FRtELIKI) TRIBUNE. KSTAHI.ISIIKn IBSB. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY, BY THE TRIBUNE PRINTING COMPANY, Limited OFFICE; MAIN STHKET ABOVE CENTRE, LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE. SUBSCRIPTION* KATE* FREELAND.—The TRIBUNE is delivered by j carriers to subscribers in Fi*oo}and at the rate , of l'2\& cents per month, payable every two j months, or $1.50 a year, payable in advance- The TRIBUNE may bo ordered direct form the carriers or from the office. Complaints of Irregular or tardy delivery service will re ceive prompt attention. BY MAIL —The TRIBUNE is sent to out-of town subscribers for $1.5 ) a year, payable in advance; pro rata terms for shorter periods. The date when the subscription expires is on the address label of each paper. Prompt re newals must bo made at the expiration, other wise the subscription will be discontinued. Entered at the Postofflce at Freeland. Pa* as Second-Class Matter. Make all money orders, cheeks, etc.,payable to the Tribune Printing Company, Limited. A California paper says that the men who live on the ranges are notable for their remarkable retentive memo ries. Great Britain must now begin to face a period of declining trade. Iler revenues are falling behind what was expected. Former Secretary of State Sherman Is said to have died of simple old age. In spite of an extraordinary busy car eer, with its incidental mental strain, he is said to have had no distinctly organic disease. The end was simply a general stoppage of the entire vital machinery. A traveler reports Honduras as a curious mixture of jungle and gigan tic forest, of cocoa and of rubber trees, of bugs, vampires, snakes and crocodiles—of all manner of things that creep and crawl and sting and bite. Here, in every hamlet and city, are to be found men from different lands, mostly outlaws from their own country. Chicago, Boston, New York City ajid Philadelphia all furnish their quota. England, France, Italy, and even faraway Russia have their share. How quickly the huge herds of buf falo on the American plains were swept from the face of the earth! A recent careful count by a competent person places the whole number of animals of the kind living today at e/.ly 1024. Dr. William T. Hornaday says in his book concerning the buffa lo that it would have been as easy to count the number of leaves in a forest as to calculate the number of buffaloes living at any given time during the history of the species prev ious to 1870. The tramp question in the United Btates lias been a most serious one iver since the introduction of ra.l roads. It Is estimated that no less than 10,000 are carried nightly on trains, and that 10,000 are waiting to steal a ride at the same time. One of the leading railroads has tak°n a firm stand in the matter, and lias equipped a special police force for the purpose of preventing trespassing. Some of the farmers, however, do not approve of this action, as they obtain much of their extra help in harvest times from the drifting population. There are valuable products In Al aska other than the mincruls. F, A. WaJpole, a special agent of the de partment of agriculture, lias found there an Immense growth of many kinds of woods which will make valu able timber. The principal trees lie found were two varieties of spruce, two of hemlock, and one each of pine and cedar. There is a groat deal of spruce. The pine as a rule is not of much value. It is rather small and grows in the marshes and bogs. The cedar is the most valuable wood to be found in southern Alaska. It grows in great abundance along the coast, and is called there the yellow cedar, but is known in all parts of the country as the Alaska cedar. There is some red cedar and it is very large. There is a good growth to fcr iPtind about Wrangel. The yeller*, cedar is good principally for making moth-proof boxes and such like arti cles, and is especially valuable for in terior finishing and the inatmfucture of furniture. Half-size pianos are being made !n Germany for the use of children who are learning to play. Doctors declare that much permanent iniurv is done to ihe muscles of the fingers by endeavoring to stretch an octave or more, so the r.ew pianos are made with keys half th< usual width in crdcr to prevent such in jury. A factory for liquid air is being erected at Los Angeles, Cal., for refrig erating purposes. | AN ARIZONA GHOST STORY. A strange-looking little Arizona newspaper, in a wayworn wrapper, came with my mail a few mornings ugo, and when 1 opened it, wondering why it had been sent to me and by whom, iuy eye presently fell 011 a blue penciled paragraph: "Marshal Catlip and posse got back late last evening. They had a lively chase—and there is one bad man the less. It won't cost this town anything to try him. Dive Trancliard needed a change. He was too fond of horse llesli—other people's." Probably Arizonians understood that paragraph perfectly at first sight, and it intimated even to a slow New Eng lander that "Dive Trancliard" had been sternly punished. "Dive Trancliard!" Something in the name set the chords of memory vaguely vibrating all day, and when I waked next morning, the full, fa miliar name laid come to me out of the past—Dives Trancliard! It must be he —the "queer boy" of the school where I flrst began as a teacher in Kennebec county, Maine, 20 years ago. I was then only 18 years old, and the school agent who hired me and the good minister-member of the school board who gave nie my "certificate" said that 1 might "pull through" If I could manage Dives Trancliard. In the schoolroom, Dives did not ap pear formidable at first view, but I was not long in discovering the fer tility of ids mischievous ingenuity. The wits of the average schoolmaster could not possibly keep pace with the swift trickiness in which he indulged himself. He was n somewhat sedate and dis tinguished looking youngster, with a clear-cut, refined face, and the incon sistency between his countenance and his conduct was such that I never was able to feel, during the whole time he was my pupil, that 1 quite understood him. Dives was an orphan, who, while still very young, bad been adopted by the storekeeper of the place, Mr. Mul lia 11. His father had been a very Intem perate and blasphemous man, whose dearest delight had been to rail at the Scriptures. In profane bravado he had named his three sons Judas, To phet and Dives. The two former had died of croup while very young, and Dives, or "Dive," as he was generally called, was the sole survivor of the family. Naturally, a teacher only 18 years old could not hope to assume the role of moral adviser to a youth of 17 with entire success. When I attempted it with Dives, he grinned in my face, and the effort end ed in a rough-and-tumble fight over the schoolliouso floor. In this conflict I es tablished a kind of doubtful suzer ainty over liira, and afterward main tained It with a bold front, but Ihe issue was always in some little doubt. What the outcome would have been is far from certain. I have a feeling that Dives would have been too much for me, in time, had our relations as pupil and pedagogue continued long. But they lasted only throe weeks. On the flrst day of January he ran away, In consequence of n curious prank. District Number Eleven was the only place whore I ever saw what was be lieved to be a ghost. The people there were not superstitious, but I found that many of tlicm had seen an ap parition that they could not account for. It had been seen three times the previous winter and once late in No vember, a few days before I arrived. More than 20 persons admitted that they had seen it during snow-storms, but all made light of it; the people were not ignorant, and the apparition puzzled them much more than it frightened them. The mysterious tiling, whatever it was, had always been seen at night, and seemed to be a kind of phantom on horseback, an equestrian ghost, so as to speak. It had been discerned passing at great speed, but the hoofs no noise, and it looked thin, or white, and was hardly distinguishable in out line amidst the falling snowflakes. That was about nil I could leant re garding the phantom; and as the repre sentative of education, I set myself to discountenance belief in the spectre. My theories were received with re spect the only difficulty In the way of their entire aceeptar.ee was that num bers of those who listened to me had really seen the ghost. It was a place where the people re tained many of the old customs of an cestral Puritan England, among others that "of watch-night," or watching the old year out and the new year in, on the night of December .11 st. It was announced at the meeting-house the previous Sunday that there would be a watch-night the following Saturday evening, to last half past twelve, New Year's morning. There would he sing ing and prayers, but it was not to he an exclusively religious ceremony. Conversation and even story-telling would be allowed. At the watch-night meeting there were 30 or 35 people, old and young, Including the Methodist minister, Mr. Reeves, who had been settled there bu? a few months, a very young man, with whom I had already become inti mate. lie was companionable, robust and Jolly, a youth who still enjoyed snow balling, for instance. After school, when I passed the house where he lived, he usually dashed out, fresh from liis theological studies, and we would go at a brisk trot for a mile to gether along the road to the post-office and back. The early hours of the watch-meeting passed agreeably. We had all gath- i red about the meeting-house stove, for the night was cloudy and bleak, and after the usual hymn and opening exercises, we amused ourselves by re lating our "good resolves" for the New Year. Many of these were admirable and some very humorous. Mr. Smith, the little shoemaker of the place, whose wife was very large and strong and active, rose to say, with a twinkle in his eye, that lie had sadly neglected his duty for the past twelve months, Imt had now firmly resolved to beat Mrs. Smith more frequently during the year to come, to which Mrs. Smith responded with a breezy laugh, "I'd like to see you begin!" At about 11 o'clock one of the boys, who had been to the outer door, returned to say that it was snowing fast and thick, and Indeed, we could faintly hear tlie ley Hakes driving against the window-panes. One of the young ladies was playing, on the or gan, the accompaniment to a hymn which many of the older people were singing. Young Mr. Reeves sat near me, with a quiet smile on his face, pondering, as I fancied, something which ho meant to say after the music. Sud denly I felt him start, and glanced at his face. His eyes were bent on some object, but he turned at once. "Don't look!" he whispered to mo. <4 I have seen that ghost. It is outside, looking in at the opposite window. Wait a bit, then cast your eye in that direction." I did so, and saw as distinctly as I ever saw anything, a long, white aw ful face looking in! Much to my con sternation, it moved, and appeared to nod several times. "Don't seem to notice it!" Mr. Reeves whispered. "Sit quiet a mo ment. When the profile move back from the organ, we will steal out and see what we can discover." Recovering myself In a moment I stepped quietly to the door, and a few moments later was joined by Mr. Reeves in the dark entry. We took our hats, and then, without waiting lo put on our overcoats, opened the door carefully. Snow was falling fast and drove in our faces; several inches had fallen: but we dashed out, doubled the corner of the house and hurried toward the window. A great, dim, indistinct object was standing there which appeared to melt away suddenly, with but the softest possible sound. It disappeared round the other corner of the house. With out speaking, we ran after it. We could hardly see anything on ac count of the driving snow and dark ness, yet we again discerned, dimly, the great. Indistinct object moving to ward the highway. I confess 1 felt a Rhivery sensation, for the spectral appearance made hardly an audible sound; but I dashed on, side by side with Mr. Reeves. We were good runners, and made a dash to catch the thing. In the road, a few hundred feet from the church, we came so near at one time that I reached out my hand In hope to lay hold of the apparition, but it glided away only the faster and I did not suc ceed. And now we both heard a kind of regular muffled noise, as of great feet falling softly: and these audible evi dences of physical substance stimulat ed us to continue the chase. "Run it down!" Mr. Reeves said. In a low voice, and I settled myself to keep pace with him. The snow hindered us little, hut not withstanding our efforts the effigy drew away from us. We had lost sight of it when we ran past the house of Mr. Mulhnll, the storekeeper, but in the very moment of passing, we heard the largo door of the stable creaking. This, at that hour of the night, seemed so strange that we both stopped short and turned back. Entering the yard, we approached the stable door, but found it closed. There were slight noises inside, how ever. and soon a gleamed through the crack of the door, and a lantern was lighted. To our astonishment, we now per ceived that the person inside wns Dives Trnnehnrd, clad in a white gar ment and white cap, and that he was untying what looked like snowy bags from the feet of Mulhall's old white mare. Having taken off these mufflers, Dives next proceeded to withdraw a large, white, bonnet-like structure from the mare's head. When these singular trappings were removed, he put the beast In her stall, stripped off his own white garment and cap, and made the whole outfit into a bundle. Then lie' extinguished the lantern, left the stable by a side door, and went to the house, which he entered cautiously by a door In the ren r. My first impulse had been to seize him when he came out and compel him to confess to the prank; but as he emerged from the stable, Mr. Reeves whispered. "Walt! Don't say any thing to him. Don't let him know yet we have caught him!" We therefore stood aside In the dark ness and allowed him to go to the house unmolested, and then, hastening back to the meeting-house, joined the people there. Our absence had been hardly noticed. At 8 o'clock the next morning, after Dives had gone to the school house, we called at MulhaU's store and told the astonished storekeeper what we had seen. He did not at first be lieve us, and was Inclined to resent tlie ctfarge against his foster-son. At last, when Mr. Iteeves said that ho might perhaps be convinced by be ing allowed to examine the room where Dives slept, Mulliall led the way up-stalrs. lt was a large, open room, with many old chests, boxes and cuddles, and a very brief search disclosed the bundle which we had seen Dives bring from the stable the previous evening. It contained not only his white shirt and cap and the gunny bags, with which he muffled the mare's hoofs, but a curious padded contrivance of white cloth and wire to tie on her head. Tlie front of it was drawn to repro-. sent 11 human face, with holes for the horse's eyes. It was this nodding white face which we had seen at the window. Farther search in the chamber re vealed other things; plunder of many kinds; goods and trinkets from the store; not less than 50 letters, appar ently stolen from tlie post-office; four bridles; 15 silver spoons; a bunch of articles which Dives could not have come by honestly. By this time Mulhnll. n rather simple man, was abusing his foster-son vig orously a thl f and wished to go at once with us to the sclioolhouse and denounce him. Mr. Hooves persuaded him to say nothing till evening, and wo arranged to call at the house that night and en deavor to get the truth of the matter from Dives himself. But before noon that day the youth had, in some way. learned or guessed that his thefts were discovered. He did notreturn to theschoolhouse in the a fternoou. He had run away, and I never heard of him afterward until I saw his name in the Arizona newspapers.—Youth's Companion. QUAINT AND CURIOUS. A Chinese woman's shoe Is often only three inches long. Naturally the Chinese lady does little walking, and when she does get about she leans con stantly 011 her maid. A marble statue of Apollo, with the head in a fine state of preservation, has recently been unearthed near Ath ens. Its workmanship shows that it belongs to the llfth century B. C. When a rich Chinaman is so 111 that he is likely to soon shuttle off this mortal coil, his thoughtful relatives hurry him off to an undertaker's, where he may rest his dying eyes 011 the eoflin that is to contain his bones. This is to save time and trouble. Numerous droves of cattle, each beast with smoke tinted spectacles fixed over Its eyes, are in winter seen ranging the snowcovored plains of Russia. The glare of sunlight on the snow causes blindness, hence the re sort to spectacles to protect the eye sight of the cattle as they pluck the grass which sprouts through the earth's white mantle. What Is the record price for a single flower? From Australia comes an answer to the query. A princess was president of a music exhibition on which a loss had been made. She ac cordingly organized a flower show, at which ladies of rank, including the princess, had stalls. One of her cus tomers was the wealthy ltaroness Reinelt of Trieste, who, in choosing a pink, asked: "How much may I pay for this flower?" "You, Baron ess, may in your generosity fix the limit." "How much is wanted for the music exhibition?" Forty thou sand pounds." "I will give that for the pink," said the baroness. A curious fight took place a short time ago on the south branch of the Potomac. John Fisher, of ltonmey, W. Va., caught a 40 pound turtle. Just as he landed it, the hook broke, and the turtle chased him all around the boat. The fight lasted 10 minutes, Fisher defending himself with a pad dle, when the turtle at last turned tall and flopped into the water. A ParH