A Small Story.
Eiuht small children for busy Bess —
Eight to l' "d and wash and dress.
Four small girls and four small hoys
In 0110 small house make no small noise;
And MI, to have them out of the way.
lShc% sen,t tliem off to the woods to play.
"Don't quarrel, nor tease, nor fret, nor
frown.
But eotne back home when the sun is i
down.
And if you see the chipmunk small,
Don't throw stones at him—that, is all;
For he's just as busy ns he cnii he.
And I know how that is, myself," said
she.
—Joy Allison, in St. Nicholas.
House of Delight for Children.
Fairmount park, Philadelphia, has
a children's play house which lias been
open for 15 months. One thousand
children have been entertained there
In a single day, but 350 is the average
number. Boys 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
wlio are too young to walk a big creep
ing pad is provided. In the sand pa
vlllion are twelve tons of white sand.
For those who meet with injury a
trained nurse is in attendance to ad
minister consolation and nec •>. ary
treatment.
The institution was bequeathed by
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Smith.
A SitrprlHPcl Cat.
Several days ago live or six sparrows
were pecking away in 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 IK r inside, but soon gave up the
chase, leaving her with her dearly
bought dinner, a sadder but a wiser
cat.
England*! 4Pirat Parliament.
January 120 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
12(55, in Westminster ball, 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 (4*;
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
thelawsand managing the affairs of the
country. Tlius we see that hundreds
of years before the birth of the United
States tlie principles on which our
republic was founded were recognized
and put into partial operation in Great
Britain.
Strange DincTerie In Africa.
Till l problem of liow the apple got
Into the dumpling sinks into insignifi
cance beside that of the jellyfish, the
crustaceans and Lake Tanganyika; but
J. K. s. Moore, who recently returned
from Central Africa, believes ho has
discovered how the iish from the sea
got into the lake in the middle of the
c >• uncut.
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 Itoy
nl Geographical society, and after a
year's march of over 2000 miles, from
the Zambesi to Uganda, he has come
back with hundreds of specimens and
several Important additions to tlio
knowledge of Central Africa.
He has encountered cannibals, vol
canoes and glaciers and scaled an lee
, clad peak called "Sltchwl," in the Rll
- wenzori mountains, or Mountains of
tlie Moon, at a height of about 1(1,500
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 tlie snow melts in
tlie day and freezes nt night.
Mr. Moore and the 20 t'Jijl boys who
accompanied hint lived 011 goats dur
ing the ascent and descent, driving the
goats and killing them when food was
wanted. The T'JiJi boys were so struck
with the phenomenon of ico that they
tried to carry lilts down to Ujlji. 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-tentli the size of Albert Ed
ward. Mr. Moore, wlio was accom
panied by Malcom Fergusson, geologist
and geographer, found that Kivu i
larger than Albert Edward. The north
cud of Tanganyika was found to be 50
j miles westward of its ascribed posi
tion.
It was between tills lake and Kivu
hat the cannibals were met They
are tall, light-colored men, more like
Arabs than negroes, and are born
theives. They gave much trouble and
killed two or three bearers, but Mr.
Moore never had to fight them out
right.
The primary object of the expedition
was to dredge and sound the lakis |
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 j
mined that these marine species are I
to be found in none of the lakes north j
of Tanganyika, Mr. Moore believes
that Tanganyika was once joined to j
the sea byway of a great basin in j
the Congo State.
When Tanganyika was left high, if ,
not dry, in the center of Africa, the j
jellyfish and crustaceans of the sea |
remained behind and their descendants
are flourishing today. They have been j
there many thousands of years, for j
fossils they resemble are to be found i
b< .JW the chalk level.
liißrctß in Winter,
A little boy once asked his father if 1
the house Hies went South for the !
winter, like the birds; and then his j
father told him a long story about
different insects and what became of j
them during the cold months.
He told the boy that when autumn I
comes the death knell of millions of j
flies has sounded. They do not pre- 1
pare for winter as many other insects j
do. The majority die, and their little !
bodies pre blown away by the passing j
breeze. A few hardy flies will linger |
in cracks in the walls, creep under j
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 fo"
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" booties,
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 thai 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 goldenrod 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
lias provided for them, and if they
tiscape their cannibal brothers and
sisters they enter at once on a career
of trapping and hunting.
Bees and wasps lay up stores for
the winter, the wasps not as carefully
as the bees, but in the centre of the
cone shaped nest of the paper making
wasps may b; found goodly stores of
honey.
The 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 on 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 care of its young, the
management of its slaves, and the tiny
insect cows which they capture and
from which the honevdew 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.
f urio>lties in I onlon.
Country things which flourish in
London have been receiving a good
deal of attention of late. At the pres
ent time there may be seen a number
of fine bunches of fast-ripening black
grapes 011 the south wall of the Hos
pital for Incurable Children, at Chel
sea. No doubt the poor mites within
will be enjoying them before long.
In a garden at the King's road end
of Flood street, Chelsea, there is a
mulberry tree which has this year
borne a fine crop of fruit. It was
picked during the present month. Mul
berries are not always to be obtained
in London, and they are expensive.
This, by tlie way, has been a good year
for inuib wries in various parts of the
country. They have been allowed to
fall from the trees and rot. on the
ground In some places.
The 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 be
fore (he old fashioned scythe. They
are hound up in sheaves like the corn,
and when dry stacked and used as they
are required for thatching purposes.—
London Express.
In the remote parts of Scotland the
old Covenantors' love for long tier
vices on the bare hillsides still lingers.
At Dingwall a recent communion ser
vice In the open air lasted fiom 10
a. m. until 4 p. in.
CONSCRIPTS OF FRANCE.
MILITARY SYSTEM IS STRICT AND
NO MAN ESCAPES.
A Youth I* No Sooner Horn Than the
A liny OllifiaU Have Their Hynit on lliiu
—"hiHWlng His Xuuibi-r" 1m an Inter
esting Oecusion—llls l viiiile tie Itoute.
The French boy is no sooner born
than the military authorities have
their eyes on him, says a writer in the
Pull .Mall Gazette. Within three days
after his entry into the world ids par
ents are bound under severe penalties
to register ins birth at the local mairie,
or town hall. This formality accom
plished the youngster at once receives
the visit of the doctor attached to the
register ollice. The medeein de l'ctat
civil, as tliis functionary is termed,
verifies 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 011 record,
he is allowed to run loose for a score
of years. If he chooses to, he can
shorten tlds 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 I in* army as their career
improve their prospects by making an
early start. As soon as his twentieth
birthday is passed he begins to have
a keen eye on 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 flags placed
crossways 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 tlie
mayor of his district has put down his
name among the conscripts of the coin
ing class. The mayor, however, is
bound to see that liis name is 011 the
list, whether lie concerns himself with
his inscription or not.
It should be said that the conscript
draws his number In tbe January that
follows the completion of his twentieth
year. 111 consequence, a conscript born
in December lias only just turned 20
when the army claims him, whereas,
a conscript whose liirth is 111 January
is 21 at the time of tlie tirage au sort,
Tlio only use at present of the drawing
or numbers is that when there is a
deficiency of men for tlie marine in
fantry tlie vacancies are filled up
from among the conscripts who have
drawn the numbers one, two or three.
For the next six months or so the
conscript is left to himself, hut toward
tlie 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, tlio
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 tlie recruiting staff
and of several gendarmes. A council
sits in tlie chief town of every canton.
The mayors of tlie 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. Tlie eon
script is expected to present himself
before the council, but should he ab
stain from putting in 1111 appearance
lie does not incur a penalty. lie loses
the right, however, should be remain
away, to benefit by certain dispensa
tions which wfil shortly be explained,
and ho is purely and simply taken as
a soldier without more ndo—lie is
taken d'offlce, it is technically said. In
| the case of the conscripts who come up
1 before it—and they are the vast 111a
! jority—the council decides their mill
| tary service, and pronounces on tlio
admissibility of the claims they may
put in to he 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, liy a
medical examination.
The privilege of only serving one
year is accorded in the first place to
certain classes of young men whose
family circumstances are exceptional.
Tims tile oldest son or only son of a
widow. Hie eldest son of a family of
orphans, the ( blest son of a family of
seven or more children, and the elder
of two brothers who happen to he eon
scripts In the same year are entitled
to a dispensation. The dispensation is
also granted to young men whose earn
ings are proved to lie indispensable to
the support of the family, and to the
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. The
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 011 their
passing their examinations; should
they fall in them they must return to
the army and complete their three
years. The number of dlspensec from
all causes is very considerable, some
70,000 out of the 250,000 or so con
scripts who form the annual con
tingent.
The council of revision takes note of
tlio conscript's trade, occupation, or
profession, this matter and, so far as
his physique allows, ins own wishes
being taken into consideration in as
signing Idm to this or that branch of
tlie service. The labors of the council
over, the results are sifted and classi
fied at the war oifiee and the destina
tion of each conscript settled. He
learns his fate by the receipt of his
feuille do route, or marching orders,
an 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 him 011
his joining his regiment. Failure to
comply with the instructions con
tained in this feuille de route is ac
counted ail act of insubordination and
exposes the iusoumis to severe penal
ties. Tlie incorporation of the classes
takes place, as a rule, in November.
The conscript lias become a bleu, and
is entitled to tbe munificent pay of a
cent per day.
DYKE MAKING IN HOLLAND.
Where it Half Jncli or Water la lletwooa I
the Country ami Destruction.
Few people have any definite under
standing of tlie constant wrestling and I
struggling that is carried on in Hol
land with the waters of tlie sea and
rivers. These are tlie common enemy
of the people, who are in hourly peril
of their lives and property in conse
quence.
llow serious is the position of Hol
land is fully demonstrated by tbe 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 tlie waters. The first work
of dyke making is often performed
by her; layers of sand and elay are
thrown up on the banks and the peo
ple take advantage of these embryo
embankments. They assist the forma
tion by putting mats of willow 011 the
deposits to strengthen them niul himl
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 lighting tlie waters
and reclaiming the land; but even
when they have snatched a tract of
territory from the water the fight is
not done. The work of draining these
polders or lowlands must go on inces
santly or the efforts of the past would
he quickly nullified.
Tlio greatest work of ilic kind was
the draining of the Hnarlcmer meer,
or Haarlem lake, the result of which
was an addition of 41,075 acres to Hol
land. A canal was dug encircling tlie
Haarlem lake and a dyke was built 011
the 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 liy canals for drainage pur
poses and in two years the land was
being cultivated.
But the people in Holland have in
view an undertaking which puts that
of the Haarlem lake entirely in tlio
shade. This is nothing less than the
draining of the Znydcr Zee, which has
an area of 1805 square miles. The in
itial stage of this undertaking would
lie the construction of an embankment
from mainland to mainland; it would
be 35 miles long and 210 feet wide. It
would take 10 years to build this em
bankment, which would serve as n
road for railway and general traffic.
The work of draining and reclaiming
the land would take 40 years and the
total cost of the undertaking would he
$750,000,1X10.
Cruelty of tlio Deal*.
Deaf children as a class are generally
believed to he especially cruel to their
mates and to tlie lower animals. Pro
fessor G. Stantley Hull suggests in
a recent article that this apparent
cruelty may he in part accounted for
by the fact that they cannot hear the
erics of pain, and hence do not really
understand the amount of suffering
which they are causing. He points out
that Aristotle in his Ithetorlc develops
the theory that the sight and sound
of others in pain call to mind or to
the imagination a copy of the suffer
ings the spectator would experience
under similar circumstances.
80 that our idea of suffering in a
given case may ho said to be gauged
by tlie amount of pain that would
make us look and cry out as the suf
ferer docs. The (leaf individual's sen
sitiveness to suffering, in other words,
his pity, would he thus naturally
much curtailed by the entire absence
of the Important senses in producing
this emotion.—New York Times.
The 1 ncren.e or City Population.
It isn't so much a 'tendency to ill
ban life" that moves men townwurd
as it is the tendency to get away from
tlie kind of work that Induces per
spiration.—Charleston News and Cou
rier.
' A Bloody history
China's Rccsrd fsr the
Past Party Years. . . .
r —r~ —-rr.^r?>r - ;
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 east, 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 liu 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 hills 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
a Little Bit Like
Cow punchers cowboys...
There is a distinction and a wide
difference in the terms cowbody and
cowpuncher, 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 call him a cow
puncher; out 011 the cattle ranges not
even ignorance would serve to excuse
such a mistake. To the minds of cat
tlemen the term cowpuncher 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, lias 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 sbldier, he has the respect of
those to whom ability, both mental
and physical, appeals, and he lias 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 cowpuncher. In the early seventies,
when cattle were driven "up the
ftrails" to northern markets, the cow-
SUPPLY OF
Furnish All
Tvnpv That ls Us^
1 V yj 1\ I , 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 Jiave
known this for a long time, but the
makers of the tariff do not 3eem 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. Kvon
the western hog gives up many an
ivory tusk to the butchers in Chicago
packing houses. This dots 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
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 some
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 bo false. But tlio
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 tho
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
i 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 ot
li/ 3 cattle i. crat- cars over the 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 as might be. Experience made
it clear to cattle shippers that in or
der to deliver cattle on the hoof by
crato 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
cars shippers hit upon the idea ot
sending out with each cattlo train a
crew of men armed with long poles,
whose duty it would be to travel over
the cars and "punch up" all cattle
that were down. These crews 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. He
condemns the cowpuncher—speaks of
him as "poor white trash." And he
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.
pounds. The elephant tusks range in
weight front 100 to 250 pounds. Nar
whal tusks range in weight from five
to 25 pounds. When manufactured
into small articles the hippopotamus
ivory brings just as much as any other
kind. As far as that goes, however,
the tusks of the American hog bring
more than dees any kind of ivory if
weight alone is considered. If they
were sold at tlie regular ivory rate of
$4 a pound they would bring over four
cents each. They are sold by tile pieco
and average 25 cents each. The pig
teeth are hollow, but will take a very
liigh polish and can be used in many
ways. It is said that 20 per cent of
:hc hogs killed produce valuable tusks.
The long, thin, yellow tusk of the nar
whal docs not bring nearly as much
today as it did 130 years a.to. This Is
dun to the parsing of superstitious
Ideas regarding this ivory pro hirer of
the sea. A century ago redo be
lievcd that the walrus was cnnnocl d
with the fabulous unicorn, an. I :ho
horn or tusk was Atpptmnd to po ess
many magical virtues. For Instance, it
VM.S regarded as an antidote for til
poisons, and kings kept a horn in their
dining rooms, believing that it would
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 sell them today for ?73.