A Beautiful Neck. To All out holows in the neck inhale deep breaths of fresh air and then very slowly expel them till all the air is ex hausted from the lungs. Do this eight or ten times several times a day. Re member that this exercise must be practiced with the throat bare if you • .are to get the most possible good from It, and it is useless to expect to see an improvement for some weeks. Stocks and Belts To Match. A very new idea for a stock and belt is to have both fashioned of white cloth, with an appliqued design in white suede leather applied in medal lions, which are then outlined with email paid beads. Transparent collars are still as popular as ever. A stun ning one has the usual pint in front, high at the sides and hack sloping into a comfortable curve at the throat. It is media of filet net as a foundation; on this is sewed appliques of pale blue embroidery spangled with turqoutse beads. The entire collar is boned top and bottom. The smartest belts are the snakeskin ones with a gilt harness buckle. Good all round stocks, very neat and pretty to wear with themorn ing sulrtwalst, are the black peau de sole and four-in-hands made up in the shops to sell for a dollar. A linen s turnover completes the trim appear- Y ance. • Women Use Stub Pens. It was the young man's first day in the department store, and when ho sorted out the pens to be distributed among the public writing desks he se lected fine and medium nibs. The old hand, who superintended the job, told him to put them all back in tho box and to pick out stubs instead. "Depart ment store letter writers are mostly women," he said, "and nine out of ten women use a stub pen these days. It is almost impossible to get them to write with any other kind. Every once in a while a new man comes along to do the work you are doing this morn ing, and he, not being up to the tricks of shoppers, staters an assortment of fine-pointed per.s over the writing . tables. The women writers raise no p*pnd of a row over a mistake of that ' kind and insist upon being supplied with the favorite stubs." —New York Times. Reappearance of the Topaz. Fashionable women who could not possess a pearl or two In their jewel boxes only recently felt that ail the world stood awry. Every woman they knew wore pearls set in some form or other, and during the craze diamonds for a time lost their prestige. Just now jewelers are polishing up and setting their supply of topazes, for the time seems ripe for a reappear ance of the golden stone. A topaz must be set with diamonds and sap phires to give the good, efieets of con trast. Sapphires, more particularly, will he favored, so nearly does the blue match tho glowing purple of the corn k flower. y The jewelers' windows Bhow topazes wonderfully set in ornaments of dain tily carved tortoise shell, combs, fret ted out as fine as lace work, and sprin kled everywhere with topaz in every shade from pale straw color to deep est yellow. Tortoise shell is the chosen setting for the new favorite, and besides the fancy combs wonderful bracelets arc being made of the richly colored shell. Scarcely bracelets or bangles are these new ornaments, but old fashioned arm lets, that clasp the white member above the elbows. —New York Herald. The Craze for Beadwork. The beadwork of the Indian woman is steadily growing in favor, and we are using her artistic and beautiful handiwork for almost every purpose In both the world of fashion and In the 1 household. Moreover, we are becom ing very expert in the making of at- tractive designs ourselves, and pretty i soon the paleface and the squaw will be brought into sharp competition. But we shall be handicapped, as the Indian girl's knowledge of this bead painting ie second nature to her. For U3e in the household nothing is better to bright en up a dark niche than a string of glass beauties. They adorn chandeliers and hang over picture frames. Lovely are the new candle shades. Covered first with silk, they are dotted with beads, and a fringe of the same finishes the bottom of the candle drapery. Bat tle axes having headed handles are good for decorative purposes, and the tomahawk and pie combination is also adorned with beads. It seems we are to wear hands of beads on our sum t mer hats as well as on the belts of our ' thin dresses. Purses, slippers and all ' sorts of fancy baskets we have seen from time Immemorial, but the vlow upon the once despised objects as point has changed, and we now look 'things of beauty, and if the enthusiasm keeps up they will prove joys forever,- as the durability of Indian work is pro verblal.-r-Washlngton Star. Three Ages of Women. "Woman's life may be divided.broad ly into throe very distinct periods, the whispering age, the giggling age and the storming and' tearful age," said an observant man, "and if men were shrewd they could easily make a good guess as to a woman's age up to a cer tain time. There is a time when a woman's age is a matter of much mys tery, and a man, or a woman, for that matter, can't tell anything about It. The first statement, in which the divi sion of periods is made, is probably a little awkward, for the whispering pe riod belongs to the child age rather than to the age of the woman, and the giggling l period gets a little closer to the border line of womanhood. Still all these periods belong to the life of the sex, and hence, they may be prop erly considered in the connection I have in mind. "Note the difference between the girl and the boy of, say between J.O and 12 years of ago. The boy, as a rule, is loud, boisterous, speaks in big, com manding tones, and lives in all ro spects the life intense. But here the girl enters upon her whispering ca reer. She begins to say things softly to her companions. She whispers ev erything. She does not use her low tones simply to peddle the little gossip of the schoolyard, to say shy things of Jodie, and Richard, and Thomas, and Henry, but she will whisper the most ordinary things in the world, mere commonplaces about which there is no sort of need of secrecy. Now as she buds into her teens she enters upon a period of apparently foolish, often silly, giggling. She will Biggie at the most trifling things In the world, giggle at nothing and often she will giggle when tears would be more becoming. Of course, she doesn't mean to he harsh in thi3. She is probably further from harshness at this age than at any other time In her career. "It Is the age when poetic and re ligious Impulses are strongest In the nature of woman, when the heart Is tenderest and when the subtle essences of that indefinable thing, the soul, are more plastic and more responsive than at any other period. So she giggles, and giggles, until after she lias round ed her way Into the 20s. Thus we come by degrees to the last period when the lines of life have dropped into their natural grooves, when tim idity Is replaced by the self-assertive spirit, when life continually alternates between the sunshine and the shadow, passing quickly from laughter to tears, from song to sigh, from love's gentler, lisping to the rasping speech of petu lance, and so on until the firee burn low on the hearth and the calm of age falls softly as heaven's benediction."— New Orleans Times-Democrat. Fashion Notes. Feathers will be extremely fashion able this season. Some of the newest skirts are trimmed with either graduated rows of velvet or a fancy velvet and braid gal loon. White velveteen of an inexpensive quality, and said to be washable, is much favored for morning wear in the house, with white cloth or serge skirts. A prominent feature of the spring costumes will be the cufTs. Even the plainest walking gowns will be distin guished for conspicuous cuffs, usually of the gauntlet type. A milliner has intraflced a new hat pin, the head of which is made of a neat little pompon of chenille. Worn with a felt hat it looks as if it was part of the trimming. The most attractive form in which the separate fancy waist has made its appearance this season is in ivory vel vet, arranged in large plaits, decorated with small gold buttons. Cloth of two colors and types will be used on one frock, cloth strappings will decorate velvet and vice versa, and lace motifs will be tinted to match the gown they embellish. A charming spring model in milli nery is of white moire silk, draped with tulle, gauged and tucked so as to resemble fur, with two long ostrich feathers curling around the brim. Braided skirts are decidedly the vogue acording to foreign advices; sometimes the braid is just put on plainly in rows on either side of the plastron or it takes some Grecian or severe conventional design. With the closely plaited skirts the plastron may bo braided and another favored spring trimming for cloth dresses is decoupe velvet and lace incrustations. Trimmings promise to constitute the chief charm of the spring costumes. The tailor-made gowns will be elabor ately trimmed with bands of velvet and braid artistically combined. But tons of all sizes and all sorts will be used as a trimming. The demand for silk cords and tassels will bo increased rather than diminished, and lace and silk embroideries will be introduced wherever there is a possible excuse for them. OIL FUEL IN LOCOMOTIVES. Western Railroad Men Say It's as Safe as Coal, Maybe Safer. Some people have thought that crude oil should be prohibited in its use as fuel on locomotives because of the danger of explosion and easy ignition in case of collision or other serious mishap. The recent cycle of accidents throughout the country, particularly in the West, where everybody is quite familiar with petroleum, has seemed to accentuate the feeling against oil burning locomotives. In one or itwo instances serious damage from lire has resulted, and reports have made it ap pear that, immediately after the crash, burning oil was quickly hurled over the wreck and fiendish flames soon wrought complete destruction. Experts have been discussing the danger of oil on locomotives lately, and their conclusions are ito the ef fect that such fuel is not only not more dangerous than coal, but often much less 30. Said a prominent Southern Pacific official of the operating department recently: "I ana not talking to be quoted in 'the ppbltc prints, because the subject is somelvnat technical and a trifle out of my line., but I do tuft hesitate for a moment in saying that the danger from oil as fuel on our loco motives is at a minimum, and that coal is no safer. In fact, when emergency arises, the engineer or fireman can quickly turn a valve and instantly put out the roaring flames in tne fire box; whereas in the case of coal, there is always a bed of red-hot coals ready to make any accident a dreadful holo caust. Of course, the same thing might happen with oil under the proper con ditions, if the flow were ncit stopped and the flames could be fed from a bursted tank. "Even then It might more often hap pen that the cold petrdleum would ex tinguish the fire. Crude oil itself is not an explosive; when vaporized it will burn, but to vaporize iit in the open is a difficult matter. Pour crude oil over a lighted torch, and the effect will be the same af if water had been used; plunge a lighted torch into a tank of crude oil, and the flame will go out in stantly; no explosion will ensue; the flame goes out because the oil is of such consistency that it is with diffi culty vaporized, while it can burn on ly in that condition. "Before the Southern Pacific, decided to abandon coal on Its engines, some interesting experiments were made in Los Angeles at the istance of General Manager Kruttschnltt, who at first seemed fearful of imminent danger from the use of oil. These experiments, however, convinced him that the new fuel was in no way an extra hazard to life or property. "Of course, in a head-on oollislon, when two mammoth engines plunge into each other at terrific speed, they are quickly demolished, together with their tenders and everything else, while necessarily oil would be hurled in every direction —but seldom burning oil — and, if Are broket out, the oil would very easily burn along with the inflamahle debris. But there is the pos sibility of killing tire flame in the fire box that does not exist when coal is burned." At this juncture It Is interesting to know that an Arizona mechanic i 3 re ported to be in Los Angeles at the present time working on a device de signed to stop the flow of oil in an en gine automatically upon the least dis turbance indicating serious complica tions. Such an invention is greatly de sired by both railroads and travelling public.—Lcs Angeles Times. Britisher Shrinking In Size. The London Express fears that the physical standard of tho Britishers is on tho decline. It says: Out of every five men who offer themselves for the army only two become effective sol diers. As the medicinal rejections for the army are an Indication of tho general physical condition of the would-bo ro cruits these figures show an alarming deterioration of the national physlqbo. In a single year 23,000 men were re jected at sight, and another thousand were discharged with only a few weeks' service, while up to ono, two, and throe years' service the discharges for reasons of unfitness were numer ous. One of the causes for this state of things is the crowding of men in the towns, and another is the want of nutriment and attention in childhood among the lower classes. From observations taken at military hospitals Sir Frederick Maurice be lieves that the scanty and improper feeding of infants induces heart and lung trouble and Inferior physique, and that early marriages and mater nal neglect are fruitful causes of flat feet, bowed legs and similiar physi cal defects. The Loss of Life in 1902. The loss of human life in 1902 apart from the ordinary ravages of disease, was greater than it has been in any year for a considerable period. It is estimated that tho deaths caused by the volcanic eruptions in the West In dies numbered about 50,000, and thou sands more deaths resulted from a like cause in other parts of the world. War added something like 25,000 to 26,000 to the list of the fatalities, tho greatest losses of this character being tho Transvaal, China, Africa and Ven ezuela. Deaths from epidemics aggre gated about 385,000, which is estimat ed as nearly 45,000 more than in the preceding year, while shipwrecks ac count for 4200 of the accidenlal deaths, or nearly double those from that cause In 1901. Suicide figures a grand total of 8231. The number of deaths caused by murder and accidents of various kinds will foot up a large aggregate, which cannot be approximately esti mated. —Nashville Banner. PEARLS OF THOU-MT. Haste trips up its own heeH, fetters and stops itself. —Seneca. If you would know, and not be known, live in a city. —Colton. No man was ever discontented with the world if he did his duty in it. — Sou they. There Is no genius in life like the genius of energy and industry- —D. G. Mitchell. Character and personal force are the only Investments that are worth any thing.—Whitman. Our first Impulses are good, generous, heroical; reflection weakens and kills them. —L. A. Martin. He that was never acquainted with adversity has seen the world but one side, and Is ignorant of half the Bceues of Nature.—Seneca. Saeriflce brings its reward by con verting simple duty into positive hap piness. We have attained our end in the liberty to work freely with God. — John James Taylor. Human help in our need, human for giveness of our wrong-doing, human love In our loneliness,—these are the sacraments through which, at their sweetest and purest, we feel a divine help and forgiveness and love flowing into our souls. —G. S. Merriam. In our higher and happier moods, 1 think we all have visions of the truth that we never are nor. can be paid for our best, save only in the doing of It. Our finest devotion is never recom pensed in terms of the market. It never can be. Wo give ourselves, and find in return our larger life —Frederick L. Hosmer. WESTERN CATTLE RANGES. How They Yet May Be Restored to Their Old Fertility. The number of cattle In the United States is increasing, though it' does not keep pace with the population. But the business is more and more forced on to high priced land, rendering beel production costlier than it need be. According to figures laid before the bouse committee on public lands, April IC, 1902, the number of range cat tle sent to market diminished 81 per cent between 1895 and 1901. With due care the range can be made to reoorer Ks old fertility. It might easily be put in ooadltlon to fatten four head of stock to each head now grazing upon it. To effect this, regu lation Is needed. Some authority must bo asserted over the pastures to pro vent their abuse, to make It for the Interest of occupants not to kill the goose which lays the golden egg. An end must be put to the blighting com petition now kept up. # Regulation being established, pas tures can be used in rotation, a period of rest being given each, during which the grazing and trampling of herds may cease, and grosses have opi>ortun ity to scatter and fructify their seeds. Barren places can bo artificially re seeded and induced to yield herbage as of old. In localities better grasses than over grew there can be sown and grown. Such a recuperative process has been set going in other countries, and in parts of our own. Australia has suf fered the pinch through which we are now passing. Her great Uve stock in dustry was dythg out; her exports of frozen and preserved moats dwindling. Ranges were depleted or destroyed, as new with us. Cattle "duffing," out lawry, range jumping and quarrels were general. The man of that country faced the problem and solved It A system of leasee was devised, giving each grazier, for a term of twenty eight years, exclusive rango rights up on his land. It became profitable for him to improve his holding instead of promoting its deterioration. The lessee cuts his domain in two, pasturing each part one year and resting it ths next In this way the whole pasture gradually Improves In quality. Cattle multiply and thrivo as additional grass grows to feed them. Mexico and Canada have hod a sim ilar experience, and so In our own country, have Texas and other states The excellent control of cattle afforded by the Canadian system accounts for the present heglra of American cattle people across our northern border. —E. Benjamin Andrews, in tho American Monthly Review of Reviews. Affectionate Elephants. A pathetic story of Intelligence and affectionate solicitude of an elephant comes from the Midnapur district In Bengal. A wild tusker and a young animal had done great damage to crops, and the head man of the district, Babu Ganjan Lai Malla, attempted to kill them. He shot the large animal in the leg, disabling it, but not sufficiently for anyone to approach It. For a month, says the Ixmdon Ex press, the animals lingered in the dis strlct, the small one ministering to the wants of iits wounded comrade, and by furious charges kept the villagers at a safe distance. Twinging its trunk about that of the stricken brute, it uttered the most mournful cries, fanned the wound, and gave every evidence of acute distress. When the wounded elephant died its companion disappeared and has not been seen since. Thousand Lines on a Post Card. A German farmer named Heinrich Rundshagen, living a,t Schiphorst., near lauonberg, has been clever enough to write a thoushand lines ,011 an ordinary post-card. First he wrote Schiller's "Song of the Bell" in German and latin characters, together 853 lines and then 148 lines of German poems. The card is to be shown to the Kaiser, and then to be exhibited at next year's ex hibition in St. Louis. Kitchener Brooked No Failure. The gift of overcoming apparently Insufficient difficulties which the sir dar's officers possessed in such a marked degree was very largely due to the unbending severity with which he treated all failures, whether high or low were responsible for them. A thing was ordered: it had to be done, and consequently it was done; no ex cuses prevailed for an instant. So when an officer lo6t a Nile steamer through the stupidity of a subordinate he was a ruined man; when the wires failed to connect K. with his base at a critical moment the young officer in charge lost all tie fruits of his -ong and meritorious labors. If no chief ever acknowledged more fully and gen erously good work well done, no one also was ever more unforgiving of fail ure, to no matter what cause the fail ure might be due. Once in the hot test moment of a blazing Soudan sum mer I incautiously reported that D. had got sunstoke, and therefore could not execute some order. "Sunstroke:" K. replied: "what does he mean by hav ing sunstroke; send him down to Cairo at once." However, D. being a friend of mine, I wired to warn him that he was under a delusion and was quite well, and the order was carried out, and nothing more hoard of the matter, while poor D. lived to get himself handsomely killed before Mafeking. Whetstones Made of Aluminium. It is reported from Germany that an experimenter there has found alumin ium an excellent substitute for a whet stone in giving a fine, keen edge to blades. When examined with a mi croscope, the edge of a knife that was sharpened on the metal appeared much straighter and smoother than one sharpened on a stone. One peculiar effect of the honing is that the surface of the aluminium becomes coated with a greasy substance with a great power of adhesion to steel, and to this is at tributed the fine edge produced. Marconi System for Africa. The African Trans-Continental Tel egraph Company's line being complete to Ujiji, the directors have, in view of the great engineering difficulties to the north of that district, suspended operations for the present, and are watching with a degree of interest the develoument of the Marconi system of wirelosß telegraphy with, a possible view of its adoption. Art Association, tells young women what to do to avoid pain and suffering caused by female troubles. J " DEAR MRS. PINKIIAM: —I can consdcntiowsly recommend Yydin. B. Plakhnm's Vegetable Compound to those of my sisters suffering with female weakness and the troubles which so often befall women. I suf fered for months with general wesfcness, and felt #o weary that I had hard work to keep tip. I had shooting pains, and was utterly miserable). In my distress I was advised to use Lydla E. Pink hum's" Vegetable Compound, and it was a rod letter day to mo whon I took the first dose, for at that time my restoration began. In six weoks I was a changed woman, perfectly well in every respect. I felt 60 elated and happy that I want all women who suffer to get well as I did."— Miss GOII.A GANNON, 359 Jones St., Detroit, Mich., Secretary Amateur Art Association. It is clearly shown in this young lady's letter that Lydla E. Pinklinni's Vegetable Compound will certainly cure the sufferings •f women; and when one considers that iYJiss Gannon's letter is oaly ouo of tlie countless hundreds which we are continually publishing in the iiowpyj>"H - 8 of this country, the groat rirtuo of Mrs. Pinkhain's medicine raust be admittoll broil; aid for the absolute cup ® . kinds ol famale 'ills no substitute ci)Ja P° taico its plAoe. Women should bear important f:>ct in'mittd when they go into r "~ TO ft w ff storo, ami be sure not to accept an vt h ing BYWR that is claimed to be 44 jus* HB ffrtod "as Lydia L fiy E. V©gtotUl Compound, for Is no other modicino for fouiale ills has mado so -J|K ' many actual cures. How Another Young Sufferer Was Cured. I JJI' " DRAII MRS. PINKIIAM: I must write and toll you what your Vegetable ™ Compound has done for me. 1 suffered ® terribly every month at time of men struation, and was not able to work. Your medicine has cured me of my trouble. I felt relieved after taking one bottle. I know of no med ieme as good as yours for female troubles." Muss EDITII CKOSS, 109 Water Street, Haverhill, Mass < Remember, advice is free, and nil sick women are foolish if they do not nsk for It. No other person has such vast experience, and lias helped so many women. Write to-day. OCAMI FORFEIT weoannot forthwith produce the original totters and signatures of 1 mpiIIIIII *b°T testimonials, which will prove tholr absolute genuineness. VVVW Lydia K. rioklism Medicine Co., Lynn, hi stem. New Five-cent Stamp. Tho Postofflce Department has ap proved the design for the new five cent postage stamp. The design sym bolizes the cemeting of the tie between the North and South, and on that ac count the stamp will be known gen erally as the "Union" stamp. It will show an engraved head of Lincoln, centered in an oval, while on the either side will be the figures of a woman, one representing the North and the other the South. Each supports a palm and is draped in the American Hag. Collecting Dialects. With the fund recently received from the Carnegie Institute in Washington the department of experimental psy chology at Yale University will con tinue experiments on the human voice, which were begun more than a year ago. Plans are being made for col lecting dialects all over the United States, by means of a car specially equipped with voice-recording ma chines. A feature of the collection will be voice records of various tribes of North American Indians. It has been decided to send the car West this summer. Recommended by Commission. An appropriation of $275,000 for a New York State Electrical Laboratory at Union College, Schenectady, is rec ommended by a commission appointed to determine the necessity for such an institution. The laboratory is to sup ply information on questions of elec trical science, and an official standard for electrical measuring instruments and apparatus, together with standards for electric wiring of buildings for the protection of municipalities and the general public. Germany has such an institution. Won Flag-Song Prize. Mrs. Lee C. Harby, of Charleston, S. C., has won the SIOO prize in a con test ordered by the State of Texas for an official flag song. Her poem set to music will be sung on all patriotic occasions. Passports for Honduras. Information was received at Mobile, Ala., from Honduras to the effect that because of revolutionary troubles all persons coming into that country must have passports.