to hear any noise in his room." Paget rose up and whispered to Is dale to ask if he wished for anything, but the sick lad wa3 unconscious. "He'll remain like that, do you think?" he asked softly as he' came back to the fire. No , one answered. The moon was sailing now toward the shadowy peaks of tho gloomy distant mountains. From the darkness of the far veldt came suddenly the long nlarmed cry of a deer pouucod on by a lion. Isdale muttered and moved, and Copeland threw wood on the fire and stirred it into a fierce blaze. A low voice spoke from the sido of tho llames furthest from tho wagon. "You were right, Mr. Copeland," said Maynard, tho old elephant hunter, "right according to my idea about Death coming never twice in just the sumo shape. It seems to me he studies the man he's sent after, and has his orders to disguise himself ac cording—merciful or vengeful. But thero may be more than that, I saw something once which made me think that tho Lord sometimes allows a wronged dead man to come back at the appoiutod time and do Deuth's work. It was in the north Transvaal country, long before gold was found on the Witwatersrand, but a man called Blakely and I were prospecting and keeping as far away as we could from the Boers on one hand and the Zulus on the other. Wo bnilt a bit of a hut in a ravine in tho hills and lay ulSfee. Tliore I was taken ill, ant) Blakely nursed me, and when X was nearly well it ..was his turn and I nursed him. "Blakely was always a silent, glum chap, and no particular pal of mine, but we had taken up together, be cause two's better than one, and there was nobody else about in Kimberleyat the timo wo started out willing to risk bis life prospecting in that wild coun try, for this thing was before the Zulu war. Blakely was sick. I soon saw his chances were mighty slim to pull through. lie had never talked to mo before of where he'd come from or what he'd been doing, but now he got delirious, and began chattering at a great rate. I wasn't more than half recovered myself, weak as a girl, and a sight mora nervous than mo3t girls. When he began to talk [to people I had never heard of, as if they were present, and to talk, too, of things it made me white to hear of, all alone in that silent, lonely hut in theso horri ble, gloomy, watching mountains, I had a mind to cut aud run. But whatever ho had been, lie was my mate now, and I stuck by him, won dering if I'd have strength enough to bury him decently deep. Ouo night the rains came on, and you know what they are in the mountains, The water caiuo down with a crashing roar on tho huge gray rocks which nigh equalled the rolling thunder peals in the clouds. I wanted a comrade bad that night. I'd'have welcomed a Zulu. Blakely was raving, and I was trem bling so with weakness nud nervous fear I could not bring him a cup of water without spilling it. Then what must ho do? What but get it into his crazy head I was a priest, and he wanted to confess. He got out of his blankets and came to tho log of wood 1 was sitting ou, or shaking on, nud knelt at my knees. In his delirium ho was far stronger Hum I was, and X couldn't pusli him away. He blurted it all out, with all that crash of clouds and roar of rain to emphasize the eternal horror of it. "Those ghastly hills are full of the ghosts of people long dead, seelsers for gold. Men may laugh at the no tion, but spend a day and a night among them alone, and you'll know it for certain. They were all out that night in the storm, in and nbout our hut, and Blakely knew it, too, for if ever a man was in a hurry to confess and get absolution, he was that night. I'm not going to tell you the story in full. Indeed, he was often incoher ent. He'd been in Australia with a eknp ho called simply Tom, prospect ing, of course. They'd had bad luck, and were about giving it up when Tom got news from homo inclosing a draft for some hundreds of pounds, a leg acy left him. Off the two went to town to cash tho draft, and I snppose Illakciy thought thnt Tom would use the money to start the two afresh. But Tom was sick of it, and wanted to get back to England. I toll you, it was a beastly cruel thing to sit shiver ing on that log and listen to Blakely excusing himself for what ho did. Tom cashed his draft in gold and Blakely, when they were staying in the same room in a tavern whero they had been drinking that night, crept to his sleeping mate's bunk, dashed a knife into his heart, and took the money and got safe away. It ensed tho wretch to confess, for ho slipped back to his blankets and lay on his back, quiet, with his eyes closed. The storm kept up, and I sat sweating there, afraid to stay with the murderer and afraid to go out among the howl ing devils in the hills. I was so weak and uustrung I sat just moaning and crying and stuffing my ears against the riot of tho rains. "First I knew I began to Bhiver with a chill, and—just liko Mr. Cope land when he was at school—l felt death coming and thought it was for mo. I was nearer dead than alive. The hut grew cold as an ice box and suddenly, as I shivered, tho strip of canvas wo had fastened for a door was pulled aside and in walked n likely looking young fellow, calm as could be. Ho was dressed in a shabby blue shirt and looso jackot, broad slouch hat and heavy miner's boots and he carried u long open clasp knife in his right hand. He paid no attention to me, but walked straight to Blakcly's side with an ugly look. '' 'Helloa,'Blakely 1' he said,' where's that gold of mine?' "Blakely opened his eyes with a gurgle in his throat and tried to scream out and couldn't; but tho look on his face was fearful. Tho miner waited for no answer, but raised his knife and dashed it down on tho mur derer's breast. I cofYln't call out or move. But just as the point touched Blakoly's skin it stopped and the miner and it were gone, not out of the door—God knows how. Then my mato found voice and strength and sat up in bed and screamed—a fearful scream, and he fell back, turning to me. " 'Water,' he whispered. 'Oh, may, I thought I was gone—l had such a horrible ureal*!' "I couldn't move; I couldn't get him water; I could only sit and shake and try to pray. Blakely closed his eyes again, moaning weakly, and so lay until tho hut grew cold ngain and the canvas was lifted aside and the miner stepped in as before and up to the blankets. His face wore a hideous, mocking, cruel smile. "'Halloa, Blakely I'he said, 'whore's that gold of mine?' "Again Blakely gurgled with ter ror-stricken eyes, and again the knife fell and again stopped just in time. Tho minor vanished and Blakely screamed in agony, and then turned to me and begged mo to give him a drink and hold his hand. " 'l'm dying! I'm dyingl' he howled. 'l'm going! Tom's come for me!' "Lord forgive me! I couldn't move, save to slip to the ground and hide uiv face, and say over and over the Lord's Prayer, while Blakely moaned nud muttered and howled. I heard tho miner again, but I dared not look up. " 'Halloa, Blakely!' ho said, 'where's that gold of mine?" "I heard it again and again through that long, hideous night. Death play ing at eat and mouse, and I lay there, shivering one minute and sweating the next, while Blakely's screams and cries for help and for the priest rose shrilly above the noise of the rain aud the thunder. At last X heard the miner's voice sound out with a shout of vindictive triumph: " 'Come, Blakely, come!' "There was a long, long series of howls, aud I heard Blakely struggle and gurgle aud choke, and then it was all still, and the hut grew warm er, When I dared to look up the storm had dribbled off aud it was dawn. That," said the old elephant hunter, "was one shape Death took in passing." Nobody spoke. The fire was fail ing, but nobody moved to revive it. The moon was ou the ragged reef of topmost peaks, aud the shadows were elosiug in about the party, whilo jackals yelped and whined dismally in their unseen depths. The old hunter bent forward to relight his pipe with an ember, and just then there was f. weak cry of pleasure from, tho bundle oi blankets under the wagon. Alio men started up and Paget stooped to pass his arm under Isdale's shoulders. The boy was struggling to sit up and (lie firelight snowed his face, bis eyes kindled with joy. He stretched out his arms, oblivious of Paget, of all of us. "Judy, Judy!" he said quite clearly. "I've been looking for you this side ever so long. How did you get across? fitay there—l'm coming— I'm coming. It's not deep, but it's cold—so cold!" "Ho dropped back and Paget cov ered his fuce as tho others stood about, uncovered. Two days afterward Penby aud his Kaffir rodo into camp, after two weeks' absence, with medicines and tho mail he had been sent for. There was a letter with a deep black border for Isdale. "Of course," said old Hannen. "She's dead. Judy was dead before him. 110 saw her on tho other sido." —New York Sun. Ilodgkins* Disease. Ilodgkins' disease, which caused the death of a Yale student, is a curi ous, but, fortunately, a comparatively rave affection. It is characterized by the appearance of glandular tumors, first appearing in the neck and arm pits and extending in groups through out other portions of tho body. Y'ouug adults are the most frequent subjects. Tho malady is always associated with impoverishment of the blood aud tlio relative increase of its white cells, also with marked eulargem cut of the spleen and changes in the bono marrow, and generally ends fatally within two years after tho first appearance of symp toms. Tho swellings, which are at first isolated, vary from tho size of o bean to that of a hen's egg, and final ly multiply and coalesce, forming an almost continuous chain of growths, those encircling the neck being often larger in circumference than the head. The early removal of tho primary enlargements is sometimes beneficial and occasionally curative, but, as a rule, the fundamental error of nutri tion, which is nt the bottom of all tho trouble, is scarcely possible of correc tion by iuternal remedies. Tho pre disjiosiug causes of tho disease are not heroditary ia character. Iu a fair proportion of cases tho initiatory swelling of the glands is caused by some comparatively trivial ailment, such as an ulcerated tooth, an inflamed throat or a "running" ear. Lifo is terminated by exhaustion. Some times, however, dentil results from' suffocation or from starvation in con sequence of obstructive growths_ in the throat.—New York Herald. Suit. There are many interesting facts connected with salt which it is well sometimes to remember, To begin with the name itself, a curious fact is to be noted. Salt was formerly re garded as a compound resulting from the union of hydro-clilorio (or, as it used to be called, muriatic) scid and soda, aud beuce the generic term of salt was applied to ail substauees pro' duced by tho combination of a base with an acid. Sir Humphrey Davy, however, showed that during their ac tion on eneh other both the acid aud the alkali underwent decomposition, and that, whilo water is formed by the union of tho oxygen of the alkali and the hydrogen of tho acid, tho sodium of the former combines with tho chlo rine of tho latter to form chloride of sodium, and this term is the scientific designation of salt, which, paradoxical as it may seem, is not a salt. At ono time nearly the whole of the salt used as food and for industrial purposes was obtained from the sea, aud in many countries where the climate is dry and warm, aud which have a con venient seaboard, a great quantity of salt ia still obtained. I:: Portugal moro than 250,000 tons are annually produced, and the same quantity ap proximately is obtained on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France. Spain has salt works in the Balearic Islands, the Bay of Cadiz and else where, which turn out annually 300,- 000 tons, aud eveu the small seaboard of Austria produces from 70,000 to 100,000 tons. Four Hundred Thousand Cats. There are said to be 400,000 cats in Loudon, of which half are "unat tached," and live largely, on* refuse. In one district [near a very large and famous brewery in London the sport ing cats go regularly as soon us the brewery gates are open to hunt rats in the brewery "stores." | GOOD ROADS NOTEO M^sisieisisieiaseiesNseis^etei^ems!^ Value of Goo J Roads Everywhere. For many years past the farmers and suburban residents of this great republic bare been haGl at work help ing the railroads extend their lines everywhere. "Just get a railroad through my property, and my fortune is made," has been the expression of moro than one extensive landowner. And ho has gotten the railroads, with great benefit to himself nnd his vicin ity. By their means he has been en abled to get out to the centres of civi lization, and to bring bis produce to good markets. Long ngo he should have devised some way by which the public high way could be improved and made even more useful to him than the steel tracks of the great trunk lines. There is at present under consider ation a plan for the introduction of horseless carriages, with wide-tired wheels, for tho main thoroughfares, through thickly settled localities, the carriage itself to be of the ordinary* pattern, aud coupled to it one or more cars, cf very light and strong con struction. This vehicle could be run regardless of the grade, and, to some extent, of the state of tho roads. Buts and ridges of any ordinary char acter will not obstruct the progress of this car, neither will tho weather have any effect upon it. The horseman's worry is his horse and harness, aud all anxiety on this score is done away with by tho horse less carriage. The running gear of the vehicle will be placed under a metal guard, resembling an old-fash ion dripping pan inverted. This af fords protection to the gear, and oon fines tho mud to the lower portion of the equipment, conducing generally to the comfort aud the cleanliness of the passengers aud car alike. Whilo a high rate of speed would be desira able, it is not expected that this will be one of the main points, although excellent time can be made where the roads are good. This plan will un questionably necessitate the widening of the ordinary track; but this is a matter very easily managed. If only wide-tired vehicles were used, tho cost of work on roads would be reduced to a very low figure. Imagino a horse less carriage with a six or eight-inch steel tiro, whioh would act like a roller, ind smooth down most of the irregu larities on the roadway. . Tho suggestion that there would bo bumping aud bouncing is soarcely worth consideration. Jolting comes from sudden contact with a single point. A wide tiro wheel would cover so much surface at one time that most of tho jolting could bo avoided, and, except upon very hard, frozen ground, would wear down the surface as it went, leaving nothing 5o bounce and bump on. It is an interesting fact that much of the good-roads enthusiasm has been stirred up by tlio manufacturers aud riders of bicycles. The wheelman must have a good road, and there be ing so many of him, the beginning of tho movement was not in the least difficult. Too much cannot bo said against the inertness of certain localities and the atrocious management of certain bits of road. There are rogions where one may ride for miles upon roads that are almost as eeuootli as a floor; then suddenly the rider encounters— which is a veritable Slough of Des pond—a long stretch of deep holes, ridges nnd cut-up surface, which is a disgrace to the community that tol erates it. It is the sheerest nonsense to say that such pieces of road cannot be made passable. Such assertions show more aud more clearly the need of Government supervision of roads, and the importance of intelligent aud painstaking work from the foundation to the surface.—New York Ledger. Tlio Ravnaos of Narrow Tiros, For the first few days after the steam rollers are taken off the new highways "they are dreams," pays the Springfield News, "the best thing on earth, smooth as a table, and yet yielding and elastic. Then the nar row tire begins to put in its work, cutting them like a knife, first disin tegrating the surface, and later on knocking the foundations to pieces. Once the surface is disturbed, the rain does the rest, even if the con stantly passing narrow-tired vehicles did not help it out. "As long as narrow tires'are allowed for heavy loads, no such thing ns a satisfactory macadam roadbed is pos sible. The case is much worse with dirt roads. Tho knife tiro cuts through quicker, and the wutor tears them to nothing quicker. There is no reason why dirt roads should not prove satisfactory in country districts if wide tires for loaded teams were required, with wheels which do not traok. Tho sooner a Htato law is enacted to carry out this idea, tho sooner will taxpayers have relief, and good roads bo in sight. "But do not let our legislators forgot for a moment that wide tires without a provision that tho back wheels shall run in a different track from tlio for ward wheols is only half tho buttlo. if 83 much as half. Six-inch tires, with the rear wheels running right behind the forward ones, would only smooth ono foot of tho road on a trip. Make the wheels run in different tracks, aud wo will have two feet rolled each trip. Allowing for teams passing each other, each keeping to its side of the centre line, and we find four feet rolled, and, making due allowance for teams not taking their extremo right, unless required, it is reasonable to expect that nearly the whole road bed would, in turn, receive its share of rolling instead, as now, of being out deeply and disastrously with every trip." A New Jersey Estimate. The annual report of the State Rsad Commissioner of New Jersey makes the following statement of the cost of haulage on various roads, and shows very'concisely where tlie advantages of good surface and light grades come in. He says: "It costs 1H vents per bushel to ship wheat from Chicago to New York, a distance of 000 miles; it costs three cents a bushel to haul wheat on a lovel road a distance of five miles, and on a sandy road it would cost nine cents per mile to haul it. The saving on a bushel of wheat with good roads for a distance of live miles would bo equiv alent to that of 000 miles of transpor tation by steamer or canal boat, or 375 miles by railroad. One mile of good roads would make a saving equal to seventy-five miles of railroad trans portation. Thus every mile of good roads places the producer seventy-Ova miles by rail nearer to the markets. It is estimated that the cost of hauling 500,000,001) tons of farm produce to market is $2 per ton, or just about SI,000,000,000; it is also estimated that about sixty per cent, of this last amouut, or SGOO t OOO,OOO would be saved each year if farmers were able | to do this hauling over good roads." One Way of Preserving Roads. To protect and preserve the high ! ways by withdrawing them from pub lic use at times when they are likely to bo injured by heavy travel is cer tainly a unique {method of providing for the public welfare, but this is what the Kentucky statutes say: "Any corporation, company or in dividual who may, by unusual use of a road, materially damage the same, shall repair all damages caused by the use of such road or roads. The super visor or overseer of roads shall, at any time when necessary, notify said cor porations, companies or individuals of their duty as provided in this section; and should the said parties so notified fail, in a reasonable length of time, to be filed in the notice, to make such repairs, such parties shall be deemed guilty of obstructing the public roads and shall bo subject to a fine of not exceeding SIOO, to be applied to road purposes." The Weakest Link. Like a chain, a road is no strongei or better than its weakest link. In a highway there are many links which may bo poor, weak or defective. Whatever or wherever the cause of inferiority may be, the efficiency of the whole road is thereby reduced to a level with that of its most inferior part. If drainage is inadequate, aud water accumulates, gheavy hauling results; if there is a single steep grade, tlio size of load that can bo transported is materially reduced; if the connection between points is in direct, duo to square corners, much time is wasted; if care and repair are irregular and unintelligent, money and labor are spout in vain. The remedy [ is, lay out the course of the road ju diciously, build it scientifically and care for it constantly.—Good Roads Bulletin. Distanced by Europo. Americans must feel some disap pointment, since their country has long been famous for its quickness nnd skill in adopting mechanical and scientific discoveries for business pur poses, wliou they realize that Eu ropean cities are far surpassing any ol ours in the use of horseless vehicles. Until wo have better roads and better street pavoments we must submit te the humiliation of being distanced by Germany, France and England in one of tho most interesting and important phases of modern progress. It is one of the penalties we pay for make-shift highways and for the folly which per mits the use upon them of destruc tively narrow tires. Cleveland Leader. Good Roads and tho Mnilg. If country roads were generally im proved by the modern plan of road building there would not be much de lay in providing free delivery through the more populous parts of the coun try. One reason why England de livers mail from house to house in the country, as well as in the city, is be cause the country roads are in so fine condition that tho work of delivery is greatly expedited. If there were Eng lish roads all through tho Middle and Eastern States it would not bo a great undertaking for this Government to establish free delivery in those sec tions.—Syrucuse (N. Y.) Post. Tlrea. If our political providences insure that only wide tiros for heavy loads shall bo used on tho now roads they will bo a permanent blessing. But if tho old stylo of tires is permitted to tear thorn to pieces it will not bo many years before we have nothing but tho tax bills to remember them by.—Pitts burg Dispatch. Good 11 tun I•< Ai Good Investments. When tho farmers can be brought to HOC that good roads constructed with State aid mean monoy in their poek ets, as has been demonstrated in New Jersey, good roads will become us common us bad roads are now.—Phila delphia Press. A "Bad Roods Map.*' A "bad roads map" of Illinois is be ing prepared by the State Division, L. A. W„ to be sent to the Legislature and all tho newspapers in the State. Such a map would bo an "eye-opener" in nlmost any State in the Union.— L. A. W. Bulletin. Kope Skipping end Meningitis. A New York school girl died re cently from meningitis, brought on from over-indulgence of rope skipping. This fact may be of interest to mothers of sundry small maidens too much dddictod to a practioe whioh is healthful ouough when moderately in dulged in.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers