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<llf*e For Splimtrr*.
Queensland has been not inaptly de
scribed as a paradise for spinsters. The
last census taken there showed 75,000
more single men than single n'onien,
and the efforts of the colonial govern
ment in the way of emigration are now
chiefly devoted to making up the de
ficiency. Indeed, Sir Horace Tozer,
the agent general for Queensland, may
claim to be one of the busiest matrimo
nial agents in the world, for he is send
ing out large numbers of single women
to that colony, and it is said that the
objection entertained by the working
men of Australia to free or assisted
emigration does not extend (otlie class
exported by him, so long as he is care
ful to select them young and tolerably
good looking. It is evident that the
agent and his assistants must possess
unusual powers of discrimination with
regard to picking out attractive emi
grants, for it appears that about 50
per cent, of the women marry within
two years after thelrarrival In Queens
land. When we are told that servants
are always In demand In the Austra
lian colonies, that wages average be
tween SIOO and S'JOO a year, and that
In a* probability witlTln two years do
mestic service may be exchanged for
matrimony. It is easy to understand
why Queensland has been termed "a
paradise for spinsters."
PEARLS OF THOJGHT.
Whore law ends tyranny begins.—
William Pitt.
Delay always breeds danger.—Mi
guel Do Cervantes.
I'sunlly we praise only to be praised.
—Hoeliefoueauld.
Patience is the best remedy for
every trouble. —Pla ut us.
It matters not how a man dies, but
how he lives.—Samuel Johnson.
Always act in such away as to se
cure the love of your neighbor.—Pliny.
Some people are so fond of ill luck
that they run half way to meet it.—
Douglas Jerrold.
Knowledge and timber shouldn't be
much used till they are seasoned. —
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
The winds and the waves are al
ways on the side of the ablest naviga
tors.—Edward (iihbon.
Inconsistencies of opinion arising
from changes of circumstances are
often justifiable.—Daniel Webster.
. Plot out vain pomp; check impulse;
quench appetite; keep reason under
its own control. Marcus Aurelius.
It is always right that a man should
be always able to render a reason for
the faith that is in him.—Sydney
Smith.
Dot us have faith that right makes
might; and in that faith let us dare
to do our duty as we understand it.—
Lincoln.
HAPPIEST CLASS OF PEOPLE.
Those Tlmt TCr.Joy Life Most Are Ones Whc
Have "Neither ltiches nor Poverty,"
11l writing of "The Happiest Class of
People" in the Woman's Home Com
panion, John Gilmer arrives at the fol
lowing conclusion: "I have told you
who are the unhapplest men, and now
it is my pleasant duty to speak of the
his petition, 'Give me neither riches
nor poverty.' There Is in that, as in
happiest state. Solomon indicated it in
most of tin* proverbs, both definition
and description. Neither riches nor
poverty. 1 need say little more. We
all know what the alternative is—that
middle state where the income safely
exceeds the expenditure. Then a man
can be happy—ami lie has a good
temper and a robust digestion—it does
not make much difference what goes
on around him. He is safe, and for
the time being at least his family
is secure. The best thing about this
happiest state is that it has within it
such a tremendously large class. It is
not only a man here and there that be
longs within it; the men are legions.
•In this country it embraces all of the
great middle class. And the very great
majority of them do not even know
that theirs is the happiest state; they
do not dream how well they are off.
Some of them, being wrong-headed
men, envy their richer neighbors; some
others throw away their valuable suf
ficiency in the endeavor to get riches;
some others get riches, and then are
not happy as they were before. Let
those who are in this happiest state
continue in it if tliey can, for the world
at large and the country at home lias
great need for them. They constitute
the great conservative force—the force
which prevents the democratic coun
try from going pell-mell to smash; they
represent the solid honesty which
stands midway between the madness
of a too rapid social reform and the
insatiable greed of the unscrupulous
who look upon the whole world as a
goldmine that belongs to them by
right of inheritance or purchase. Hap
py should be the land where this class
is very great; and it is greater in the
United States than anywhere else in
the world."
Cupid and RUN (now.
"Miss Florry,"said the traveler, lean
ing over- the counter of the village
shop, where ids samples were spread
out for display, and speaking to the girl
behind it in low, eager, passionate
tones, "now that old Hunks has gone
vo the front to wait on a customer, I
may tell you how I have looked for
ward for the last 30 days to the time
when I should have the happiness of
seeing you again, and hearing from
your own dear lips that you have not
forgotten me—may I not? While I have
been on my dreary rounds from town
to town, or passing the leaden hours
in waiting for trains at little railway
stations, the thought of your lovely
face has thrilled me to the heart's core.
You have been to me the beacon light
of hope, the inspiration of every—
striped goods like these, Miss Baxter,
are worth 21 shillings a dozen. I can't
make them a penny less," he said, In a
hard businesslike tone.
Old Hunks had returned to the back
part of the shop.—Tid-Bits.
Not Personally.
The Antiquarian society of Smith
ton was holding its anniversary meet
ing, an occasion of much splendor and
Importance.
A young woman who acted in the ca
pacity of society reporter for one of
the morning papers of the city, in mak
ing her rounds for the purpose of se
curing the names of those in attend
ance, approached a somewhat elderly
hut well-preserved spinster, who was
moving ir her stateliest manner amid
the throng.
"I suppose. Miss Bunhnm," the re
porter said, jotting down the name in
her note-book, "you are an Antiqua
rian V"
"I nm n member of the Antiquarian
society,"responded Hiss Bunhnra, with
great dignity, evidently having an im
pression that an "antiquarian," ob
jectively considered, was about the
same as an antiquity.
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY;
j Experiments carried on at the UnT
! Verslty ot Illinois sliow that eonl
! washing removes a considerable per
centage of the slate and ash ingredi
| eiits and 50 per cent, of the sulphur,
I rendering the coal more tit tor gas
i making and coking.
j An immense dockyard is to 1) - eon
; etructcd at Antwerp to cope with the
] exigencies of the rapidly increasing
j shipping trade of that port.
| When completed it will cover
no less than 07 acres. Tile
! scheme lias received the financial sup
j port of flu- most prominent shipping
I owners in Germany.
It has long been known that there
were iron ore deposits east of Biwa-
Idk, in the Mcsuhu Range, in Minne-
I sota, but owing to their apparent
I small size and the large deposits dis
j covered to the west, they have been
] neglected, and little prospecting lias
been done in this region of late years.
Ten or 15 years ago, however, tin- re
i jtion was carefully examined by a
| number of experts and passed by for
| apparently more promising mines.
The Minnesota correspondent of tlio
j Engineering and Mining Journal now
I reports the discovery in this region of
| an ore body a mile long and a half
j mile wide under hut 50 feet of sur
face, and that a large mining eom
. pany lias already secured an option,
i on the property.
I Workmen in steel works are oca
slonally poisoned by water-gas. of
which carbon monoxide is a large
I constituent. A treatment for such
cases has been the transfusion of
blood, and now In its place M. A. Mos
so. In the Comptos Rendu of the Paris
Academy of Science, lias suggested
that the Victim bo placed in an at
mosphere which contains oxygen at
considerable pressure. In experiments
on two monkeys, poisoned with car
bon monoxide, it was found that the
one subjected to this treatment, which
involved being placed in an atmos
phere containing oxygen at a pressure
of 30 pounds to the square inch, com
pletely recovered in half nil hour,
while the other animal, which had
been left to its own resources, died.
A sawmill run by electricity began
operations recently in Oregon and
seems to have been successful. The
electricity is generated by water
power, the water being flumed from a
small streum which runs a 50-horse
power water-wheel. In connection with
which is a dynamo to generate the
current to run the mill. Wires are
strung from the power-house to the
sawmill and are attached to the saws
and other machinery of the mill. A
feature of the electric sawmill is that
the carriage is above the log and car
ries two saws, which are so iixt-d as
to cut both ways, making two cuts at
the same time. This arrangement al
lows the saws to cut going both ways,
and obviates the necessity of having
to bring the carriage back and begin
cutting at the same end of the log
eaeli time. It is claimed that the mill
will cut any lumber or logs at one
kalf the cost of other mills.
Up to the present there have been
two general methods for operating
railroad switches from a central
tower. The most common and old
est of these is by means of manual
levers in the tower, mechanically con
nected to the track switch by a sys
tem of rods, chains, or wires. The
second system, known as the electro
pneumatic, consists of electro-mag
nets, controlled from the central tower
j operating valves which in their turn
] control the compressed air used to
change the switches and signals. Now
there comes a new system, the ••all
electric" as it has been named, which
consists simply of a small electro mo
tor at each switch whose action is
governed from the central tower. The
only connection necessary is tin- two
wires of the motor circuit. This sys
tem has recently been installed in ,
several raidroad yards in Chicago, and
is giving satisfaction. The practical
perfection of the whole apparatus,
which in theory is so simple, and es
pecially of the electric interlocking
machine In the tower, is the result of
j several years' experimental work.
Honesty Developed by Mail linxes.
"That naive trust In human honesty
that one sees here is distinctively
American," said an Englishman, point
ing to a letter box. "I would like to
j see a Continental business man lay v
packages and large envelopes on the
top of the post boxes. They would lie
taken before the glue of the stamps
was dry. There is another reason why
we can't do that at home. Our dear f
old London fogs would wipe out the
address in short order and unless the
collections were frequent the paper
would be reduced to a pulp. A dry
climate makes you Americans talk
with a dreadful nasal accent, but it
shows up your honesty."
Texas Furnishes It Flctoral Snake.
•Tim Newcomb of Caldwell, Texas, Is
! in possession of a mouse snake about
14 inches long that Is out of the usual
order. On the back of the head and
neck is a complete photograph of a
woman, showing bust and face. Iler
hair is done up in a top knot and she
has on a shirtwaist. The snake was
killed near Milano Junction and is pre
served in alcohol as a curiosity. The
image is formed on the skin by the ar
rangement of the two colors of the
snake—black nnd dingy white.—Gal
veston Dnily News.