Golf is ameuue I us a sure care for degeneration,especially tliut--vhich ucco apauies old age. Thers is a growing impie-iicn that most of the wealth it Alaska was brought there by people desirous of getting rich. St. Louis, Mo., has issued instruc tions through superintendents to the principals an-1 teachers that there isto be no more hone work that shall iu involve tho study of text-books. In an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes M. Fouille declares that, while the modern Greeks aro net de scended wholly from Slavs, as some Lave maintained, they certainly are not lineal descendants of the great peoples who male Greece famous. Apropos of the anti-vaccination crusade going on in London, it is in teresting to note that in Norway and bweden and Denmark vaccination is enforced in a novel way. People can not be married without each produc ing their certificate of vaccination, Without this the minister cannot per form the ceremony. Professor Mommsen's complacent prophecy that the British empire will soon disintegrate, and that in the process France will get Egypt, Russia will take India, and Germany will im propriate South Africa, is redolent of the perfume of the cloister. He ueems to forget that across the north ern frontier of India nature has | etretched almost impregnable fortifi cations in the steep mountain raugo that guards the border; that Egypt will bo quite as difficult to take and keep today as when Napoleon tried the experiment, and that Germany in South Africa is helpless against Brit ish sea power. St. Petersburg dispatches indicate that Russia may agaiu require Ameri can wheat aud corn to eke out her needs. In many provinces, contrary to expectations, tho crops have proved a total failure, aud famine is impend ing. This will tend to arrest decline of prices for wheat and other cereals consequent upon the heavy crops in the United States, for the Russian government is already taking steps to purchase large quantities of these sta ples abroad. American farmers should not forget that it is chance and not their own foresight in this iu- Btance that will have enabled them to realize fair prices for their products. A pathetic commentary on the es teem in which the world holds the memory of Prince Bismarck is to be seen in the fact that hardly a word in the vast flood of mes sages of condolence that flowed upon Friedrichsruhe spoke of human pity or human love for tho dead, observes the Christian Register. It seemed that even Germany had ceased to re member that Otto von Bismarck was at any time a man, but regarded him as a fallen political colossus whose im passive brow had reached far above the lightning and the clouds; a sort oi modern Zeus, at whose imperious nod united Germany had arisen out of chaos; a divinity whom human maligni ty might and did reach, but who was beyond the love of man. Germany laid her legendary hero into the grave with vaunting upon her lips, but the scalding tears that were shed by the world wheu Gladstone was committed to earth were wanting at the cold and formal obsequies of Prince Bismarck, An interesting example of how na ture accommodates herself to circum stances, is related by a resident of the arid section in the western part of Texas. It was in connection with an experflaent in coaxing plum trees to grow. In a portion of this arid re gion near Alpine, a stream of water runs from thirty to forty feet beiow the surface, too far for tho roots ol trees to reach it, and the country, therefore, was treeless. But an emi grant from Ohio thought out away to force a tree to bore for water. He aelected a hardy plum, cut off the small roots, leaving only the tap root, and planted it deep. He fed the root with water daily, through a hole In the ground, and by cutting off the pprouts as thoy appeared, he concen trated the growth of the tree on the tap-root. He proved his theory. In time that tap-root reached the under ground water supply, and no further cure of the tree was necessary. Other trees were treated in like manner, and the result is a thrifty orchard in a re gion where rain seldom falls. An other unique development is that trees grown from the seed of the Ohio man's stock need no education. They bore for water as soon as they are set out, and there is little or no growth above ground until the water it reached. THE CALL. The clouds prow dark as the people paused* A people of peace and toil, And there came a cry from all the skyt "Come, children of mart and soil. Your mother needs you—hear her voioef Though she has not a son to spare. Bhe has spoken the word that ye all kavs heard. Come, answer ye everywhere!" They need no urging to stir them on, They yearn for no battle-cry. At the word that their country calls for men They throw duwu hammer and scythe and pen, And are ready to serve and die ! From the North, from the South, from East, from West, Ilear the thrill <>t the rumbling drum? Fmler one flag they march along, With their voices swelling a single s >ng, Here they come, they come, they cornel List! tlie North men cheer the men from the South, And the South returns the cheer. There Is no question of East or West, For hearts are atune in every breast, 'lisa nation answering here. It is elbow to elbow and knee to knoo, One land for each and for all, And the veterans' eyes see their children To answer their country's call. They have not forgotton—God grant not so! (Ah, we know of the graves on tiie hill), But these eager feet make tho old hearts beat, And the old eyes dim and All! The Past sweeps out and tho Present comes, A Present that all have wrought, And the sons of these sires, at the snrne camp Arcs, Cheer one Aug where their fathers fought! Yes, we know of tho graves on the Southern hills That arc filled with the Blue and the Gray. We know how they fought and how they died, We honeanty of the island, enhanced by the charin of its semi-tropical verdure, is sure to attract the attention of American wheelmen, and when wheelmen get their eye on a country it is certain that the condition of its roads will speedily improve. In the case of Cuba, however, wheelmen will find that their task will be not so much the improvement as the creation of roads, for practically no roads worthy of the name exist, and even the streets of the cities and towns are in a wretched condition. IVero the pa tient native mule endowed with speech like his kinsman of the Balaam story, he would undoubtedly cry out against what passes for a street in a typical Spanish town. It will sound a little strange to rend of century runs being made in Cuba, but the thing may hap pen, and that, too, before many years. In the winter, with the improved sanitary conditions that will soon ob tain in the Cuban cities, the island will become a favorite resort for a multitude of Americans, The beau tiful Isle of Pines will probably be come one of the most popular places in the West Indies. Even in the midst of their fierce fighting our sailor and soldier boys were struck by the charm of the country around Santia go. Scattered about in the sugar dis tricts of Cuba are splendid sugar plan tations owned by Cubaus and Amer cans, whose owners, under a decent and Rtnble government, would soon oj)ou up the country by good roads and other improvements. Then there is the centre of the island, as yet practically unexployed and unknown, but said to contain great forests of valuable woods. It will not be long before this terra incognita will ba opened up under the stimulus of American enterprise. Towns will arise, railroads will be constructed, and then about that time along will come the wheelmen, not long after which we shall hear of this, that and the other bicycle path or path run ning, it may be, through a grove of palm trees, while the air is laden with a tropical fragrance and the stillness of the forest is punctuated with the notes of strange birds. If the adven turous American wheelman fails to take advantage of this new and de lightful experience, we have very much misjudged him. General Roy Stone has already spent some time in Cuba, but his duty there has been simply to advise in the building of temporary military roads for the use of the army. But it may well be that these temporary roads will become the nuclei of per manent roads, just as the points near Santiago at which engagements with Spanish troops have taken place may become interesting towns and villages with American names in the new Cuba which is to be. Indeed, it is inevita ble that this American invasion of the island is going to make many changes in its geography and topography. While the more important places will, of course, retain thifir names, Ameri can industry and commerce will create new centres of life and trade and de velop to their fullest extent the splen did opportunities for growth and progress that have been so shame fully neglected by Spnin. But to re vert to our first thought, Cuba is a natural paradise for the wheelman, nud when he finds it out he is going to see that good roads are built.— New York Tribune. Captain Siggbee'fi Lost Dinner. Somebody aboard the auxiliary cruiser St. l'aul got a fine dinner that wasn't intended for him, and Captain Sigsbee was the loser, says the Phila delphia Record. While the St. Paul was making the run from Montauk Point to New York, the captain's cook prepared for him a fine pair of mallnrd ducks, of which Captain Sigs bee is especially fond. Orders had been given to the cook to be par ticularly careful in the roasting of the birds, and he brought them forth from the oven nicely browned. The cap tain, upon the bridge, had had his mouth set for them all morning, and occasionally fancied he could smell them cooking. Just n few minntes before dinner time, while the cook's back was turned, somebody whisked those two luscious birds out of the galley, nud disappeared with them. The St. Paul is a big ship, and the thief had ample opportunity to hide himseif while he got on the outside of the roast duck. At any rate, he was never caught, nor was there any clew to identity. Captain Sigsbee was obliged to content himself with a can of sardines. Falfie Report. "I was very sorry to hear that you bad failed, Jones," said his next-door neighbor. "It was a Blander, sir. I did not fail. It was my plans that failed, sir. Had they succeeded I could have paid every dollar I owe and had a hand some fortune left." —Detroit • Fred Press. MANGOES IN CUBA. Why Our Soldier* in tho Inland "Were Forbidden to Fat the Fruit. In the long list of suggestions from the medical department, all of which were disregarded, the ripe mango "'W recommended as an articleof diet But somebody at headquarters issued an edict against it and the soldiers were called up by the company com-. manders and told that if they ate the fruit they would he punished. This is the way the company commanders addressed their men. "Now, I see that some of you have been eating those mangoes in spite of our advice to the contrary. Do you know what the Cubans call this fruit? They call it 'General Mango,' because they say that the mango has killed more Spanish soldiers than all their generals put together. If you eat it Gen. Mango'will kill you, just as it has killed the Spaniards. I am told on good authority that if you eat a mango every day and then get yellow fever you will swell up frightfully and surely die. Now. I give you this posi tive order, that not one of yon shall eat any of this fruit, aud I shall pun ish severely any mau that disobeys the order." After such an order the obedient regulars generally let the mangoes alone, although they were abundant, tempting aud delicious. The volun teers ate them more freely without any bad result so far as heard from. When the Cuban officers and aides were asked their opinion as to the wholesomeness of the fruit they gen erally said : "It is perfectly whole some if enten ripe ; all these bad things rpply to the unripe mango, which is sometimes eaten by the Spaniards." Most of the army doc tors soemed to think that the only way to prevent the eating of the un ripe mango was to prohibit the fruit altogether. There were many cases in which even the most obedient regu lars we e impelled by thirst and by hunger for a bit of fruit to disobey the order ; aud, as the clear, yellow mango is always ripe, while the un ripe fruit is green or greenish, it did not take a very high order of intelli gence to discriminate between the fruit which was lit to eat aud that which was unfit. It is certainly hard to believe any ill of a mango when one looks at it. The tree itself is a most beautiful and attractive thing. Imagine a tree as large as a big Massachusetts oak, cov ered with rich and glossy foliage finer than that of the orange tree, and cov ered also with golden fruit nestling brilliantly among the green leaves. On such a tree there must often be a hundred barrels of mangoes, fully matured, every one of which is as large as a good-sized pear. In shape the mango is not unlike the short nud thick cucntnber, and it has a thin, tough Bkin, which, when matured, reveals a mass of the most delicious juicy pulp. The only trouble about eating the mango is that one needs an ablution afterwards. Some say that the ideal way is to get into a bathtub, take the mango, eat it, and then go on with the bath. But one is perfect ly willing to take the trouble to seek the ablution for the sake of the fruit. And imagine the trees which bear the fruit growing wild everywhere, and also springing up in every garden and dooryard ; the largest nnd finest ones were always up on n wild mountain side, where apparently no one had ever gathered the abounding fruit. Nor are they a native fruit in Cuba. They have been introduced from In dia and simply gone wild in the rich soil of the island.—Boston Trans script. A HAWIIAN ROMANCE. Tho Story of Ah Fung nnd His Beautiful Family of Daughter*. There is a dash of romance in the brief announcement telegraphed from San Francisco of the engagement of Dr. J. C. Thompson, surgeon on the United States steamer Mohican, now in Hawaiian waters, to Miss Alice Ah Foug, of Honolulu. The lady's name indicates the curious and sometimes perplexiug mingling of races in those islands. The history of Ah Fong, the father of Dr. Thompson's fiancee, is a most interesting one. He was a Chinaman who came from his native laud to Hawaii a generation ago, either as a contract laborer or as a small mer chant. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and intelligence. It is said he had left a wife and children in China, but according to Chinese religion and custom, this was no bar to his taking a new wife in Hawaii. He married a beautiful half-caste Hawuiian girl and brought up a large family of daughters. So upright, hon orable and just was Ah Fong iu all his dealings that he won universal respect. From a plantation hand he became a planter, merchant and mil lionaire. On the outskirts of Hono lulu he built a residence which, with the tropical gnrdens surrounding it, is described as n dream of loveliness and beauty. His daughters were edu cated in the United States and became the most beautiful and accomplished young womeu of the Hawaiian metrop poliS. To their soft Polynesian beauty was added the brilliancy of the Orient and piquancy aud chic due to the ad mixture of the American blood, and their society was sought by the most aristocratic in the city. One of the daughters married Captain Whiting of the United States navy, another a judge of the circuit court, and others influential merchants of Honolulu, the youngest. Miss Alice, now being chosen by Dr. Thompson. All this time Ah Fong continued to support his wife and children in China. He was never Christianized and always wore his Oriental gnrb. It was a curi ous sight to see this full-blood China man in his magnificent home or driv ing out in the family carriage with his troop of beautiful daughters, almost | as white as American girls and dressed j as such. The departure of Ah Fong from Honolulu was as romantic as his com ing. About ten years ago one of his grown-up sons iu China visited his lather in the islands and induced him to return to his first wife, whom he had not seen for twenty-five years. He told his Hawaiian family of bis in tention to go home, never to return, and made the most liberal settlement of his property upon his wife and chil dren, so that they were almost mil lionaires, while Ah Fong went back to Chiua almost as poor as he camo. Dr. Thompson was formerly sur geon of the monitor Monterey, but went to Honolulu on the Collier Bru tus, being transferred there to the Mohican. Now that the war with Spain is over, Dr. Thompson expects to resign from the navy, marry his young fiancee and settle down in Honolulu to practice his profession. Umbrella* in the Navy. An umbrella is an ordinary, un dramatic thing, as a rule, but when a stout, weather beaten old sailor in Uncle Sam's blue rolled along Broad way one recent day with au article of the kind spread over his head, the in terest it excited was prolonged and sustained. "No' man in the navy," explained the tar, "ever includes the umbrella in his outfit. Most oI the commis sioned officers do, however, although it is never raised aboard ship, no mat ter how much it rains. Any man or officer who would hoist an umbrella at sea would become an object of ridi cule so long as he remained in the service. But when an officer arrives at port ho may biiugout his umbrella, hoist it and even go ashore with it over his head without making of him self what the boys would call a "holy show.' "Down in tropical countries the umbrella is most important, owing to the fierceness with which the sun shines. If an officer has to go ashore there he never neglects to take his umbrella, and even the men gen erally try to get hold of the article at those hot ports. "Umbrellas used by the officers of J the navy are just the same as you people who live ashore use and just as i fancy iu the handles. No officer | comes ashore in his native land rigged up iu his sea togs. He dresses like a private citizeu, of course, and so makes use of the little couveuieuces of private folk. "Looks funny to pee a sailor carry ing one of these things? Well, I ex pect it does, and if the lads aboard ship caught sight of it they'd have more sport with me than a bundle of monkeys. "—New York Herald. The Yukon IMoßqiilto. Not only do the Yukon mosquitoes attack rueu aud overwhelm them, but they drive the moose, deer nnd caribou up the mountains to the snow line, where these animals would prefer not to be iu berry time. They kill dogs, aud even the big brown bear, that is often miscalled a grizzly, has suo cumbed to them. Bears come down to the river from the hillside in the early fall to get some of the salmon that are often thrown upon the banks when the "run" is heavy. If Bruin runs foul of a swarm of mosqnitoes nnd has not his wits about him his day has come. The insects will light all over him. His fur pro tects his body, but his eyes, ears aud uosowill soon be swollen up and bleed ing, nnd unless he gets into 4 river or a strong wind he will be driven mad and blind to wander about hopelessly until he starves to death. Although tho Alaska summer is short, two broods of mosquitoes hatch out each year, and are ready for busi ness from one to ten seconds after they leave tho water. It rains a good deal along the Y'ukon, nnd ruin is welcomed, for it drives the mosqui toes tocovor. They hide under leaves and branches nutil tho shower is over, then they come out boiling with rnga at the time they have bean forced to spend in idleness aud the miner has a harder time than ever after his respite. Mosquitoes aud snow Hakes are not contemporaries in the States, but in Alaska it is different. Snow does not bother them so much as rain, aud au early snow may fall while they are still on the wing. Fog does not choke them, either. They appear to like it. They float about in it as in ambush aud take the unwary prospector by surprise.—Denver Times. Merit, of Steel Sleeper., The question of the relative merits of steel sleepers as compared with wooden ones has long been a vexing question to the railroad officials hav ing to do with such matters. There is no doubt now, however, that steal sleepers are superior to those of woo 4 iu some cases, according to the report of au official of the Netherland State railroad. From this report it appears that the Gothard Ituilroad company of Switzerland,now has 70 per cent, of its own track laid with iron or steel sleepers. They began to use the me tallic sleepers 16 years ago and have kept a careful watch upon them all tho time. The road is crooked and ha 3 long tunnels and steep grades. When the sleeper of average weight is put in it costs about 81.90, but when taken out it is still worth something, and the net cost would therefore reach about 81.68 each. After the first two years the cost of keoping the track in order is decidedly lower with metal than with wooden sleepers, and the lateral displacement of the tracks on curves is leßs. In long tunnels the steel sleeperß rust, so that they last only eight or ten years, and on tan gents in long tnnnels wooden sleepers are still used. The reports state that except in long tunnels, the sleepers of metal will last as long as the rail. Philadelphia Record.