LIFE. PESSIMIST. There is never a thing we dream or do 13ut was dreamed and done in the ages gone; Everything's old; there is naught that is new, And so it will be while the world goes on. The thoughts we think have been thought before; The deeds we do have long been done; ,We pride ourselves on our love and lore And both arc as old as the moon and sun. .Wc strive and struggle and swink and sweat, And the end for each is one and the same; Time and the sun and the frost and wet Will wear from its pillar the greatest name. (No answer comes for our prayer or curse, No word replies though we shriek in air; Ever the tactiturn universe Stretches unchanged for our curse or prayer. iWith our mind's small light in the dark we crawl. Clow-worm glimmers that creep about. Till the power that shaped us, over us all Poises His foot and treads us out. Unasked, ITe fashions us out of clay, A little water, a little dust, And then in our holes He thrusts us away, With never a word, to rot and rust. 'Tis a sorry play with a sorry plot, 'Phis lite of hate and of lust and pain, Where we play our parts and are soon for got. And all that we do is done in vain. OPTIMIST. There is never a dream but it shall come true, And never a deed but was wrought by plan; And life is filled with the strange and new, And ever has been since the world be gan. As mind develops and soul matures, These two shall parent earth's mightier acts. Love is a fact and 'tis love endures Though the world makes wreck of all other facts. Through thought alone shall our age ob tain Above the aces gone before; The trihps of sloth, of brawn, not brain, Arc the tribes that perish, are known no more. Within ourselves a voice of awe, And a hand that points to balanced scales, The one is love and the other law, And their presence alone it is avails. For every shadow about our way Thee is a glory of moon and sun; But the hope within us hath more of ray Than the light of the sun and the moon in one. Behind all being a purpose lies. Undeviating as Cod bath willed; And he alone it is who dies Who leaves that purpose unfulfilled. Life is an epic the Master sings. \\ hose theme is mail and whose musie, soul. W henrh is a word in the song of thing.?, That shell roll on while the ages roll. —Madison Cawein, in Smart Set. 8 "GRIP," THE I TALKING CROW 1 || m gsjg A True, Fascinating Story, ip. By Eudora Block s'Sg yr lilP came into my possession J / in this wise: One day In April 1 chanced to meet a couple of urchins who had boon rob bing crows' nest, thinking they were doing a vast good l'or the farmers by the the robbers of their cornfields. I had long believed that ithe crow was not so black as lie was painted, and that for every kernel of corn he stole he destroyed many grubs and Insects, which would have Injured ft lie crops far more than the bird could have done with all of his depredations. A sorrier object I never saw than this poor kidnaped baby crow crouch ing in the folds of a ragged and fat hered old hat. lie was very ugly In his ihalf-fledged feathers, with large head and long beak, but he looked so pitiful that nij' heart went out to him at once. Wo soon had made a bargain. The boys then ran oil' with happy faces and frtill happier hearts, clutching a few dimes in their little fists, while I pro ceeded homeward with my newly* found pet wrapped in my handker chief. As soon as I luid reached home I •placed him in a good-sized chicken crate under a large pine tree in the front yard, where 1 fed him bread and | milk, which he gulped down greedily, j land, like Oliver Twist, kept, crying for j •more, until I thought his appetite j never would bo appeased. I kept him in the crate for several days, feeding hint very often. When he saw me ap proaching he would spread his wings, open his mouth, and shrilly "Caw, jcaw, caw!" for something to eat. His appetite was voracious. lie would eat anything given to him; meat, bread, cake, fruit, eggs, all went greedily into his gullet. I wondered how the parent crows ever !;< pi tilled the maws of a hungry family. Grip's babyhood did not last long, lie grew so rapidly that in three weeks ho was a l'ull-lledged crow, with beau tiful glossy black leathers, of which he was very proud. A large bed of pausies near the house, which was my pride, was his especial delight. Every morning I would pluck iln- blossoms, which were so like little faces that smiled up to mo. Grip was always on hand to as sist mo. but lie would ruin every flow er by snipping it off. and he did it so spitefully I knew that ho was jealous of the flowers I loved. "Go 'way, Grip, go 'way," I would say to him. sometimes using a Utile switch to drive him oil'. Tliq moment I was out of sight, however, down he ■rsuld swoop again into the vans/ bed, and "snip, snip" wniild go their heads. There was scarcely an hour in the day •when some cue was not calling out, "Go 'way. Grip, go 'way," tor the whole family hept watch over those pnnsies. At times Grip would be very loving. Alighting on my shoulder he would cuddle down close to my face, uttering soft little croaking notes. Then he would slyly pull the pin from iny col lar, and begin snatching at the hair pins in my braids. At other times, when I called him he would not come to me, but would alight near me, and look at me so impishly while I plead ed, "Come here, Grip; come, Grippy, come here." One day I was coaxing him thus as he hopped along on the top board of the fence. He put his head down and seemed to be choking and swallowing. After several such spasms he uttered the words, "Go 'way, Grip, go 'way," very distinctly. I could hardly believe my ears. Grip, my crow, could say three words: "Go 'way. Grip." For a long time he had chattered and made guttural noises. He would scream and laugh like a young imp. But now ho could talk, and, aside from being sur prised I was delighted. He soon learned to say "Go 'way. Grip," with out effort, and not long after that I heard him say, "Come here, Grip; come, Grippy, come here," in the same coaxing tone I used to him. Rainy days were his delight. Then he held high carnival on the woodpile, where he wuld chatter and laugh, coax and scold by turns: "Come liere. Grip, come here," in a soft, coaxing tone; then harshly, "Go 'way, Grip, go 'way." It sounded as if two children were quarreling. Later he learned to say "All right," "Hurry up," and almost any hour in the day he could be heard, if not seen, practicing his new accomplishments. During that fall I taught the district school, half a mile from home. It was a pleasant walk In good weather. Grip was on hand to see me safely on my way each morning. He would hop or fly along, or rido on my shoulder, until he came to the bridge which spanned the creek just half way to the school house. Then he would fly up in a tall willow tree bending over the water. Thus far would he go, but no farther. One morning, however, he alighted 011 the window of the school house, tapping loudly with his beak upon the glass to be let in. The children all knew Grip. He was famed through out the neighborhood for his powers of speecli and his impish and cunning pranks. Immediately the hands went up to beg permission to let him in. with promises to be good and to study hard. The unanimous request was granted, and Grip flow to nty desk and began picking up pencils and pieces of chalk. Then he went from one desk to anoth er, looking for more pencils. No doubt lie thought ho had struck a rich field. I must confess that lessons were for gotten, so intent were the children in watching this strange bird, which hopped from desk to desk and peered into their faces in such a curious way. Alas! he came to an untimely death. One night he failed to meet me at the willow upon my return from school. No one had seen him that afternoon. I found him in a shed, crouched upon an old barrel, looking very sick and miserable, and with green stains upon his bill. The can of Paris green was found overturned in the barn, and that told the story. The poor fellow had been eating the poison. Ho refused food, uttering plaintive lit tle croaks as I stroked him and said "Poor Grip!" I left him for the night, hoping his crow constitution was strong enough to re sist the deadly poison. In the morning I found him sitting as I had left him, but no soft oroal: greeted me. Ho was cold and stiff in death. l)o you wonder that my tears fell freely, and that I l'elt no shame in weeping for a dead crow 3—St. Nicho las. Titled Convicts In Jail. A Vienna paper states that few peo ple have any idea of the large number of men and women of noble birth undergoing penal servitude on the Con tinent, says tiie London Express. It estimates tiiat Russian prisons alone contain 12,000 aristocrats, while there are several thousand noblemen in tiie penal establishments of Italy. Two Dukes of Notarbartolo are, for instance, at present undergoing penal servitude for life in the Italian prison of La Maddalena for the brutal mur der of a young officer whom they had swindled at card playing and who had threatened to denounce them as card sharpers. Among the convicts In a Belgian prison are I'rinee Charles de Looz- Coswarem, who committed a number of gigantic frauds and one crime of violence, and the Marquis of Varolii, for the murder of his own mother. In France there are several hundred tilled aristocrats in prison, and though no statistics are available regarding Austria and Gormapy. the same statu of tilings is said to exist there, also. I-omlnn Crimp. Barely does any official report con tain aucli depressing matter as that on prisons just issuel from the Home Office, says the London correspondent of the Baltimore Herald. It formally records that during last year the num ber of people in prison increased by between 17,000 anil 18,000, as com pared with the previous year. In Lon don criminality had so largely in creased that between .'IOOO and 4000 prisoners of both sexes have to be transferred to provincial jails for lack of adequate accommodation in the me tropolis. Nor is this terrible growth of lawlessness of au abnormal charac ter; it appears to have acquired nor* mnlity, judging from the fact that the number of London commitments in' creased from 38,373 in 1801 to 53,501 in 1001. jj Form Topics | -f -srww -vf -vr-yi -mi -TTW Breeding In and In. Breeding in and in may tend to fix the characteristics of certain strains, or families, hut sooner or later the re sults will he lack ol' constitutional vigor. Those who adhere strictly to pedigree are better able to avoid in breeding of tho stock than those who do not. While pedigree of itself adds nothing to an animal as nil individual, yet it distinctly points to the family to which the Individual belongs, and enables the owner to arrive at a partial knowledge of its capacity as a future performer. Experlnnco With Cornstalk Disease. For many years I have had experi ence with cattle in stalk fields. I have purchased hundreds of acres of stalk fields in different localities and moved my cattle from field to field during the entire winter. I was care ful to keep thorn well salted and al ways gave tliem a few feeds of corn before turning into tho first field. I did not lose any. A great many farm ers let their cattle become pretty hun gry before turning them into the first field, and they gorge themselves with dry husks and corn.—ll. 11. Oliver, in Orange Judd Farmer. Manuro I.OKS in tlie Winter. The loss of tho valuable constituents of manure that is exposed cannot be determined, but during some winters It Is large. Fresh liorse manure that was exposed byway of experiment was found to lose value in several ways. It lost in weight and absorbed water, while the ammonia passed off Into the air. Computing the value of fresh manure at $2.15 per ton a loss of $1.02 resulted, or forty-two per cent. No farmer can afford such a loss as forty-two per cent, in liis manure, and it should therefore never he exposed to snows and rains unless well mixed with an abundance of absorbents, and even then it is better to have it under cover. Fccdinc PlfcK. An experiment made by the cdilor of Hoard's Dairyman showed that pigs weighing one hundred pounds each, fed lor eight weeks on skim-milk alone, and sold at the same price paid for them, had gained enough to make tho value of skim-milk 22(4 cents a hundred pounds. Another lot fed on , skim-milk nnd cornmeal for the same length of time made gains that would warrant paying .22 cents a hundred pounds for the skim-milk. By other experiments ho found that one hun dred pounds of cornmeal alone made ten pounds of pork, nnd one hundred pounds of skim-mill: and cornmeal mixed and fed together made eighteen pounds of pork. Combining them in- ! creased their value twenty jkt cent. Cood for Hummer or Winter. A hillside sloping toward tlie south or southeast gives a fine chance to have a low, underground room, with windows, that can he kept shut or ~7<SNT~ JianiaL aroflMm ay*"- CHICKEN nousr. wirn son.vrcHrxa QHABTEItS. open in winter according to weather conditions. Take tlie windows out in summer and a cool, shady place is provided l'or hens or chicks to run under. Sueli a basement can he cleaned from tlie outshfe with a long liaiiilled lioe or rake, so that tlie height need not he more than two and a half or three feet.—New England Home stead. Tim Wood or Logging Sled. The farmer often has occasion to use the sled in winter l'or drawing wood or logs, as heavier loads can ho drawn on the snow than with wheels on a dirt road. Wo have seen no device that we like better than the following: Make two sleds, or what is called a bob-sled, each about l'our and a half feet long. Tlie tongue or shaft should he so attached that it may turn freely, without the necessity of the sled fol lowing it, even to the point of a light angle, if necessary, to avoid obstacles. This requires an attachment to the centre crossplecc of tlie sled, and a draft chain attached to each corner that may play through a staple or ring on the tongue. The rear sled is attached to that by a chain, which may be made short to bring it nearly up to tlie other, or may be lengthened out to admit ol' carrying logs twenty or twenty-live l'eet long. Across each sled should lie a piece ol' timber strong enough to bear tlie desired weight. For drawing eot'dwood the sleds may bo chained near together, and a frame placed oil these timbers, whieli will yet leave some flexibility at the centre nnd at tlie front, allowing very short turns to bo made with it. When used l'or logs take off this frame and place the logs directly on the crosspieces, chaining them firmly. When desired, as on the road, a simple arrangement can make the tongue or shaft firm to prevent too much swinging. This is best done by putting something through the draft chain on each side of the ring. For heavy loads tho cross piece on the forward sled should he about a loot wide and two and a half to three inches thick, as through this the king bolt passes. That on the rear sled should be about four by fly* Inch**.—Boston Cultivator AT WATERLOO. , Woman Mho Haw Napoleon I.raTA tlit Field of Hi* Last Buttle. r.o Gnulois gives an interesting nc | count of a conversation tvitli one of tlie ver.v few surviving spectators of the battle of Waterloo, a tvirtotv named Givron, tlie 100 th anniversary of whose birth is about to be celebrated in the little village of Viesville, Ilaiuault. She relates that on the morning of the day of the great battle she ran away from her parents and made her way through the woods, being curious to see what was going on. She was close to Hougoinont when the place was at tacked by the French troops, and re mained in hiding for hours, not daring to move. The cannonade having di minished she ventured toward the farm, hut fled horror stricken at the sight, the ground, as she expressed it, being red mud, so dreuehed was it with blood. She ran across the fields and reached the liois de Plancenolt, where she fell asleep, worn out by fatigue and excitement. At dusk she was awakened by the noise of horses' hoofs and saw a troop of cavalry, headed by a man of short stature mounted on a curvetting gray horse. Ho was riding slowly on, as if in a dream, looking straight ahead and paying no lieod to what went on about him. The girl learned on the same evening from her relatives, when she finally reached lioine, that tlie rider was Napoleon. Mine. Givron Is remarkably active, and is particularly proud of her eyesight, which, she declares, is as good as it was seventy-five years ago. When her daughter, Marceline. who, as she says, is only seventy-two, sits down to sew, her mother threads the needles for lier. The old woman had seven children and Iter descendants number ninety-two. WISE WORDS. Eloquence is vehement simplicity.— Cecil. The greatest prayer is patience.— Buddha. Generosity is the flower of justice.— Hawthorne. Goodness thinks no ill where no ill seems.—Milton. His praise is lost who waits till all commend.—Fope. Diligence Is the mother of good for tune.—Cervantes. Live only for to-da.v and you ruin to-morrow.—C. Simmons. From labor, health: from health, con tentment springs.—Beattie. There is no index of character as sure as the voice.—Disraeli. Win hearts, and you have all men's hands and purses.—Burleigh. Delicacy is to the mind what frag rance is to the fruit.—A. l'oiucelot. No mau was ever so muoli deceived by another as by himself.—Greville. Sympathy witti nature is a part of the good man's religion.—F. 11. Hedge. The public man needs but one patron —namely, the lucky moment.—Buhver Next to tlie originator of a good sen tence is the first quoter of it.—Emer son. The desire of appearing clever often prevents one becoming so.—Rochefou cauld. Pride is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very mean advantages.— Johnson. A r.owldcr For Ing.-illg' Crave. The grave of John ,T. Ingalls, at Mount Vernon Cemetery, will be mark ed by a native bowlder deposited on Kansas soil in (lie glacial period. This will he done in obedience to a lettei written in the Scualo chamber at Washington, December 10, 1800, to Mrs. Ingalls at Atchison. Tlie lettei follows: "This life is so delightful that 1 dread the thought of leaving it. 1 have seen and experienced so little of what may be seen and known that II j seems like closing a volume which 1 have oul.v glanced nt the title page. "Our ground in tlie cemetery should have a 'monument.' I hate these obe lisks, urns and stone cottages, and should prefer a great natural rock— one of tlie red bowlders known as tlie lost rock of the prairie porphyry from the north, brought down in glacial limes—with a small surfuce, smoothed down, just large enough to make a tablet In which should be inserted the bronze letters of our name—'lngalls' and uotliing else." A stono such as described is now being sought. A Nicety of l.eavf.Taking. A little nicety of leave-taking that Is practiced by a certain well-bred wom an, says tlie Dundee News, Is to rise to end the visit while she is tlie speaker. lif this way she is apparently leaving while she Is much Interested. This is better than to start at the end of a pause, or to jump up tlie moment your hostess's voice drops. One way implies boredom, the other waiting for It elianee to get away. This may seem a trifle of observance, but it is worth while if only to train one's self in the habit of easy leave- Inking—a rare accomplishment even among women with wide social expe rience. Once standing, leave promptly, and avoid spinning out a second visit In the hall. Costly 15rltl.li Warships. The battleships and cruisers now building in tlie Government yards in England, except Devonport, are cost ing more than the estimates, save in tlie single ease of the Albemarle, in which a saving of S4OOO was effected. This is not such an indictment against Government building as It seems at first sight, for the eight contract-bnilt buttlcships now building will exceed their estimates by $700,000 and the eleven cruisers by $875,000. At Devon port a saving of $110,570 was made in the building of the Bulwark and $21,- 789 In the building of the Implacable. THE ROASTER. "I'd like," said lie, "to see"—• And he said it boastfully— "The daughter of a woman who could make a fool of me." He turned and there she stood. He knew full well she could, And in his wildly beating hearc he fondly hoped she would. The lady turned away With not a word to say, Her laugh was like a ripple and her countenance was gay; Forgetting all his pride, He followed eager-eyed, And let her make him foolish, though she never even tried. Chicago Record-Herald. CRUEL. "I am willing to leave my work to posterity," said the ambitious author. "Well," answered the cold-blooded publisher, "you are running great risks. Posterity isn't going to read any of the expensive and misleading eulogies of your work that my adver tising department is getting out."— Washington Star. HOW THE SWEET NOVEL ENDED. Helen —Why is it novels always have a good ending? Sue —Well, the one I read yesterday didn't have a good ending. Helen—lt didn't? Sue—No; mamma throw it in the fire.—Philadelphia Record. TRAP FAILED. Skinnum—l want to Interest you in a mining proposition. It's a good thing. Wigwag—Well, I'm not. —Philadel- phia Record. A CUTTING JEST. The Husband (during the quarrel) —You're always making bargains. Was there ever a time wdien you didn't? The Wife—Ye3, sir, on my wed ding day.—Tit-Bits. A WORLD OF CHANGE. "Have you the same cook you had when I was hero in the Spring? "Not oy seventeen."—Cleveland Plain Dealer. BABY'S BACKWARDNESS. Young Mother (to herself) —I don't see why it is that baby doesn't talk better. He's very backward. Same Mother (five minutes after ward) —Diddee ittee tootsie wootsie waken up, zee tunnin' little pettie, so he was.—New York Weekly. AN INCONSISTENCY. "There's another thing I can't un derstand," said Mr. Sirus Barker as he laid down the paper and took a dyspepsia tablet. "What can it he?" asked his wife in a well-feigned tone of surprise. "Why a woman will fuss over her husband brushing his coat and fixing his necktie and warning him when he needs a haircut, and then rave ad miringly over a foot ball player."— Washington Star. STREET CAR SPEED. "Ever notice," askqd the Street Car Philosopher, "how the speed of street cars are regulated by our frame of mind?" "In what way?" "Notice how slow a street car is when you are in a hurry to catch a train—and how fast it goes when you run to catch it."—Baltimore Herald. HIS PREFERENCE. "Your hair isn't coming out as strong and thick as it should, Harry," said the small hoy's mother "Your father must take you down and have it shingled again." "Well," replied the boy promptly, "I don't much like the feel of those grass-cuttin' machines that they run over a feller's head, but if anythtng's got to be shingled I'd rather it was my hair than my uants."—Chicago Post. A NECESSARY QUALIFICATION. A school inspector in England ask ed a child in a primary school to tell htm as nearly as possible what he understood a pilgrim to oe. "A pilgrim is a man who goes about a good deal," was the reply. This seemed not quite satisfactory to tho Inspector, and he said: "I 'go about a good deal,' but I am not a pil grim." "Please, sir, I mean a good man," was the eager addition. HIS DIALECT. "Mike," said Plodding Pete, "did you ever go to school?" "Sure," answered Meandering Mike. "I don't have to talk dis way. If I showed off me literary accomplish ments, folks would wonder why I was not readin' de help wanted advertise ments instid o' huntin' fur hand outs." —Washington Star. IMMUNE. "My!" exclaimed the old lady who was taking her first trolley ride, "I should think it would he mighty dan gerous worktn' ou these cars all the time. Ain't you 'feared o' the 'lee tricity strikin' ye?" "No'm," he replied, as ho took her nickel and neglected to ring It up on the register, "you see I'm not a good conductor." —Philadelphia Press. r Mulberry Tint Tor Fo.t., It is claimed that mulberry trees make durable posts. As the mulberry is a quick-growing tree, this advantage in its favor of serving as posts should not be overlooked in plautiug trees for future use. The Ilortleaux Mixture. The Bordeaux mixture, which Is re ceiving attention as one of the reme dies for grape rot, is made by dissolv ing eight pounds of sulphate of copper In lifteen gallons of water which has fa been raised to the boiling point. In an other vessel slake ten pounds of lime with live gallons of water. When cool v pour the lime water in the copper so ■ lution, stirring the mixture briskly while so doing. An Apple IMcker. This Is an apple picker that can be depended on not to bruise the fruit, for each apple, as it is picked off gen tly runs down the cloth SDout that is v ; V "or attached to the wire and follows the polo to its lower end, where the apple falls iuto the hand of the operator and is placed into the basket. Ileavy wire Is needed for the frame. Hook the wire over the apple, then pull, and the apple will come to you.—W. C. War- Held, in The Kpltomist, y Full Planting Hardy ROACH. In most localities autumn is much the best time for planting hardy roses. If the soil where the rose bed is to be located is unpromising, at least two feet of it should be removed and re placed willi rotted sods mixed with line, friable old manure. If the de cayed sod 3 have not been piled up ready to band, any good fresh garden loam can be used. If tlie soil of the bed is naturally good, the manure may be simply spaded in until the whole bed is rich, mellow and deep. Two feet apart each way gives little enough space for the normal development of a One hardy rose. If the roses are grafted, set them so that the grafts will be several inches below the surface, and press the earth ilrmly and carefully round them. This protects the gives the bushes a chance to •'owmrooted," and keeps the stock from exhausting the grafts by suckcr ing its own shoots up to the light. In planting, do not prune the roots unless they are bruised or torn; all injured portions should be cut away. In cold climates it is a good plan, after tlie first frost, to protect the roots of the bushes with a six-inch mulch of leaves. To hold tliom in place a few pine boughs, or a little long manure, may be placed on top. In March or April the buds will begin to swell: Before ibis begins, the cov ering of leaves should bo removed. Pew people prune their roses close enough. The best method is to prune every year, and to keep tlie plants al ways low, not higher than six to ten Inches from the ground. This method' gives continuous now shoots of good length and strength, each topped a line flower.— lJ. Greenlee, iii AmerKfe can Agriculturist. "When Setting tlie Orcltnril. In planting orchards there arc some things that we may consider common dangers that beset the orchardist, says the New York Farmer. Among tliom is tlie crowding of trees. When an or chard is planted we are liable to think the trees so far apart that they will scarcely ever need all the space al lowed them. They seem so little anil so far apart. As they grow older they begin to inter lock before we realize it. Pruning off tlie dead and feeble branches does lit tle good. What is wanted is more room. In procuring trees to set make great efforts to obtain thrifty well-grown stock. By thrifty I do not mean neces sarily large trees; in fact the size is of minor importance. A tree two years old, large of its. age, is preferable to a three-year-old, small of its age, for the reason that in / the latter case it has been starved and stunted in growth. I have ob served that trees that have made good, strong growth in tlie nursery rows, tvhon transplanted do better, and, with equal care with those of an infe rior grade, have the advantage in the struggle for existence and develop ment. Moisture is essential and the most Important part of the conditions of transplanting. To lessen the require ments of the tree we always shorten the tops very much, only leaving one half and often one-third of each branch. Our next consideration Is to put the roots In the host possible con dition to absorb moisture. Tills wo do by cutting off tlie bruised ; v ends of all roots of any size, always n with a starting cut from tlie under side, as the fresli-cut ends will much more readily absorb moisture than the broken ends can, as they are left after the process of digging from the nurs ery row. It Is at the end of the smoothly cut roots nearly all the new growth takes place and where rootlets form to nourish the tree.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers