Freeland Tribune Established 1388. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY, BY THI TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY, Wei OIVICE: MAIN STREET ABOTE CENTRE. FREELAND, FA. SUBSCRIPTION KATES: One Year $1.50 Six Mouth* 75 Four Months 50 Two Mouths .25 The date which the subscrlptiou is paid to U on the addrsus label of each paper, the change of which to a subsequent date be comes a receipt for remittance. Keep the Qgures in advtince of the present date. Re port promptly to this ofllee whenever paper Is not received. Arrearages must be paid when subscription is discontinued. Make all monty orders, checks, etc,,payabU to (he Tribune Printing Company, .Limited. There is an effort to revive the in terest of the masses in Oliver Cromwell. The extent to which the Napoleon craze was pushed will be a warning to the public to tako its hero revivals temperately. The idea of free transportation of children to and from school, which is a part of the plan to suburbanize city schools, lias found acceptance in the rural schools of Duval county, Florida. The object there is to in urease attend ance and decrease number of school houses. Some new ways of adulterating cof fee have lately come to light iu Eng land. One grocer, by coating the berry with sugar, raised the weight from live per cent, to ten per cent., and got a shilling a pound for what otherwise would have brought about twopence. The berry itself is ingen iously imitated in Germany by a treat ment of maize, and it is said that the imitation is so good tbat even ou close scrutiny it is hard to distinguish from the genuine berry. A very remarkable state of things exists at | reseut in the steel-rail in dustry, observes the Pathfinder. We know of one railroad—aud doubtless there are many others in the same situation—that contracted a year or more ago for new steel rails at sl7 or so a ton, which rails are now being delivered by the mills at that price, though the market late is far higher. .Moreover, the railroad is taking up its old rails and is selling them back to the mills at $22 or more a ton. Here is an instance of ex changing old lamps for new, with a profit to boot. The Chicago Times-Herald, com menting on the supposed $'200,009,000 automobile trust, observes: "The price of antomobiles has p!a ed them beyond the reach of the man of ordi nary means. This trust must be, after all, then, a case of 'benevolent assimilation' on the part of the gener ous und philanthropicnl makers of au tomobiles. It is possible that the ob ject of this combination is to make automobiles so cheap that the mechan ic may ride in one to ami from his place of employment and the servant girls may take a spin in them after the culinary labors of the day aro ended. Evidently even among animals bac teria make for both health and dis ease, depending ou the conditions aud being iu some form always present in healthy animals. Carefully conduct ed experiments made on chickens show this. Where the tests were made the chickens were "hatched un der conditions which rendered them free from intestinal bacteria. After hatching they were supplied with ster ilized food and water, and the experi mental conditions were such that the intestinal tract was kept free from bacteria. Alter a few days the rbiok eus did not thrive, and at the end of seventeen days they were very weak. The tests were not continued nntil the chickens died; but it was evident that they could not have lived more than two or three days under the ster ilized plan of feeding. The chickens were killed aud culture experiments were made which showed that tha chickens were free from bacteria- Chickens raised under the same gen eral conditions, hut with no precau tions to prevent their acquiring intes tiual bacteria, grew normally." Panic on the stock txenange Panic conditions developed on tin Mock exchange Monday afternoon with the imperative need of money develop ed by the violent contradiction in val ues. Stocks were being thrown over without the slightest regard to the price tliey would bring and at distressing .sac rifice of values. No end to the help lessness of the situation seemed in sight, when, in the last half hour of the mar ket some $10,000,000 was offered 011 flic slock exchange by the concerted action of the clearing house banks to force the rate arbitrarily down to 6 per cent without regard to the distracted bidding at higher rates which was being done by other brokers for distressed opera tors. BSKBHaHBBannHffIBianHHfIHBHHaHI i A South African Soup That Failed. § |1 |p How Zwager, a Boer of the Great Tr '• H || Postponed the War. || ~1/> |] AEASSED b y 1 1 I thoughts of the up -11 9 Bet in business I')., I during the South fci'sxV J | African crisis of x I 1898, an American ***' "| named Phillips took HI | the night train for VWm,lfctr*4: Klerksburg, near the Transvaal fron tier. A week before Phillips had seen the "Gold lteef City" shivering in the panic of the expected war. His thoughts, as he stared out the car wiudow, may have gone back bitterly to Johannesburg, to the ridge which has made so many sorrows, and his own failure there. Clutched in the hand, however, he held a telegram from his partner, Burton, aid this read: "Come up to Ivlerksburg next train; big thing possible here." ground him men were arguing heat edly in various dialects as to where Joubert would strike first, what would happen to the Uitlanders, and when it would begin to happen. The train ran on hour after hour; it came to a stop at last aud discharged its passengers into the excited, question ing crowds which tilled the streets of Klerksbtirg. It was almost midnight, but there was no quiet in the towns of the border. A large youug Englishman stepped out of the shadows aud touched Phil lips ou the elbow. "Here you are," he drawled. "It's late, but you mustn't sleep yet, Jack. You're ex pected." "What is it, anyway?" asked Phil lips. "I don't know," replied the other, "and I know at the same time that it is something worth our while." He was slower in his mental processes than the Americau, and he now fell into deep reflection. "It was Ather ton who told me to get yon here. Appears that there is something being planned. Come along." They turned into quieter streets, walked for some distance, nnd came to a house. The front of this was darkened, but there were lights at the reaifc al "l as they approached more than one man came out and hurried away. Burton held n low conversa tion with some one at the door, aud then returned to find his friend. "They want to seo you alone in there,'-' he explained, "and I'm to wait." Phillips went forward; a servant ushered him through the house and bowed him into a lighted room. Three men were seated around a table there, upon which lay spread n map of Bouth Africa. In a smaller room | behind Phillips could hear telegraph instruments clacking feverishly and j now and then a message would be j brought out uud placed upon a table. "London seems to be getting ex- j cited," one of the three remarked. They did not embarrass Phillips by too close a scrutiny, but they were taking note of him. "Sit down, won't you," said one of them, a big man. The speaker leaued baek almost shyly in his chair, and turned his drowsy gray eyes upon another, who looked i like an ex-army officer. "You state the case, Atherton," he said. "Hem," observed the latter. "Well, \ Mr. Phillips, I suppose you would not j be unwilling to accept of a good oppor-1 tunity." Phillips smiled grimly. "I rather j need to," he replied. "Ah, yes. Well, no offence, you know; but we havo been led to be- I lieve that you are, a-hem, rather a wild youug thing," The American's square jaw tight ened, and he rose. "You might have telegraphed that information," he observed. "No; sit down, please," said the big mun, "and hear us through."! There was a kind of fascination in his i manner difficult to explain. "You know," continued Atherton, I his eyes upon the table nnd speaking as if by note, "whether this country is iu a healthy condition now. You are from Johannesburg, and also know j how the Uitlanders are being treated. | Here in Klerksburg we believe that j war is inevitable anil that the sooner j it comes the better for us all. There are, however, people who cannot un-! derstand this situation and they advise j delay." He nodded, perhaps uncon sciously, toward the room where the telegraph instruments were olickiug. j "Not so many miles from here, at | a point which your friend Burton knows, there is a camp of the border I police. It lies about two miles from j the frontier line of the Transvaal, aud tell miles on the other side the Boers [ have also a ramp. Very good. Now J I need not point out to you that Africa ' is like a bin of gunpowder aud that it I needs only a spark to set it afire. Here j is whero that spark can bo struck." j He put his finger upon the map. j "Just at this point over the line is the farm of a Boer named Zsvager. He is an old Dutch rhinoceros, ready euough for trouble; it would be very easy for any one who went there, any 1 one who was rather wild and irrespon-1 Bible, to precipitate a quarrel. It j would not need extreme measures—a ! mere quarrel, with perhaps a little ' inisusage. and the Boers there in camp | would do the rest, for they would at - ' attack the border police as certainly as we sit here. After that some his- | toi v would probably be made." Young Phillips whistled thought- I fully. "It's rather to rich for us," lie said, "and cot the nicest job j especially seeing that I'm an Ameri* can. No, I guess not." The big man raised himself up from his chair, the lamplight fell upon him redly as he stood, tall as a giant, above the table whore lay the map of South Africa. "An American," he said, "that is all the better! Ameri caus are men of our own blood and this movement is for every man who knowns what progress menus. It is war .which must come, nnd in this world we must look ugly facts iu the face. Teople who are afraid to do this say to me: 'But it will be too dangerous;' they say to me, 'lt is wrong;' but I sny to them, 'We must look facts in the face; the Boers are now arming with Mauser rifles.' I say to them, 'My dear good people, I admire your scruples, but remember the ugly fact of those Mauser rifles. Remember that, and then if you agree that war must come at last, tell me whether delay will not mean ten times as many lives and 100 times the treas ure.' A united Africa, that is my idea —an Africa free for the Anglo-Saxon from Cape Town to the Zambesi." The dreamy gray eyes had lighted up; the words came faster aud faster iu the glow of the great idea. Aud as he spoke there breathed out of this man something mysterious aud won derful, as out of unfathomed depths, a spirit which oould stiffen the hearts of other men and drive them forward, reckless of barriers. Young Phillips gazed at him, and the cold suspicion melted out of his face. "I guess, maybe," said ho slowly, "that after alt I am a wild youug thing." The big man glanced at the other men, and a little laugh all around showed their appreciation of how Phillips had risen to his chance. "Al ways did like the way you Americans could grasp a point," the leader said, and shook hands. The day after, Burton and Phillips rode out of Klerksburg, and turned their horses eastward. They left the railroad lino upon their left, aud, as they struck into the open veldt and saw around them the wide cirole of earth and sky, their spirits gayly rose to this adventure. Darkness found them still six miles from the camp of the border police, but Burton knew the ground, nndtliey pushed forward. When they reached the camp of the border police they were greeted with applause. Burton knew most of the men; a letter which he brought made them still more welcome. They ate, and afterward among their hosts lay hack at ease around the car.pfire. In visible horses champed and scuffled ! npon the plain around them; the troopers smoked and looked up at the watching stars until it was time to I turu in. ! In the morning the two adventurers : had a last word with the captain and j then mounted their horses. They rode to a little einiueuce aud stopped; they were on the border line, the danger line which needed only to be crossed by fighting parties to mean a war. A solitary falcon hovered high in the untarnished blue, and before them stretched the Transvaal, its veldt as ; yellow as a sea of gold. Old Zwager's ! farm lay like a dot in this aud over I overything a Sabbath quiet brooded, but here the spark could be struck j which should set South Africa afire, j The felt the delight of power, a sense ! of danger and daring leaped iu their | blood aud they lode straight forward I resolutely. | Zwager's place was built up iu a way usual to that region. A stone wall encircled the squatty Dutch buildings and served to keep the calves ill the front dooryard. A fence might have been easier, but Zwager's great-grandfathers had managed it j this way, and what had been good ! enough for them was good enough 1 for Zwager. They were admitted through the gate by a lazy Kaffir boy 1 and, riding up to the house, beheld I the owner. Before the door in the sunshine sat jan old and grizzed Boer—a Boer of | the Groat Trek. Ho stared at them for a moment silently, and then again ! turned his dull blue eyes upon the distaht view. But after some reflec | tion be removed his pipe and asked them briefly: "What do you want?" "We want some forage for our | horses, first thing," Burton replied, aud the two dismounted. Zwager re flected somo time, and then an j nouueed: "You can't have it." I "O, we can't eh?" remarked Phil-, lips. "Maybe that isn't for you to' | sav." The correction appeared to be ' lost upon old Zwager; he sat still aud gazed across the plain toward the blue northward as though he expected something favorable to come from ! that direction. For years and years | the older Boers had been wont to think of that free upcouutry, the uu | tracked wilderness which could always i be their refuge when the annoying uproar of a rapid civilization came too near. But nothing could come out of it now except danger, aud they were cut off from it forever as surely as 1 from the blue sea across which their i forefathers had wandered two con- I turies before for a place in which to ' stagnate comfortably. Old Zwager ' may have known this much of history | from the homespun traditions passed I down from sire to son, stories of old I treks nnd battles for one's own idea of | things, dared by men of a stubborn I fanatic breed, like the Roundheads of | Old England or the Puritans of the j | New. But England and America j ; had gone foi yard somewhat, aud two of their representatives, well up to date, stood now before this old man of the people who had stopped for two centuries, and they hardly knew how to take him. "We want some forage," Burton roared, with ferocious emphasis. Old Zwager considered this de mand once more, as though it had been a new oue. "You can't have it," he then replied, with undiplomatic clearness, "because you are English Bchelms" (rascals). Phillips clenched his fist and walked up to him. "Yes, now's your chance," encouraged Burton. The Kaffir, safe upon the wall, was appar ently the only witness, and he, being a native and untaught, seemed to wonder that men of those races should fall to fighting. Phillips put his fist close up to the stolid face, then took it nway again. "Always did understand that yon Americana were an uncertain set," complained the Englishman. He strode up to the Boer himself, and delivered au ultimatum. "You old, dense, beastly, uncivilized mule," he thundered, "tell the boy there to get that forage, d'you hear?" The ancient man never noticed them. They both perceived with ease that he thought they wore afraid ol him. "O, before I'd stand that!" Phillips taunted his companion. Pres ently Zwager arose to his feet. "You must now go away from here," he proclaimed calmly, "your language is not like the Scriptures." He went and picked up a heavy stick and stiff -ly advanced upon them. They stood and watched him come, the two strapping Saxons, and ex changed a furtive glance. Then of a sudden they broke in full retreat: moved by the same impulse they slunk back to their horses and mounted without a word. Without a word they left behind them Zwnger's place, and for half a mile across tho velil they rode a long way apart and would not look ut each other. Finally they pulled up, and something had to he said. "Er—ah—most disgusting failure," the Englishman remarked. "I couldn't do it," the American re plied, "because—" He stole a glance at his companion, and read in his eyes an answering horror—it was the awful horror and hatred of their race for "goody-goody talk." "Because," he cried triumphantly, "I thought there might be aome more Boers hidden in the barn." "Just so," assented the Briton in relief, and came a little nearer, "My own idea exactly." They rode along together in dejection, knowing more about themselves than previously they had known. Around them the very veldt seemed to he laughing over something; and as they approached the camp again suddenly they both laughed too. "G'ouldu't be done." Burton ex plained briefly to the captain. "Ap pears, you know, that there was con cealed force in the neighborhood." Hours afterward they left the camp, and took the road toward Klerksburg. They stopped once in the plain aud i looked behind them at the border line j and all was quiet along it. Then the ; Englishman, doubtless with bis' thoughts upon old Zwager, said; "That war will come, though, assure as the sun is up there." "Or as sure as there is gold in, Johannesburg," the other agreed, "but it won't he us that will start it. We two weren't made, I guess, to dc dirty work." Ho Hicked his horse again, and grin ning cheerfully the unsuccessful ones rode westward in the sunshine.—New Yoik Sun. Advice to RrltUli Officer*. It is interesting to read what Lord Wolseley has said in his Soldier's Pocket Book under the head of "Ad vioe to Officers on Service as Regards Their Roaring Toward Their Men." He snys: "In action, to he cool and to seem ignorant that any danger exists j is of the first cousequence. You must, I at the same time, however, evince a ' lively interest in all that is going on; come what may, have a smiling face. Ti your men are under a fire to which they are not replying, walk about in front of them as they are lyir.w down. I do not mean that yon are never to avail yourself of cover, for wheu skirmishing it is your duty to do so, but under the above mentioned cir cumstances the best troops are proue to become unsteady, aud it is then the especial duty of the officers to show an example of coolness and steadiness. When wounded, officers should take a pride iu refusing the assistance of the men to take them to the rear," etc.— New York Commercial Advertiser. Autugrupli "PIK" llo'.ikH. One of the most amusing fads at tho present moment is a "pig" book, in which all aud sundry of your friends are asked to draw a pig with their eyes shut, and sign their names under it. It is far more interesting than au ordinary autograph book, and causes endless fun. A pig seems an easy and mild animal to portray on paper; but the portraits of him that are drawn under these oircamstances are like nothing earthly, either in the animal or vegetable kingdom. Many people say, however, that you can tell a per son's character as well from one ol these drawings as from the hand writing, and if you make a study of the subject you will find that they are not far wroug.—Boston Trauseript. Hum Peilro's Juke. A bon mot, to which fate has since added an ironical comment, has been attributed to tho ex-Emperor of Brazil, on being shown one of those mechani cal woDders which always interested him more thau the cares of govern ment, a wheel that made we know not how many revolutions in the minute. "Why," said the monarch, "it ac tually beats our South American re publics."—London Spectator. OUR BUDGET OF HUMOR. LAUGHTER-PROVOKINC STORIES FOR ' OVERS OF FUN. Her Little Laugh—During the Quarrel— Worm Thau War—(He Preference— Criticism—One of Ills Needs—Wllliug to Oblige—More Appropriate, Etc, Her little laugh rang sweet and clear. Its silvery music charmed mv ear; All life seemed on the merriest plan When she laughed at the other man. Her little laugh again I heard. Hut to no mirth my soul was stirred; It made a difference, you see, When, heartless girl, she laughed at ine. —Chicago Record. During the Quarrel. Hubby (angrily) — 1 'Whatever I say goes." Wife (sweetly) "Of course itdois, dear. You say it so loud that it goes all over the neighborhood."—New York World. Worse Than War. "What's the diflerence between foot ball and war?" "Football is war without any human 3 object in view."—Chicago News. Ills Preference. "Would you rather be President of the United States or King of Eng land?" "I'd rather be Admiral Dewey," was the prompt response of the boy. Criticism. First Tramp—"Dose people what complain of dere work beiu' .00 hard make me tired." Second Tramp—"Dey do?" First Tramp—"Yes. Why don't dey t'row up de job?"— Pack. One of His Needs. Papa—"Of course, Robinson Crnsoe wa* very anxious to get back to Eng land—" Young America—"l suppose ho wanted a shave and a hair-cut."— Puck. Willing to Oblige. Applicant—"How many servants do you keep?" Mistress—"Three." Applicant—"And where r you live?" Mistress—"Oh, we don't mind mov ing to anywhere you may want to go!" Judge. More Appropriate. "I notice thatwc have shipped move than 400,000 barrels of American ap ples, all fresh fruit, to Europe this season." "Dried apples would have been more appropriate for swell patrons."— Cleveland Plain Dealer. I.ucky •liiutnle. JrM'ty/M' A, K'Pr Johnnie—"Ain't you goin' ter school ter day?" Jitnmie (joyfully) "No sireo, I'm goin' ter stay home; and nil I got ter do is clean out the pump, cut two cords o' wood and put in atouo'coal." —Collier's Weekly. Advice to the UuMler. New Drummer—"T can sell a big bill of goods to any man on earth." Proprietor—"That's all right, but don't exert yourself to sell goods to any mau who hasn't got money." A Sly Dig. Mrs. Heupeck—"No doubt the ancients were considered wise because there were fewer temptations in those days." Henpeck—"Why, my dear, the proportion of women in the world must have been about tho same."— Life. She If ohl* II im To It. Downtrod—"Never write letters,my boy, that you'll regret in afterlife." Dewtell—"You speak as from ex perience?" Downtrod—"l do. In early cor* respondeuco with her who is now my wife I signed myself 'Your obedient servant.' " —Tit-Bits. A Smaller Investment. "Just think of tho men who become great by burning the midnight oil!" "Yes," answered the mau who speaks of weary accents. "Ouecould nfiord to burn oil Those ineu didn't have to run risks and put in their good money burning gas at $1.25 per thousand feet."—Washington Star. Clerical Ordnunce, Hobbs —"I see by the papers that your friend, the Rev. Dr. Bang, has joined the artillery of the church." Dobbs—"What do von mean?" Hobbs —"Why, he's been made a canon of the cathedral." Dobbs—"Hm; I didn't know that he was such a big gun."—New York Weekly. Ills Vlgorouit Kick. Stubb —"So the audience found the •how to bo a fake?" Penn—-"Yes, and among them was a football captain. Ho made tho big gest kick." Stubb—"Good for you! But how did.he express himself?" Peun—"He said he wanteu hie quarter-bact" THE TEAMSTER'S TALE. Undertook a .Job or Moving That Wa Heyoiid Human Power. "This," Haiil tlie hospital surgeon, "is rather an interesting ease. We've just got through ilressing his wounds, and there is positively not an inch on his body anywhere that isn't cut or contused, skinned or bruised." "Yepee," observed the patient, slowly unclosing one eyo—the other was swollen fast shut—and standing out from among the bandages which swathed his head. "There's times when I wish I was a millionaire an' drove a tally-ho 'stead of a freight-wagon—an' this is one of them times." ho added, plaintively; and 1 recognized Big Jake, general handler of freight and baggage in the town. "Why, .Take," I cried, "how did this happen?" "Iduu'no,"he replied, slowly and laboriously. "All I know is the events leadin' up to the castastroplie, an' the begiunin' of it was Mr. Bur kins comin' to me this nioruiu' an' sayin', Make, there's soinethiu* down at the house I want moved, ill's very heavy an' unwieldy, an' 'sapt to cause you a lot of trouble, but you an'a couple of helpers ought to bo able to handle it. Do you want the job?' 'I do,' I says, 'an' I know a pair of fel lers, an' I'll bet tho three of us can move anything in this town, if tho price is right,' 'Well,' he says. 'l'll be liberal with you. I'll give you lifty dollars if you make a success of it; if you don't, you don't get a cent. Is it a go?' 'Sure,' says I. 'Mo an' them fellers will guarantee to move everything you got in the house for that.' He smiled kinder a solemn smile, and says: 'Very good. Get your helpers, an' come down to the house as soon as you can.' "Well, I kinder thought it was the easiest fifty that'd come my way since I was iu the teaming business, au' I drove up to his door whistliu* as chirky an' chipper as a lamb led to the slaughter-house. Mr. Burkina opens the door for us himself, au' leads tho way to the kitchen. There was a tre mendous big three-hundred-pouud female seowlm' somethin' frightful, an' Mr. Burkina jerks his head towards her an' whispers: 'I want you to re moye that cook. I've tried to dis charge her 'most a million times, an' if you men can only get her out of the house oncet, I'll——' "That was all I heard, 'causo the cook must 've overheard him or sus pected somethin'. Anyways, the ail got so full of pots an' pans an' coal scuttles an' stove lids au' kettles an' cooks an' hats an' feet an' lollin'-pins an' things comin' our way, thnt you couldn't breathe. The next thing I knew I was here gettin' patched up. "I'm out fifty an' my time here, hill I'm goin' to blow a couple of ceuts more iu on the job to-morrer mornin' fer a newspaper. The helpers is groauin' an' sweariu' in them cots over there, but I'm kinder curious to know what become of Mr. Burkina iu the excitement.—Alex. Eickotts, in Harper's Bazar. llritißtl Subjects ami Fleets. British commercial enterprise has splashed the maps of both hemis pheres with splotches of red, and the cockney accent has penetrated to every quarter of the globe. The Uuion Jack (lies from the Arctic to the equator, and still farther south. In 18ii7 the British Empire only included 8,329,- 000 square miles, and its population was only 168,000,000. Now there are 11,250,000 square miles, and the pop ulation is nearly 500,000,000. These figures do not include territory nomi nally belonging to Great Britain but unoccupied, or places ocoupied by troops but not declared to be actual British territory, like Egypt and tho Soudan. Great Britain protects this Empire by the largest nnvy in tho world. She maintains a lleet of thirty eight cruisers and battleships iu the Mediterranean, twolveoff the Atlantic coast of North America and in tho West Indies, nine in the East Indies, twenty-eight in Chinese waters, six teen at the Cape of Good Hope, seven on the Pacific coast of North America, twelve round Australia and four oil South America.—-Answers oT Loudon. About Capers. "About eight thousand kegs and barrels of capers, a small, sour berry resembling in color and shape a grceu pea, are annually imported into the United States from Spain and France," said a wholesale dealer in all sorts of foreign condiments iu New York City to the writer recently. "Capers grow on a bush, and are extensively used by all classes of cooks in this coun try for garnishing salnds and making a sauce which is usually served with boiled mutton and other meats. There are four sizes of caper. The smallest are commercially known as nonpareils and the three other sizes are called capucines, capotes and surfiues. The smallest capers are the most desirable and bring tho most money. Very few capers are imported iu glass. They are shipped to America in kegs and barrels holding from fifteen to forty gallons of the berries in brine or vin egar. The work of bottliugthe capers is doue by the wholesale dealer."— Washington Star. Patriotic PrußHian Plgi. A correspondent of the Deutsche Tages Zeitung utEidelstedt.in Schles wig-Holstein, gravely announces that such is the patriotism of Prussian pigs that they refuse to eat American bar ley. The latter does not differ in odor or aspect from the home-grown article which the pigs devour with avidity. The Tages Zeitung, inspired probably by the action of the discriminating swine, asks: "How long will it be be fore all American products from ham to barley will be prohibited from im portation into Germany on account of their suspicious character?"—Correa pondence New York Sun. POPULAR SCIENCE. In the savannahs of South Amer ica there grows a tree called by the natives chaparro, which not only is not injured but actually benefited by prairie fires. The thick hark resists the action of the flames, and the hard seeds are supplied with a kind of wings owing to which they arc scattered broadcast by the strong wind which accompanies a fire. Great Salt Lake is receding ou account of the excessive drain made upon it by irrigation enterprises. This lair-o is not fed by underground springs, but by the Jordan and other rivers, and when the water of these streams is intercepted for irrigation purposes the water supply of the Salt Lake is, of course, diminished so that the evaporation which is constantly going on is not made up by a new supply. In time it looks as if the lake will be only a bed of dry salt. Professor Mansfield Merriman, studying the United States census re parts aince 1850, has discovered a marked and steady increase in the length of human life iu our country during tho last half cqntury. His sta tistics, which were presented at tlia recent meeting of the Americau Asso ciation for the Advancement of Sci ence, show that iu 1850 the median age of tho cutiro population was 18.3 years, while in 1890 it had risen to 21.4 years. Iu 1900, he anticipates, it will be 22.4 years. By "median age" is meant that which divides the population equally, one half being above and the other half below the median. Professor Arrhenius, who has re oently investigated the causes of secu lar variations in the temperature at the earth's surface, thinks that they are more probably due to changes in the amount of carbonic acid in the at mosphere than to variations iu tho heat of the sun. If the amount of carbonic acid that the air now con tains wero diminished a little more than one-half, the mean temperature all over tho earth would drop nbont eight degrees, which would be suffi cient to bring on another glacial per iod. On the other hand, an increase of carbonic aeid to between two and three times its present amount would raise the meau temperature fifteen degrees and renew the hot times of the Eocene epoch. Professor Jacques Loob, of the University of Chicago, working at Wood's Holl, Mass., has succeeded in developing from the uufertilized eggs of the sea urohin, by chemical treat ment, living aud normal plutel or young sea urchins. Ho is led by fur ther experiments to believe that this can be done with all marine animals, and reasoning from this discovery and from the work ot his colleagues ho lias crime to tho couolnsion that simi lar results are possible with mamma lians. In the summary of the year's work at Wood's Holl the discovery is announced thus: "The unfertilized egg of the sea urchin contains all the essen tial elements for the production of s perfect pluteus. I cousiiler it possi ble that only the ions of. the blood prevent the parthenogenetio origin ol embryos in mammalians, and I think it not impossible thnt a transitory change in the ions of tho blood may also allow complete parthenogenesis in mammalians." Hlcli Llclit*, Love has a thousand eyes, but most of them are near-sighted. Of knowledge oven tho wisest man carries only n sample case. If a girl can't sing all she has to do is to net as if sho thought she could. A liberal education is ono that al lows girls as well as hoys to run to fires. If a sorrow gnaw your vitals bo glad it isn't moths iu your winter overcoat. We pursue happiness on tho high way, hut it is more ofleu found iu the by-paths. As au obstacle to success in life too much self-control is sometimes as had as too little. To be obviously end anxiously care ful regarding tho correct thing is not the correct thing. Second thoughts are wisest,because by the time we get thein we have re membered to hold our tongues. For a woman to worship a man is all right, but for her to let him know it is to give him her best frump. As soon as a doctor's prescription makes a woman feol better she iH sorry she wasted money getting it filled.— Chicago Record. Cut Off I lie Wrong I.eg. There is an enterprising Liverpool tailor who has never been known to acknowledge that he didn't have any thing a possible customer might ask for. One day p. customer entered the shop and asked if he had any trousers made especially for one-legged men. "Certainly," replied the merchant. "What kind do you want?" "Dress trousers," said the man. "The best you've got." Hurrying into the rear of the store, the enterprising merchant snatched np a pair of trousers and snipped ofl the right leg with a pair of scissors. Hastily turning under the edges, he presented them to the customer. "That's the kind I want. What's the price?" "One guinea." "Well, give me a pair with the left leg off." A month later the merchant was pronounced convalescent aud ou the high road to recovery.—Tit-Bits^ The Ideal Munhand. The ideal husband is tho husband who can be made to think he is hav ing his own way, without the neigh bors being made to think he is having his own way.—Detroit Journal.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers