Decatur Democrat, Volume 34, Number 33, Decatur, Adams County, 7 November 1890 — Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES. A Choice Selection of Interesting Items. Smoking is one of the most common habits in Japan. The cigars are good •nd cheap, and even girls 10 years old ■moke. The wood pulp mills are ravaging the Adirondack forests, and the State officers are trying to put a stop to the vandalism. ' Another Yankee farmer taken in and done for by a card-sharper. Why don’t ; these farmers read the newspapers more attentively ? The captain of the wrecked Turkish frigate Ertogroul was named Alibi, but he was not able to prove one at the criteal moment and got blown up with his •hip. , j • - A drove of hogs in Hudson, Mich.,' became intoxicated- by drinking the ■cum from a sorghum factory, and in the orgies which followed one hog was drowned by the gay debauchees. Mrs. Kate Williams, of Denver, Col., has obtained a verdict of $12,000 against Mrs. E. S. Williams, of Brooklyn, her mother-in-law, whom she claims was the cause of her husband leaving her. 4 At Union, lowa, Charles Rever and Miss Minnie Flagg have just been married. Over the parlor door of the bride’s house was hung the words: “A union of hearts, a union of hands, and the Flagg of Union for Rever.” At the public land sale at the State Bouse in Augusta, Me., not a single person appeared to bid. By telegraph and letter, however, five bids were received and twenty lots were sold. This absence of bidders in person rendered the sale the most novel in the annals of the State. Like Mary Anderson in former years, Mr. Sullivan is wedded to his art. Nothing, he says, will tempt him from the drama. This is . rather rough on the drama, of course, but perhaps on the whole the public is a gainer. It is easier to put up with this distinguished citizen in the role of a strolling player than in that of a prize-fighter.

One of the most remarkable old ladies in Maine is living on the island of Monhegan, Although 75 years old, ■he not oniy knows nothing of the cars, telephone, electric lights, etc., but has never seen a horse. She has always lived on the island several miles from the mainland, and her world has been Monhegan. Sheep and cows are kept on the island, but there is no call for horses. « -The grand jury at Little Rock has indicted Col. Coffee for sending a challenge to fight a duel to Col. Allis. A great change has come over the chivalrous spirit of the South. The time ■was when pistols and coffee for two was a frequent incident, yet here is Col. Coffee indicted in a Southern court, not for fighting a duel, but for merely ■ending a challenge t<s one. Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi,, and the other Southern states are becoming as tame and commonplace as Vermont and Connecticut. , The difference between Jury selection in the American Republic and jury ■election under British forms of government is amply illustrated .in the Birefcall murder trial, which promises to be one of the causes celebre in Canadian jurisprudence. From the opening of this case to the acceptance of the last juror less than three hours elapsed. The selection of the entire jury was completed in a single session of the Court, In the United States a similarly important case would probably occupy at least three weeks in the selection of a jury, and when selected it would be less than the average in intelligence. The abuse of the latitude in the examination of jurors in this country deserves the careful consideration of those who are charged with the administration of justice. Bartholdi, the great French sculptor, who wishes to undertake some work of art for the World’s Fair, suggests as a subject the triumph of Illinois in its agricultural and industrial productions. For an artist whose favorite work as ■hown by his statue of liberty is on a mammoth scale, the subject is full of inspiration and splendid opportunities. The new statue might consist, perhaps, of an ideal figure of Illinois, colossal in proportions, around which might be grouped specimens of our t)00-pound hogs, our 4,000-pound steers, our mammoth pumpkins, our 20-foot corn, our prize turnips, beets, squashes, melons, and whatever else will demonstrate the greatness of Illinois as an agricultural State. A representation in a noble piece of statuary of all these products in their natural size would satisfy the sculptor’s love of the gigantic and give the fair a grand and imposing work of art Col. C. Tl. Boudinot, who died at Fort Smith, Ark., recently, was the son of a full-blooded Cherokee who had been adopted by a Philadelphia patriot. The Colonel’s mother was a Connecticut girl, Miss Hannah Gould, who married the Indian much against the wishes of her family. Both fathei* and son were men "of distinction in Indian Territory, the former having been a chief of the Cherokees when that natioh was removed from Georgia. The son was a lawyer by profession. Owing to his advanced and progressive position, he became very obnoxious to many of his tribe, and had not lived in the nation for nearly twenty years. He was of a literary turn of mind, was well read and a good conversationalist He was especially well versed in all Indian affairs. During President Cleveland’s adminis-

tration Colonel Boudinot was pressed by his friends to apply for the place of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He did so, but was disappointed in not getting the office, and it is said he never visited Washington again.

London is probably one of the noisest cities in the world; in most other towns there is noisy districts, but in London the noise is everywhere; the street traffic is noisier than almost anywhere else. While other towns make use of the comparatively noiseless tramway car, the metropolis still permits its streets to be blocked by endless streams of lumbering omnibuses and rattling cabs. One comparatively uncommon, but when met with particularly alarming, noise has been attacked by the Newington vqptry. The railway companies in many parts of London, especially in the district south of the Thames, have thrown iron bridges, often of great breadth across roads or streets, and the noise when a heavily laden train passes over one of these reverberating structures is enough to appall the stoutest heajt and to give a serious shock to a neurasthenic patient or delicate child. The Newington vestry therefore appears to have taken an enlightened step in adopting a resolution expressing the opinion “that, in the interests of the comfort and health of the public, railway bridges should be rendered noiseless, and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the County Council of London and the vestries, with a view to a conference on the subject.”

Italy justly claims to have led the revival of cremation in Europe. The first crematory in Italy was established in Milan on Jan. 20, 1876, and on Dec. 31, 1888, twenty-one communes in the country had crematories in constant operation, and twenty-one more had them in course of completion or in contemplation. In this matter Italy is returning to a usage that belonged to her classic period, but from a sanitary point of view she was compelled to adopt cremation. Five years ago, out of 8,258 communes, 394 had no cemeteries, in 274 the dead were interred in churches or receptacles near the churches, and in 628 the only means of disposing of the corpses of the poor was to throw them into a common pit. In otnfer words, the mode of burial in war, and excusable only on the ground of necessity, was the established everyday custom in 628 Italian communes five years ago. With the introduction of cremation a change has been effected in the systrm of burial, and last year 9008 communes had cemeteries of their own, while the common charnel pits had decreased from 815 in 1885 to 287. All this has been brought about by the sanitary awakening evoked by Bertani’s public health code, and if the good work continues Italy may boast in 1900 that in the matter iof decent and properly regulated burial she is on a level with the Teutonic countries of Europe. And perhaps by that time the more civilized European countries may be far ahead of Italy in the matter Os cremation, a mode of disposing of the dead to which all countries must come in time. f

Early Tyaining. If a child attending school brings home with him any ill-chosen words or forms of expression, or rudeness of manner, it will be dropped as easily as it was acquired if his parents are watchful and his home surroundings are of gentle and cultured character, says the Woman's Illustrated World. The mother who is careful with her children at home in all these little matters will never have to appear shocked by the voice of bpr little “Johnny” screaming out: “I hain’t never done it, you nasty old thing,” or by seeing “Mamie” slap her little visitor in the face. It is thought by some that all the graces of civilization are inherited, and, being improved upon, are transmitted to the nett generation. Without going to this extreme we may believe that the child of well-bred parents will be born with a tendency toward all that is refined and cultivated, but that this alone is not to be depended upon. Good example and ceaseless care are both essential. ‘ ’ In no one thing does the good or bad training of early life so quickly and surely betray itself as in the treatment of those whom circumstances have placed in dependent positions, unless it be in the treatment of those whose social position is higher than our own. The truly?"Well-bre’d person never cringes before or toadies to higher rank, and never treats with arrogance those whom fortune has placed in Tower situations. The truly refined will never fail to recognize the truth’ that underlying all the accidents of nationality, education, wealth or position are the common rights and privileges of human nature. The beautiful incident of Sir Philip Sidney relinquishing the draught of water he so ardently longed for in favor of a wounded soldier whose need was even greater than his own, has conferred upon him for all time a patent of nobility far higher than any? in the power of kings to grant.

Ocean's Undertow. Frequenters of the seashore learn to speak of the “undertow,” says Duffield Osborne in Scribner, as though it were some mysterious force working from the recesses of a treacherous ocean to draw unwary bathers to their doom. As a matter of fact, its presence is obviously natural and the explanation is more than simple. As each wave rolls in and breaks upon the beach the volume of water which it carries does not remain there and sink into the sand; it flows back again, and, as the succeeding waves breaks over it, the receding one forms an undercurrent flowing outward of strength proportionate to the body of water contained in each breaker, and, again, proportionate in a great measure to the depth of the ditch. Where this latter is an appreciable depression, it can be readily seen that the water of receding waves will flow into it with similar effect to that of water going over a fall, and that a person standing near is very likely to be drawn over with it, and thus, if the ditch is deep enongh, carried out of his depth. That is all there is to the much talked-of “undertow” and the numerous accidents laid to its account. “Whom do the mermaids have for beaus?” asked Matilda. “The ocean swells, I suppose,” replied Augustus, —Exchange.

CHRIST WALKED THERE. SOLOMON’S GROUNDS AND BETHLEHEM. Dr. Talmage Gives Some Glowing Pictures of Scenes in Jerusalem and Vicinity—Tbe Wisdom ana Practical WorK of Solomon. Di, Talmage preached his sixth sermon on his tour in Palestine in the Brooklyn Tabernacle on Sunday. The sermon was on the gardens and public works of Israel’s magnificent King, and the text Eccles, ii, 4-6: “I made me great works, I builded me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards, and planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits; I made me pools of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees.” Dr. Talmage said: A spring morning and before breakfast at Jerusaleum. A king with robes snowy white in chariot decked with gold, drawn by eight horses, high mettled and housings as brilliant as if scolloped out of that very Sunrise, and like the winds for speed, followed by a regiment of archers on horseback with hand on gilded bow, and arrows with .steel points flashing in the sun, clad from head to foot in Tyrian purple, and black hair sprinkled with gold dust, qllSdashing down the road, the horses at full run, the reins loose on their necks, and the crack of whips, and the halloo, of the reckless cavalcade putting the miles at defiance. Who is it, and what is it? King Solomon is taking an outing before breakfast from Jerusalem to his gardensand parks and orchards and reservoirs, six miles down the road toward Hebron. What a contrast between that and myself bn that very road one morning last December. Come over the piles of gray rock and here we are at the first of the three reservoirs, which are on three great levels, the base of the top reservoir higher thau the top of the second, the base of the second reservoir higher than the top of the third, so arranged that the waters gathered from several sources above shall descend from basin to basin, the sediment of the water deposited in each of the three, so that by the time it gets down to the aqueduct which is to take it to Jerusalem it has had three filterings, and is as pure as when the clouds rained it. On that December morning we saw the »water rolling down from reservoir to reservoir, and can well understand how in this neighborhood the imperial gardens were one great blossom, and the orchard one great basket of fruit. But all this splendor did not make Solomon happy. One day, after getting back from his morning ride, and before the horses had yet been cooled off and rubbed down by the royal equerry, Solomon wrote the memorable words following my text, like a dirge played after a grand march, ‘-Behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” In other words, It don't pay.” Would God that we might all learn the lesson that this world cannot produce happiness. Although these Solomonic gardens are in ruins, there are now growing there flowers that are to be found nowhere else in the Holy Land. How do I account for that? Solomon sent out his ships and robbed the gardens of the whole earth for flowers and planted these exotics nere, and these particular flowers are direct, descendants of the foreign plants he imported. Recently travelers in thp Holy Land speak of the rocky and stony surface of nearly all Palestine as an impassable barmer to the future cultivation of the soil. But if they had examined minutely the rocks and stones of the Holy Land they would find that they are being skeletonized, and are being melted info the soil and, being for the most part limestone, they are doing for that land what the American and English farmer does when at great expense and fatigue he draws his wagon load of lime and scatters it on the fields for their enrichment. As I look upon this great aqueduct of Palestine, a wondrous specimen of ancient masonry, about seven feet high, two feet wide, sometimes tunneling the solidlfoek and then rolling its waters through stoneware pipes, an aqueduct doing its work ten miles before it gets to those three reservoirs, and then gathering their wealth of refreshment and pouring it on to the mighty city of Jerusalem and filling the brazen sea of her temple, and the bath-rooms of her palaces, and the great pools of Siloam and Hezekiah and Bethesda, I find them in good condition three thousand years after construction and it makeg me think that the world may have forgotten more than it now knows. The great honor of our age is not machinery, for the ancients had some styles of it more wonderful; nor art, for the ancients had art more exquisite and durable; or architecture, for Roman Coliseum and Grecian Acropolis surpass all modern architecture; nor cities, for some of the ancient “cities were larger than ours in the sweep of their pomp. But our attempts must be in moral achieveifient and Gospel victory. In that we have already surpassed them, and. in that direction let the ages push on. Let us brag less of worldly achievement, and thank God for moral opportunity. More good men and good women is what the world wants. Toward moral elevation and spiritual attainment let the chief struggle be. The source of all that I will show you before sundown of this day, on which we have visited the pools of Solomon, and the gardens of the King. We are on this December afternoon on the way to the cradle of Him who called Himself greater than Solomon. We are coming upon the chief cradle of all the world, not lined with satin, but strewn with straw; not sheltered by a palace, but covered by a barn; not presided over by a princess, but hovered over by a peasant girl:’ yet a cradle the canopy of which is angelic wings, and the lullaby or which is the first Christmas carol ever sung, and from which all the events of the future have and must take date as being B. C. or A. D. —before Christ or after Christ, All eternity past occupied in getting ready for this cradle and all eternity to come to be employed in celebrating its consequences. I said to the tourist companies planning our oriental journey, “Put us in Bethlehem in December, the place and the month of our Lord’s birth,” and we had our wish. lam the only man who has ever attempted to tell how Bethlehem looked at the season Jesus was born. Tourists and writers are there in February or March or April, when the Galleys are an embroidered sheet of wild flowers, and anemones and ranuculus are flushed as though from attempting to climb the steeps, and lark and bullinch are flooding the air with bird orchestra. •But I was there in December, a winter month, the barren beach between the two oceans of redolence. I was told I must not go there at that season, told so before I started, told so In Egypt; the books told me so; all travelers that I consulted about it told ineso. But I was determined to .see Wthlehem the same month, in which Jesus arrived, and nothing could dissuade Was 1 not right in wanting to know how the Holy Land looked when Jesus came to it? He did not, land amid flowers and song. When the angels chanted on the famous birthnight, all the fields of Palestine were silent. The glowing skies were answered by gray ’•“'‘-ka. As Bethlehem stood against a

bleak wintry sky, I climbed np to it as through a bleak wintry sky Jesus descended upon it. His way down was from warmth to chill from bloom to barrenness, from eveilasting June to sterile December. If I were going to Palestine as a botanist, and to study the flora of the land, I would go in March, but I went as a minister of Christ to study Jesus, and so I went in December. I wanted to see how the world’s front door looked when the heavenly Stranger enteredjt. The town of Bethlehem to my surprise is in the shape of a horseshoe, the houses extending clear onto the prongs of the horseshoe, the whole scene more rough and rude than can be imagined. Verily, Christ did not choose a soft, genial place in which to be born. The gate through which our Lord entered this world was a gate of rock, a hard, cold gate, and the gate through which he departed was a swing gate of sharpened spears. We enter a gloomy church built by Constantine over the place in which Jesus was born. Fifteen lamps burning day and night and from century to century light our way to the spot which all authorities, Christian and Jew and Mohammedan, agree upon as being the place of our Savior’s birth, and covered by a marble slab, marked by a silver star sent froih Vienna, and the words, -‘Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.” But standing there I thought, though this is the place of the nativity, how different the surroundings of the wintry night in which Jesus came! At that I time it was a khan or a cattle pen. I I visited one of these khans now standing ' and looking just as in Christ’s time. We I rode in under the arched entrance and dismounted. We found the building of stone and around an open square without roof, The building is more than 2,600 years old. It is two stories high, jln the center are camels, horses and I mules. Caravans halt here for the night |or during a long storm. The open square is large enough to accommodate a whole herd of cattle, a flock of sheep or caravan of camels. The neighboring Bedouins here find’market for their hay, i straw and meats. Off from this center j there are twelve rooms for human habI itation. The only light is from the door. I I went into one of these rooms and J found a woman cooking the evening ■ meal. There were six cows in the same I room. On a little elevation there was ' some straw where the people sat and slept when they wished to rest. It w-as in a room similar to that our Lord was born. This w-as the cradle of a king, and yet what cradle ever held so much? Civilization! Liberty! Redemption! Your pardon and mine! Your heaven and mine! Cradle of a universe! Cradle of a God! The gardens of Solomon we visited this morning were only a type of what all the world will be when this illustrious personage now born shall have completed his mission. The horse of finest limb and gayest champ of bit and sublimest arch of neck that ever brought Solomon down to these adjoining gardens was but a poor type of the horse f upon which this conqueror born in the barn shall ride, when, according to apocalyptic vision, all the “armies of Heaven shall follow him on white horses.”

The waters that rush down these hills into yonder three great reservoirs of rock and then pour in marvelous aque- ; duct into Jerusalem till the brazen sea is 1 full, and the baths are full, „ and Siloam 1 is full, are only an imperfect type of the ! rivers of delight which, as the result of ; this great one’s coming, shall roll on for ! slaking of the thirst of all nations. The palace of Lebanon, cedar from which the imperial cavalcade passed out in the ; early morning and to which it returned i with glowing cheek and jingling harness and lathered sides, is feeble of architecture compared with the house of many mansions into which this one born this winter month on these bleak heights shall conduct us when our sins are all pardoned, our battles all fought, our tears all wept, our work all done; Standing here at Bethlehem, do you not see that the most honored thing in all the earth is the eradle? To what else did loosened star ever point? To what else did Heaven lower balconies of light tilled with chanting immortals? The way the cradle rocks the world rocks. God bless the mothers all the world over! The cradles decide the destinies of nations. In ten thousand of ‘ them are this moment the hands that 1 will yet give benediction of mercy or i hurl bolts of doom, the feet that will mount the steeps towards God or descend the blasted, way, the lips that will pray or blaspheme. Oh, the cradle!’ It is more tremcneous than the grave. Where are most of the leaders of the Twentieth century soon to dawn upon us? Are they on the throne? No. In chariots? i No. In pulpits? No. Inforums? No. lln senatorial halls? No. In countingI houses? No. They are in the cradle. The most tremendous thing in the universe, and next to God, is to be a mother. Lord Shaftesbury said, “Give me a generation of Christian mothers and I will change the whole phase of society in twelve months.” Oh, the cradle! Forget not the one in which you were rocked. Though old and worn out that cradle may be standing in attic or barn,; forget not the foot that swayed it, the lips that sang over it, the tears that dropped upon it, the faith in God that made way for it. The boy Walter Scott did well when he spent the first five guinea piece he ever earned as a present to his mother. Dishonor not the cradle, though it may, like the one my sermon celebrates, have been a cradle In' a barn, for I think it was a Christian cradle. That was a great cradle in which Martin Luther lay, for from it came forth the reformation of the sixteenth century; That was a great cradle in which Daniel O’Connell lay, for from it came forth an eloquence that will be inspiring while men have eyes to read or ears to hear. That was a great cradle in which Washington lay, for from it came forth the happy deliverance of a nation. That was a great cradle in which John Howard lay, for from it came forth a mercy that will not cease until the last I dungeon gets the Bible and light and I fresh air. Great cradles in which the John Wosleys, and the John Knoxes, and the John Masons lay, for from them came forth an all conquering evangelization. But the greatest eradle in which child ever slept or woke, laughed or : cried, was the cradle over which Mary • bent, and to which the wise men brought frankincense, apd upon which the heavens dropped song. Had there been I no manger there had been no cross. Had I there been no Bethlehem there had been no Golgotha. Had there been ho incar- ; nation there had been no ascension, i Had there been no start there had been no close. Standing in the chill khan of a Saviour’s humiliation, and seeing what he did for us. I ask what have we done for him? “There is nothing I can do,” says one. As Christmas was approaching in the village church a good woman said to a group of girls in lowly and straitened circumstances, “Let us now do something for Christ.” After the day was over she asked the group to tell her what they had done. ' One said, “I could not do much, for we are very poor, but I had a beautiful flower I had carefully trained in our home and I thought much of it, and I put that flower on the church altar.” And another said, “I could not do much, for we are very poor, but I can sing a little, and so I went down to a poor sick woman in the lane

and sang as well as I could, to cheer her up, a Christinas song.” “Well, Helen, what did you do?” She replied, “I could not do much, but I wanted to do something for Christ, and I could think of nothing else to do, and so I went into the church after the people who had been adorning the altar had left, and I scrubbed down the back altar s&irs.” Beautiful? I warrant that the Christ of that Christmas day gave her as much credit for that earnest act as He may i have given to the robed official who on I that day read for the people the prayers of a resounding service. Something for Christ! Something for Christ! A plain man passing a fortress saw a Russian soldier on guard in a terribly cold night, and took off his coat and gave it to the soldier, saying: “I will soon be home and warm, and you will be out here all night.” So the soldier wrapped himself in the borrowed coat. The plain man who loaned the coat to the soldier soon after was dying, and in his dream saw Christ, and said to him: “You have got my coat on.” “Yes,” said Christ, “this is the one you lent me on that cold nie-ht by the fortress. I was naked, and ye clothed me,” Something for Christ! By the memories of Bethlehem I adjure you! In th l ? light of that star Lie the ages empearled; That song from afar Has swept o’er the world. ” A Bride in a ret. Mrs. Albertina E. Schwartz, of St. Louis, is a fickle girl, and she caused Joseph Nehselhof to lose a dollar in trying to secure her hand. She allowed Joseph to persuade her to cease mourning for Gottfried, and while the new year was only a few days old she blushingly consented that they go to Recorder Hobbs’ office and procure a marriage license. This was January 7, last. The other morning the door of the marriage license department was pushed timidly open and Joseph again presented himself. “What, Joe!” exclaimed the Recorder, “you are not after another marriage license. Why you will be arrested for another Bluebeard. What did she die of ?” “Sie don’t die at all,” answered Joseph. “Sie ghotmat.” “ What! Hydrophobia. Yon—” “No, no. You no understand. Sie vas all right now. Ve hat some vorts, und don’t got marriet de foist time.” While speaking Mr. Nehselhof was fumbling in an inner pocket and finally brought forth a big envelope, worn at the edges, and handed it to the Recorder. “I suppose dis vas all right yet. Ve make it up again.” “No, Joe,” said, Recorder Hobbs, shaking his head sadly. “The law says this license must be returned to this office within three months after it was issued. You will have to take out a new license.” • “Veil, I suppose dot vosde pest vay,” said Joseph, smiling bravely, as he replaced the stump of a 5-cent cigar ip his mouth and shaking hands with Mr. Hobbs, departed to get the lady. Faithinl Little Tip. Bessie was a little German girl. Her papa and her mamma had a great many friends in the United States, so they thought they would cross the ocean and live there. One morning Bessie went with them to Bremen, where lay the big steamer which w’as to carry them all over the great sea to America. She was so pleased with all she saw that she quite forgot her little dog Tip till jrfet as tbe big ship began to move she heard a loud bark and looked back to the wharf. “Oh, mamma, mamma,” she cried, with a lump in her throat thaLsgemed ready to choke her. “Poor T&jHoor Tip! Look, mamma, look!”/ There, among the crowd of people who had come to bid Triends good-bye, was the little terrier, running up and down to find his mistress. How could Besssie have forgotten him? It was no use. The strip of blue water between the wharf and the steamer grew wider, and the white streak of foam behind the huge vessel longer and longer. Poor Bessie! Tip. with his nose to the ground, was following his young mistress’footsteps. Suddenly he reached the end of the wharf. He hesitated a moment, ran to tand fro,thpn leaped into the waves and ried to swim after the ship. But the water was very cold, and after a short struggle the dog disappeared. Only a few ripples, forming wider and wider circles, showed where he had sunk. Poor, faithful little tip! Russia’s Newest Creed. Never was such a place as Russia for eccentric and mysterious creeds. The peasants in the Governmental Province of Ufim have been disquieted for some months past by the appearance of a new religious sect. Although no man has yet seen with his own eyes an individual member of this sect, its extraordinary doings have filled many a village with panic. The “Shavers”—or “Shearers,” as they are properly called —carry on their mad work at night and \n secret. Thus the inhabitants of a village discover early in the morning -that all their fowls have been plucked of their feathers, all their sheep closely shorn, and the horses have had their manes and tails cut off. The hair, wool and feathers thus gained are made into a sacrificial pile and burned in an open place on the road. In village after village the cry has been raised, “The Shavers have been here.” The advent of the “Shavers” was foretold, they say, by the appearance of a “besom” (a comet) in the heaven. The peasants are persuaded that the “Shavers” are inspired by an evil spirit, and that their object in making these burnt sacrifices is that the ashes, blown about by the wind, may scatter the seeds of the plague through the country.— Pall Mall Gazette. Woman’s Wit. Wife—For mercy sake, if you must smoke, smoke cigars, and not that horrid pipe. Husband— l smoke a pipe for the sake of economy. “Do you smoke a pipe in your office?” “N-o, I smoke cigars there.” “Well, you smoke your pipe there, and tell the firm it’s for the sake of economy. They’ll soon raise your salary.”— New York Weekly. Where Ignorance Is Bliss. Mr. Bingo (suspiciously)—Tommy, who were those two boys I saw fighting in the next.alley this morning? Tommy—One of them was Willie Simpson. Mr. Bingo—And who was the other? Tommy—He got licked. I guess you don’t want to know his name. — New York Sun. He (reading the signboard)—Lovers’ Retreat.” I wonder what they retreat for ? She—To get away from the old folks, probably.— Chicago Inter-Ocean. “What do you mean, you rascal, by spilling my coffee all over ma?’’ shouted an enraged passenger. “Never mind, sir,” protested the waiter, “I'll get you some more, sir.”

HOW OIL-CLOTH IS MAt)E. The Styles Change Setni-Anuaily. What we call oil-cloth is known in England as “floorcloth,” but the material and the process of manufacture in both countries is the same. The body of oilcloth is what is called burlaps, made of jnte, and imported from Scotland. This coarsely-woven fabric is limp, and is stiffed by being passed through a mixture of starch and glue and over hot rollers, coming out, it might be said, laundried. It is then ready for the paint machine, where it is given the body. There are four qualities of oilcloth, depending on the number of body coats of paint. That which is to be the best quality receive five or six coats; the poorer grades a less number. The cloth, in pieces twenty-five yards long by two yards wide, is dried in racks which are constructed in tiers of twenty. a The thickness of each coat of paint is governed by a steel knife, in manipulating which a workman becomes so proficient that he can tell nearly to the pound what a piece of cloth will weigh when the coating process is completed. The operation of coating the first quality cloth occupies a week, as each coat requires twenty-four hours in which to dry. It is then sent to the rubbing machine, where surfaces coated with glue and sand pass rapidly oier the side which is to be printed, ridding it of all irregularties. The better qualities are afterward given another coat of paint, when thev are ready for the printers. This is the most interesting part of the operation. For every color in the pattern to be transferred to the oilcloth there must be a block. These blocks come from Maine. They are about two inches thick, two .feet square and are composed of several layers of wood. The surface to be used is of maple, crossed and recrossed by narrow grooves, which form a Surface of small squares, one-hundred and fortyfour of them to the square inch. These squares look like, and are in reality, so many pegs. Where the pattern is desired to show, the pegs are left standing, those on the portion of the surface which is not to be printed being cut away. The styles in patterns change twice a year. Some are designed in Utica, and others come from Philadelphia and New York. Some patterns containing many colors require from twenty-five to thirty blocks, and consequently4hat number of impressions to reproduce the design. Rug patterns are the most difficult to make, as it requires different blocks for the corners, sides and the center. The printing is done on the top floor, so that the oilcloth can hang for a distance of fifty feet to dry. Each printer has a table with eight pads, on which he smears his colors. Pressing a block to the pad containing tbe required color, he transfers it to the surface of the cloth, using hand pressure only. Having done this with every block, as each transfers but one color, and consequently but a small portion of the complete design, he has finished about four feet square of printing, and goes about repeating the operation on another portion of the cloth, and so on. Two men generally work at a table, «nd can turn out from 100 to 250 square yards of oilcloth a day, when printing seven or eight color patterns. The paint used is similar to the ordinary house paint. When the printing is completed, another block is pressed on, which gives the embossed surface, of which there are two kinds, pin .and line finish. The wet cloth then hangs from the loft for a week, when by an ingenious mechanism it is transferred to the drying room, where for another week it remains in a temperature of 130 degrees. The door .to this dry-room is fifty feet high, allowing that length of oil cloth to be passed through without rolling or bending. Coming out, it is varnished, three men, with the aid of a machine, varnishing 6,000 yards a day. Next it is trimmed and the cloth is ready to be shipped. Caught Under the Coal. Neither the frequent perils nor the continued discomfort of men who work underground can ever be appreciated by us who live every day in the sunshine. Who can realize the experience of Frager, a Scranton collier, who was caught by a falling mass of coal, and lay in his living tomb for sixteen hours ? He expected every moment to be crushed to death, but by great good fortune two drills lay within his reach. He seized them and managed to fix them crosswise in the corner of the chamber directly above him, and they helped to support the superincumbent mass. Both his feet were caught, and as the fearful hours went by, he felt his limbs growing numb as the circulation of the blood ceased’ while the sharp edges and corners of the coal drove into his flesh like spikes. Fortunately, Frager’s assistant had escaped the falling mass, and immediately ran for help. A gang of twelve men began cutting through the thick wall, and worked hour after hour, though their own lives were every moment in danger. At last the wall was pierced and the buried man, still alive and able to speak, though terribly bruised and nearly suffocated with foul gases and coal dust, was rescued and restored to his anxious family. Making Money Anywhere. Having read Mr. Moorehead’s experience plating with gold, silver and nickel, I sent for a plater and have more work than I can do. It is surprising the spoons, casters and jewelry that people want plated. The first week I cleared $37.10, and in three weeks $119.85, and my wife has made about as I have. By addressing W. H. Griffith & Co., Zanesville, Ohio, you can get circulars. A plater only costs $3. You can learn to use it in an hour. Can plate large or small articles, and can make money anywhere. A. J. Jonson. A Scripture Lesson. “ Say, pa, Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, wasn’t he ?“ “Yes, my son, he is so considered.” “And he had 300 wives, hadn’t he!” “I believe that is the number.” “Say, pa, if Solomon was the wisest man that eyer lived how did he ever come to get in such a fix—you can’t live peaceably with one ?” “Hem! haw! hem! He got wise after he married them. You go to Led.” —Epoch. His Repertory. Wandering George—l can see what you think madam, but lam no tramp. lam George Thunderer, the actor. I used to play ‘Othello’ years ago.” Lady—lndeed? What have you played recently ?” Wandering George—Poker.—Detroit Free Press.

The Home Truth of a Foreign v*hj twit. The Spanish have a proverb—peligroso—too much is dangerous.* If “brevity is the soul of wit,* this means a great deal. Excesses and other imprudences in eating and drinking are productive of one tremendous evil —the progenitor of many others—and these are among the follies to which thia j ithy saying has direct appUcatlon. The evil to which we allude is indigestion, to the relief and cure of which Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters has contributed more than any medicine which science has giv. en to the American people. This invigorating stomachic and corrective is the means not only of reforming a disordered cr enfeebled condition of the digestive organs, but of renewing healthy •«M°n of the bowels and the liver. Besides this, it counteracts a tendency to rheumatism and kidney oomplaint, extirpates and prevents malarious disease, is a yx>tent restorative of strength which is failing, hasteno convalescent* and mitigates the infirmities of ace. How to Live Happily. Jinks—-Well, well, Jimjams, this is a fearful jag; where aid you get it? Jimjams—Fishin’. Fishing? Yesh. Shee, when I got (hie) bite, took drink to celebrate. Shee? ’ O you. But hold on! ’N when I didn’t (hie) get a bite, took (hie) drink to drown m’ shorrow. Shee?— Texas Siftings. A MAN who has practiced medicine for forty years ought to know salt from sugar ; read whs-y. he says: Toledo. 0., Jan. 10,1887. Messrs. F. J. Cheney & Co.—Gentlemen—l have been in the general practice of medicine for most forty years, and would say that in all my practice and experience Lave never seen a preparation that I could prescribe with as much confidence of success as I can Hali’s Catarrh Cure, manufactured by you. Have prescribed it a great many times and its effect is wonderful, and would say in conclusion that I have yet to find a ease of Catarrh that it would not cure, if they would take it according to directions. Y’ours truly, L. L. GORSUCH, M. D„ Office, 215 Summit St. We will give SIOO for anv case of Catarrh that cannot be cured with 'Hall’s Catarrh Cure. Taken internally. F. J. CHENEY & Co., Props., Toledo, O. o*Sold by Druggists, 75c. Accounted l or. Mr. Wiggles—The African race is wonderful for its adaptabilty to all climates. I knew one black as my hat who was born in Ireland near Queenstown. Mr. Jiggles—Wasn’t that a case of burnt Cork?— Texas Siftings. Neably every article sold is cheapened, in. cost of production, at expense of quality. Dobbins’ Electric Soap is exactly to-day wl at it was in 1865, absolutely pure harmless and uniform. Ask your gcucer for it, Mrs. McCurry, of Buzzard Roost, Whitfield county, Ga. ,held out as long as sh< dared, and'then at 10S was baptized. JftJACOBSQii/ CURES SURELY.

BRUISES. 746 Dclphin Street, Baltimore., Md., Jan’yl.S, 1890. “I was bruised badly in hip and side by a fall and suffered severely. St. Jacobs Oil completely cured me.” Wm. C. Harden, Member of State Legislature.

SPRAINS. Ohio & Miss. Railway. Office President and General Manager; Cincinnati, Ohio “Uy foot suddenly turned and gave me a very severely sprained ankle. The a ppi ica tio 11 of St. Jacobs Oil resulted at once in a relief from pain.” W.W. Peabody, Prest. &■ Gen'l Man’gr.

TKE CHARLES A. VOGELER CO.. Baltimore. Ud. ONU ENJOYS Both the method and results when Syrup of Figs is taken; it is pleasant and refreshing to the taste, and acts gently yet promptly on the Kidneys, Liver and Bowels, cleanses the system effectually, dispels colds, headaches and fevers and cures habitual constipation. Syrup of Figs is the only remedy of its kind ever produced, pleasing to the taste and acceptable to the stomach, prompt in its action and truly beneficial in its effects, prepared only from the most healthy and agreeable substances, its many excellent qualities commend it to all and have made it the most popular remedy known. ( Syrup of Figs is for sale in 50c and $1 bottles by all leading druggists. Any reliable druggist who may not have it on hand will procure it promptly for any one who wishes to try it Do not accept any substitute. CALIFORNIA FIR SYRUP CO. BAN FRANCISCO, CAL. LOUISVILLE. KI. HEW YORK. U.V, ASTHMA. Popham’s Asthma Specific Gives immediate relief. FlWWffWfeW It is believed to be the Best ASTHMA Remedy »,i jißltj 1F known to humanity. As evidence we give a Trial Package FREE. Sold by Druggist*, bent by ioa.il. postpaid, for SI per Box. Address THOS. POPHAM. 2001 Ridge Avenue. Philada. Tutt’s Pills Tne Ant dose often astonishes the invalid, giving elasticity of mind, bouyancy of body, GOOD DIGESTION, yegnlar bowels and solid flesh- Price, rROBBEROOHIEI Is better than the lying scale agent who tells you as gospel truth that the Jones’ $60.5 Ton Wagon Scale Is not a standard scale, and eqmffto any made. For free book and price list, aduress Jones of Binghamton, Binghamton, IL MOTHERS. per package, Kent post-paid, with full bvtructloua. Ca> cularMafi<r*eMhnouLils for 6c NtJtttip'*. A4<ipvmm x DR. SNYDER. Lock Box 451, Chicago, lIV MINTION THIS PAPER wwua warns- TO ..T.KTOW, rmnrniMr the great foot remedy for mak. ‘'fJjX’r tUIINti lug the feet ‘Miitw. Instant \n relief for cold or perspiring feet Oa sate Mr everywhere, or sent free en receipt of to eta. [W Sample package free at store*, or mailed for * zy dime. Illustrated Pamphlet Free. I 7 THB PIOINI CO., WORLD B’LD’G, K. Y. PTTEKTSei PATRICK O'FARRELL. AtCy at Law. Waslilngru D.C. WaßSie IfULI JOHN W.MRRIS, fICrNOIWIW Washington, ».<£ ■ 3yminlast war, 15udju<Ucatiagclauus, atty a*ae» RITFIITni Instructions FREE to ns I L U I V I inventors. W" Writs at r fl I Ln I u 04 ■ J. B. CKALLE Jt CO.. Washington, D.a | ASTHMASV., RED-FREE I ty mall to sufferers. Dr. R. BCHIFFMAN, St. Paal.BMa. CATARRH FREE