Freeianu ik-iouae
Established 1888.
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to the Tribune j'rinLnj Cunpany, LinuteiL
Evou in China, things do move,
though slowly. A Chintsj Mandarin
living in the vicinity of Shanghai is
about to establish a farm on the Amer
ican plan, supplying it with American
machinery and stock.
Franco will stoj) makiug faces at
the United States just as soon as she
discovers that the succeas of her ex
hibition of 1900 ctejieuds in large part
onAmM-icnn energy and enterprise.
Until th i u we shall have to put up
with some nasty newspaper talk.
The fact that a wreath from Amer
ica was placed at the loot of the statue
of Charles I, in London, on the anni
versary of his execution with the in
scription "America remembers her
martyr king," seems to indicate that
some alleged Americans are quite de
void of a sense of humor.
An oi l maid -she was only 102 !
lias died from grip, mod mod in of!
diseases, in Derby, Conn. In 1815 j
Miss Hetty Purdy was engaged to a
young Englishman, w ho died just be
fore their wedding day. For eighty
four years she has been faithful to
hi* memory and to her first aud only
lo\c. fcSurelv, it is given to few wom
en to love so long aud faithfully.
The brother of (liver Wendell
Holmes, who has just died, never
married. Early in life he fell in lovo
with a governess, but his mother and I
brother opposed the match, aud he
sacrificed the girl to his family. It is
interesting to note that the "Autocrat"
iu the book found happiness bv mar
lying a school teacher. Seneca's pro
test over again. "Do as I say; not us
1 do."
The Thrift bank, limited, of London,
is preparing to place nt rah way sta
tions, large factories, aud other desir
able positions, some thousands of
"peuny-in-the-slot machines to induce
the poorer classes of the community
tocultivute saving habits. In exchange
for a penny the deposit >v receives a
ticket, and when the number of these
latter amount to the value of live shil
lings they may bo exchanged for a de
posit book at the ollioe of the bank.
The deposits are to bear interest at the
rate of two aud one-half per cent.,and
lnuv be withdrawn at any time under
the usual conditions.
No subject relating to railways is at-,
tracting more attention among engi
neers of all kinds than that of the
substitution of electricity for steam as
a motive power. That such a substi
tution is inevitable within a very few
years, is universally admitted. With
the change will come an increase iu
speed more than double the highest
Tates attainable by steam, for the abil
ity to move a train of cars of regula
tion size at the rate of 120 to 130 miles
an hour has been demonstrated re
peatedly, aud is now conceded by all
authorities. A recent writer in the
Cosmopolitan, Prof. Sydney 11. Short,
who is a recognized authority on the
subject, says that if the next fifteen
years witness as wonderful progress
in electrical science as the past fifteen
years have recorded, "electricity will
supersede steam as the motive power
for even our trunk-line railroads. The
time between New York and Chicago
will be reduced to ten hours, aud the
conditions of our business and social
life will readjust themselves to a
standard of 125 miles an hour instead
f 40."
A Kotunrkwiile Will.
The outer uniformity about wills in
feneral, both as to parchment and
penmanship, makes all the more note
worthy the last testament, now at
Some! set House, of the late Sir George
Parker, whose daughter has just died
at Falmouth. Sir George,"who lost his
life at Cawnpore (luring the mutiny!
had only a tiny scrap of paper on
which to write his will, and when it
won made it was carried through the
lines by a native, who concealed It in
his ear Fragile as it is, it will doubt
less outlast as a curiosity at Somerset
House, arii almost as a bit of national
history, many a. bulky manuscrpt en
scrolled on material prepared to defy
the decay of yer.rs.
THE PRISONER.
Grown bent and gray with his despair,
Id nn obi castle of the air,
I found a hope, forgotten quite.
I broke hi* chains with eager hand;
lie said: "I do not understand;
Shut out—shut out again the light.
•'Who is my trespasser, I pray?
I know you not~nnd go away;
Tbisniossy ruin i* mlno own.
TDro was I prisoned long ago,
Forgotten r>y h youth I kuow.
Left by hi: here to die alone.
"Yet have I lived these many years
Deep burled in this tomb of tears,
Chained in this dungoonof the past,
You offer liberty and rest,
The heart is withered in my breast;
It is too old for these at Inst.
"Give mo my dungeon to the end,
Grief still must he my only friend;
Companions wo have been so long
I cannot leave him now. since lie
Is dearer far than liberty.
And his the only friendship strong.
•Tut hack these chains and leave me hero;
What have lost hopes to do with cheer?
Let them remain in their sad tombs;
In newer castle* of tlie air
They still would find the old despair
And bo a blight to all your blooms."
lie knew me not, this hopo of mine,
This old, old hope of youth divine;
And so I left him burled deep
In that gray ruin of my tears.
Ron ml which the tempests of the years
Have almost settled into sleep.
On earth I shall not see his face
Again: yet when the weary race
Of life Is nearing to its goal
Perhaps before me ho may go,
The long, long way to brightly show
And be the solace of my soul.
—C. G. D.
| BURRABAGH. g
I 4 Br MARGARET C. S. MARSHALL. $
vN How a lady .'eft In a bungalow by herself at
yi tackod and killed single-handed a £
-A huge man-eating tig?r.
SW N !O!G)0!Giei^)(G)G^)( ,
pA.i HE (lay, which had
\ | been one of the
"" R y hottest of India's
NWfa -v hot season, was
I drawing to a (dose.
Throughout the day
; the heat had been
i j&vV y, oppressive and
(fj Ai Xa k overpowering, and
in the late afternoon
there were no signs
either of rain or of a cooling breeze.
The creepers surrounding the buuga
low were drooping, and even the
usually stately palms looked languid.
Everything out of doors was motion
less, as if paralyzed by the stifling
atmosphere. "Rain, rain, rain,"
was the universal cry of thirsty nature.
At this time we lived away up in
the North Provinces, fully twenty
. miles beyond the Mission Station of
llhanaghat, the missionaries there
being our nearest white neighbors.
Round us on every side was jungle,
stretching as far as the eye could see.
To the west could bo seen, in bright
weather, the clear, sharp, snow
crowned peaks of the mountains more
than a hundred miles away. Our
beautiful white bungalow, which al
ways looked so cleau and cool—al
most hidden in a wealth of roses and
gaily-colored creepers, and surrounded
by rhododendrons, azaleas aud other
flowering shrubs—was built on the
slope of a hill overlooking the little
native village of Signal.
My brother was in Government
service, axul the week previously he
had received notice to meet a State
official at Rhanaghat. He had gone
with a company of natives, takiug with
him his guns and dogs, in order on
the way back to try and rid the neigh
borhood of its terror, u man-eating
tiger.
i "Sahib," said Chadda, one of our
[ meu, "near Hotta Singarum, a village
two coss (four miles) oil, there one
Hurra Bagh" ("bagh" means tiger)
"who kill plenty men; ho ate ouo old
woman yesterday. Ho has an evil
spirit, sahib, for though all shikarmen
and village people plenty, plenty,
looking, never can find him. "Wo
burra chor hy (he is a very great
thief, sir)."
That was Chadda's account.
Inquiry more than substantiated
the accusations made against the
terrible Burra Hagh, aud it was found
that, not only was he a great thief,
but a wholesale murderer to boot.
Lurking amongst the dense brush
wood that skirted the highway, he had
within the last six mouths seized and
devoured the amazing number of forty
of the inhabitants—sixteen of whom
were "running postmen." Over and
, over again he had snatched the cattle
watchers, leaving the cattle lie
touched. The natives were of the
i opinion that it was of little use seek
ing him, as ho never remained two
! nights at the same place. My brother,
however, was determined that these
awful devastations should come to an
end, and he therefore organized the
hunt to take place on his way back
from Rhanaghat.
So he departed, and I was left
alone—alone in my little home up
among the hills. Fear 1 knew not, so
accustomed had I grown to the sights
and sounds of jungle life. But on
this the third evening of his absence,
I began to feel lonely, and the ex
treme heat mado me rather nervous
into the bargain.
I had finished my home letters ere
dusk, and, with a yawn, I drank the
cup of welcome chakwa (cofTee) which
Bara, the ayah, brought me. I then
retired to my loom, and was soon in
bed. How hot it was! I have been
in what are considered warmer parts
I of India since, but never have I ex
perienced heat like that which pre
vailed that night. My baby-sister lay
in her little cot by my bedside, and
1 her regular breathing soon made me
feel drowsy. The fragrance of the
roses seemed to fill the air, bearing a
train of pleasant memories, and vi
sions, happy visions, of the dear home
folks away in England floated before
me till I was almost asleep.
Suddenly a big gadal (black bat)
landed on ajy mosquito net. I started,
and sat up in bed shaking all toter.
When I discovered the cause of alarm
I felt foolish. Black bats were quite
common, but my nervousness at see
ing them was most uncommon.
I lay back on my pillow again and
listened to the eerie noises of the
jackals holding festival in the jungle,
and the occasional screeches of wild
birds. I lay awake until it was quite
dark—the peculiar darkness of an In
dian night. All was still, save for the
low, steady snoring of Bara, the ayah,
whose dusky form I could make out
lying on a mat just beyonct my dress
ing-room door. Through the muslin
curtains of the sitting-room doorway I
saw Bruno, the mastiff, fast asleep,
aud his presence there gave me a
feeling of security. But, hark! what
was that noise?—a crashing in the
shrubbury, then a soft, gliding move
ment among the bushes below the
verandah. I was thoroughly awake
now, and listening inteutly. The
sound ceased a3 suddenly as it came,
and then after a short interval was
heard again. It seemed to me now like
the tread of some heavy animal.
Could any of the bullocks have broken
loose? No, that was not likely. I
waited, and in a minute heard a ter
rific tliudon the sitting-room veranda,
which seemed to shake the whole
house. The animal, whatever it was,
was evidently bent on mischief. The
shattering and splintering of glass
and the rending of curtains next pro
claimed that the beast had entered
the room. I sprang from my bed and
peered through the curtains. Bruno
also had leaped up, but only to meet
his doom. What met my gaze fairly
stupefied me with horror. There
crouched a tiger of immense size! In
his blazing eyes was a gleam of what
seemed to me insanity. His magnifi
cently colored body was motionless,
and his tail moved restlessly to and
fro with an almost fascinating regu
larity. He gave a growl of satisfac
tion, and springing forward, had in a
moment crushed poor Bruno's skull
beneath his deadly paw. Seizing the
mastiff by the back he shook him as a
cat shakes a mouse, then with his
claws slit up the neck, aud drained
the blood. The tiger then carried
him to the centre of the room, aud
lying down, commenced slowly to de
vour him. I heard the crunching of
the bones and the smacking of those
terrible lips, rud I turned away with
horror and nausea. I nearly fainted;
but one glance of the little crib forti
fied and nei- ed me. I must, if pos
sible, try an l save myself for the sake
of my brother aud dear home-folks,
and not only myself, but also my help
less baby-sister and the retinue of
faithful servants.
What was to be done? If the ser
vants were called and informed of the
situation, a panic would ensue, the
beast would be roused, and death
would be the certain aud speedy fate
of at least some of us. There was
only one thing to do, and that I must
do alone. In a drawer of my brother's
dressing table lay a loaded revolver.
If I could but get that, and use it
rightly! I knew nothing of firearms,
but I had an idea that revolvers could
only be used when near the object
aimed at. I shuddered. Could I ap
proach that awful beast? I clenched
my teeth aud softly crossed the room.
I was cold now, cold as the beauti
fully plated revolver which I drew
from the drawer.
Nerving myself I crossed the room,
passed through the curtained door
way, aud in a moment stood behind
the monarch of the jangle, who was
now standing finishing the horrid re
mains of the first course of his feast.
What would the second courso be? He
was evidently an old animal and
rather deaf, or he must have heard
my movements, quiet though they
were. Now or never! I levelled the
revolver, took aim, and fired at the
hack of his head. With a roar like
thunder he turned and prepared to
spring. I fired another shot, which
must have entered his neck; then an
other hurried one, which seemed to
penetrate farther down. When the
smoke cleared away, I saw him rolling
over and over, writhing in his death
agony, aud stnining the white palm
mat with his blood. I stepped on
one side and fired again—tins time
behind the ear. A slight tremor
passed over his limbs, and then all
was still. Burra Bagh, the man
eater, was dead aud his victims
avenged. I had accomplished un
wittingly what my brother had failed
to do. These thoughts passed through
my mind, and then I seemed to fade
away.
I remembered no more till I awoke
in the centre of an excited group at
Rbanagbat, whither the kindly na
tives had carried me, all those twenty
miles.
When I returned home, a month
later, I was met by a band of villagers,
headed by Chadda, who, in the name
of the people, presented me with the
skin of Burra Bagh, which they had
carefully cured for me, and, under
neath ther veranda, they stood and
sang, in their quaint style:
Ifurra Bugh fs dead, sing O Korinifa tree:
No more will Burra Bagh sleep under
neath thee.
Bring forth blossoms, put theal on white
woman's head,
She killed mau-eater: Burra Bagh Is dead,
—Wide World Magazine,
l*arln Periodical*.
The periodicals published in Paris
number at present 2587, of which 18(5
made their first appearance last year.
In this enormous mass, politics,
properly speaking, is represented by
only 1-11 organs. Strange to say, it is
medicine that absorbs the largest
quantity—namely, 206. Financial
matters are dealt with in 195 publica
tions, fashions in 113, law in 95, agri
culture in 07, and industrial matters
in 54. There are 26 journals on gas
and electricity, 24 on assurance, 10 on
cookery, 5 on matrimonial matters,and
25 on photography. The "Revues"
reach the number of 162.
ME PHILIPPINE PEARLS.
FISHERIES CONSIDERED THE MOST
IMPORTANT IN THE WORLD.
Tin- Richest Grounds Are In tlis Sulu
Group—Controlled by a Great London
Jewelry Firm—Mother-of-Tearl Worth
One Hundred Dollars a Ton.
In the picturesquely miscellaneous
collection of {Sultans, active volcanoes,
rajahs Dyak pirates, and so forth,
handed over to the United States in
the far Pacific as one result of the
Spanish war, are the important pearl
fisheries at the Su!n Islands—pearl
fisheries that, since the decline df
those of Ceylon and the Persian Gulf,
divide with the north coast of Aus
tralia tho reputation of being the most
valuable in the world.
The Sulu pearl grounds have for
some time been controlled by men or
corapauies with large capital, of which
the chief is a great London jewelry
firm. These capitalists equip aud send
out fleets of from twenty to thirty
moderate-sized schooners upon annual
cruises, aud employ in the pursuit,
besides European officers aud super
cargoes, many hundreds, if not thou
sands, of native divers.
It may be information to many that
the chief revenue of the pearl fishing
industry is derived not from the pearls
—a very uncertain contingency—but
from the pearl shells, or mother-of
pearl, which brings in the market SIOO
a ton and upward. As an illustration
of this, while the West Australian
pearl fisheries netted in one year
$400,000 from the shells, the returns
from the find of pearls was valued at
a little more than $150,000, or about
one-third. Iu this respect, while the
pearls found in the Sulus are of the
finest quality, the mother of pearl is
sometimes characterized by a yellow
ish tint, which renders itless valuable
commercially than that obtained on
the adjacent Australian banks.
The actual diving operations are
carried on chiefly by the natives,
though of lnte years Europeans, with
diving apparatus, have in some in
stances been employed. The former
method is simplicity itself. The
diver being denuded of his clothes
and provided with a knife and a small
net bag in which to gather the shells,
and having a forty-pound stone at
tached to his feet, draws a deep
breath, and is let rapidly down by a
rope into the transparent waters. The
depth at which pearl diving is gener
ally carried on is from thirty to forty
feet, though depths of eighty feet
have been thus reached in a few in
stances. Once at the bottom, the
diver quickly proceeds to cut the
shells from the rocks in his neighbor
hood, and while tilling his bag re
mains under water for a period of
sixtv to a hundred seconds.
While thus engaged the divers are
sometimes subject to the attacks of
sharks, but they find a far deadlier
enemy in the exhausting nature of
their work, carried on beneath the
waters of the trojDics. Their lives are
generally of short duration after once
adopting the profession.
When a vessel has received its full
capacity of from twenty to thirty
thousand shells, it is put into the
shore, where the cargo is landed and
piled high on the beach for tho sun to
assist in causing the decomposition of
the dead fish, so that the pearls may
be the more easily obtained. During
the cleaning and washing process
great care is exercised in order to dis
cover the loose pearls, which, being
nearly all perfect spheres, are the
most valuable for stringing or neck
lace purposes; after which the shells
are examined for those that may re
main attached, furnishing the many
quaint shapes to be seen in jeweler's
windows. Pearls of value are seldom
discovered in shells under four years
of age—the age being computed by
the weight of the shells—and eight
years, it would seem, being tho ex
treme limit of pearl mussel longevity.
The pearls found in the Sulus nre
remarkable for their fine white color
and soft iridescent sheen, and up till
the present have found their principal
market in London, but now that the
archipelago has become an outlying
territory of the United States one may
naturally expect that these gems will
come more into favor on this side of
the Atlantic than heretofore.—New
York Sun.
"Hot Time" Duel Duty KI a Dirge.
Harry T. Montgomery, n private in
the Thirteenth Minnesota, now sta
tioned at Manila, in a letter received
by his uncles, W. E. Montgomery, at
Macon, Mo., relates a curious inci
dent there, A merchant of the well
to-do class came to the camp one day
and told of the death of a friend. He
said his friend's last request was that
a certain one of those those "beauti
ful American tunes" be played during
the march to the cemetery. The mes
senger did not know the name of the
piece, and the leader of the regi
ment baud played a few notes from
different selections until he struck "A
Hot Time in the Old Town To-Night."
The native clapped his hands and
said that was tho identical tune his
dead friend wanted. It seemed a
trifle odd to piny that rollicking air at
a funeral and the mnsicinu endeavored
to point out the incongruity of it, but
it was no nse—"A Hot Time in the
Old Town" was wanted and nothing
else. The obsequies were a big thing
nnd the members of the band did their
best to keep straight faces as they
slowly headed the procossion down
the streets, grinding out as solemnly
as they could our "new national an
them." It was probably the first oc
casion where "A Hot Time in the Old
Time" did duty as a dirge.—Kansas
Oity Times.
Mexican school children are allowed
to Bmoke during lesson time, provided
they have attained a certain standard
of excellency.
RICHEST MAN IN TURKEY.
He In a Naturalized American Citizen.
Whole Wealth la Bloodstained.
The richest man in Turkey is an
Armenian, who is a naturalized Ameri
can citizen, and lived in this country
for several years, writes TV. E. Cnrtis
in the Chicago Record. If the stories
told in the diplomatic circle of Con
stantinople are true he came by his
money in a peculiar manner. It will
te remembered that the Sultan Aziz
was assassinated in 1876. For several
years prior to his death he accumulated
all the money and bonds ho could ob
tain, which he stored away in his
palace as a reserve fund in case of a
war with Russia, which had been im
pending for some time. The amount
of his accumulations has been variously
estimated from $10,000,000 to $lO,-
000,000, and was undoubtedly con
siderably in excess of the latter sum.
Most of it was in English, French and
German securities, that drew interest,
and were easily convertible at any
bank in any city of Europe.
Although the assassination was a
mystery, it is believed to have been
inspired, if it was not actually accom
plished, by Midad Pasha, the Minister
of Finance, from avaricious motives.
He alone was aware of fhe magnitude
of the Sultan's hoard and the place of
its concealment, and after his
Sovereign's death, by virtue of his
position, he took charge of the fund
anil pretended to deposit it in the
public treasury. Rut it is believed
by those most familiar with Turkish
affairs that he retained for his own
benefit a large part—perhaps one-half
of it—which, for motives of self-pro
tectiou, he intrusted to the Armenian
banker I have named, and directed
him to take the bonds to London and
Paris and there deposit them in such
a manner that their ownership could
not bo traced to Midad Pasha. It is
also believed to havo been tho latter's
intentions to withdraw a portion of
this property from concealment as
soon as ho felt snfe in doing so.
But not long afterward Midad Pasha
was himself assassinated in the bold
est and most astounding manner. He
was attending a meeting of the
Ministry, when he was informed that
a messenger was nwaitiug him in the
ante-room with a confidential com
munication that must be delivered
immediately and to himself alone.
Midad left his colleagues and entered
the ante-room, where an unknown
man immediately plunged a dagger
into his heart. The palace guard,
hearing his death cry and tho fall of
his body, immediately rushed to the
room and shot the assassin before he
could escape. Although the police
continued their investigations for
months, they were never able to
identify the assassin or associate any
one else with the crime, but the know
ing ones believe he was a ruffian im
ported from the mountains by the
Armenian banker referred to, and was
handsomely paid to commit the deed.
On the evening of Mtdad's assassins-
tion the Armeuiau meroliant went to
Midad's palaco and informed his
widow that there were concealed in a
certain strong box certain papers that
would connect her husband with a
conspiracy against the crown and
would undoubtedly cause the arrest
and imprisonment of the entire family
and the confiscation of the property if
they were discovered. The frightened
widow, already beside herself with
excitement because of the assassina
tion, begged him to search her hus
band's papers and destroy all ques
tionable or suspicious documents. He
spent the night at this work, nnd
among the papers burned that night
arc believed to have been the evidence
of Midad's ownership in the bonds
that have made the Armenian the rich
est man in Turkey.
Irrlgntlon on a Great Scats.
England is preparing to spend
SBOO,OOO a year for thirty years for a
great lake for irrigating purposes to
be made by damming the Nilo. Of
tho results of this dam-building, Mr.
F. C. reufield speaks thus in the Cen
tury: The Egypt of the map shows
more than 400,000 square miles, an
expanse nearly seven times as great as
New England, bnt the practical Egypt—
that which produces crops aud sustains
life—is barely as large as the States
of Vermont and Rhode Island taken
together. This is the ribbon-like strip
of alluvial laud bordering on the Nile,
a few miles wide on each side, and
moasuriug not more than 10,500 square
miles. The extension planned, and
to be completed in the next six or
eight years, wholly by is no
less magnificent in conception than
the rescuing from the Libyan and
Arabian deserts of 2500 square miles,
or twice the Jarea of Rhode Island.
This will be exploitation in its truest
sense, and its accomplishment will be
a verification of the ancient saying
that "Egypt is the Nile, and the Nile
is Egypt.
As an object lesson this Egyptian
enterprise shoud have no more inter
ested observers than in America, es
pecially in Colorado, Nevada, Califor
nia, nnd other States of the West,
where the irrigation expert is succeed
ing the railway-builder as a devel
oper.
Fifteen Ruled Iter Life.
In the Courant of March 16, 1784,
we printed the following queer story,
which our readers will pardon us for
repeating. Some of them may have
forgotten it: "Hebron, February 15,
1784. —This day departed this life,
Mrs. Lydia Peters, the wife of Colonel
John Peters and second daughter of
Joseph Phelps, Esq. She was mar
ried at the age of fifteen, aud lived
with her consort three times fifteen
years and had fifteen living children,
thirteen now alive, and the youngest
fifteen years old. She hath had three
times fifteen grandchildren. She was
sick fifteen months and died the 15tb
day of the mouth aged four times fif
tseu years."—Hartford Courant.
TAHITI'S WAR SCARE,
Everybody Excited Except a Yankee Who
Had Timber For Sale.
The worst scared people of the year
1898 probably were those inhabiting
the Freucli isles of the Pacific, espec
ially in Tahiti. The people of such
islands as New Caledonia, Tahiti, etc.,
receive news from the outside world
when it is months old, and the white
inhabitants, being mostly French, are
easily excited. New Caledonia is a
convict settlement of the French Gov
ernment, where there are thousands
of exiled criminals. This made an
exceedingly anxious time for the re
spectable inhabitants of the principal
town, Noumea, during their war scare.
At Tahiti the officers of the French
transport ship Aube, hearing of the
war talk between their country and
England several weeks after it started,
became disturbed at the movements
and signaling of several foreign ves
sels, and straightway ordered all har
bor and lighthouse, lights out, and be
gau collecting and carting all stores
into the country, the work being car
ried on at night. To heighten the
scare several of the crew of an Ameri
can sliip went on a spree aud started
a row in the market place at Papeete,
and the natives joining in, the fight
became general. Then was spread the
rumor that the English had landed and
were "in the fight." More than half
of the natives and a large number of
French women and children made for
the country, taking their goods and
chattels with them, and have not re
turned yet, thinking that a terrible
war is going on.
For a few days boats and cutters
were kept busy taking emigrants to
Morea, a mountainous island lying
twenty miles away, and the Governor
of Tahiti, the Captain of Aube and
the military officers held a council of
war. This council decided to make
a new fort, the soldiers being started
on the work in a pouring rain, the
wet season having just begun. Every
thing portable from the Aube was
landed aud her guns were mounted on
the new fort, aud the vessel was
prepared to be taken to the entrance
of the harbor and sunk, a la llobsou
and the Merrimac.
The man who reaped the profit of
the scare was a Yankee timber mer
chant, and at last accounts he was
still doing au enormous business, tak
ing orders aud saying nothing.
The sighting of the Ovalau, an in
nocent ship of commerce, caused in
tense excitemeut, as she was first
taken for the expected enemy. Just
before this steamer turned up it had
been decided at a second council of
war to call out every man capable of
carrying arms. However, the appear
ance of Ovalau quieted thiugs down,
aud peace i>romises to reign once
more in the principal town, but the
poor people who lied to the back
country and the other islands will ho
some weeks in learning the situation.
CURIOUS FACTS.
George I. of England introduced
the black cockade from Germany as a
mark of the servant.
More women than men go blind in
Sweden, Norway aud Iceland; more
men than women in the rest of Eu
rope.
Several States in New England
have statutes forbidding kissing on
the streets. The law is au old one
and obsolete.
A grain of fine sand would cover
about 100 of the minute scales of the
humuu skin; each scale covers from
300 to 500 pores.
The utilization of grain-elevator
waste for sheep and cattle food lias
given rise to a new industry iu the
Northwest. The waste brings $7 a
ton.
John Hooper, a man with a mania
for tombstones, stole eighteen of them
from Gracelaud Cemetnry, Chicago,
aud used them for bric-a-bracs at his
home.
V Some of the petrified wood found in
Arizona, it is said, is so hard that
steel tools will not work it, the petri
fications being only three degrees less
in hardness than the diamond.
The walking advertisement known
as a "sandwich man" is by no means
a modern idea. Iu 1316 a procession
of men dressed to represent straw
covered wine bottles used to parade
the streets of Florence, Italy.
Tea drinkers in London are swin
dled systematically. A number of old
women go about aud buy up from ser
vants tea-leaves that have been used.
The leaves are theu artificially col
ored, dried, aud sold as good tea.
In Japan is a venerablo camphor
tree, which, it is said will hold fifteen
full grown persons in its hollow trunk.
According to Japauese tradition, it
grew from the walkingstick of the fa
mous philosopher Kabodairs, who
flourished about the year 780. The
tree is certainly 1000 years old.
Embarrassing For tlie Lecturer.
Civilized people when they listen ta
a lecture on some abstruse scientific
subject applaud even it they do not
understand. But there is evidently
inoro frankness among savages, no
cording to a story told by Captain Guy
Harrows. A white mau one evening
tried to explain to some members ol
an African tribe, the Mobunghi, the
wouderß of the Bteatn engine and
steamship. He drew diagrams on the
sand, and the andience listened and
looked with apparently intense inter
est. At last he asked his hearers
whether they understood. "Yes,"
they replied, "they thought they
did." "There was a deep silence,"
Captain Barrows says, "for sometime,
and then a voice in the centre of the
crowd expressed the unspoken senti
ments of the whole assembly in one
emphatic word, uttered in a tone oi
the deepest conviction—'Liar!'" Em
barrassing for the lecturer!— Wes
tminster Gazette.
OUR BUDGET OF HUMOR.
LAUGHTER-PROVOKING STORIES FOR
LOVERS OF FUN.
A Hummer Plumber—Pleading For Him
self—Eually—Two Souls Confess—Rath
er Ambiguous Her Consolation
Quarreled With Herself, Etc., Etc.
The plumber bummed nud bummed and
bummed.
And bummed the livelong day;
And as he bummed ho hummed and
drummed
And piped u little lay.
Then when he'd bummed and drummed
and hummed
Till mellow dusk was ripe,
He wont to work and plumbed and plumbed
And laid a little pipe.
Pleading For Himself.
She—"l'm not afraid of the best
man living!"
He—"l hope not, dear. Idon'tthink *7
I ever gave you any reason to be
afraid of me."—Yonkers Statesman.
Her Consolation.
He (preparing to leave) —"I assure
you, Miss Sweet, the time has passed
very pleasantly this evening."
She (abstractedly) "Yes, it is
pleasant to know that it is past."—
Truth.
Rather Ambiguous.
"Measures not men," remarked
Asbury Peppers.
"What on earth are yon talking
about?" asked the curious boarder.
"The ladies' tailor."—Cincinnati
Enquirer.
finally.
"Could you tell me what this pre
scription calls for?" asked the inquisi
tive citizen.
"Yes," answered the clerk as ho
glanced over it rapidly, "fifty cents."
—Washington Star.
Quarreled With Herself.
"The two-headed girl got up an- j
other rumpus this morning." -W
"What was she mad about?" ''
"One of her heads picked out a hat
just like that which the other one
had."—Chicago News.
Elasting Fund Hopes.
Mrs. Newlywed—"We are going to
name our new baby alter you, Uncle
Josh!"
Rich Uncle—"That's a good idee;
he'll have to start out in life without
a cent, jes' the same as I did!"—
Puck.
The Frnctlrnl Shlo or If.
1 "How much did you make out of
your new book?"
"Well, we got breakfast out of the
first edition, and dinner out of the sec
ond, but times are hard now, and it's
a mighty long time between suppersl"
—Atlanta Constitution.
A Po. Bible Mistake.
Callaban (despondently)—"Shure,
an' Oi've been leading a dog's loife
iver since Oi got married."
Kerrigan (thoughtfully)—" Perhaps •>
yez wint to the wrong clerk, Callahan,
an' got a dog license instid uv a mar
riage license."—Judge.
One Objection.
"She rejected tlieosophy when Bhe
couldn't be assured her soul wouldn't
migrate into an elephant."
"No!"
"Yes, she said she didn't care
about being reincarnated if it wasn't
going to reduce her flesh."—Life.
Two Souls Confess.
"Gladys Lueile, I must make a
confession before we are married.
You know me as Guy Percy Fitz-
William, but the folks at home call
me Bill."
"That's all right. My pa aud ma
call me Toadie."—Chicago Record.
A Wish Realized.
I
"If
Poet —"I do wish something that
rhymes with 'boat' would strike mel"
A Stranger's Privilege.
Excited New Yorker—"l want to
know why in the name of all that's
good I should have to pay more for a
cab I hire ie front of a hotel than for
one I hire along the street?"
Policeman—" 'Cause the hotel cabs
is particularly for the use of strangers J
in town, see?" —Indianapolis Jour- -S
nal. 1
Willie'. Little Joke.
Dashaway—"You say your sister
will be down in a minute, Willie?
That's good news. I didn't know but
what she wanted to be excused, as
she did the other day."
Willie—"Not this time. I played
a trick on her."
Dashaway—"What did you do?"
Willie (triumphantly)—"l said you
were another fellow."—Tit-Bits.
Self-Possessed.
Polioeman (who has oarried a wom
an out of burning building)—" Your
name, please? 1 have to make a re
port, you know."
Resoued Woman—"Jane Alathea
Jarvis, and I'm the most grateful hu
man being that ever "
Policeman "That's all right,
ma'am. Age, please?"
Resoued Woman—"None of your ,
business, air!"— Chicago Tribune.
Germany has an army whioh costs
ber people $135,000,000 s year.