▼ - Fp / / A Small Story. Eight small children for busy Hess— Wight t'i feed and wash and dress. Four small girls and four small boys J a one small house make 110 small noise; And so, to have them out of the way. Julie's sent thein off to the woods to play. "Don't quarrel, nor tease, nor fret, nor frown. But come hack home when tlie sun is down. Aud it' you see the chipmunk small, 1 Don't throw stones at hire—that is all; w For he's just as busy as he can be, And I know how that is, myself," said she. —Joy Allison, in St. Nicholas. f Howe of Delight for Children. Fail-mount park, Philadelphia, has a children's play house which has been open for 15 months. One thousand children have been entertained there In a single day, but .'l5O is the average number. Hoys over ten are barred. All other children are welcome. The house is fitted with swings, see-saws, wagons and tricycles for the older ones, and hammocks, baby jumpers, rocking horses and building blocks for the younger ones. For the little ones who are too young to walk a big creep, lug pad is provided. In the sand pa villion are twelve tons of white sand. For those who meet with injury a trained nurse is in attendance to ad minister consolation and 111 ci ssary treatment. The institution was bequeathed by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Smith. A Sui prlm tl Cot. Several days ago five Or six sparrows were pecking away iu the gutter im mediately in front of an engine-house, when a cat crept across the street and pounced upon one of them. Instantly the victim's companion sent up a war cry, which was as instantly answered. From the housetop and tree the spar rows flocked to the scene. With whir ring. hissing cries of noisy rage, they fearlessly attacked the offender. For about 30 seconds the dazed cat en dured the blows from perhaps a hun dred beaks and twice as many beating wings. Then, still holding her prey, she struggled away from the infuria ted birds, and ran into the engine house. The plucky little fellows fol lowed her inside, but soon gave up the chase, leaving her with her dearly f bought dinner, a sadder but a wiser cat. England's First Parliament. January 20 is memorable in English history as the date of the first meeting of the first parliament, an assembly which corresponds to the national con gress of the United States. This great English reform took place In the year 1205, in Westminster hall, which still is in existence. This first of British national legislative bodies in which the common people were represented consisted of two knights, or noblemen, from each county and two citizens from each borough or township. The election and service of the citizens representing the common people (*; ■distinguished from the nobles) in this parliament was the first clear admis sion by the government that the citi zens had a right to take part in making the lawsand managing the affairs of the country. Thus we see that hundreds ■of years before the birth of the United States t lie principles on which our republic was founded were recognized and put into partial operation in (.rent Britain. Strange Discoveries In Africa. The problem of how the apple got Into the dumpling sinks into insignifi cance beside that of the jellyfish, the crustaceans and Lake Tanganyika; but J. E. S. Moore, who recently returned from Central Africa, believes he has •discovered how the fish from the sea got into the lake in the middle of the c^-tiiient. Mr. Moore Is one of the young men at the Royal College of Science. South Kensington. He was leader of an ex pedition largely subsidized by the Roy al Geographical society, and after a year's march of over 2000 miles, from the Zambesi to Uganda, lie has come back with hundreds of specimens and vjcveral important additions to the knowledge of Central Africa. He has encountered cannibals, vol canoes and glaciers and scaled an Ice clad peak called "Sitehwi," in the Ru wenzori mountains, or Mountains of the Moon, at a height of about 16,500 feet. The mountain took ten days to climb. The peaks of the range are covered with ice to a depth of hun dreds of feet, for the snow melts in the day and freezes at night. Mr. Moore and the 20 Ujiji boys who accompanied him lived on goats dur ing the ascent and descent, driving the goafs and killing them when food was wanted. The Ujiji boys were so struck with the phenomenon of ice that they tried to carry bits down to Ujiji. The tropical sun nearly boiled the ice on the way. ! Between Tanganyika and Lake Al bert Edward is a lake called Kivu. The best atlas published gives it as about one-tenth the size of Albert Ed ward. Mr. Moore, who was accom panied by Mah om Fergusson, geologist and geographer, found that Kivu is larger than Albert Edward. The north end of Tanganyika was found to be miles westward of its ascribed posi tion. it was between this lake and Kivu hat the cannibals were met They are tall, llglit-rolored men, more like 'rftVCrPIPTV 111? VI? ITVPV Arabs tlian negroes, and are born wilQUttlX id UX XiiAiMjrj. t helves. Tliey gave much trouble and killed two or three bearers, but Mr. Moore; Dover had to light them out right The primary object of the expedition was to dredge and sound the lakes with reference to the marine forms which Mr. Moore found there four years ago. The question was whether the jellyfish and crustaceans origi nally got into Tanganyika byway of the Nile or the Congo. Having deter mined that these marine species are to be found in none of the lakes north of Tanganyika, Mr. Moore believes that Tanganyika was once joined to the sea byway of a great basin In the Congo State. When Tanganyika was left high, If not dry, in the center of Africa, the jellyfish and crustaceans of the sea remained behind and their descendants are flourishing today. They have been there many thousands of years, for fossils they resemble are to be found IK JW the chalk level. Insects In Winter, A little boy once asked his father if the house flies went South for the winter, like tlie birds; and then his father told him a long story about different insects and what became of tlicm during the cold months. He told the boy that when autumn comes the death knell of millions of files has sounded. They do not pre pare for winter as many other insects do. The majority die, and their little bodies are blown away by the passing breeze. A few hardy tlies will linger in cracks in the walls, creep under the door frames or into crevices in the woodwork, and some naturalists be lieve that these few lingering flies are the parents of the multitude that ap pear in the warm days of June, for they lay thousands of eggs. Katydids, grasshoppers, crickets and beetles are killed by the frost, and the eggs which they hide in the ground or conceal in the bark of trees fur nish the supply for the next year. These hatch out In the warm days of spring. Beetles exhibit a wonderful instinct in caring for their eggs during winter. Among some species the eggs are rolled in balls of material suitable for food, and then the balls are packed away in a nest until the Infant beetle wakes up and eats its way out. Then there are the "sexton" beetles, which deposit their eggs in the bodies of dead birds or field mice, after which they set to work and perform the proper rites of burial, heaping the earth upon the body of the dead. The young beetle, when hatched from the egg. finds a store of food awaiting its arrival in the world. It is said that the spiders store away no food supply in winter quarters. Quantities of eggs are laid and care fully sheltered in velvety cobweb sacks that defy the weather. These sacks may be found swinging by silken ropes from the golden rod and milkweed, and hidden away in crevices and corners of board fences and stone walls. The little spiders creep from their cosey sleeping bags which the wise mother has provided for them, and if they Uscape their cannibal brothers and sisters they enter at once 011 a career of trapping and hunting. Bees and wasps lay up stores for the winter, the wasps not as carefully as tin? bN-s, but in the centre of the cone shaped nest of the paper making wasps may be found goodly stores of honey. r l he thrifty ant deserves much sym pathy. in that it Is a dainty morsel for spiders, beetles, crickets and other in sect hunters. A few ants may sur vive and feed 011 accumulated stores during the winter, but it Is chiefly the eggs and cocoons hidden away in the secure underground chambers of the ant hill that furnish the ant popula tion of the following summer. The ant's enre of its young, the mAiingcmaut of its slaves, and the tiny insect cows which they capture and from which the honeydew is milked, all would furnish a tale as interesting as the customs of any wandering tribe of the desert or any lost nation of darkest Africa.—New York Tribune. Curlo.lt(e. in London. Country things which flourish in London have been receiving a good deal of attention of late. At the pros cat time there may he seen a number of fine hunches of fast-ripening black grapes 011 the south wall of the Hos- I pital for Incurable Children, at Chel sea. No doubt the poor mites within will he enjoying them before long. In a garden at the King's road end of Flood street. Chelsea, there is a mulberry tree which lias this year borne a line crop of fruit. It was picked during the present month. Mul berries arc not always to he obtained in London, and they are expensive. 1 ids, by the way, iias been n good year i for mnlb rries in various parts of the country, j hey have been allowed to fall from the trees and rot. on the ground in some places. I he reed harvest is a small matter, but not one to be altogether overlooked in districts where this tall, handsome plant flourishes. The mowers are now among the reeds, which go down he fore the old fashioned scythe. They arc bound up In sheaves like the com and when dry stacked and used as ib y are required for thatching purposes.- London Express. In the remote parts of Scotland the old Covenanters' love for long ser vices on the hare hillsides still lingers. At Dingwall a recent communion ser vice in the open air lusted fiom 10 a. m. until 4 p. m. MILITARY SYSTEM IS STRICT AND NO MAN ESCAPES. A Youth Ia No Sooner Itorn Thun the Army OlliciulM lluve Tlioir Eye* on Him —"Drawini; Ilia Nuinber" 1m hii Intr t'Htinj; Oocuhlou—Hiit teiillle (In lioute. Tlie French boy is no sooner born than the military authorities have their eyes on him, says a writer in the Pall Mall Gazette. Within three days after his entry into the world his par ents are bound under severe penalties to register his birth at the local muirle, or town hall. This formality accom plished the youngster at once receives the visit of the doctor attached to the register office. The medecln do l'etat civil, as this functionary is termed, verities the declaration made by the parents and satisfies himself that the infant is indeed a man in miniature. This precaution is necessary as the father and mother, were they left en tirely to their own devices, might be tempted to palm off their boy as a girl, with a view to enabling him to escape his military service. The existence of the youngster hav ing thus been duly placed on record, lie is allowed to run loose for a score of years. If lie chooses to, he can shorten this period of liberty by volun tarily enlisting before his time, provid ing, of course, his physique passes muster. The marine infantry, a corps that sees a good deal of actual fight ing in the colonies, recruits a number of adventurous spirits in this way, and not a few of the young men who pro pose to adopt the army as their career improve their prospects by making an early start. As soon as his twentieth birthday Is passed lie begins to have a keen eye 011 the official posters dis played 011 the walls of the town hall, the schools and other public buildings. These posters are white, like all other official posters in France, but they are of exceptional size, while, that there may be 110 possibility of their escaping notice among their many miscellane ous fellows, they compel attention by a most apparent distinctive sign, con sisting of two tricolor flogs placed crosswnys above the reading matter and printed in colors. One of these military posters details the arrange ments for the departure of the class, or annual contingent, and from it the conscript learns the date of his incor poration and other items of informa tion. In the course of his twentieth year he should give his address to the near est recruiting office, and see that the mayor of his district has put down his name among the conscripts of the com ing class. The mayor, however, is bound to see that his name is on the list, whether he concerns himself with his Inscription or not. It should be said that the conscript I draws his number in the January that follows the completion of his twentieth year. In consequence, a conscript born in December lias only just turned 20 when the army claims him, whereas, a conscript whose birth is in January is 21 at the time of the tirage au sort. The only use at present of the drawing or numbers is that when there is a deficiency of men for the marine in fantry the vacancies are filled up from among the conscripts who have drawn the numbers one, two or three. I' or the next six months or so the conscript Is left to himself, but toward the middle of the year he makes ac quaintance in earnest with the mili tary authorities. The occasion is the Bitting of the councils of revision, the bodies that definitely decide the fate of the conscripts. The council of revi sion is composed of two civil function aries, of a superior officer and of an army doctor, and it has the assistance of a member of the recruiting staff and of several gendarmes. A council sits in the chief town of every cauton. The mayors of the different localities comprised in the district are allowed to be present at its operations, with a view to safeguarding the interests of the sons of their electors. The con script is expected to present himself before the council, but should he ab stain from putting in an appearance he does not incur a penalty. lie loses the right, however, should be remain away, to benefit by certain dispensa tions which will shortly he explained, and lie is purely and simply taken as It soldier without more ado—he is taken d'offiee, it is technically said. In tile case of (lie conscripts who come up before it—and they are the vast ma jority tin* council decides their mili tary service, and pronounces on the admissibility of the claims they may put in to be dispensed from the full term of service, to serve one year in stead of three. The question of physi cal fitness is settled, of course, by a medical examination. I The privilege of only serving one j year is accorded in the first place to | certain classes of young men whose family circumstances are exceptional. I bus tlie oldest son or only son of a widow, tlie eldest son of a family of orphans, tin- eldest son of a family of seven or more children, and the cider of two brothers who happen to be con scripts in tlie same year are entitled to n dispensation. The dispensation is also grantc d to young men whose earn ings are proved to be Indispensable to the support of the family, ami to tic brothers of soldiers who have died or been definitely invalided while on act ive service. By far the largest class, however, of single year soldiers is fur nished by the learned professions. Tlie young men who are studying to lie barristers, doctors, professors and en gineers, or for certain other careers, have to serve but one year. This concession Is conditional on their passing their examination*: should they fail in them they must return to the army and complete their three years. The number of dispensee from all causes is very considerable, some 70,000 out of the 250,0*10 or so con scripts who form the annual con- tiugent The council of revision takes note of the conscript's trade,, occupation, or profession, this matter and, so far as his physique allows, his own wishes being taken into consideration in as signing liiiu to tliis or that branch of the service. The hi burs of the council over, the results are sifted and classi fled at the war otii.ee and the destina tion of each conscript settled. lie learns liis fate by the receipt of his feullle de route, or marching orders, ail official intimation commanding him to join the corps to which he has been attached on a given day. If he is penniless, his third-class railway fare is given him by the mayor of his district; should he be able to meet this expense, the sum is refunded liiin on liis joining his regiment. Failure to comply with the instructions con tained in this feullle de route is ac counted an act of insubordination and exposes the insoumis to severe penal ties. The incorporation of the classes takes place, as a rule, in November. The conscript has become a bleu, and is entitled t:o the munificent pay of a cent per day. DYKE MAKING IN HOLLAND, Where n Half Inch of Water Is lletweon the Country and Destruction. Few people have any definite under standing of tlie constant wrestling and struggling that is carried on in Hol land with the waters of the sea and rivers. These are the com in on enemy of the people, who are in hourly peril of their lives and property In conse quence. How serious Is the position of Hol land is fully demonstrated by the pop ular saying that the safety of the country may be jeopardized by only half an inch of water. The truth of the saying is accepted by all, and we cannot help admiring the people, who, notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, go about their daily occu pations with perfect coolness. Nature, as though conscious that she had acted unkindly by placing so much of the country below the water level, endeavors to assist the inhabitants to keep out the waters. The lirst work of dyke making is often performed by her; layers of sand and clay are thrown up on the banks and the peo ple take advantage of these embryo embankments. They assist the forma tiou by putting mats of willow on the deposits to strengthen them and bind the earth substances, and later they drive piles at the back, and so in time form the high dykes which prevent overflows. For something like 500 years the people have been fighting the waters and reclaiming the land; but even when they have snatched a tract of territory from the water the light is not done. The work of draining these polders or lowlands must go on inces santly or the efforts of the past would be quickly nullified. The greatest work of the kind was the draining of the Haarlemer meer, or Haarlem lake, the result of which was an addition of 41,675 acres to Hol land. A canal was dug encircling the Haarlem lake and a dyke was built on tiie inner side; then engines were planted to pump the water out of the lake. It took four years to complete the work; 80,000,000 tons of water were pumped out and the cost was $20,000,000. The ground was then in tersected by canals for drainage pur poses and in two years the land was being cultivated. Rut tile people In Holland have in view an undertaking which puts that of the Haarlem lake entirely in the shade. This Is nothing less than the draining of the Zuyder Zee, which has an area of 18(15 square miles. The in itial stage or this undertaking would be the construction of an embankment from mainland to mainland; it would be 35 miles long and 21(1 feet wide. It would take 10 years to build this em bankment, which would serve as a road for railway and general traffic. The work of draining and reclaiming the land would take 10 years and the total cost of the undertaking would be $750,000,000. Cruelty of tlie I>enf. Deaf children as a class are generally believed to be especially cruel to their mates and to the lower animals. Pro fessor G. Stantley Hall suggests in a recent article that this apparent cruelty may be in part accounted for by the fact that they cannot hear the cries of pain, and hence do not really understand the amount of suffering which they are causing. He points out that Aristotle in his Rhetoric develops the theory that the sight and sound of others in palp call to mind or to the imagination a copy of the suffer ings tlie spectator would experience under similar circumstances. .So that our Idea of Buffering in a given case may lie said to be gauged by the amount of pain that would make us look and cry out as (lie suf ferer does. The deaf individual's sen sitiveness to suffering, in other words, his pity, would be thus naturally ! much curtailed by the entire absence j of the Important senses in producing ' this emotion.—New York Times. The Increase „r city l'op„i, lt i„„. It isn't so much a 'tendency io | ban life" that moves men town ward as it is the tendency to get away from 1 the kind of work that induces per- j spiration.—Charleston News and Cou rier. NWIMRRAN IIIIMI I mi IIH IBIHI BMIIBI I iniiw 1111181 MI IMUM A Bloody History China's Recard far the Pdst tarty Years. . . . The pages of modern Chinese his tory are stained with blood —the blood of helpless and defenseless men and women. Since the days when foreign ers first went to the far cast, but es pecially during the last forty years, there has been a constant succession of brutal murders—murders usually brought about solely by the passion ate hatred of the yellow man for the white. One of the most characteristic of these was the Ku Cheng massacre on August 1, 1895. The Church Mis sionary society has a very successful enterprise in that city. There were many converts, and no one dreamed of any danger. Five women mission aries lived in one house on the hills be yond the city during the summer heat and close to them lived Mr. Stewart, early in the morning three of his the missionary in charge, his wife and five children. August 1 was the birthday of one of the children, so brothers and sisters got up and went out on the hill 3 to gather flowers. Hearing horns and drums, they ran to look at the procession. One China man seized the oldest girl by the hair and beat her. She tore from him and made for home, to find the house occupied by the mob. She caught a glimpse of her father making for her mother's rooms, and then no more was seen of either of them. Seeing the house burning, she got her little brothers and sisters and dragged them off. The baby she pulled from under the body of its dead nurse. Her two brothers and her little sister were all wounded. An American missionary, hearing the riot, rushed up to help, but he was too late. In the brief time nine had been murdered, and two of the children soon died. The story of the death of these brave girls, one of whom, Miss Marshall, was the daugh ter of a Blackheath vicar, went with a The... They Are Not a , Little Bit Like Cowpunchers cowboys... There is a distinction and a wide difference in the terms eowbody and cowpuneher, although by most per sons each is accepted as a synonym for the other. As a matter of fact, no more grievous affront could be of fered a cowboy than to eajl him a cow punchers out on the cattle ranges not even Ignorance would serve to excuse such a mistake. To the minds of cat tlemen the term cowpuneher carries opprobrium, while everywhere that of cowboy has been lifted into respect able prominence by the courage, dash, goodfellowship and hospitality of these Centaurs of the plains. The difference, however, has not been clear to orators and literary lights. Even so well-informed a writer as Colonel Henry Watterson has failed to dis cover It, for only recently he applied the opprobrious epithet to Governor Roosevelt while giving expression to his high opinion of the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency. Said Colonel Watterson: "Youthful, well balanced; a gentleman, a cow puncher, a man of letters, a man of action, a clear-headed politician, a dashing soldier, he has the respect of those to whom ability, both mental and physical, appeals, and he has the admiration of those whom accomplish ment, whether in the lead of politics, arms, or literature, impresses." Of course, he meant to say cowboy, for, while Mr. Roosevelt had some experi ence on the cattle ranges, he was never a cowpuneher. In the early seventies, when cattle were driven "up the 'trails" to northern markets, the cow SUPPLY OF Kr A r< IVORY, Nowadays, The elephant is no longer the only animal which can produce ivory, ac cording to the official decision of the United States general appraisers, says the Baltimore Sun. Ivory dealers and those who work in the material have known this for a long time, but the makers of the tariff do not seem to have been so well posted. Testimony from ivory dealers was introduced at the investigation to show that the tusks of the hippopotamus furnish just as good ivory as do any of the 25 dif ferent varieties of elephants and must pay the ivory tariff rate of 35 per cent ad valorem. It was also shown that the boar, narwhal, right whale and al ligators were producers of ivory. Even the western hog gives up many an Ivory tusk to the butchers in Chicago packing houses. '1 his does not mean that there is no difference between el ephant ivory and hippopotamus ivory Ivory workers who understand their vocation can distinguish a difference even between the various kinds of ele phant ivory before It has been pol ished and worked over. Hippopotamus ivory answers every mercantile purpo-e as far as it goes. That it is not con sidered as valuable as elephant ivory Is due to the fact that it can be used j for smaller articles. The hippopotamus ! teeth received in this market weigh from one-half a pound to three or four ■ thrill of horror through the land. Why were they murdered? A proclamation had been issued among the people as follows: "Notice is hereby given that at the present time 'foreign barbari ans' are hiring evil characters to kid nap small children, that they may ex tract oil from them for use. I have a female servant named Li who has personally seen this done. I exhort you, good people, not to allow your children to go out. I hope you will act in accordance with this." The mob did act on it. The experience of Lord Loch and his companions in 1857 present a tale of horror rarely equaled. On June 21, 1870, came the infamous Tientsin massacre. The French Cath olic missionaries and Sisters of Mercy had established a mission in Tientsin, and one of their agencies was an or phan home. A report got about among the natives that the sisters were kill ing the children to use their hearts and eyes in the manufacture of somo medical specific much sought after in Europe. Every one saw that a storm was coming, and the French consul was urged to take such steps as would show the slander to be false. But the consul thought such a request a slur on his dignity % and refused to listen to it. The consul paid for his dignity with his life. No one fully knows what happened, for every European on the spot was done to death. The defense less sisters were butchered after name less barbarities, and the French cathedral and orphanage were set on fire. Twenty foreigners, including a Russian and his young bride, who were mistaken for French, were slain. For the moment it seemed that a gen eral uprising, such as that of the pres ent hour, must follow. But in the end the Chinese authorities subdued the uprising and executed a score of rioters. puncher was unknown. He sprang into existence with the shipping of lire cuttle t. crat- ears over .he rail roads. He was not a cowboy—never had been. He was simply a nomad, with a desire to get from one point to another without expense and as easily ns might he. Experience made it clear to eaiiie shippers that in der to deliver cattle on the hoof by crate car it was necessary to keep them on the hoof all through the journey. It was found that when fa tigue induced the cattle in the cars to lie down more often than not they were trampled to death before they could get up. So the cowpuncher then and there acquired an identity. To keep Cattle from lying down In the cais shippers hit upon the Idea of sending out with each cattle train a crew of men armed with long poles, whose duty it would be to travel ovej the cars and "punch up" all cattle that were down. These crew 3 were recruited from the riff-raff of human ity usually to be found about big stockyards, and only the foreman of each crew could call his employment permanent. This was, and is today, the duty of a cowpuncher. The cow boy is self-respecting, and he has a pride in his calling that Is real. Ho condemns the cowpuncher—speaks of him as "poor white trash." And ha has just one opinion of the fellow who classes him with the men who ride crate cars instead of cayuses and swing long poles instead of riatas. That same opinion would not look well expressed In cold type. ■' I pounds. The elephant tusks range in - j weight from 100 to 250 pounds. Nar . , whal tusks range in weight from five i t° 25 pounds. When manufactured I into small articles the hippopotamus . ; ivory brings just as much as any other | kind. As far as that goes, however, j the tusks of the American hog bring j more than does any kind of ivory if , weight alone is considered. If they . | were sold at the regular ivory rate of i I $1 a pound they would bring over four : j cents each. They are sold by the piece i and average 25 cents each. The pig • teeth arc hollow, but will take a very : high polish and can he used in many ; I ways. It is said that 20 per cent of I I ho hogs killed produce valuable tusks. The long, thin, yellow tusk of the nar ; whal docs not bring n udy as much j today as it did 150 yearn a vo. This is j due to the passing of su ; rstitious j Ideas regarding this ivory producer of | the sea. A century ago people be i Hi" ed that the walrus was connected j with the fabulous unicorn, and the j horn or tusk was supposed to possess many magical virtues. For Instance, it : was regarded as an antidote for ail ! poisons, and kings kept a. horn in their dining rooms, believing that it wouUl warn them if their food had been poi soned. The tusks were worth thou sands of dollars in those times, but the whalers and hunters of the north are glad to soil them today for {75.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers