Treelanh Tribune Established 1888. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY, BY THE TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY. Limits OFFICE: MAIN STREET ABOVE CENTRE. FKEELAXD, PA. SfBSCIUI'TIO.N KATES: One Year 61-50 Six Months To Four Months Two Mouths . -25 The dute which the subscription is paid to is on the address label of each paper, the change of which to a subsequent date be comes a receipt for remittance, K*ep the figures in advance of the present date. Re port promptly to this office whenever paper Is not received. Arrearages must be puid when subscription is discontinued. Male all motif y orders, checks, etc,, payable to the Tribun Printinj Company, Limited. According to tlio methods of the present day militarism, it costs tho powers across tho water about $950,- 000,000 a year to "preserve the peace" of Europe. Peace is a good thing, but it should he possible one would think, to find some shorter and easier road to it than that. The New Lutherian Church News, n religious paper recently started in Germany has just been discontinued for a curious reason. Its object was to defend the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Bible, and in his valedictory the editor says that he could not get any contributors to take that side of the question. On European railways the practice of issuing free transportation is al most unknown. In England there is an interchange of passes between the chief officials of the road, but only to a very limited extent. On the conti nent of Europe even this practice does not prevail and cash payments are required for all forms of railway transportation. A correspondent of the London Daily News notes the growth of the nse of English on the continent. Wherever he went he was able to con verse with statesmen and diplomatists in his native tongue. He found that as a rule the governing classes in En rope woulX understand and speak English. In the Russian royal fami ly especially, English is the familiar language of conversation. The czar, for instance, invariably speaks Eng lish to the czarina and his little daugh ters. Spain's protests, complaints and lamentations have pervaded the whole course of the negotiations with a per sistency which curiously illustrates her utter misconception of her own defeat, says the New York Commer. cial Advertiser. She bows to our su perior force, but deems it a cruel in fliction; she disdains our greed, yet takes our money; she looks upon us as a conqueror without that nice re gard for Spanish honor, which, for sooth, anyone familiar with its his tory ought to have, and manifestly suffers from a wounded self-love which refuses to be healed. So does the man who fails in business or cannot ethcrwise gain the respect and consid eration for the lack of which lie suf fers. To him the mortgagee or bond holder or successful business rival are offenders against whom he bears a personal grudge. Thoy linve fleeced him, dishonored him, ruined him. That is the way Spain looks at it, not being aware, evidently, that her own sloth and corruption have put her out of the race of nations. The inroads that women are mak ing on those professions and indus tries that a few years ago were filled more or less exclusively by men offer an interesting problem to the sociolo gist. The puzzling question is: What did the elder sisters of these women do? Girls are now employed as sales women in many stores that a few years ago were served entirely by men and women have even intruded the edito rial sanctum and read their effusions in other parts of the paper than on the "Woman's Page." The law,med icine, and even architecture offer new avenues for woman's endeavor. I.e Figaro of Paris is astouuded at this state of affairs in the United States, anil says that the day is not far off when all positions save those of the most arduous toil will be filled by women. Possibly the most aston ishing part of some statistics recently published on the subject has refer ence to women accountants and secre taries of firms aud companies. There were none, it is said, in 1870; there are now 13,071. Of doctors and sur geons, there are <5882, compared tc G27 ten years ago; and of women writers, 3163, compared to 159, As for women stenographers and compos itors, they numbered 7in 1870. The number today is 52.000. Don't tender advice until you find out what particular kind la wanted. WHEN I WAKE UP 1N THE MORN IN'. When I wake up in the mornin', In the laughin', smilln* mornfn*, With inv soul keyed like a flddlo nn' my heart keyed like a lute, An' memory-maids come trippin' an' a-giidin* an' a-sllppln' An' floodin' all my heart-house with the faint notes of their flute, Then my lips jus' long to utter little songs, that kind o' flutter Itound the earthly cage that coops them an' would fly up in tho light. An' to my soul all yoarnin'. little firefly thoughts coino'burnin' An' a bringin' spirit lanterns thnt would lead it out of night— When 1 wuke up in the raornin'l When I wako up In the mornin', in that solemn, silent mornln'. After long, long years of slumber an' long, long years of sleep, When my spirit's bird has rested in the heavenly air it breasted An' its golden pinions tested for their flight across tho Deep— Lord, I know my soul will flutter up to heaven, an' will utter In a clearer note the songs it only tried to sing below, An' these fitful, fiery flashes from tho pale hope of rav ashes. Will bo altars of stnr-incenso in the glory of Thy glow— When I wako up in the mornln'l —John Trot wood Moore. /K/i / V >,/ <■ <r\s \ ✓'♦ X/ Vy/'♦ S/V\\/V\ 1 Ml UNPREMEDITATED THEFT, 1 / /K <f> BY FRANCES A. SCHNEIDER. <*> tl\ /i\ her front garden pn||f under the big wil tajjfl low sat Mrs. Spread flMjl brow. Behind her stood the trim cot \\M ta £° and in the ► • Imj grass, almost at her - 11l s' * ee t, gamboled Ed f ( her youngest bora, and the new 1 From tlie gyra tions of the two young creatures ou the grass, Mrs. Spreadbrow let her eyes wander dreamily across the bay to the irregular sky lino of the big city, where she know that Mr. Spread brow was busily engaged in convert ing bales of cotton into crisp bank notes. Ah, thought she, happily, she had much to be thankful for, the best hus band in the world, a promising fam ily, a charming home on Staten Isl and and—but at this juncture her rev erie was broken in upon by a sound of footsteps on the gravel walk lead ing from the front gate to the house, and looking up, she beheld the com fortable figure of her dear friend, Mrs. Townley. There followed a scene, such as any Jady who has been surprised by the sudden and unexpected arrival of a valued friend can readily imagine. In the course of it Mrs. Townley was conveyed to tho parlor of the trim cot tage, to sit and "cool off" before go ing upstairs. "Take off your bonnet, dear," said her cheery hostess. "I will put your satchel and parcel and things on this chair. O, I have so much to toll you about and scold you for; why haven't you come down before?" In the midst of Mrs. Townley's ex planations as to why alio had absented herself, there burst through the open Frenoli window, like the advent of a whirlwind, tho puppy, Sport, in full cry, followed by Eddy. Round and round the room they cir cled for some moments, and then, obedient to the oft-repeated commands of his mother, the little youth turned and embraced their visitor with much heartiness. Tho peace that followed these demonstrations was rudely put to flight by tho click of the front gate, and the cry from Eddy, who was sta tioned at the window, announcing "a lady coming." "Somebody to call. How provok ing!" said Mrs. Spreadbrow, with a pucker of her placid brow. "Come, Maria, let's go upstairs before Delia goes to the door. There goes the bell! Never mind your things." In an instant the room was cleared of all save the black and white puppy, who shambled about for a momeni, then trotted laboriously out into the garden by tho same route ho had come in. "It's a young lady, Mrs. Spread brow, and she says she wants to see you on business," announced Delia, a moment later, thrusting her head through the door of the room to which Mrs. Spreadbrow and her friend had retreated. "Dear me! what can sbe want?" The lady's voico expressed as much irritation as that kindly organ could embody. As she entered the parlor, a tall, slim girl, who had been standing nervously in the middle of the room, advanced to meet her, and the icy tone and manner that Mrs. Spread brow had determined to assume to ward the disturber of her seclusion melted quite away as the pretty young creature lifted a pair of sad dark eyes to her face and said in an emtar rassed voice; "Please pardon me for intruding. I have come to—to " "Pray sit down," interrupted Mrs. Spreadbrow, cheerily. "Thank yon," said the girl, and dropping into a chair. "I will not detain you long. I have hero a chil dren's history—" aud from the depths of a roomy satchel she pro duced n small book—"that Catcham & Teasam are publishing " Ah! Now Mrs. Spreadbrow knew the worst. "But I don't want it," she said, gently. "It won't do any—any harm—to— to look at it." The girl spoke as if trying to repeat a lesson, and with a wistful look in her face. "Yes, it will; because if I let you show it to me I may buy it, and I really don't want it." "Nobody does; but you havo put your rejection of it very kindly," said the girl, rising to go. Her voice trembled, and the smile she manuged to screw her pretty lips into was far from cheerful. Mrs. Spreadbrow was touched. There was something so pathetic about tho voice and manner, and she was so very young and so very pretty. The motherly lady laid her hand on the girl's arm. saving softly: | "Let me give you a glass of lemon | ade before you set out again iu the j heat—O!" For tho little book agent had turned away to hide the tears she could not restrain. "Excuse me," she murmured. "It's the hot weather, and—and not being accustomed to the work. I—l began only yesterday, and it's a long trip to and from New York." "Sit down," urged Mrs. Spread brow, gently, "and I will go aud get lemonade." When she returned the girl had quite recovered aud was sitting quietly at the window smiling at the gambols of the puppy. She apologized for having given way to her emotions, sipped her drink and then rose again to go: "Thank you so much for your kindness," she said warmly, "and goodby!" "Stop," exclaimed Mrs. Spread brow, "I've changed my mind about the book, I'll take it." "You really need it?" with a per ceptible brightening of the eyes. "I can't get on without a history for Eddy. I never thought of Sport's having destroyed the one he had." When tho necessary negotiations had been couoluded and the pretty book agent had departed, Mrs. Spread brow returned to her guesc with many apologies for her long absence and bubbling over with the pathetic ro mance she had woven from the ma terials furnished by the young girl's words and manner. The two ladies talked over this and similiar instances, until they were both in a tearful stato, and Mrs. Townley, to turn the tide of foeling, - proposed goiug into the parlor and opening the nubbly little package she had brought, and which she said contained some trifles for tho chil dren. This proposition was hailed with joy by Mrs. Spreadbrow. Mrs. Townley was in the act of untying tho last string, when she suddenly be thought her of her black satchel in which it was. her custom to carry her purse, and which had been deposited with her bonnet and parasol in a chair in the corner of the room. With the precipitancy invariably displayed by her sex at such jnnctures, she rose and stepped over to get it. The parasol and bonnet were on tho ohair, but not the satchal. "Are you sure you didn't take it into the library?" asked Mrs. Spread brow, after the parlor had been searched. "I know I didn't," responded Mrs. Townley, with tremulous irritation. "Ilut of courso we can look." Tho satchel was not in the library, the only room occupied by the ladius since Mrs. Townley's arrival; nor did it turn up auywhoro in the house, which with anxious inconsistency was searched from top to bottom. Mrs. Townley had becoino very pale and Mrs. Spreadbrow trombled with excitement and chagrin. "0, this is dreadful," she said at last. "I—l hato to think it possible, but it must have been stolen. How much wns in the purse?" "A hundred dollars," replied Mrs. Townley. "I bvought it with me for sufety. But who—who? There has been no ono " "The little book agent," gasped Mi's. Spreadbrow. "She is the only person who has been in the pallor be side myself sines you left it. Is it possible—can it bo—that that iuno ceut-lookiug—O, dear!" But Mrs. Sprendbrow was a woman of action, albeit mild and gentle, und sho sprang to her feet fiercely clench ing her small soft fists. "I'll follow her!" she cried. "Bo you go one way, Maria; I will go another, and Delia and tho children shall go in other directions. O, we will run her down! The little hypocrite!" In a few moments tho house was empty of occupants, barring the cook, who stood with her elbows on the fence aud watched the departing search party, and the black and white puppy, who, in his foolish way, growled ct and worried something under tho big willow. With the hot August sun pouring down upou their heads, the pursuers scurried from house to house, while with what Mrs. Spreadbrow termed "the little intense cunning of a thief," the little book agent managed ever to elude them. At last Mrs. Spreadbrow found a maid servant who said she had seen the girl enter the railway station, and that if Mrs. Spreadbrow hurried she could overtake her before tho arrival of the train for St. George. Station ward the anxious lady sped, her heart palpitating with hope, fear and indignation, intermixed with a spice of uncertainty. What should sbe do if the girl re fused to give up the puree. Ah, Bhe knewf ebm would get on the train. find a policeman at St. George, and in tercept her as she stepped on the boat. She reached the station just in time to see the book agent's skirt whisk through the door of a forward car; she herself was hauled onto the last car by an obliging brakeuuan just as the train moved off. Arrived at St. George, Mrs. Spread brow hurriedly nuxbsted a policeman, explained that tljp young woman in the gray linen uress, carrying the black satchel, had committed a theft, and urged him excitedly to detain her. The officer hesitated a moment, aud then interposing his portly form be tween the young girl ami the gang plank, touched her lightly on the arm and said, pointing to Mrs. Spread brow : "Do yon know this lady?" "Tes—that is, I went to her house and she was " "Will you come out of this crowd?" said Mrs. Spreadbrow, her firmness suddenly forsaking her, "I—l want to speak to you." "But I will miss my boat," ex postulated the girl nervously. My mother will be waiting for lire and— what can you mean by calling a police man to stop me?" she concluded with frightened eyes, as if a full realization of the situation had but just Hashed upon her. "The fact is," explained the police man, "this lady wants mo to arrest you for theft, but maybe you can ex plain certain suspicious circum stances." The girl was white to the lips now, and the look of despairing fright in her eye 3 was pitiful to see. "For theft—mo—for theft?" she said with stiff lips. "O, do come where it is quiet," urged the accuser, looking as dis tressed as the accused, and then the three went into the ferry house. "Sit down," said Mrs. Spreadbrow, weakly, when they had reacted a quiet corner of the big room. "Thank you, I prefer to stand," re plied the girl, proudly. "And may I ask what you accuse me of stealing?" "I—I," said Mrs. Spreadbrow, trembling before the pale "little thief," "we think you took Mrs. Townley's purse out of my parlor this morning; you were the only person iu the room beside myself between the time she left it there aud the time we found it gone, and " "My God!" murmured the book agent, dropping into a seat and cover ing her face with her hands. Presently she recovered herself, and, turning to the policeman, said: "Search my satchel, please. And you," to Mrs. Spreadbrow, "you may searoh my person; and may God forgive you!" "O, my dear, I can't—l can't; when I look at you I can't be—be— But everything's against you." Mrs. Spreadbrow's eyes were full of tears, and her voice trembled. "There ain't no purse here but this one," remarked the policeman, who had been rummaging through the contents of the black satchel, holding up a slim pocket book. "That's mine. Look through it; you will find just twenty cents." The book agent spoke very calmly. "That's right," he assented, put ting the purse back. "But, of course, the money may be hid on the lady's person, " t lie added cautiously. "Hore it is! Here it is!" cried a panting but triumphant voice, and Mrs. Townley, flushed and excited, rushed toward the trio waving a much-mauled Russian leather bag, such as some ladies are fond of carry ing their handkerohiefs aud purses iu. "It was that wretched black and white puppy! He must have taken it out of the parlor, and Eddie found him chewing it to pieces in the garden. Why, what is the matter, Hattie?" for Mrs. Spreadbrow had dropped into a seat, and, regardless of curious eyes, was weeping copiously. "I—l—l'm so sorry. But things did look so against you. l'le—please forgive me." The little book agent wavered a mo ment, indignation, scorn and pity chasing each other across her faco. Then she slipped down beside the distressed little lady and taking one of her limp hands, said simply: "I do forgive you. Pray don't cry. But please, next time you miss any thing, be sure the black and white pujjpy hasn't taken it before you de cide that anybody else has." Sho could not refraiu from tho mild shot, aud though it was tremulously aimed, it did not miscarry but went straight to Mrs. Spreadbrow's heart, where it has lodged ever since." And so it was the black and white puppy! He is a sedato dog now and a great favorite of Miss Amelia Banks —ex-book agent—who declares that if it hod not been for him sho would never have obtained her present lucrative and congenial position in Mr. Spreadbrow's office, whore the painful memories of her experience as a book agent—and other painful memories as well—are fast fading into oblivion.—Boston Globe. Miniature Oxen. The sacred oxen of Ceylon are de scribed by a recent writer. Tho largest speoimen never exceeds thirty inches in height. The Marquis of Canterbury has one presented to him in 1891, which is now about ten years of age, and only ten inches tall. Not withstanding their smnllness thoy aro very useful in Ceylon, where, it is said, four of them are able to draw a two-wheeled cart with a driver and 200 pounds of merchandise, sixty or seventy miles in a day. A Medical Spoon. Medicine can be measured very handily by a new spoon which has no handle aud is attached to the bottle by a wire bracket clamping the neck and provided with two rings in whioh the spoon is pivoted to retain its posi tion when the bottle is tilted. I FARM AND GARDEN, f TREATMENT OF WORN SOILS. Rational Methods to Maintain the Fer tility of the Farm Lands. The greater part o£ the farm lauil of this country has been under cultiva tion a comparatively short time. The soil was very productive, as a rule, when cropping was begun, indicating the presence of an abundance of avail able plant food. Notwithstanding the briefness of the period of cultivation, especially west of the Alleghauies, we already hear much about "worn" and "unproductive" soils. New land, after a few years of cropping, ceases to pro duce as well as it did at first, and no problem is of more general interest to farmers than that of maintaining the productive power of the soil. Many peoplo have jumped to the conclusion that, as we draw hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat, corn, oats, ryo, potatoes, etc., from the farms to meet the demands of our markets each year, the depletion of our soils must be an unavoidable result until we are willing to buy aud return to our land all the phosphoric acid and potash that these crops have removed, and, in addition, all the nitrogen that has not been replaced from the stores in the air by the use of plants like clover. The theory is a pretty one on its face, and it only needs truth to make it valuable. The three elements named are not the only ones removed from the soil by crops, but the other ele ments are not considered because they are available in most soils for the full requirements of plants. Science points out the fact that the phosphoric acid aud potash are in great present abun dance in all naturally fair soils, but we do not find these elements in available form to the extent required by plants. If we can make some of these stores available, it is just as irrational to de pend upon outside sources—commer cial fertilizers—for all the phosphoric acid and potash required by plants as it would to buy all the other minerals needed by plants, and of which we hear nothing because the soil nearly always contains an available supply. Usually a worn soil is unproductive because it does not have a full supply of available plant food, aud because its mechanical condition is bad. Constant cropping has used up the available sup ply of nitrogen, phosphorio acid and potash—the three elements furnished by a complete fertilizex - —to such an extent that with poor mechanical con dition of the soil a full crop is out of the question. A few years ago we were taught by some writers that rational treatment of a worn soil meant the purchase of these three elements for it; the mechanical condition, which af fects the supply of moisture, was ignored. Now that it is generally khowu that the legumes, such as clover and peas, furnish cheap nitrogen, it is insisted that we must buy the phos phorio acid and potash. The great un available stores in the soil are ignored, as is the moisture question likewise. But soience is coming forward with explanations of what the practical farmer already knew, viz.: A rotting sod in the soil secures to a crop plant ed in it a supply of nvailablo elements, and the physical condition of the land is such that good yields can be ob tained. The constant cropping of new land exhausts the organic matter in it rap idly, and then comes a state of partial soil "exhaustion." Thcplowing-under of sods and manurial crops results in the freeing of mineral plant food in the soil, and in such improvement of the mechanical condition that a supply of moisture may be controlled. A clover sod cannot add a pound of phos phoric acid to land, but careful experi ment showed that there was twice us much available in the soil after crim son clover had been turned under as was the case before it was grown. In its growth, doubtless, and in its fer mentation, some of the original supply in the land was made available. A ra tional system of maintaining fertility means the maintenance of the original high percentage of humus by the plowing-under of sods aud manurial crops, with the certainty that where the percentage of vegetable matter in the soil is kept high, there will stores of mineral elements be made available sufficiently to atl'ord a cheap and valu able supply. The soil whose percentage of humus has run low as a result of constant cropping without the incorporation of sods, stable manure or other organic matter with it, is in an almost helpless condition. It cannot free the mineral elements for its use as fast as needed, and it loses control of the moisture. Becoming hard-packed, it is sodden after a rain, and then very dry after n short drouth. By the application of costly available plant food in the form of chemicals, such land will produce a good crop in a moist season. In fluenced by specious reasoning, not a few farmers have supposed thnt no other way of securing and maintain ing productiveness is practicable, and that there is a nearly total depend ence upon outside sources for the three valued elements of fertilizers. The necessity of humus in lost sight of. When a soil is in this helpless condition, fertilizers are necessary for the growth of a heavy sod, and herein is a sensible use of them; but the sod should be used to enable the soil to begin helping itself. When the hu mus content is kept large, productive ness remains without the use of fer tilizers. The natural strength of the soil becomes the main source of plant food, and it is a cheap source in gen eral farming. To the supply of or ganic matter, affecting the inert min erals and the moisture in the soil, there maybe added available minerals for seouring maximum crops, if local oonditions justify the expenditure. That is a matter for experiment; tus presence of decaying vegetation is u necessity—the foundation-stone of good farming nnd tho saviour of soil fertility for all farmers engaged in pro ducing the low-priced stnple crops of this country. AVhile stable manure adds tho three elements needed by soils, and clover adds nitrogen, yet much of the value of these two great fertilizers consists in the effect of the large body of or ganic matter fermenting and remain ing in the soil, While bringing plant food directly, they have an equally great value, probably, to worn soils in other ways.—New York Tribune. Washing Dairy Utensils. Most people are so used to seeing the superior ejects of hot water iu takiug dirt oil' the hands or face or from clothes, that it is quite natural for them to suppose it is also best with milk vessels also. We have often seen housekeepers put scalding-hot water into tin or wooden pails or pans where some milk cluug to the sides. Of course tho hot water curdled the milk, as it probably expelled most of the air from this curd; so soou as it coojed it would adhere with a pressure of fifteen pounds or something less to the sides of tho tiu or wooden vessel. Tho truth is that cold water with a little soda iu it is much better to wash out dairy utensils than hot water is. The latter may be used after all the milk has beeu removed, and then it should be applied hot enough to kill all the germs that adhere to the sides of the dish. The soda, being alkaline, is rather preservative than destructive of germs, especially when the germs come in contact with grease. Every housewife knows how hard it is to clean a dirty and greasy dishrag. Only putting it repeatedly iu boiling hot water will do it. Many who keep dairy utensils com paratively clean in hot weather fail as fall and winter, with colder tempera ture, begin. Probably they take more pains to clean dairy utensils in hot weather, thinking that the danger from spread of bacteria is greatest. If they mean only that in hot weather the bacteria will, if let alone, increase fastest, their reasoning is correct. But it leaves out of account the fact that if the least bit of milk curd is left on dairy titensils the bacteria will increase in it by millions in a few hours. And they should remember that while in hot weather it is very easy to clean vessels that have contained milk, in cold weather it is extremely difficult. The curd cools slowly in hot weather, and if the cloth or brush is applied to it it is until it is cooled very easily removed. But as the weather grows colder the air pressure, causing it to adhere to whatever it is applied to, becomes immediately operative to pre vent it from being taken off by the first application. So it has to be scrubbed until, if the same cloth is used, enough of curd aheres in the last rubbing the dish gets to start a new brood of bacteria. Wherever wooden vessels (as the old-fashioned churn) are used, the al ternation of hot and cold water is pretty sure to make cracks in the wood. Here curd finds a lodgment and bacteria multiply without limit. No such churn can produce the best butter, especially in winter when it is more difficult to clean it than it is dur ing summer. Most of the poor fall and winter butter might be made much better if entirely new pails, pans and churns were procured and always kept scrupulously clean. The patented paper pails and pans with glazed sur faces, but not painted, except on the outside, are best for milking in aud for keeping milk while the cream rises. It is the oil in cream that makes it so tenaciously adhere when combined with curd to the sides of pans aud ves sels. The oil makes a smooth adher ing surface, aud air pressure does the rest.—American Cultivator. \ The Une of Potash. All farmers know that of the three chemical elements of the soil neces sary to plant growth, potash aud phosphoiic acid ara the most expen sive to obtain. The average soil con tains considerable quantities of each in an inert form requiring nitrogen to liberate it and make it available as plant food. For this reason farmers use legumes, mainly peas and crimson clover, as the cheapest way of obtain- I ing the needed nilrogen. When pot ash, the most expensive of tho chemi cals, must be purchased the muriate is cheaper than the sulphate and quite as satisfactory. Ou most crops, especially grains and fruits, one part of muriate of potash aud three parts of bone meal will give good results, increasing the bone meal two or three parts if it be used exclusively for grain crops. In lauds where phos phoric acid is deficient, as it generally is where dairying is the chief in dustry, the formula of bone meal and muriate of potash applied at the late of from 350 to 500 pounds to the acre, using unleached stable manure to ob tain the required nitrogen, will bring tho soil up to the normal condition quickly. Snakes Vary In Color. Snakes vary greatly in color, somo being very beautiful, and in many cases their coloration is highly pro tective, green snakes occurring among a luxuriant vegetation, while gray snakes generally frequent rocky dis tricts. The skin, which consists of a coat of scales, formed from the epi dermis and generally overlapping eaoh other, is shed during the sum mer months. The eyes have no lids, being covered with a delicate film or membrane, giving to them that stony glare with which we are more or less familiar. The poisonous snake has n large flat head and a short, thick body, aud as a rule possesses a verti cal keel along the centre of the scales, while the non-poißonaue snakes have small heads, lopg bodiep and no keel on the soales. I TO TELL HARMLESS SNAKES. llow the Poisonous lteptiles Inject Theli Venom Into the Flesli. I Harmless snakes generally have two rows of teetli in tho upper jaw ; and one in tho lower, these teeth being slender, sharp, comparatively short, nnd not set in sockets, as these animals do not tear or mutilate their : food. The teeth are simply used as hooks by which the food is drawn into the snake's throat. The bones of the ; jaw being movably joined together, i the teeth are advanced on one side, securing a hold on the prey, and then on the other side, in which way the swallowing is accomplished. Poison ous snakes have two long, sharp fangs which appear to be flattened out like a knife blade and then bent up, forming a groove, in some cases forming a closed tube, open, however, at both ends, the upper end of which is fasteued to a bone in the cheek, which moves with ease, so that the fangs when not in use cau bo folded or packed awav. The saliva of all animals, even man, contains poison: I though in man it is greatly diluted and ;of use in assisting digestion. In the poisonous snakes it is collected into ; sacs or glands placed on each side of i the upper jaw, says the New York ; Sun. A delicate cunal extends from | the poison gland forward under the j eye to tho edge of the jaw and there j opens into the fang, and to use the ! poison the snake lias but to strike the | prey; as the fangs enter the flesh the ! muscles of tho jaw press upon the , poison glands, squeeze the poison j through the little canal down through I the hollow of the poison fang in the wound. There is a most ingenious ; arrangement in the fang. The open ing is not at the very tip, where it would be liable to get plugged up with | skin aud flesh, but it is a little way j up in front of the groove, so that the sharp point goes in first and makes a little hole into which the poison flows. Light Fare. Parents of growing boys have been , heard to say that there was practioally : no limit to the auiouut of food their ! sons could devo'ur. It is doubtful, however, whether one of theso parents ' could read with auy feeling of pleas ure the account of the boyish experi ence of Leigh Hunt, the English au thor. He was sent to school at Christ's ; Hospital iu 1792. In his autobiog raphy he tells of the schoolboy fare of , that time: Our breakfast was bread and water. The bread consisted of the half of a three-penny loaf, according to tho prices then current. This was not much for growing boys, who had had nothing to eat from six or seven o'clock the preceding evening. For dinner we had tho same quan tity of bread, with meat only every other day, and that consisting of a ! small slice, such as would be given to a child three or four years old. Yet even that, with all our hunger, we were very often left half eaten—tho meat was so tough. On tho other days we had a milk porridge, ludicrously thin; or rice milk, which is better. There was no vegetables or puddings. Onco a mouth we had roast beef; and twice a year (I blush to think of tho eagerness with which it was looked for!) a dinner of pork. One was roa9t, and the other was boiled; and on the latter occasion we had our ouly pudding, which was of peas. ! For supper wo had a like piece of bread, with butter or cheese; aud theu to bed, "with what appetite we I might."—Youth's Companion. Invitation on nn Umbrella. i During the afternoon of tho recent I snowstorm a young woman of Phila | delphia dressed in the height of fashion, started to walk down Chestnut street j under tlie protection of au umbrella, j At the time the snow was coming down I in soft clinging Hakes, and the ura j brella's surface was soou covered with a white coat. The young lady stopped iu the course of her promenade to ad | mire a beautiful window display of ; art ware, and while standing there at | tracted the atteution of a group of ! young men, among whom was the prac tical joker. He roachod over and with the tip of his finger lightly traced on the snow-covered umbrella tho words "Kiss Me." The owner of the umbrella, all un conscious of the fact that she was the object of much attention, walked slowly on down the street. Several rude young men, who saw the inscrip tion on the umbrella, peered rather boldly at the pretty face beneath it as they pushed by. This auuoyed her so much that she suddenly closed her umbrella and took refuge in a store, still unable to even guess what people were smiling at.—Philadelphia Record. I>o It Again, Plcasn? Tlie story is familiar of the littls girl who, while ill charge of au infant brother, saw a cyclist "cropper" heavily from his high bioyole, aud ap proached him as he sat on the ground woudering if he were still in this world, and said: "Please, sir, will you do that again? Hilly didn't see yer." A parallel to this yarn comes from the Irish Cyclist, which says that an old farmer quietly watched a wheelman lose control of his mouut and go over a wall, machine and all, and then re marked: "Well, well; and so they can make them leap now."—London Tele* graph. A Dragon In the Hock. Among the most wonderful mon sters of the Age of Keptilos was the ichthyosaurus, or "fish-lizard." Last summer a very perfect speoimeu was uncovered in a quarry at Stockton in Warwickshire, England. The creature is twenty feet in length, its head alone being almost four feet loug. The ichthyosaurus possessed gigantic eyes, whose lenses could bo focused at will for different distanoes. It hunted iU prey in the sea.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers