was a cuserimrna.iug diplomatist clear through to his epi taph. Football has l.cen prohibited in Mexico because of its cruelty. Noth ing but innocent amusement like bull fighting goes there. France now concedes that tho Americans are rather a superior peo ple. This is gratifying, but had she not changed her opinion the United States would probably have gone right along, just ns though France herself did not exist. A professional school of electricity is to be established ac St. Germain, near Paris, France, to be called tho Ampere Institute. The school is in tended to furnish laborers and fore men with nn electrical education, and first-class instruction wili be given in both theory and practice. A "purse" raised by the grateful passengers on a train saved from de struction by an alert small boy near Burlington, Vt,, a little while ago,was found when placed iu his bauds and carefully counted to contain SI.BO. Whether tli > passengers lacked appre ciation of the value of tlieir limbs or their lives is not told, hut it 13 said the company "will do the right thing by the lad." Tho more the country sees and hears from the young hero liobsou, the more J it is fascinated by the roundness, the ; largeness of his development. Men tally, physically, morally, ho is built upon the heroic model. If one were asked for a type of the result of a cen tury of democratic institutions, for a man who would best embody the American citizen, self-reliant, self contained, ready for any emergency and master of it when it came, could he do better than to point to Eick rnond Pearson Ilobson? asks the New York World. Major-General Crease, of the Brit ish Iloyal Marino Artillery, has de vised a new scheme for the coast do- j 'ense of Britain. His plan is to build eighteen floating batteries of 11,500 tons each, thickly armored from deck to keel so as to be practically torpedo proof, but of such light draught that they can fight iu shallow waters. They are to be armed each with sixteen heavy guns in four two-story turrets, and manned by naval militia. He would have, besides, nine "battleship exterminators," armored destroyers of great speed, supplied with a ram, tor- 1 pedo tubes and light guns. The cost would he $100,000,000. General Crease is now on the retired list. Some of the manufacturers of glu cose in Chicago have turned their at tention to the production of corn oil— an article extracted by pressure from the germ of the grain by a method 1 similar to that used iu tho mauufac- I tura of linseed oil, leaving a residuum j not unlike in its character tho oileahe ! of commerce. It seems that iu the I production of glucose, it was a matter of necessity first to extract the germ, this, for a long time, involving a waste. As against this, a company now turns out some 350 barrels of corn oil per day. Most of the oil goes to England for acapmaking. It is shipped in second-hand oil barrels, I each of a weight, when filled, of 100 pounds, rated at the factory at threo cents per pound. Some of the oil is used in this country principally in mixing cheap paint and for adulterat ing linseed cil. It is regarded as a rapid "drying" oiL Men prominent in shoe manufac turing in Lynn, Mass., believe that that industry needs for its profitable continuance a trade training-school. It is as essential to their business, they say, as is tho tesile school to the distinctive industry iu Lowell. The difficulty to be raet is that of main taining a supply of trained workmen. Because of the tyranny of the trades uuious, only the families of members of the unions can learn the lasting or catting trade. A young man cannot learn the branches of the trade iu Lynn unless his father teaches him. Otherwise if he wishes to lenru the trade, he must go out of Lynn, or earn a commitment to the State prison. In tho latter institution he is imper fectly taught, and if ho learns the trado thoroughly elsewhere, ho is apt to remain where he served his ap prenticeship. Iu cither event the Lynn industry suffers, ns tho manu facturers lose largo amounts every year through the poor work of lasters or cutters who profess to know the trade, but have not sufficiently mas. tcred it. The manufacturers of the city have promised their support to tho movement of opening a trade school, and the project will probably be brought to the attentionof the City Couucil at an early date. WHEN THE POST. dAND PLAYS. Oh, the sun is on the river, nnrt the sky is cold and red. And the moon Its light is gaining in *bn a/uro overhead, And the hand is playin' sweetly as Old Glory flutters down, And there's pretty giris amany from the quarters and the town. Oh, the sunset gun is booniin' nnd the echo rumldes till Iu the dim and purple distance it is lot behind the hi!*: And it is just a pipe till supper time, so (ill and make your blaze; bay, who wouldn't bo a soldier when the Post Laud plays? Oh, there's hurry and there's bustle, and the:o's forty head of mules To bo loaded in the darkness while the steaming coffee cooks; And the caissons are bulky, and the gangplank's blasted steep— And there isn't any wonder when a bloke is half asleep. Oh, there's orders to go somewhere, and to go there mighty quick; And it's nothing to the orders that the horses rare and kick, That the stock-car doors won't open, that the sergeant's in a daze; Say, who wouldn't be a soldier when the Post Baud plays? Oh, the women they're a-weejfln', same as women always do, And there's hearts a-fcelin' heavy underneath the army blue; And there's nhoutin' and there's cursin', and the bells a-riugln' loud,' And there's kisses from tho mothers and the sweethearts in the crowd. Ob, the darned old band is tootin' and the fife's n-shrillin' high, And "The Girl I Left Behind Me" makes a feller blink his eye, For we'll not be back, my dearies, to you all for many days, And some will be a-missin' when the Post Band plays. —Richard btillinnn Powell, in the Criterion. 8 THE LAST OF B TROOP. 1 S§ II " "b~7; aiT to imagine n ' . ry 1 plain stretching j away to the east, j three hundred miles—a plain so 1 llat nnd sterile i <*fj j I that its very V.y i i monotony is men k \ r'l aeiug. To the /{••) i : north, foothills 1 covered with • ..'-A;.-stunted pines; tc the south a tongue of snudy desert; to the west a succession of barren ridges, on which neither wolf nor buz zard can find a drop of water nor a morsel of food. Eight there, a hun dred miles from tho nearest pioneer hamlet, they built Fort Brown and garrisoned it with men, who thought of suicide day by day as they looked upon the dreariness. There was a skeleton company of infantry nnd a skeleton company of cavalry—the lust of B troop. There was n time in the history of these horsemen when B numbered a full hundred men, and when its officers were the proudest men in the regiment, but there are fatalities in army life as well as else where. Oue day, over in Green valley, a3 B troop rode gaily along, five hundred Indian warriors rose up in the dry gullies and emptied forty saddles at the first volley. There was a court of inquiry, nnd the captain resigned. Again ten troopers were sent over to cover a wagon train, and the Indians slaughtered tho whole number. Iu the next three months five troopers deserted and three committed suicide. One afternoon the first lieutenant of the troop rode out for a hunt but had not gone a mile when ho was thrown from his horse and killed. Onemore: Two troopers were sent out to catch a horse which had broken loose and was cavorting around within half a mile of the post. They were on foot, and as tliey ran they were bitten by rattle snakes on which they trod, and both were dead before sunset. Tho army said that B troop was under a hoodoo, and the remnant of the company felt themselves almost outlawed. The day they rode into Fort Brown they numbered thirty-seven men, and they were under the temporary command of a second lieutenant. Captains and first lieuteuauts assigned to B troop always fought off the day of joining, and some had pull enough at Wash ington to lia"3 the as iguraent coun termanded. There is superstition iu the army as well as out of it. "Here is our graveyard!" whispered the men of the troop, as they caught sight of Fort Brown nnd its lonesome environment, after their long ride to reach it. They looked at the foothills to the north—at the plain to the cast —at the desert to the sonth, and the ridges to the west, and man timed to man and repented: "Hero is our graveyard—the last of tho troop!" If you know an unlucky man you pity him, but you also avoidhim. The infantry at Fort Brown could not avoid tho unlucky troopers, but tliey pitied them and displayed 110 fraternal feel ing. It was so from the colonel down to the last private. Wo smile in de rision at the idea of a hcodoo, and yet we do not like to rub elbows with peo ple who are pursued by ill-luck. The freshly graduated cadet knew nothing about the hoodoo when ho was assigned to B troop. With a boy's ambition and impatience ho had hurried from West Point and home into the wilds of tho lar \\ est to take active service. There was no superstition about him. He bad heard of the fatalities—he saw the dispirited look of the remnant of the once gallant troop—he was made to believe that ho was under a ban, as it were—but be was not disheartened. Army records will tell you what hap pened at Fort Brown within a week after troop B rode through the gates. The i fantry had been there three months, but not an indinn bad been seen. A corporal and threo men were sent to tho foothills for fuel, when they fell into an ambuscrdo and were cut off". Tho four troopers were mounted, and jet all were killed, while the teamster made a safe escape on foot. This was the hoodoo again. That there might bo no cavil about it, a trooper hung kimscif in the barracks that night. Thus five more men wero wiped off the rolls within a week, and the troop reduced to thirty-two. Tho Indians had no sooner wreaked their vengeance on the unfortunate four than they disappeared and none were seen again for long weeks. It was as if they had come to assist at the final extermination of the troop. When the news reached the east a captain who had been assigned to B and was about to leave Chicag , began pulling ar.d in about three days his orders were revoked nnd ho was sent elsewhere. Tho officials at tho War Department seemed to recognize tho hoodoo. The colonel at Fort Brown had re ceived the young officer halt in wel come, half iu pity. He knew tho his tory of B troop, and lie realized that any connection with it ciust cast a shadow on the career of an officer. Had he been in command of the de partment he would have recommended that the troop be consolidated and its name lost on the rolls. The loss of the five men gave the colouol anxious thought. No one could be held to blame. It was simply one of the fa talities which had so persistently pur sued tho troop. Ono day he got news which determined him on a certain step, and ho sent for the young lieu tenant and said: "A scout is iu with the information that a hand of hostiles is headed for Brown's Valley. That is where the pioneers who camo along two weeks ago were going to settle. I fear they will be unprepared for an attack and will all he wiped out." "And you will send B troop out to head the Indians off!" eagerly ex claimed the lieutenant. "If you could reach Panther Gap, thirty miles away, before tho hostiles get ahead of you " "I would push on after them and hope to save tho settlers. I can bo ready in thirty minutes." The colonel was a man of forty five—the lieutenant not yet twenty three. The older officer looked out of tho open window upon tho sandy desert shimmering in the hot sun and thought of the long ride—the fight which must surely take place. Then ho looked at the hoy and u'ondered how ho would carry himself iu his first battle—whether his men would stand by him—if it would bo the last of B troop or the turn of its luck. Ho was both a soldier and u man. As a soldier he desired to give a soldier a ehauce; a3 a man ho feared to send out a boy like that where it needed an experienced head. "ion know the hoodoo," whispered the lieutenant. "The troop is slowly but surely being wiped off the face of the earth. The men are objects of pity and sympathy, and have almost become children. Let mo go. I will either win a victory or it will be the last of the troop!" the spirit of the old soldier was stirred. He had given many a young soldier opportunity to distinguish him self. and but for the hoodoo ho would not have hesitated in this ease. Dis spiritod men-an officer who had never seen a hostile redskin—a hoo doo which had walked at a company's heels like a ghost—it would simply'bo sending out moro scalps for the war party. He shook his head nud de cided that the scout must ride hard and fast, but ride alone, and warn the pioneers of their danger. "I bog of you—we all beg of yon!" pleaded the lieutenant, with tears in his eyes: "Cavalry is needed to head thoso Indians off. If the setUei-3 nra wiped out it will he said that you thought us cowards aud were afraid to order us out." "Thoro will ho thirty-two of you and a hundred of the Indians," said the colouel. "But we will turn them hack, sir— we will fight them!" And if they are too mauyforyou?" . know tll ° history of the troop, sir, said the hoy in trembling tones. "It has lost almost seventy men by desertion, suicide aud skirmish. It has not lost a man in a real fight. They shall say of it in the next three days that it has won a fight or been wiped out. I would rather be lying dead there on the sands than to con tinue to servo iu a troop which has not a single victory on its banners!" , "You may go,"said the colonel. "If it is a mistake, then God help me! Turn those Indians back and I will recommend you for promotion; if they are too many for you—" "Then you will know it by the buz zards hoveriug over the battlefield!" Half an honr later the thirty-two men of IS troop rode ont of Fort Brown and headed across the desert to the south. They wero one of the arms of aV. The apex was Panther Gap. As they moved along one arm the In dians would move along the other. The Indians had nearly a day's start, but their route was rougher and their paco v ould he slower. "Thero goes the last of B troop!" whispered every soldier left behind, as the troopers rode away, and ns they said it they instinctively looked up at the flag as if expecting to 3ee it at half-mast. The troopers had received that or der without enthusiasm. They knew they wero to make a hard ride and that a fight was probable, but they ue.e neither exultant nor despondent. Like the Arabs, they shrugged their shoulders and whispered "Kismet." They were in the hands of fate, and fate was likely to be against them. AVith scarcely a farewell and with never a look over theijshonlders, they rode away, two by two, and it was uot until long after dark that the boy officer at the head drew rein and or dered the camp for the night. Before they slept he said to them: "Vt e shall bo up and away at the first signs of daylight. Men, listen to mo. AA'e are riding to reach Pan ther Gap ahead of a war party of a hundred Indians. AA'e shall get there first and beat them back or die fight ing. I have promised the colonel this. Tou have had one disaster after another until your feliow soldiers sneer and pity and wonder if coward ice is not at the bottom of it. I do not believe it is. I believe every man of you to be game, and we will win a victory which will place the old troop at the front." A cheer burst forth from every man —the first cheering heard in B troop for years. Each mau drew himself up more proudly— each man muttered to himself that if need bo he would dio in his tracks. Their mind worked even as they slept, and when daylight came tho officer looked from face to face and wondered nt tho change. There war an eagerness to make him glad—a personnel to make him proud. Breaking camp as soon as it was light enough to see. the troop rode nt a gallop until midforcnoon and reached the gap ahead of the liostilcs. Only by a short hour, though. The horses had not yet ceased blowing when tlie advance of the Indians was made out. Panther Gap was a narrow road through Panther Mountain, and its southern end debouched into Brown's Valley, five miles away. The hoy officer knew nothing of war, but com mon sense, and his veteran sergeant suggested a breastwork across tho en trance to the gap. One was con structed of rocks and logs aud stones, and it was hardly finished before the skirmishers of the war party were fir ing upon it. No man will ever read what is called "Cunningham's Defense" without his pulse quickening. One hundred and twenty Indians pressed forward against n force of thirty-two troopers, com manded by a boy. Three different times—once 011 horseback—the Indians charged right up to the breastwork, but each lime were driven back with slaughter. The defenders did not escape death, however. Av'hen the last charge was beaten back eight of them were stretched out on the rocky soil, and there was but twenty-four to fall back for a mile and build another breastwork. This movo was necessi tated by tho Indians working up the side of the mountain and securing a flank fire. The second breastwork was excavated the next morning for the same reason, and a mile in tho rear of it another was built. AVhcu this had to be abaudoued only ten men were left alive. AA'hen Hanked out of their fourth defense there were only five meu. One of these wore sent to the valley for help, but it was headed off by the In dians. Of the other four, of whom the boy officer was one, they died at the fifth breastwork—died with carbines iu their hands after firing their last cartridges, and died with cheers of de fiance 011 their lips. Of the war party sixty-two were killed or wounded and it was turned back. One day a "B" trooper was seen coming on foot ncross tho sands, lie lurched and staggered as he walked. Soldiers ran to meet him a.nd assist him into the fort. He had been without food or water for two days. The colonel looked nt him for a long time without speaking. Then, with pale face and trembling lips, he asked: "Lanigan, where is your officer— tho troop?" And Lanigan straightened up, salu ted, nnd iu n voico as hoarse as a raven's cry. he replied: "I havo to report, sir, that B troop lias been wiped out to a man, and, God forgive me, but I'm that man! They are dead in the Gap—all dead— all dead!"— Boston Transcript. At "My UncleV* or "My Aunt's." The singular name of "my uncle's" anil "my aunt's" by which pawnbrok ers' stores have been called, originat ed, according to a French writer, in the following way: In his youth the son of Louis Phil lipo, Iho Prince of Joinville, was al lowed a most meagre supply of pookot money. His father noticed one day that tho young man was not wearing a handsome gold watch chain that his mother had given him. In truth, the youth had pawned it, bnt being un willing to own to tho fact, when the King inquired where tho chaiu was, he replied, "At my aunt's." AVlien the Princess Adelaide, being questioned, denied any knowledge ol the ornament, the Prince acknowl edged that it was safe in the pawn broker's shop. Thus the French fashion of saying "at my aunt's" was started. In Britain "uncle's" is the proper word, and the French writer claims that it was adopted iu tho spirit of contrariness which the English dis play toward all things French. AVitness, that the French soldier wears red trousers, the English a red coat; the French eat oysters from the hollow half of the shell, the English from the fiat half; the French turn to the right walking and driving, the English to the left. No other reason for the difference is given than the ap parent desire to be contrary.—New York Tribuno. Flrftt Shot of the Civil War. The first shot of the Civil AVar was fired on January 9, 1881, when the steamer Star of the AVest, with sup plies for Fort Sumter, was fired 0:1 from Morris Island, S. C. Caring: For the Complexion. The complexion depends largely upon the general health, aud system atic exercise, with good nourishing food, will do wonders toward giving a bright, healthful hue to the skin. The daily bath is also one of the best skin medicines. If the skin has no tendency to greasiness a little cold cream or other emolient rubbed well into the skiu, after the bath, will de stroy the tendency to wrinkles or roughness. Colored Lawn IlnmUcerrliler*. Colored linen lawn haudkerchiefs have made their appearance again. Some havo a white ground with queer criss-oross and zigzag figures of pale green, yellow, lilac, pink or blue, or checks or stripes of the same, while others are of the solid colored lawn. All are edged with fine thread or A'al encieuues lace, aud are not infre quently scalloped or pointed. They wash well, aud appeal specially to schoolgirl taste. Xovolists Descended From Clerjjj'inen. The death of Mrs. Lynn Linton calls attention to the circumstance that many of the most famous women novelists came of a clerical stock. Jane Austen was the daughter of a Hampshire rector, the Brontes were the daughters of the A'icar of Ha worth, Olive Sclireiner is the daughter of n South African missionary, and Mrs. Humphry AVard is the granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas Arnold, the fa mous Headmaster of Rugby. A Woman's Services I'ecojjnlzert. Margherita Arliua Hamm, one of the women war correspondents, has been recommended to the war department for special recognition because of the services rendered by her to tho wound ed men of the Third cavalry at Santi ago. A large cartridge taken from the belt of Trooper Armstrong, the first man to be killed at Santiago, has been mounted in gold and presented to her as a medal. Before leaving for Santi ago she cared for the soldiers on the way from Tampa to the Southern hos pitals, was instrumental in securing for them good berths, and aided greatly ia making them comfortable. She has also received a set of resolutions from the friends of Trooper Freeman, of AVinomac, lud., in recognition of her services in caring for him while he was suffering from a serious wound re ceived in battle. TliroUßli English Ejes. "The Lady's Pictorial" publishes a beautiful reproduction of .Airs. Mclvin ley's last photograph—tho one iu which she is resting iu her favorite chair on the veranda, while her delicate hands hold her favorite needlework. Accom panying the picturo is the following tribute: It is doubtful if modern times have two women who attract so much atten tion as tho Queen Regent who presides at El Escurial and tho "Lady of tho AATiite Honso." As a hostess Mrs. McKinley is unrivalled. The toilets seen at her receptions may vie with any iu the courts of Europe, aud she can hold her own against tho wives and daughters of tho Diplomatic Corps, being invariably neatly nnd tastefully gowned. Her favorite jewels are pearls aud diamonds, of which her posses sions are equal to those of any Queen. A Qillck-lVltted Woman. This is the story that was brought back by a young person who had spent a morning at a hospital iu Auburn. New York: "AATiile I was there a man and a woman came in bringing a burned child in a blanket. It turned out that tho man did not know the woman, nor the woman the man, nnd neither knew the child. As tho woman was riding on an open trolley-car on her way to the hospital, she heard a shriek, and saw n child iu a door-yard with its dress afire. "She jumped off the car, grabbed a blanket which hung on a clothes-line, wrapped it around the child, nnd rolled it on the ground. The child's mother came out of the house and picked tho child up. That started the fire again. The rescuer instantly grabbed the child from the mother, rolled it on the ground in the blanket some more, nnd then ran with it to the ear, got aboard, and brought it to the hospital. The man was a stranger to her, who hap pened to be 011 the car, and who car ried the child a block or so from the oar to the hospital. The child was badly burned, but will recover. Don't you think that woman's wits were pretty quick?"— Harper's Dazar. Opportunities For Women. In a paper on "Art and Utility" read before the delegates to the recent bien- Dial convention at Denver, Mrs. Can dace AA T heeler, of New Y'ork City, asked the Federation to use its endeavors to encourage the humble women of the land to make the most of their homo industries, aud gave valuable sugges tions to club members to do practical work among their fellow-women. She defined art in its broadest mean ing as being only the true aud perfeot doing of things, and described the ar listio impulse as a desire to live up to one's best inspiration aud to make real what seems true. She called particu lar attention to the faut that there is a constant effort being made to help women to do the work of men, and thought something should be done to aid women to do the work natural to them for generations. The truth that all women who need to earn money and who are unable to go outside of their homes to do it makes it urgent that something should be done for them to make their tasks as pleasant as possi ble, and the solving of this economic problem would be of invaluable bene fit co womankind. She cited the fact that nearly every State in the Union has some woman's industry that could be made profitable, and that these same industries are looked upon as drudgeries is because their work brings so little return and because it does not represeut their best endeavor, this being the case with the women of the Tennessee mountains, who spin all the coarse materials used as clothing for their families. Silk raising and reeling, knitting and spin ning, were spoken of as being suscep. tible of great development, and, under proper direction, becoming paying in dustries; the Mexican drawn work also, as having a wide sale and with the right management being made a profit able manufacture. She hoped that women might en courage this particular line of manual and art training, thus opening a new era to their sisters who have no oppor tunity to become more than unskilled household slaves. llo\r to Keep the Hair. A luxuriant heail of hair has been, ami always will be, one of the most important ornaments of feminine beauty. Women, ns a rule, know very little about the care of the hair, with the re sult that they have not such attractive looking heads as they should have. A fine head of hair is supposed to be a sign of vigor and health. The hair, to be kept in good condi tion, should not be irritated by too vigorous treatment. There is as much diitereuee in the quality of the hair as there is in the skin of the face, and it needs the same careful and systematic attention to keep it as it ought to be kopt. Taking care of it one week and neglectiug it the next will do no good whatever. Some women's hair is fine and silky, while others is conrse and bristly, but whatever the hair may he, it re quires equal attention. The scalp, like the pores of the face, must be kept clean to he in n healthy condition. When it is dry and hard, it requires a nourishing tonic. Some people's hair, after being washed, will dry more quickly than others. It is not good for it to be too dry; so, when this is the case, be sure and use a tonic. Many people differ about how often the hair should be washed. There can bo no rule about it, ns every head needs different treatment. For in stance, some people wash their hair once a mouth only, while others find that unless they wash it once a fort night it looks dirty and feels uncom fortable. Hairdressers generally ad vise once a month, but if your hair is dirty before that it should he washed, as a scalp that is cot kept clean cannot do the hair any good. Fair hair, unless washed frequently, generally has a sticky, greasy appear ance, which is ans hiugbnt beautiful. —ChicagoTimes-il raid. Fashion'* ( riclci. Shaded feather boa • and also conrse white net ruches wrought in big chenille dots are much used. In adjusting the sashes and belt ribbons of various lengths, the smart looking Empire lio.v still remains a popular finish to the waists of both day and evening. If one wishes to freshen the bodice of a black silk or satin dres3, airy black point d'esp it draperies on the waist and sleeves make a cool and pretty change in the gown. Very smart and pretty are the toilets of rose-colored, ciel-blue, or dove gray mohair sioilienue, trimmed with graduated rows of Irish guipure in sertion, with a tiny frilling of tulle at each edge. Cream serge is getting in its inning now. Gowns of this material are frequently made with a plain skirt and a short sacque coat with a deep sailor collar, over which is worn another collar of rich ecru Irish lace. The very latest thing in millinery is tiro halo. It is a large plaque of straw, with the outer edge gathered Tarn o' Shanter fashion. The trimming is placed underneath instead of on top and usnally oonsists of plumes, which hug the hair closely. Parisian women are wearing shoes and stockings to match their gowns. In mastio and cream tones this will do, but when it comes to bright greens, red and blues the woman ol really refined taste shudders at the mere thought of such a fad. This notion of a plain velvet band passed through a paste buokle so noticeable in summer millinery, has extended to woman's arm. She now wears a piece of black velvet, fastened garterwise through a small jeweled bnckle, as an armlet. It heightens the whiteness of the wonder fully. SPAIN'S YOUNC FARRAC'JV. Thp Miilnlilpmat) IV IK, w n n on tho Viz. cayft Believed to Be In fi;ialn Now. When, in February iast, the now wrecked and stranded but then power ful Spanish cruiser Vizcaya paid a visit to New York the naval authorities took the most careful precautions to insure her safety. The Maine, it will be re membered, had been blown up only a few days before her arrival. Tho com mander of the Vizcaya, Captain Eulate, protested against tho precautious, de claring in the strongest terms that ha was willing to trust his ship unguarded in this harbor. To the reporters who visited him on the ship he recalled the many years of peace and amity that had existed between the two Nations, and then, struck by an inspiration, ho ordered to tho quarter deck a young midshipman, and, pointing to" him" asked the reporters how two Nations conld ever be other thau friends when each had raised a Farragut. One was already immortalized, he said; the other had yet to show by deeds of valor that the real Farragut blood was in him. Captain Eulate, becoming enthusias tic as the picturesqueness of the situa tion developed, went on to explain that his young midshipman was Sanchez Farragut, who was horn in Minorca, off the coast of Spain, whence the great American Admiral's progenitors had j come. He had no doubt that his young sailor was of the real Farragut stock! Tho Vizcaya sailed away and in tho excitement of the war that followed Mr. Midshipman Farragut was all but forgotten. Following the destruction of Admiral Cervera's aquadrou and the capture of so many prisoners, the few who remembered the Farragut inci dent looked in vain for a line about the fate ot young Farragut. IVeeks passed and the great naval battle bade fair to pass into history without the mystery being solved, until one who remembered the incident on the deck of the Vizcaya in Now York harbor wrote an inquiry to Admiral Oervera at tho Naval Academy, Annapolis. Tlie iucide it donbtless interested the Admiral, for betook pains to make inquiries. The result was that he re plied, through the medium of Lieu tenant-Commander E. K. Meore, as sistant to the Superintendent of the Naval Academy, that upon the arrival of the Vizcaya at Havana, to which port the warship went after leaving New York, young Farragut was taken ill. Later he was sent to the naval hospital in Havana, and the Vizcaya sailed for the Cape Verde Islands to join Admiral Cervera's squadron and Farragut was left behind. To the best of the Admiral's knowledge and belief, Lieutenant Moore wrote, Far ragut was sent back to Spain. At all events, he did not rejoin his ship, and consequently was not in the battle of Santiago.—New York Sun. CURIOUS FACTS. Arizona wells yield hot water. Crabs two feet in length are often seen in India. Some butterflies have as many ns 20,000 distinct eyes. In some parts of Africa slaves are still the basis of all financial reckon ing. Cakes of tea in India, pieces of s lk in China, salt in Abyssinia and codfish in Iceland have been used as money. Tho German navy has ouly been in existence half a century, the first naval officer having been appointed in 1817. A glass firm lately received an or der for 500 glass fence-poles, to be of the usual size, and grooved for tho re ception of wire. A meteoric stone weighing four tous fell on n wnrehonse in Flume, Austria, and set it on fire. The stone crashed through the house, and was found buried in the cellar. "Gossamer iron," the wonderful product of the Swansea (Wales) iron mills, is so thin that it takes 4SOO sheets piled one on the other to make an inch in thickness. Tho Westminster Abbey (England) clock has been so remarkably uniform that for years the error has only reached three seconds on three per cent, of the days of the year. An apron is the royal standard of Persia. Gos, a Persian, who was a blacksmith by trade, raised a revolt which proved successful, and his leather apron, covered with jewels, is still borne in tho van of Persian ar mies. Ueiieflcciit Nature. A flower lover of Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Park,owns a unique hothouse. It is built of rough slabs of wood and has a glass roof. The building faces the east. The heat is furnished by hot water from alive-inch orifice in the ground at the south end of the buildiug; it then flows north to the centre of the building. The water comes from a geyser, and at the time of its exit is almost at boiliug point. The bods are raised from eighteen inches to two feet for circulation and to afford a place for tha growing of mushrooms. The result of this high temperature is wonderful. The beds are tilled about three feet deep with rich stable refuse mixed with one-third silica formation from near by. The rich soil, the sun's light, and the con densation of steam from the Lot water, make an ideal combination for the growth of vegetation. Lettuce, it is said, comes up from the dry seed in two days and good-sized heads of let tuce were gathered in from fifteen t. eightecu days after planting. Cucum ber vines grow from twenty-five to thirty-five feet in length in less tha l sixty days, without being watered, ex cept for the moisture in the air. On some of the cucumber vines five full sized cucumbers were gatherel from, single joint, lliree pails of water have been sufficient for watering plants in the greenhouse on even the hottest day.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers