IMHIIK Report Says It Will End In an lowa Wedding. A GIRL'S DAY DREAMING- An Egg With a Young Lady's Name on it Sent to Cuba—The Reply— Letters Followed Fast and Furious —A Furlough. A unique romnnee. Involving the co lonial policy of the United States, the lowa hen and a romantic and pretty girl lias Just developed In Fort Dodge, la., says the Philadelphia Press. The incident also tells the story of how trade follows the flag and how closely recent events have served to link the commerce and human interest of the Far West with the same lines in the Far Fast. Fort Dodge lias become the acknowl edged headquarters of the egg and poultry business for the West, many train loads of live and dressed poultry and hundreds of thousands of dozens of eggs being shipped annually to the Eastern mar kits. During the shipping season in the summer months large forces of girls are employed handling eggs taken from pickling vats in the A. It. Loomis egg house preparatory to shipment. One of the girls selected a large, smooth egg, and in a moment of ro mance and day dreaming wrote her name and address upon it with an In delible pencil. It was placed in case with 277 others and shipped to New York, where it found its way to the ware house of an exporter and was one of the first shipments of American eggs made to Cuba. Weeks slipped into mouths, ami the young lady forgot her romantic dreams of summer days and egg shells, but the maiden's mes sage was working out her destiny. Early in December she received a letter which bore the postmark of (initios, Cuba. On the upper right hand corner of the envelope were tlie words, "Official business." These were carefully canceled, and in the regulation place was a maroon-colored stamp. On opening It she found the following letter enclosed: " United States Signal Corps—Tele graph Office, Gulnes, Cuba. December 14, 18110. Miss Lizzie Gllay, Fort Dodge, la.: 1 am sure you had no idea iulo whose hands and to what distant lands tile egg upon which you wrote your name would go. If came to me with a lnrgc shipment from the Unit ed States, and was purclinsed by a Cuban merchant here, who, being un abl6 to read English, brought it to me for translation. 1 would be very glad to have you answer this letter, us I am curious to know the one who adopted so novel a method of corre spondence. I have n camera, and have had a snap-sliot taken of myself with the egg hi my hand. If you care for one of the pictures let me hear from you. Very truly, Charles Percy Smith, Gulnes, Cuba." This letter was promptly answered witli a request for the picture, which arrived in due time with another let ter, in which Mr. Smith'gave a more detailed personal account of himself. In tills letter Mr. Hmitli says: "1 am in the employ of the United States Signal Corps, and have charge of the otiice at tills place. I like it here very much* indeed. It is nice and healthy and the people treat you well. They think an American is u small god. Now, please answer this letter soyn, and after we become n little better acquainted I will write you a more interesting letter thau I can now." Letters followed fast, If not furious, but the communications were of such a nature that the publle Is not entitled to their contents.. Sufficient to relate that the results have been so satisfactory that a re cent letter from the Cuban isle inti mates that Mr Smith will soon secure a leave of absence from his govern mental duties, and his vacation will be spent In lowa. Sawyer's Charity Limit. The deutli of former-Senator Sawyer brings to mind a story told of liiin by a friend of his in Washington. Saw yer was a very generous giver of char ity, and of presents which neither lie nor tin- beneficiary would have cared to denominate as charity, though the gifts amounted to much the same, says the Philadelphia Bulletin, lie told ids friend one day that he was going to turn over a new lear and try to keep his donations down to a limit that would not exceed 91,000 a month. Three months after lie had announced tills resolution, ids friend asked how he laid made out. "I started out pretty well," he re plied, "and If 1 hadn't given an old friend of mine in Wisconsin who had struck hard luck SIO,OOO last month I think I should have kept within the limit!" British Colonies. Great Britain lias three general classes of colonies. Those controlled entirely by the home government are crown colonies, and their funds anil laws are managed by the administra tion, which does as it pleases. A sec ond clnss lias what is called represen tative government. In such the crown retains the veto power and controls the public officers. Those of the third clnss have responsible government. In such colonies the crown lias no con trol over any public officer except flint it appoints the governor and retains its veto on legislation. A PLAGUE OF RATS. Where Cats Are Unable to Keep the Rodents Within Bounds. In Paris there are low streets near the river, where the inhabitants are afraid to allow their children to cross the garden or the courtyard after dark, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. Tile central markets are infested to sucji an extent that rat hunting lias' been abandoned in despair. As soon as dark sets in armies of rats attack the reserve provisions, to which tliey have burrowed their way beneath the masonry. A singular detail is that the cats, which are very numerous at the mar ket, live on the best terms with the rats. They can be seen trotting about together. The city cat lias lost Its reputation in Paris. lie or she still enjoys killing the mouse, but with oilier food to hand a rat has become rather large game from the feline point of view. For this reason the Budget Commission suppressed tills year the credits for the cats kept in the store houses of the Ministry of War. The cat as an official Is now only to be found nt the Ministry of Fi nance nnd the Council of State. No decision lias yet been come to by the authorities as to liow the rnt plague is to be got rid of. though poisons with instantaneous effects, which have the additional advantage of mummifying tile body, are favorably regarded. The system, however, has the disadvant age of making poison too readily ob tainable. Dr. Thiery mentions four terriers belonging to M. Girnrd, Chief of the Municipal Laboratory, which are ex cellent rat catchers. They have cleared the cellars of the Perfecture of Police from the vermin, and have strayed along the sewers as far as Bercy, two miles from home, killing large numbers of rats on the way. M. Gtrard's favorite terrier can break instantaneously the back of a rat weighing one and one-lialf pounds. On Aeheres Plain rats estimated to be 10,000 in number have been seen nt once on two acres of ground plant ed with beet root. A NEW BRAKE. It Strikes the Ground Instead of the Wagon Rim. A novel idea in braking that is at tracting a great deal of attention re cently at least among inventors, is the application of the braking power In railway service to the rails, instead of to the wheels,, and now an Ohio man lias patented a scheme for applying the same principle to ordinary ve hicles. In his arrangement the brak ing power, or friction, is applied di rectly to the ground, through the medium of a braking shoe, the under side of which Is serrated, so as the (Ground Brake.) better to engage with the ground or pavement, as the case may lie. It is claimed that when wheels are locked with the ordinary tire applied brake shoe they slide along the ground or rail, thereby wearing out the tire In spols, producing rapid deterioration, and, therefore, requiring repeated re-' newal. In the ground applied brake the braking shoe is the only part on which the wear and tear comes, aside from the roadway, but It Is doubtful if the disadvantages of the device do not outweigh lis slight advantages. In the design here shown it is thrown into and opt of operation by a lever, which is maintained In an inoperative position by means of a spring. The instant the pressure on the handle is removed the drag springs back out of contact with the ground. Continuous Warfare in Corsica. No one knows when the first blood feud began in Corsica, or when the first brigand set up shop. Nor can any one tell when the last will put up his shutters. Even in the time of the Romans the inhabitants were too busy fighting one another to care whether a foreign garrison was left on the Island or not. But not a day goes by without several lives being sacrificed in the cause of some.vendetta, and us each life means the sacrifice in atone ment for nt least two more, there is to-day hardly one Corsican whose life is not wanted by a fellow countryman. —New i'oi'k Telegram. The Excavation of Ur. An expedition is now being formed to excavate Ur, and it will be under the direction of Dr. K. J. Bunks, who was recently United Stntes consul nt Bagdad. The work will be undertak en for the benefit of the Smithsonian Institution. Ur is half way between the ruins of Babylon nnd the Persian Gulf, says the Outlook, and is six miles south of the River Euphrates.— Chicago Record. Pa— My Bon we must never put off till to-morrow what wa can do to day. Willie—Well, then, Pa, let's finish up that mince pie.—Philadelphia Re cord. SUPPED WITH AN ARAB. UNUSUAL TREAT OF SOME AM ERICAN WOMEN IN EGYPT. No Forks, No Dishes, No Chairs, No Lights But the Moon—The Fare Good if Not Quite Comprehensible —Washed After Each Course. Egypt is a place where woman, visit ing woman, that is, has some extra perquisites. Supping In the bosom of nn Arab family is one of them. If the tourist Is on good terms with some dragoman, and Is willing to loosen her purse strings a little, she ought to manage an Invitntioii to one of these little suppers without much trouble. We went more than four hundred miles up the Nile and tasted Joy and a dozen other even more unfamiliar flavors at Luxor. We felt noue the worse for It, either, except perhaps a stiffness of the knees, none of us hav ing been brought up to it tallorwise. Luxor is a hideous Arab village, squatted on a small part of the ancient site of Thebes. The houses are roof less, rambling huts of Nile mud, with queer round turrets for the storing of grain. Most of the inhabitants are squalid and dirty. It doesn't sound inviting, and we defy contradiction when we say that It doesn't look inviting. Our drago man, whom we will call Hassan be cause that was not lits name, was about twenty years old, and could speak English. The supper was arranged to come nn a certain evening, and about (> o'clock Hassan piloted us from the ho tel through a labyrinth of lanes to his house. Hasson summoned his female relatives, consisting of quite a collec tion of sisters, sisters-in-law, and an aunt or two. The Arabs evidently think that stars were made before lamps. Later, when tlie moon climbed up and looked over the mud wall at us, we were glad that the lighting of the feast had been left to nature. Instead of bringing In the lamps which we expected Hassan brought In un immense brass tray, which he placed on folding supports. It wasn't more than two feet high, this dining table, but with considerable cracking of Joints we sat down 011 the cushions which the female relatives placed for us. One sister sat down with us, so that we were five at the table. The female relations, with the exception of the sister who ate with us, retired to the kitchen to accomplish the supper. Hassan, rid of his dusty outer garments, served the meal. First he brought napkins, and then he brought in one hand a brass bowl, in the other a brass pitcher of warm water. We held our hands in turn over the bowl and Hassan poured the water over them, after which we dried them on our napkins and wondered what would come next. What did conic was so much like what, it would have been at home that we had a bud mo ment. It was a sort of bouillon, but was served in brass cutis instead of cliinn ones. The resemblance to sou venir luncheons ended there. Hassan soon appeared with the sec ond course. It was a big bowl of rice, and was deposited in the middle of the table, while a large piece of bread was placed in front of each of us. Not be ing up in Arab etiquette, we observed a discreet inactivity. We expected plates, but were in doubt whether they would be accompanied by knives, forks or spoons. Our hostess solved our doubts by taking a handful of rice from the bowl and putting It in the hand of her next neighbor. Having Btted each of us with a sticky fistful, she took one herself, and we all fell to. Much to our relief, Hassan brought the bowl and pitcher round again lifter the rice episode, and we had a good wash and felt better. Tho female rela tives had not put in an appearance for quite a while, nnd when the next Course arrived we knew it was because they had boon too busy. Hassan brought live howls tills time, and set them down In a steaming circle before us. More discreet inactivity on our part, broken again by the hostess tak ing from one of the dishes various chicken joints and puttng them into our bands. Ry this time we had given up any foolish fancy relative to plates and knives and forks. The stuff certainly was good. There was one dish of chicken cooked some thing after the style of a fricassee. There was a dish of pigeons. There was a dish of veal fried with some thing which defied Hassan's limited vocabulary, and must, therefore, be nameless. There was a cooked vegeta ble which was something like celery, but wasn't celery. And linally there was a stew whose ingredients we fore bore to ask, for it tasted very good, and we dldn'l want to lose our appe tite for It. Everything was seasoned, well cooked, and so good that we all joined the hostess In wiping up. with pieces of bread, the hits which re mained In the bowls and eating them with final demonstrations of satisfac tion. The skill displayed by the party after the first attempt led to mutual accusations of "previous experience in "sopping." Another wash-up (which was mpcli needed) followed this joyous episode of the bowls. Then Hassan brought on a dish of dates stuffed with walnuts. This gave us another shock ii was so familiar, but we bore up and did great execution. So we said "Hood"' and "Fine!" and "Very nice"