Westminster Abbey would lose its
reputation if Gladstone's name were
not to b2 found there among England's
glorious dead.
A story is told to the effect that when
the Society for tho Prevention of
Cruelty to tnimals proposed to estab
lish a branch in a leading city of Spo*n
the municipal body courteously i> •-
cepted the proposal and offered to hold
a grand bull-fight at once to furnish
the funds.
There is a strong and growing sen* 1
timent 111 the Administration and in
Congress in favor of making the Anier* •
icau Navy the strongest in the world, !
aud it seems apparent that immediately j
our war with Spain is over a begin- ]
ning will bo made, comments the St. 1
Louis Star. It is estimated that our
navy could be made superior to Great j
Britain's within two years at a cost of
oue billion dollars.
Half the arable land of France, a
little more than half the pasture, ns
much as six-sevenths of tho vine* 1
yards, and two-thirds of tho garden |
jand are cultivated by their owners.
The average size of the farm in France j
is fifteen and one-quarter acres against i
sixty-three acres in Great Britain. j
The average in the United States at
the date of the last Federal census was
137 acres. More than thirty-nine per
Gent, of the farms in France are under
/me hectare, equal to two and one-half \
acre.*; only two and one-lmlf per cent, j
of the French holdings amount to 100
acres each.
The Oregon is the queen of battle
ships. She has broken all records 1
for distance, for sustained speed, for j
coal endurance. It is an impressive
fact that she had to leave two cruisers
behind because they could not keep j
up with her. It is interesting that I
nearly every ship built at San Fran- !
cisco turned out tho best of lier class, !
the San Francisco, the Monterey, the |
Oregon, the Olympia. The contract
price of these ships was higher than
on the Atlantic, though the actual
cost of building is not much more.
The builders seem to put their excess |
of profit into superior work.
There died lately in a Tennessee in*
sane asylum a young woman who, five j
years ago, in a fit of jealousy, killed i
her most intimate girl friend because :
the latter had chosen to enlarge the
circle of her companions. Alice j
Mitchell is a fatal typo of an infatua* j
lion common among school and col* •
lege girls, which, while seldom ac- 1
compauied by such tragic results, yel
causes untold headaches and heart* I
burnings, observes the Youth's Com
panion. Flowers and candy, calls :
aud drives, notes and poetry, loss of
appetite and failure in lessons are out
ward signs of affections unwholesome
in their selfishness and intensity. It
has been said that the lifelong friend
ships formed there constitute the priu* '
cipal charm of college life, and this is ;
true; but young people and their par- 1
ents and teachers should discourage
all such absorbing attachments as
wrecked the lives of Alice Mitchell
and her young victim.
The bill providing for a national
commission for the arbitration of dis
putes between railway companies and
their employes, recently passed by
both Houses of Congress, appears to
tho New York Independent to be a
very creditable measure, and while by
no means so radical as has been ad
vocated by many parties, it is free
from the very serious objections which
attach to any proposition for compul
sory arbitration. Briefly, the bill
provides tlmt either railway companies
or employes may request the Chair
man of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission and the Commissioner of
Labor to endeavor to settle a pending
dispute amicably by mediation be
tween the contending parties. In
case the endeavor falls, each party to
tho controversy is to name one arbitra
tor and tho two so appointed shall
select a third, and the board so chosen
shall make an awr.rd within twenty
days from the time tho third arbitra
tor is selected. The award shall con
tinue in force between the parties for
one year, and the employer shall not
dismiss nor shall any employe dis
satisfied with the award quit work
under three months without giving
thirty days' notice. The only force
relied upon to cause either party tc
take advantage of this system and to
abide by tho results is the force of
public opinion, which is, after all, the
real force behind laws of every sort.
It is believed that few railway com
panies or labor organization's would
venture to encounter the public dis
approval that would follow its re
fusal to submit its case to arbitration,
or the still stronger expression of pub
lic sentiment that would follow a fail
ure to accept the results of an arbi
tration.
j A CHANCE OF AMBITION. '
ITonitiu9at the brtdge, and he
Who fought at old Thermopylm;
Great Samson and his potent bone
By which the Philistines were alone;
Small Pavhl with hl9 wondrous alia
That did for him of giuut frame;
J. Cjesar in his Gallic scraps
That made him Lord of other chaps;
Sweet William, called the Conqueror,
Who made the Briton sick of war;
King Hal the Fifth, whonoMy fought
And thrashed the foe at Agiucourt;
Old Bonaparte, and Washington,
And Frederick, and Wellington,
Decatur. Nelson, Fighting Joe,
And F.irragut, and Grant, and oh,
A thousand other heroes I
Have wished I were In days gone by—
Can take their laurels from my door.
For I don't want 'era any more.
The truth will out; it can't be hid;
The doughty deed that Dewey did.
In that far distant Spanish sea,
Is really good enough for me.
The grnnnnar's bad. but, oh my son,
I wish I'd did what Dewey done!
—John K. Bangs, iu Harper's Weekly.
1 BEN BMKS
j SMARTNESS. 1
f^me;s ,
< )LDMobammedßen
£ Braliim was a pri-
D vate of the Third
fgto/vS jmVj Regiment of Tureos,
Arab infantry iu the
niw3l French service. He
iff wljjffl Rfrfl was tall and raw-
IT* honed,fearinguoth
hig, believing but
little in Mohammed
the Prophet, niul not at all in
Allah. He drauk wiue and ate
pork, two things held iu abomina
tion by the Mohammedans, he swore
in bad Arab and worse French; in
fact, he was the most perfect black
guard in tlie whole body of Turcos,
I which were 10,000 strong, and that is
1 paying a great deal. Ben Braliim lived
happy and contented until one day,
while passing before the bric-a-brac
pawn office and dry goods shop of Yus
sufl', the richest Hebrew of Orau, he
saw, hanging in the window, some
gold watches. Then his happiness
ras gone, for oue thought invaded his
mind so completely that, twenty times
t day, lie exclaimed loudly: "By the
Prophet's beard, I must have one!"
And by the Prophet's beard lie got
one too, and this is how it came about.
Mohammed Ben Braham had n
cousin, a lieutenant in the same regi
ment, and he went to him and told liim
a story about his mother being sick
aud needy, and the lieutenant, who
loved his aunt, gave him twelve francs,
with the recommendation to use tlieni
well, a thing that the Turco did, much
to the sorrow of Yussufl', in whose
shop he appeared five minutes later.
Yussufl* was alone, and seeing the
Turco entering his store, he arose to
meet him, not through deference for
the caller, but from a knowledge that
the Turcos are the greatest prowlers
of Africa.
"I salute you, Rabbi Yussuff," said
Mohammed, touching his fez.
"I salute you, Turco," replied Yus
sufl, politely, "what do you want?"
"I came to pay you twelve francs
for seven you loaned 1110 a fortnight
ago," answered the Turco.
"Did I loan you money? Ido not
recollect to have seen you before."
"You don't? Well, then, you were
more drunk than I was when I bor
rowed the money from you. But, 110
matter, I owe you twelve francs, and
there they are."
Then tlie Turco put twelve francs
fn the other's hand. Yussuff took it
just as an Arab priest entered the
| shop.
j Yussuff saluted the new-comer
with the greatest respect, as he was
one of his best customers, and said:
"Will you allow me to present this
Turco to you as oue of the few hon
est men we have iu this town?"
, The Arab looked with astonish
ment 011 the pair.
"Well, well!" thought he, "what
are we coming to, if a Turco turns to
,be as honest to be praised by Yus
sufl?" Then he asked: "May T in
j quire what this Turco lias done to
deserve your commendations. Yus
suff?"
"I loaned him twelve francs, and I
forgot all about it. Many would have
I taken advantage of my lack of mem
ory, but he did not, for he has paid
me like an honest man that he is."
"My friend," said the Arab to the
Turco, "will you favor me with your
company to my house?"
Mohammed Ben Braliim answered
; that as soon as Rabbi Yussuff bad re
turned his pledge, ho would follow
him.
j "A pledge!" cried Yussuff, turning
pale. "You have given me none."
j "What!" replied the Turco indig
[ nantly, "that gold watch there is
i mine." And Mohammed pointed to a
| watch worth about sixty dollars.
"That watch was bought by me
from a chief now dead," yelled
I Yussuff.
I "Yussuff," interposed the Turco,
I "it seems to me that this chief died
very conveniently for you. Will you
give me my watch?"
I "No," answered Yussuff.
1 "All right, sir. I will have yon ar
rested 011 the spot," and opening the
door Mohammed went into the street
calling for the police.
In a minute two of these worthies
made their appearance and inquired
the cause of the uproar. "Arrest that
man," said the Turco, pointing to
Yussuff, "he has robbed me."
The police took Yussuff by the
throat, aud the whole party left the
store to go to the judge. 111 Africa, the
judge's courthouse consists of apiece
of carpet, two yards square, thrown
on the pavement, in the market place,
where tho judge sits surrounded bv
the police who make arrests- land l*av
tiuado the culprits at the judo's
mand. It is justice in its primitive
state administered 011 the rapid tran
sit plan.
"What is the matter?" inquired the
Arab magistrate.
"Your Wisdom, this man has robbed
that Turco," replied the officer.
"Turco, how did the thing hap*
pen?" inquired the judge.
"Your Wisdom, this man loaned
me so veil francs on my gold watch. ]
returned him his money, togethei
with five francs as interest, and uow
he refuses to give me my watch."
"How did you get a gold watch?"
"Your Wisdom, it is a present from
my dying father."
"Did anyone see you paying the
money?"
"Your Wisdom, this holy Arab was
present."
"Arab, is it true what the Turco is
saying?"
"Your Wisdom, he lias spoken the
truth," replied the Arab. "Yussufl
introduced the complainant to me
with the remark that lie was one ol
the few honest men we have in this
town."
"Yussuff, do you deny the accusa
tion made against you?"
"Your Wisdom, I do deny it."
"Did you take twelve francs from
the complainant?"
"Your Wisdom, I did."
"For what?"
"Because I loaned it to him."
"Without any pledge?"
"Yes, your Wisdom, without any
pledge."
"Officers, go to Yussuff's house,
and bring here all the gold watches
he lias," said the judge.
The officers went and soon re
turned, bringing about thirty gold
watches, which they spread before
the judge.
"Look and see if your time-piece is
there," said the magistrate to the
Turco.
The cunning Turco advanced, and
without any hesitation took, not the
best, but the third from the best.
The judge, who had eyed sharply
tho action of the Turco, seeing him
discarding the costliest watch to take
another inferior in value, felt con
vinced of the justice of his claim to
the object of his selection. lie said
to him:
"Take it and go. Remember that
a present from a dying father is 11
sacred thing, not to be j>olluted by
the hands of this money lender, who
is a thief, a'usurer and a liar. Go!"
Mohammed Ben Braliim did not 1
wait for a second invitation to take
what did not belong to liim; lie
bowed low to the judge, kissed the
Arab on the shoulder and departed.
Then the judge said to Yussuff:
"For lying to me, for exacting
usurious rates of iuterest, for trying
to rob a poor soldier of a sacred me
mento from a beloved father, you
shall get fifty strokes 011 the soles of
your feet, and if in two hours you
have not paid five hundred dollars
fine, you shall get one hundred more.
Oflicers, execute the sentence."
Everybody applauded the justice of
tlie judge's decision. No, I am mis
taken, not all. There was one who
did not. Can you guess who?
A Kuliieri I'liilipiiliie Industry.
An ancient industry in tho Philip
pine Islands which, by the way, lias
been nearly destroyed by Spanish
tyranny and greed, is the gathering of
various kinds of mother-of-pearl. In
the warm waters of those seas animal
life is very prolific and many kinds of
shells grow to great size. Some oys
ters, for example, are as large as punch
bowls, and scollops grow two or three
feet in diameter. Natives catch the
animals when they are alive aud throw
them into pots of boiling water. They
then extract the fleshy part of the
body, of which some varieties they use
as food, and others as provenders for
their domestic animals. The live
shell, as ic is called, is stronger,hand
somer aud more durable than the dead
shell; that is, the shell of an auinial
which has died a natural death.
Tho rough motlier-of-pearl is sent
to China, chiefly to Canton, where
there is a famous artistic guild which
employs it in many ways. One variety,
which is flat, a half inch thick and
several inches in diameter, is carved
in intaglio and iu relief and makes a
very beautiful ornament for the wall or
the window or for insetting in the
panelß of a door or a cabinet. When
hung in the window the light pene
trates it and gives prismatic tints to
all the figures of the carver. Small
pieces are split into layers and con
verted into inlaid work, for chairs,
tables, picture frames, altars and the
decoration of wealthy homes.
Tlie way they killed this industry il
lustrates their theories of government.
They sell to the highest bidder what
they call the piscary concessions. No
oue can take any fish from the water
without a license from the concession
aire. The poor natives, who make
but ten or eleven cents a day, are un
able to obtain -a license aud can only
pursue their calliug underhandedly.
If caught they are treated as common
thieves, and if found in the overt act
they may be aud often are shot by the
armed police. In this manner the
fishing industries of the Philippines
have steadily diminished wherever
there are Spanish settlements, so that
the people of the large cities import
quantities of sea food from other and
freer countries.—New York Mail and
Express.
Groat Wrecks nnd Lou* of Life.
Among the most serious steamship
wrecks of the last twenty years and
their attendant losses of life are the
Eurydice and Princess Alice (300 and
050) in 1878; Victoria (700), 1881;
Cimbria (400) 1883; Serpent (270),
1890; Utopia (574), 1891; lleiua Re
gen te (400), 1895; Elbe (352), 1895;
Salier (280). 1896; Kaang-Pin (500),
1890
PHILIPPINE AMAZONS
UTTERLY WiTHOUT FEAR AND POS
SESSED OF THE FRENZY OF DARING.
Uoinnntlc Struggle to Free Them Helves
From Spanish Oppression—On Their i
Smooth, ltouml Arms They Bear the
Insurgents' V Brand.
The women of the Philippine Isl- ,
ands, like those of Cuba, are taking
an active part in the revolution
against the Spaniards. Indeed, it is ■
largely on account of the women that ,
the revolution exists, the indignities I
offered them by the Spanish being the I
last drop which tilled the cup of in- |
dignatiou to overflow. It is the old j
story of cruelty and oppression which |
has been repeated in each and every j
one of the Spanish colonies since the !
days of Christopher Columbus.
The population of the Philippines j
is a mixed one. First, there are sev- ;
eral native tribes, chief among which j
are the Negritos, or African people, I
as the Spanish call them. Those, i
downtrodden for centuries, have re- j
treated to the wilderness, and play !
small part in the revolt, except by
their readiness to give aid and com
fort to the insurgents. There are
many Chinese, a number of Japanese,
and between 10,000 and 20,000 Euro
peans—Dutch chiefly, English next,
with a sprinkling of all other nation
alities. The principal element in the
population is, however, the Malay, a .
a race of peculiar interest to the eth- i
nologist. Brave to recklessness, vin- |
dictive and revengeful, the Malay is
not unlike our own American Indian
at his best. He is hard to attach, but
when once won he is faithful unto
death. Passionately fond of his wife
and children, he idolizes the woman
whom he loves.
Travelers describe the women as
handsome, vigorous and intelligent,
with large black eyes, clear olive
complexions, perfect teeth and satiny
black hair, of which they take excel
lent care. Daintily neat in their
persons, the daily bath is an institu
tion. They revel in delicate per
fumes, extracted from the flowers of
the islands, and their sense of smell is
as acute as that of a sleutlihound.
They allow the thumbnail to grow very
long, which assists in playing 011 the
guitar, an accomplishment in which
they excel.
When tlie Spanish discovered the
islands they found them in the pos
session of Malays who had conquered
the Negritos, driving them back into
the wilderness, where they still live.
Many Chinese dwelt among them, and
there was a steady trade between
China and the Philippines in sugar,
tobacco and hemp. The Spanish took
possession, as was their way, and for
300 years have oppressed and mal
treated the unlucky mestizos, as they
called them. But the centuries have
brought with them a large admixture
of European blood, principally Span
ish, into the Malay strain, increasing
tlioil* pride and revengefulness. More
over, these mestizos have been indus
trious. They have worked hard and
prospered, spite of heavy taxation.
They have sent their sons and
daughters to Europe and educated
them, and still they have gone on for
years patiently enduring Spain's
heavy yoke. The oppression in Cuba
has been as nothing to that in the
Philippines. Everything is taxed to
the utmost, and the slightest excuse
has sufficed for confiscating the entire
property of any man not under the
protection of a foreign government.
The native subject of Spain has abso-1
lately no rights under the law, and
110 matter what outrages he may suf
fer 110 mestizo can sue a Spaniard or |
obtain legal redress. In Mauila the
poorer natives are employed as serv
ants, and to punish them for slight J
offenses they are often tortured, some- j
times to death. Worst of all, if a
worthless Spaniard looks with covet- i
ous eyes on the daughter of a mes
tizo the woman is at his mercy, and
the father is powerless to protect her
and prevent a distasteful marriage.
It was this last outrage which pro
voked the revolt, and the women are
said to have incited the men to this
step. Many of them are in the rebel
ranks lighting side by side with their
husbands and fathers, and it is said
that in a recent attack Innis, the
stronghold of the rebels, where two
Spanish colonels were among the
killed, one of them fell by the hand of
a woman—not by a rifle shot, but in
a liaud-to-hand conflict, in which the
Amazon used the native weapon, the
polo.
These women have been described
as utterly without fear—possessed,
indeed, of the frenzy of daring told
of by travelers, as shown in the Ma
lay custom of "running amok."
Reports all agree that the Amazon
leaders in the Philippine army are
rarely killed, their very recklessness
serving to protect them by striking
terror into the hearts of the Spaniards,
who regard them as possessed by some
uncanny sprite. On the other hand,
their daring inspires the insurgents
with confidence and they fight like
demons.
Mme. Rizal, who is prominent
among the rebel leaders, is believed by
the insurgents to bear a charmed life.
She herself, according to all accounts,
appears to be utterly devoid of fear,
not only risking her life readily in
battle, but wheu arrested and iu peril
of speedy execution defying the Span
ish authorities to do their worst. This
last piece of daring is probably due to
the fact that she claims to be a Brit
ish subject, and as such dares the
Spaniards to touch her. Few women
have had so eventful and romantic a
career as this young widow, who is
utill under thirty years of age.
Mme. Rizal was the daughter of
Irish parents. Her father was James
Brackin, a sergeant in the British
army. She was born in the Victoria
barracks at Hong Kong, and chris
tened v viingly 'M Daughter of
the Regiment." Her mother died
during her infancy, and the" little girl
was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Taufi
ner, of Manila, who reared aud edu
cated her. She became engaged to
Dr. Rizal, the Philippine hero, and
married him only a few days before he
was shot. The Spaniards forced her
to witness his execution, and she
vowed vengeance—a vow she has well
kept. Mme. Rizal declares that her
husband took no active part in the in
surrection, that his only offense was
sympathy with his people, and de
clares also that his execution was an
unprovoked and cold-blooded murder.
The insurgents retaliate to the ut
most extent of their power for the bar
barities practised upon them by the
Spanish soldiery. Each execution ol
rebels by the Spanish has been fol
lowed by one of captives in insurgent
1 strongholds, a policy to which, prob
-1 ably, is due the recent change on the
part of the Spanish troops toward the
, captive insurgents.
| Meanwhile the insurgents, women
1 as well as men, are bound by a solemn
1 oath to "fight to the death for the
' freedom of the Philippines; to show
no mercy to Spanish man or woman,
to count neither life nor property, nor
family ties, in the battle for national
liberty and the expulsion of the Span
iards." The smooth, round arms of
these women are marked by the V
brand of the halo—the mark of the in
surgents—and to the full, as forceful
' as the men, they are determined to
| die rather than be slaves to the Span
j ish oppressors, under whose yoke they
and their foremothers have bowed so
long. Education has brought forth
the new woman in the Philippines as
elsewhere, and once more "Old Glory"
heralds freedom to the slave.
On tln> River of Egypt.
"Assouan is the southern frontier
of Egypt, the terminus of the lower
Nile. And it looks like a terminus.
We came to it on a lazy afternoon,"
writes G. W. Stevens, the well-known
African explorer, "too late for coffee,
too early for tea. The Nile, which
had been lazy, too, began to show
signs of a current. We tied up by a
bank of yellow sand; in front of us, to
the left, was a long line of palms with
white houses peeping from behind
them—Assouan. Beyond it a lofty
rise of rock—at least, it looks lofty in
Egypt—met the elevation of a rocky,
tree-grown island—Elephantine. Be
tween the two came down the river,
still fretting from the Cataract. It
narrowed between the two elbows of
rock, and turned a corner, so that it
looked as if Assouan were not only the
end of Egypt, but the end of the Nile.
"In a quarter of an hour I was in a
boat, amid my packages, pulling away
up stream for my friend'* dahabeah.
Lucky are the friends of my friend,
and his welcome always gives you to
believe he came to this particular cor
ner expressly to meet you. Now I was
to live a couple of nights aboard his
dahabeah. I had seen the sort of
comfort in which he sends you up the
Nile in a party; now for the luxury
when he gives you a dahabeah to your
self.
"The six leather-skinned rowers
took hold of their clumsy oars, one
hand like a cap over the butt; swung
them out by the loop-of-rope rowlocks,
and bent forward. As the oars took
the water a seventh leather-skinned,
squatting idly in the hows, suddenly
set up a nasal wail. 1 knew it at once
—Arab singing; but to my horror the
whole crew joined in full-throated.
For half a dozen strokes they howled,
and then set up one strident staccato
'a-a-ali!' which is the cry they use in
this country to remind shirking camels
and donkeys of their duty. Then for
auother six strokes they howled; theu
a-a-ah-d agaiu to keep themselves up
to their work."—London Mail
Plenty to Do.
"I thought you told me, Wilson,
that you intended to do business just
the same after you had moved rnto the
suburbs. I know you have plenty,
but I always thought you one of those
men who insist upou dying in the
harness."
"You were right about it, my old
friend. I believed that it would be
impossible for me to avoid spending
at least two or three hours a day on
'change, but my time is completely
taken up and I haven't looked at a
market report for a month."
"Wouldn't believe it if any one else
told me. How do you exist?"
"I am having young trees set out,
getting a garden ready, superintend
ing the building of a barn, watching
them pave the street and having a
continued kick with the assessors,
who seem to think that my property is
worth all I paid for it."
"You'll soon have all that off your
hands. I was afraid you might have
left us permanently."
"Oh, I've only commenced. I have
a Jersey cow, a pointer pup, a tandem,
two Berkshire pigs and a kodak, be
sides "
"Never mind. The cow, the pup
and the kodak are enough. I'll just
tell the boys that it's all off so far as
trade with you is concerned. You
have three fads that will keep you
busier thau a coon fn a bee tree."—
Detroit Free Press.
The Karlli'* Laziest Creature.
A curious and sluggish creature is
the tautawa, a nine-iuch lizard, whosi
home is in New Zealand. The little
imitation saurian has the reputation
of being the laziest creature ever
created. Ho is usually found cling
ing to rocks or logs along the shores
' of rivers and lakes, and has been
known to remain in one position per
fectly motionless for many months.
How the creature manages to exist is
3 a mystery.
1 Average 111-lleulth.
1 The average amount of sickness in
- hnman life is nine days out of the
f year.
BRAMBLE'S QUIET HOLIDAY.
Ills Kuse Wax Clever, Hut the Cleverer
ISoys ■■"oiled Him.
Old Cy Bramble had never been a
boy. He probably began to dry np
shortly after he was weaned and
passed through boyhood in a sort, of
chrysalis stat?, with tho difference
that he never became n butterfly.
Bramble hated boys, and every boy
in Tunley hated him. His chief reason
for hating boys was that they were
noisy, and it naturally followed that
the day *n the yenr that he most
loathed 1 'as the Fourth, and he had
been known to say that if he had his
way it would be a capital offence to set
oft' even a parlor match. On tho even
ing of the third of July he would de
scend into his cellar with a basket of
food, a lamp and some books and with
both ears stuffed with cotton, and he
would not be Been again until became
out on the morning of the fifth.
So the astonishment of the small
boys of Tunley may be easily im
agined when he gavo it out that he
would take orders for firecrackers and
torpedoes to be ready for delivery on
the evening of the third, and for
which he would ask just half the mar
ket rates. Was he crazy or had he
turned philanthropist?
But he was evidently in earnest, and
the chance of getting fireworks so
cheap outweighing all other considera
tions he did a laud office business in
the way of taking orders.
At 7 on tho evening of the third his
goods were ready, and he had a busy
time waiting on all his boyish cus
tomers, but by 11 o'clock he was
ready for bed, and he went thei e, not
to his cellar.
The morning of the Fourth dawned
as disgustingly early as it usually
does, but wakeful and nervous peopN
waited in vain for noisy salutes. In
neighboring towns the faint sound oi
cannon and pistols could be heard,
but Tnuley was as still as the grave
of a dumb man.
When the grown-ups came down to
breakfast they found their children
holding indignation meetings. Some
thing was the matter with the fire
crackers. They sputtered and hissed,
hut did not crack, and the torpedoes
simply broke in a distressingly quiet
way and scattered pebbles over the
ground.
Bramble was found sitting outside
of his house iu an armchair, reading
a book and looking as contented ns a
well-fed kitten. It was evidently a
put-up job on his part. He had doc
tored the fireworks, that he might en
joy a qniet Fourth in the open air.
When it dawned ou the boys that
they had been victimized they lost no
time in forming a purse and a com
mittee. The parse enabled the com
mittee to go to tho nearest town aud
buy a large quantity of era ckers of all
sizes.
At about 3 in the afternoon Bramble
sunk into a restful nap. His dried-up
features relaxed, bis withered talons
lay like a heap of picked bones in his
lap, and he gave himself over to
dreams.
Then it was that tho parade began.
The paraders were all tho boys who
had been duped, and they numbered
all the boys iu town with one or two
exceptions. The line of march lay
past his house, and his rocking chair
was the reviewing stand. His slum
bers was disturbed by a beating of tin
pans, a blowing of liorus and the ex
plosion of firecrackers. Then, before
ho was fully awake ho was bound to
his chair by a stont rope, and the per
formance concluded with what the
boys called "Tbe Bombardment ol
Moscow," in which a dozen huge can
non crackers played an active part, ex
ploding simultaneously under the "re
viewing stand."
By a miracle the old man was not
hurt, but he burst his bonds with the
strength that great fear sometimes
gives, and rattled into tho house liken
skeleton in a gale of wind, and all the
rest of that Fourth he spent in his
cellar, while the boys held high carni
val iu front of his house.
Aud nothing was ever done to them
either, for public opinion, ns expressed
by their parents, held that a man whe
was mean enough to knowingly sell
damaged fireworks to boys deserved
all that he got.
This nil happened s jme years ago,
and old Bramble has gone tc a place
where firecrackers don't keep, but oue
of the Tunley boys told rue nbout the
occurrence, and so I know it is true.
—Charles Battell Loomis.
Gerinnn Experience With tbe Grip.
Au extensive investigation ns to the
spread of the grip in the Gernmu
Army, assuming, ns it did, the form
of an epidemic, has given
to medical opinion as to its being a dis
ease that owes its origin to certain
miasmatic external causes, while, on
the other hand, there is not assumed
to lie any sure evidence of tbe influ
ence of weather, climate, wind or soil,
or the season of the year. To the
contrary, indeed, the number of those
cases iu which the spread and the
mode of spreading of the ailment is
attributable to human intercourse was
considerably increased by the experi
ence of the last epidemic. But au
thorities are still iu a state of doubt ns
to whether the infection is carried
directly from person to person, or
whether the infectious material is
carried by the intervention of inani
mate objects through the air. Of the
real germ that causes the disease
there is no precise knowledge, lteasons
are given, however, for believing that
inanimate substances may house the
real germs of the disease and convey
them far away; and if, therefore, dead
substances can thus contribute to the
spread of the disease germs, such a
fact may perhaps explain the appear
ance of the disease upon ships on the
high seas.—New York Tribune.
Australian eggs now sell in Lon.loz
in large quantities.
CURIOUS FACTS.
In Brazil a single pineapple liaa
never attained a greater growth than
seven pounds.
A captive bee striving to escape has
been made to record as many as 15,510
wing strokes per minute.
A servant on a farm near Cambrai,
in northern France, has lived seventy
one years with the same family.
Coins bearing the names of em
perors who existed over two thousand
years ago are still in daily circulation
in China.
The "elephant beetle" of Ven
ezuela is the largest insect iu the
world. A full-grown one weighs about
half a pound.
A curious fact has been noted by the
Arctic travelers—snow when at a very
low temperature absorbs moisture and
dries garments.
A set of the works of Aristotle, the
Greek philosopher, printed on vellum
and of the date 1483, brought S4OOO at
a recent sale in England.
There is a hospital for trees on the
banks of the Seine in Paris. Trees
which grow sick alcug the boulevards
are taken here to recover.
A Teplitz old lady of ninety-nine
has committed suicide by holding her
head down in a tub of water because
she did not want to live to be a hun
dred years old.
The most expensive drug is physos
tigmine, an ounce of which would cost
nearly SIOO,OOO. It is prepared from
the Calabor bean and is used in dis
eases of the eye.
It having been decided to levy a
house or hut tax of $1.25 on each
owner in Sierra Leone, the natives are
pulling down their huts and living un
der trees rather than pay it.
The owl's eyes have no muscles by
which they cau be moved; but extraor
dinary flexibility in the muscles of the
neck enables the owl to move his head
with iucredible rapidity in any direc
tion.
It is interesting to know just at this
time that in the United States Senate
three are twelve Senators who served
in the Union army, and twelve who
served iu the Confederate army. There
are fifty-seven ltepreseutatives who
served in the Union army and thirty
who nre ex-Confederates.
Provident Eliot on Hnppy Marriages*
President Eliot, in a recent address
before the Dorchester (Mass.) Wom
an's Club, discussed the happy mar
riage, and gave it what free and easy
writers call a first-class notice. A
very brief extract from his address
credits him with saying that the ideal
izing devotion with which the happy
marriage begins is the most admirable
Ihing in human nature. He does not
seem to favor the idea that the cor
ner-stone of happiness iu marriage is
a sufficient iucome secured against
the chances of fortune. On the con
trary, he declares the young woman
who marries for money or position is
sacrificing the best of life which mar
riage affords. The chief conditions
of a happy marriage, us he finds them,
are health, common intellectual inter
ests, and a religious belief held in
common between husband and wife.
No doubt he enlarged upon these con
ditions, and qualified the idea of the
superlative importance of the latter
two by taking large views of tliem.
We often see, for example, people
very happily married whose minds are
so differently constituted that it
seems impossible that they should
have more than a limited number of
intellectual iuterests in common. But
there are difi'erent kinds of good
minds, and minds that supplement
one another seem quite as well suited
to harmonious associations as those
that run in parallel grooves.—Har
per's Weekly.
Your Chair and Your Desk.
Some curious experiments have
been made l>y a Harvard professor to
prove what is really the best height
for the chair you Bit ou uud the desk
you write at. Every person, it appears,
ought to have a chair specially made
to suit his or her height, and the seat
of the eliair should be exactly one
quarter of your height fiom the flour.
Thus, if you are Bix feet high, the
chair seat should be eighteen inches.
The width of the seat should exactly
equal its height, aud it should slope
backward three-quarters of an iuch to
the foot. The back should be a trifle
higher thau the seat and sloped slight
ly, not too much. Finally, your desk
should be two-thirds ns high ngaiu as
the seat of your chair. Thus, if yonr
chair seat is twenty-four inches, the
desk should be forty inches iu height.
When you have attended to all these
little details you can sit aud write all
day without feeliug that backache
that comes from chairs and desks that
don't fit von.—Hartlord (Coun.) Post.
Patti and "Hag-time" Song-.
Patti ouce went on au excursion
with a party of Americans, atuoug
whom was a young chap who could
play on a banjo aud sing "coon" and
"rag-time" songs like a professional.
He did not intend that the great singer
should judge of the quality of his art,
but by accident she had a chance, and
to the young man's joy she fell hilari
ously in love with every rag-time
melody he saug. This was a secret
between the two until oue evening
Patti consented to sing for the com
pany. Several listeners went mildly
insane when the great artist, after a
little preparatory "patting," sang
"Mamie, Come Kiss Your Honey
Boy."—New York World.
Green Garnets.
Green garnets nre more valuable
than diamonds because they are so
exceedingly rare. They are of au un
surpassed rich shade far beyond that
of an emerald, and are very brilliant.
On the other hand, red garnets are so
common that tkey ci st next to noth
ing.